12 Questions

1.      Describe your target area for guided lead teaching.

My target area will be guided reading groups. We are working with the “read well” program in my kindergarten classroom.

2.      Approximately how much time per day is allotted for your instruction in this area?

There will be about 20 minutes every morning for guided reading.

3.      Which Common Core State Standard(s) will you work toward?

RL.K.2: With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.

RL.K.3: With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

RL.K.4: Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

RF.K.1: Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print. A. Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page. B. Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters. C. Understand that words are separated by spaces in print. D. Recognize and name all upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

RF.K.2: Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes). Recognize and produce rhyming words. Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words. Blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words. Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words.¹ (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.)Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.

RF.K.3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant. Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels. Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does). Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.

4.      How will teaching in this target area provide opportunities for students to learn important content and/or skills that relate to their lives?  In what ways does this learning include learning literacy, learning about literacy, and/or learning through literacy?

Reading is an important skill for my students to learn, and it is very hard (if not impossible) to learn how to read without letter-sound knowledge. My students will read on a day to day basis in their life, not only in school, but in their community.

5.      What types of classroom talk take place within this target area? To what extent is the talk  teacher-led, student-led, or focused on higher-level thinking? What norms for interaction would  you like to build within your classroom as you teach in this target area (e.g., see ideas in Chapter 6 Strategies that Work, the Berne & Clark 2008 article, or draw from some of the readings done in TE 402 on classroom talk such as Almasi, 2006)?

While the students are in their groups, it will be either quiet, or the students can whisper read out loud. While I am meeting with the groups, it will be a mix of teacher-led, or student-led, depending on what we are focusing on for that day. During guided reading, we will have 6 groups of 5 students, and I will be meeting with 3 groups every day.

6.      Which ‘core practice’ do you want to work on developing/improving as you teach in this target area (refer to document “Resources for Developing Core Practices”)? How will focusing on this core practice contribute to your own professional learning?

The main focus will be Acquisition, Use and Assessment of Foundational skills because my students are still learning how to read. My students will be learning concepts of print, along with phonological awareness. We will also be working on fluency and word identification.

7.      What resources within the community, neighborhood, school district, school or classroom do you have to work with in this target area?

We have leveled books in the classroom, along with a “read well” program to give us book with decodable words in them for the guided reading groups.

8.      What additional resources do you need to obtain?

My mentor teacher and I are still working on determining what reading level all of the students are at, so that is a resource I need before I can get started.

9.      How will you pre-assess your students in your target area?

I have been pre-assessing my students with the Dibels testing, along with the ‘read well’ programs’ assessment, which levels the students.

1What else will you need to find out about all students in your class to help you develop lesson plans for your Guided Lead Teaching?

Again, I need to find the level of all of my students to be able to make reading groups.

11.  What else do you need/want to learn about the ‘core practice’ to support your planning and teaching?

I want to learn more about how to teach phonological awareness, and how children learn them, so I can help all of my students.

12.  What concerns, if any, do you have about planning and teaching your unit?

I want to make sure that my students stay interested in their books, and that during their reading time, they are focused on the books that they have chosen to read.