Improving Reading Comprehension while Blogging UbD Unit Plan

SLMS Intern: Ashley Friend Teachers Name: Deborah Copher Brief Summary of the Unit: Subject/Course: Reading Grade Level: Third Grade

Ashley Friend- Increasing Reading Comprehension while Blogging UbD Lesson Plan

This unit will focus on improving specific reading comprehension skills that are needed to pass the DRA II reading comprehension test.

Approximate Time Frame for the Unit: 4 Approximate Time Frame per lesson: class periods 45 minutes 1 hour Unit Pathfinder/ Resource List: http://list.ly/list/26p-fun-with-blogging Stage 1 Desired Results
Competency/Objectives: Students will understand the basics of blogging while learning how to recommend books to their friends.

Content Standards: AASL Standards 1.1.5 Evaluate information found in selected sources on the basis of accuracy, validity, appropriateness for needs, importance, and social and cultural context. 1.1.6 Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning. 1.1.9 Collaborate with others to broaden and deepen understanding. 1.4.2 Use interaction with and feedback from teachers and peers to guide own inquiry process. 2.4.3 Recognize new knowledge and understanding. 3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners. 3.1.3 Use writing and speaking skills to communicate new understandings eectively. 3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess. 3.2.1 Demonstrate leadership and condence by presenting ideas to others in both formal and informal situations. 4.1.1 Read, view, and listen for pleasure and personal growth. 4.1.2 Read widely and uently to make connections with self, the world, and previous reading. 4.1.3 Respond to literature and creative expressions of ideas in various formats and genres. 4.1.5 Connect ideas to own interests and previous knowledge and experience. 4.1.7 Use social networks and information tools to gather and share information. 4.3.1 Participate in the social exchange of ideas, both electronically and in person. Georgia Common C ore Standards
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Ashley Friend- Increasing Reading Comprehension while Blogging UbD Lesson Plan

ELACC3SL1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly. ELACC3RL3: Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events. ELACC3RL5: Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections. ELACC3RL2: Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

Established Goals:
Understandings Students will understand what a book recommendation is. how to make a book recommendation using their own blog. what a blog is. how to make a post on a blog. how to make a comment on a blog. how to visit their peers blogs to read their posts. how to identify text features. how to make predictions. how to write a story reflection. how to tag. 1. What is a blog? 2. What is a post? 3. What is a comment? 4. What is a tag? 5. What is a book recommendation? 6. How do I write a book recommendation? 7. What should be included in a book recommendation? 8. What is a text feature? 9. What is a story reflection? 10.What is a prediction? How to write story reflections, book recommendations, find text features, and make story predictions while blogging and commenting on blogs. Log in to their new blog. Write a book recommendation as a post on their new blog. Write a story reflection as a post on their new blog. Write text features as a post on their new blog. Write a book prediction as a post on their new blog. Visit their friends blogs to share ideas by writing comments.
The students will be read half of the story, Westlandia. They will then go online and make a blog post about what they predict will happen next in the story. Tags: Westlandia, predict Then, the students will return, to hear the rest of the story. After

Essential Questions:

Students will know Students will be able to

Stage 2 Assessment Evidence

Performance Task:

Ashley Friend- Increasing Reading Comprehension while Blogging UbD Lesson Plan

hearing the remainder of the story, the students will return to their computers to write three new posts. They will write a book recommendation post, a text feature post, and a story reflection post. The students need to tag each post. The teacher and the media specialist will then use the assessment posts to assess their knowledge of these comprehension skills. The teacher and media specialist will make posts on exemplary posts to give students an idea of exemplary work. The posts will be graded with a rubric. The boxes from the rubric have been taken directly from the DRA II scoring form with the exception of the box for a book recommendation which was created by the teacher and media specialist.

Performance Task Statement: Students should be able to use all aspects of a blog to help recommend and choose new books that they like. It should also be clear that they know how to reflect, predict, and find text features. Other Evidence Blog posts and responses Summarized (tests, essays, work sample(s), etc.

Stage 3- Learning Plan

Ashley Friend- Increasing Reading Comprehension while Blogging UbD Lesson Plan

Learning Activites:

Lesson 1- Writing a Book Recommendation on Your Own Blog

Before beginning, have student read a picture book with their homeroom teacher. They should have that book with them when the lesson starts.

Start students out at their own seats.

Introduce the lesson by explaining the objectives for the lesson and the essential questions we will be answering today. - Where Students will watch the following short video on brainpopjr.com to introduce them to the concept of what a blog is on the large display. - How
http://www.brainpopjr.com/artsandtechnology/technology/blogs/

The media specialist (intern) will then show the students examples of real blogs. - Equip Then, the media specialist (intern) will show the students their new blogs and how to use them. -Equip, Rethink

Move children to computers or hand laptops to them. The following activities will be done on the computers.

