Inquiry 2 Part A - Matina

1.       Describe your target area for guided lead teaching.

      The target area I will be focusing on for guided lead teaching is acquisition, use, and assessment of foundational skills. My unit will focus mainly on rhyming.

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

      About one hour and twenty minutes is spent on literacy instruction in our classroom. This includes writing and reading lessons.

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

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2 Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2a Recognize and produce rhyming words.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2b Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2c Blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2d 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/.)
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2e Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.

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?

      Teaching this rhyming unit is important for developing these students’ decoding skills. Detecting and producing sounds are skills which are important for developing their reading and writing abilities as they advance through school.

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 of 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)?

      The foundational skills that have been taught so far this year are oral language skills and inferring. Students are given a specific prompt or question to talk about and then turn to a neighbor and share about their ideas. We review an anchor chart that lists what “Good Listeners” and “Good Speakers” do. After a few minutes of talking, the class then comes back as a whole group and shares what they talked about with their partners had told them.

      Norms I would like to build inside my classroom include staying on task, actively listening to their partners, and respecting others’ opinions. One way I could try to help my students focus on the task is to give students a structured response sentence (Berne & Clark, 2008). If a student wants to share an idea their partner discussed they might have to start the retelling by saying, “My partner said… I thought that was cool/interesting because….” Implementing this formula will hold students accountable when listening to their partners.

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?

      A core practice I want to focus on during this unit is thinking aloud. This is important to remember to do often while teaching new skills so it will eventually become second nature for students. I feel like I often forget to stop and show students how they should be thinking while they read or learn a new skill. As a teacher, I need to focus on improving this practice because students need this modeling in order to successfully use the skills and strategies taught.

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

      I have many resources to work with as I plan and teach my unit. There are lessons include in my district’s MAISA writing curriculum and Houghton-Mifflin reading curriculum. Our school also uses a comprehension-based program called “Making Meaning” which I could pull ideas about thinking aloud from. My colleagues in the building are also great resources; luckily I have my mentor teacher, fellow kindergarten teachers and their interns. There are also many books to pull from within our kindergarten “pod” that can be helpful in supplementing the curriculum.

            8.  What additional resources do you need to obtain?

      I plan on using my TE textbooks from this class as well as classes past. The Common Core is another important resource to obtain because it will guide my planning throughout the unit.

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

      I will pre-assess my students using a program called “Reading Racers.” The program assesses the students’ letter recognition and sound knowledge. Knowing this information will be helpful in planning because I will need to know how much time to spend on each letter’s individual sounds and when I can start blending and stretching sounds with the students. I also will be asking the students questions that get to their prior knowledge about rhyming and other foundational skills.

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

      I will need to get to know the individual academic needs of my students as I start to plan my lessons. For example, what kinds of adaptations may be needed for both high-achieving and lower-achieving students so that each student is progressing.  Additionally, I’ll want to pay close attention to which activities students seem to be most engaged in so that they remain interested in learning the new skills and ideas I introduce.

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

      I need to know when the best time to stop and model my thinking so that it is beneficial for the students. I know “too much” modeling will take away from the idea as a whole but I want to be sure to model enough that the students will be able to note what they need to do.

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

      I am concerned about how to follow the school’s curriculum with my own ideas and lessons.  I want to make sure my “home-made” lessons correspond well with the curriculum so that the unit runs smoothly for the students. Another concern I have is making sure my tasks are high-level without being too difficult. Lastly, I want to be sure I plan lessons that will fill the hour and twenty minute time slot for literacy.