Once everyone has a computer (some may be in partners), have the students go to their teachers webpage. - Equip, Rethink Have them find the Kid Blogs page and click on the link inside. Up in the top right hand corner, have them click on log in. Have students find their own name and input their student number as their password. If students are working in partners. They will have to take turns. Once they are logged in, have them click on new post. Inside the Add new post page, the students will STOP and watch the media specialist (intern) write a correctly worded book review. She and the teacher, will talk briefly about the elements that can be included in a book recommendation. The students will be handed a book recommendation bookmark to help them when writing their book recommendation. Organized After discussing the elements of a book recommendation, the students will write their book recommendation for their book they read previously on the Add new post page. (Both partners need to do this under separate login names). Tailored After writing their book recommendation, they will go to visit other blogs from
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Ashley Friend- Increasing Reading Comprehension while Blogging UbD Lesson Plan

class members.

After reading several book recommendations, they must comment on one post by saying that they plan to read this book. Before tomorrows class, all students must read the book and then comment again on that persons post with their own book recommendation. (This can be done after the media specialist leaves if there is not enough time.) Tailored At the end of the lesson, the media specialist or teacher will share exemplary examples of blog posts, book recommendations, and comments.

Lesson 2- Writing Text Features in a Blog Post

Before beginning, it is important to remind student of their blogging skills from the day before. They will have to use those skills throughout the course of the unit. Introduce the idea of text features. Show examples of finding good text features and bad text features. Definition: Text feature- important facts about the character. Example: The two main characters are twins or the main character has lost his lucky pencil. Read the book, Owney, the Official Rail Mail Mascot to the children, so that they all have a common reading experience. Then, the students will go online to their blog and make a blog post stating three text features they found while listening to the book. Today, introduce the concept of tagging in a blog. After they have written their post, have them tag using the words text features, owney, reading, and so on. After making their post, have students search for tags. Then have them comment on one other persons blog post. They need to comment on the other persons text features. They can complement or offer suggestions. At the end of the class, we will wrap up by sharing a few blog posts and responses.

Lesson 3- Writing a Story Reflection in a Blog Post

Before beginning, it is important to remind student of their blogging skills from the day before. They will have to use those skills throughout the course of the unit. Introduce the idea of story reflections. Show examples of writing good story reflections and bad story reflections. Definition: story reflection- tells the most important event in the story and why it was the most important event. Be sure to
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Ashley Friend- Increasing Reading Comprehension while Blogging UbD Lesson Plan

explain that the most important event is usually the solution to the problem. Have them look for problem and solution to help find their reflection material.

Read the book, King Midas and the Golden Touch to the children, so that they all have a common reading experience. Then, the students will go online to their blog and make a blog post stating their story reflection (the most important event that happened in the book and why). After they have written their post, have them tag using the words reflection, reading, kind midas and so on. After making their post, have students search for tags. Then have them comment on one other persons blog post. They need to comment on the other persons story reflection. They can complement or offer suggestions. At the end of the class, we will wrap up by sharing a few blog posts and responses.

Lesson 4- Writing a Story Prediction in a Blog Post

Before beginning, it is important to remind student of their blogging skills from the day before. They will have to use those skills throughout the course of the unit. Introduce the idea of story predictions. Show examples of writing good story predictions and bad story predictions. Definition: story prediction- tells what you think is going to happen next in the sotry based on what you already know about the story elements. Read half of the book, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp to the children, so that they all have a common reading experience. Then, the students will go online to their blog and make a blog post stating their story predictions. After they have written their post, have them tag using the words prediction, reading, aladdin and so on. After making their post, have students search for tags. Then have them comment on one other persons blog post. They need to comment on the other persons story prediction. They can complement or offer suggestions. At the end of the class, we will wrap up by reading the rest of the book. Then, share a few blog posts and responses that are exemplary.

Assessment
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Ashley Friend- Increasing Reading Comprehension while Blogging UbD Lesson Plan

The students will be read the half of the story, Westlandia. They will then go online and make a blog post about what they predict will happen next in the story. Tags: westlandia, predict Then, the students will return, to hear the rest of the story. After hearing the remainder of the story, the students will return to their computers to write three new posts. They will write a book recommendation post, a text feature post, and a story reflection post. The students need to tag each post. The teacher and the media specialist will then use the assessment posts to assess their knowledge of these comprehension skills. The teacher and media specialist will make posts on exemplary posts to give students an idea of exemplary work. The posts will be graded with a rubric. The boxes from the rubric have been taken directly from the DRA II scoring form with the exception of the box for a book recommendation which was created by the teacher and media specialist.

Book Recommendation Bookmark

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Ashley Friend- Increasing Reading Comprehension while Blogging UbD Lesson Plan

The book I read is called ________________. It is written by ___________________. It belongs to the ___________ genre. This book is great for people who _____________________ ___________________________________________ __________________________________. This book is also great for people who ________ ___________________________________________ __________________________________. Some books I have read that are similar are _____________, ______________, and _______________.

Some books I have read that are similar are _____________, ______________, and _______________. The book I read is called ________________. It is written by ___________________. It belongs to the ___________ genre. This book is great for people who _____________________ ___________________________________________ __________________________________. This book is also great for people who ________ ___________________________________________ __________________________________. Some books I have read that are similar are _____________, ______________, and _______________.

The book I read is called ________________. It is written by ___________________. It belongs to the ___________ genre. This book is great for people who _____________________ ___________________________________________ __________________________________. This book is also great for people who ________ ___________________________________________ __________________________________. Some books I have read that are similar are _____________, ______________, and _______________.

The book I read is called ________________. It is written by ___________________. It belongs to the ___________ genre. This book is great for people who _____________________ ___________________________________________ __________________________________. This book is also great for people who ________ ___________________________________________ __________________________________. Some books I have read that are similar are _____________, ______________, and _______________.

The book I read is called ________________. It is written by ___________________. It belongs to the ___________ genre. This book is great for people who _____________________ ___________________________________________ __________________________________. This book is also great for people who ________ ___________________________________________ __________________________________.

The book I read is called ________________. It is written by ___________________. It belongs to the ___________ genre. This book is great for people who _____________________ ___________________________________________ __________________________________. This book is also great for people who ________
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___________________________________________ __________________________________.

Ashley Friend- Increasing Reading Comprehension while Blogging UbD Lesson Plan

Some books I have read that are similar are _____________, ______________, and _______________.

Reading Comprehension Blog Assessment Unit Rubric

Writing a Book Recommendation Does Not Meet 0 The student is not able to successfully recommend a book they have read based on at least two of the following: who the book would be good for, the genre, and books that are similar. The student includes 0-1 of the previous items. 0 The student provides only partial or limited information or details about the main characters of the text. Progressing Towards 1 The student is able to recommend a book they have read based on at least two of the following: who the book would be good for, the genre, and books that are similar. Meets 2 The student is able to recommend a book they have read based on all three of the following: who the book would be good for, the genre, and books that are similar.

Identifying Text Features

Prediction

0 The student gives an unrelated prediction or no response. 0 Insignificant message; no reason for opinion or no response. 0 1 2

Reflection

Score

1 The student provides at least one detail for each of the two main characters with the use of inference skills to help to find the text features or the student finds two details for each character but the details are limited and it is not clear that they inferred meaning from the text. 1 The student provides at least one reasonable prediction that goes beyond the pages read aloud. 1 Less significant message and/or a general reason for opinion. 3 4 5 6

2 The student provides at least two details for each of the two main characters. The student uses some inference skills to help to find the text features.

2 The student provides at least two reasonable predictions that go beyond the pages read aloud. 2 Significant message and relevant reason for opinion. 7 8
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Ashley Friend- Increasing Reading Comprehension while Blogging UbD Lesson Plan

Lesson Reflection:
The process of identifying the areas of weakness through test score analysis
Before researching and creating the unit, the teacher and I thought about different standardized tests that the students had been a part of. When the student enter third grade, the only test that they have taken is the DRA II Reading assessment. This test is also administered at the beginning of third grade, so we felt like looking at this test score would be very relevant when designing this unit. We decided to create a unit about blogging. The blogging lessons would be based primarily on specific skills required to do well on the DRA II assessment. After analyzing the DRA assessments from the beginning of the year, we found that there were three main sections that the students needed to work on as a whole. These sections were the prediction, text features, and reflection section. Once we identified these areas, it was easy to create a unit around this need.

The design, development and delivery of the unit

When we designed the lesson, we focused on two things. We focused on how to easily introduce blogging skills in a way that would promote a learning community and we focused really incorporating meaningful lessons that would help them with an actual assessment that matters to their success in the future. Developing the unit was easy once we identified the area of need and were able to see specifically what the students needed from the lesson. Knowing this, also made the creation of the assessment and the rubric easier. To deliver the unit successfully, did require a little bit of set up in advance of the lesson. I had to set up a blog account for each of the students with their own password that all connected to the main class blog. For this, I used KidBlogs.com which I highly recommend. The students can all have their own independent blogs
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Ashley Friend- Increasing Reading Comprehension while Blogging UbD Lesson Plan

without having to have an e-mail account for each of them. The unit went better than expected because of the preparation in advance. The students were able to quickly catch on and seemed to instantly love blogging about their reading. It helped to increase reader interests and interest in communication. My students and Mrs. Cophers students have been blogging for about two weeks now (I taught the same unit to my own students as well) and love all aspects of it. They love posting, commenting, and replying to each other. The blogging has really changed the way that we think about learning as 21st century learners. Most recently, we have begun to use Google Docs as a method of collaboration in our lessons. The way we learn and share ideas has changed immensely since the introduction of the blogging unit. I feel like we are really beginning to function as 21st Century learners in our third grade. I am excited for the future.

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