SMALL READING GROUP PROJECT

Small Reading Group Project Emily North University of Illinois

SMALL READING GROUP PROJECT Lesson Reflections (1-4)

The first lesson of the project went pretty smoothly. We did not read the text, but rather, previewed the text and made predictions using the illustrations. We also defined important vocabulary words necessary for understanding. The vocabulary words were also necessary for completing the anticipation guide. At first I thought the lesson would be too easy for students, but it proved to be just right. They needed to review the vocab words and practice making predictions. Although the students are around the same DRA level, some already knew what the words meant while others did not. The students were able to write predictions, but when it came to making predictions based on the anticipation guide, they struggled. One of the students kept asking So, is this what Im supposed to mark? as we went through the anticipation guide. Instead of basing the marks on prior knowledge or personal reasoning, the student just wanted to mark the right answer. During my first lesson I might have practiced modeling for the anticipation guide with statements other than those listed. I could have used more relatable statements with think alouds to help students understand that they are using what they know to shape what they mark. Next time, I will start with familiar statements instead of any of the statements on the guide. I will also stress that the guide is just for making predictions and that there is no right or wrong answer. After reviewing the students notecards, I discovered that all but one had the vocabulary definitions written down. The student who did not write the definitions, however, was one of the students who already knew what each word meant. All the students made at least one prediction on their notecards. Addtionally, the students seemed to really like the notecards on the ring versus just having the notecards. Two students, however, did become distracted in an attempt to open and close the rings. Next time I use the rings I will remind students that they are not toys.

SMALL READING GROUP PROJECT Lastly, the students did not understand at first the difference between nonfiction narratives and nonfiction texts. After the students presented two examples, we listed more features of nonfiction narratives versus nonfiction texts. They seemed to better understand afterwards that a nonfiction narrative is essentially a story that actually happened.

The second lesson went even better than the first. All of the students were able to explain what it means to retell the story and understood that the details are in a certain order. We read two pages at a time and stopped to do unaided retellings. Two of the students provided many details, almost to the point where they recited every detail on the page. The same two students seemed elated for the other students and me to hear what they had to say and all the details they included. At times I had to cut them off in order to give other students a chance to retell some of the details. I had to remind students to raise their hands because everyone wanted to talk at once. Although the lesson began well, one student started to seem annoyed that we were doing retelling. He was able to share details, but I had to use aided retellings to get him to tell me more. He was able to complete the aided retellings without a problem. He did not seem to need the prompts, but rather, was just uninterested in the activity. I know it was not the most interesting lesson, but it was simply to practice retelling. I thought by doing the activity verbally and not requiring writing the students would be more interested. I also did not want the students to ask What should we write? at each step. I asked my teacher how I can get him to become more engaged, and she said he does not like anything other than math and typically works independently. Perhaps I should have given him the retelling framework sheet to fill out as we went along to keep him engaged. He understood what we read, but did not care to tell the details aloud or wait to hear what other classmates had to say.

SMALL READING GROUP PROJECT One interesting aspect was that two of the students described how they think the

characters felt during their retellings. For example, one student was telling how the judge ordered Ruby to go to William Frantz Elementary and the other girls to another school. The student noted that Ruby probably felt sad and alone and wished she could go to the other school with the girls. Without being told to describe how the characters felt, the student inferred the characters feelings based on the situation. The only time students struggled during retelling was when they had to remember specific details, such as names. One of the students kept calling the school Frances School versus William Frantz Elementary. Even then, the small replacement failed to affect comprehension or take away from the objectives of the lesson. Because the students did so well with retelling in the second lesson, I did not think we needed to do two more lessons on retelling. Although my teacher said to focus on retelling, the students appeared to be tired and ready to move onto something else. For the third lesson we reviewed retelling and moved in a different direction. The third lesson proved to be my favorite lesson to teach. We began reviewing retelling and starting to fill out a beginning, middle, and end packet. After completing the lesson I am positive that students were able to retell the key details of the story. When I modeled finding the main events, one student interrupted and said you forgot to mention that three other girls went to the other school. Despite only hearing the story twice, the students picked up on all the important details. The students did not complete their packets, which was fine because their verbal participation showed understanding and ability to retell. Instead of more retelling I wanted to engage in discussion versus focusing on details. I am glad I included the character analysis for a bit of a change. Even though they could tell me details about the book, such as how Rubys first day went, the students had to determine a word

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to describe Ruby and infer feelings based on the text. Although this was a bit off course, I think the students needed something more challenging and deserved a break from retelling. The students who seemed uninterested in lesson two still seemed a bit uninterested in lesson three. However, they had to think more. At one point, one of the students described Ruby as brave. When I asked him why, I could tell he was taken aback. I asked him to provide two examples from the text he thought would show people who never read the story before that Ruby was brave. Although he looked annoyed, he finally came up with two examples. Then, to push him even further, I asked him to think of a vocab word from writing class he might use to describe Ruby. He ended up saying Ruby had a lot of mettle and looked pleased that he was able to come up with the word from a different class. We ended up spending more time talking about Ruby and how she changed. We also talked about how the setting changed, such as the schools finally being desegregated. The fourth lesson proved to be the least effective and most difficult to teach. Throughout all the lessons I struggled with whether or not to have the students complete a worksheet or writing piece. After the second lesson, I thought the students could use something to fill out and track their thoughts. However, it was clear they did not need anything in the third lesson. Because we were switching to summarizing, however, I decided to have the students write something. I learned, though, that the students needed more practice before actually writing. Because the students had already practiced writing summaries, I did not spend as much time on direct instruction or reviewing strategies. Furthermore, I only used the sentence stem approach that my teacher uses. The students actually did not seem to need the sentence stems. I believe it would have been better to present the stems in the example, and then allow the students

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to write the summary without them. All but one of the students crossed out the sentence stems. By providing the stems, I actually hindered the students ability to compose a summary. When reviewing the students written work I learned they did not understand how to summarize. I made sure to tell students that they could extend their writing to another page, but they all stopped when the lines ended. With the exception of one student, the children relied heavily on details noted during retelling versus determining the main events. I should have provided more time on what it means to determine the main events and practicing summarizing. Because the students did so well with retelling and previously wrote summaries, I assumed they would be able to quickly summarize The Story of Ruby Bridges. Instead, the summaries were choppy and went from including many details to very broad statements. In terms of the anticipation guide, I thought all the students expressed understanding of the plot and were able to provide evidence. The group engaged in more of a debate than I thought. At times, though, the students struggled to listen to each others responses. I had to remind students they needed to wait their turn before expressing their thoughts. I again did not think students needed to raise their hands working in a group of four, but that is what we ended up having to do. Generally, the students defended their answers and provided one or more examples from the text. The only statement they struggled to do this with was The government tried to keep all schools segregated. For this statement we had to talk about whether they meant the federal government or state government, and what each one was trying to do. In the future I would devote the entire lesson to either only summarizing or only reviewing the anticipation guide. I would use more activities in which students determine the main events and practice verbally summarizing. Additionally, I might move away from relying on sentence stems for chronological order and more towards writing about the plot using the

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SWBST strategy (Somebody (identify the character(s); Wanted (describe the characters goal); But (describe a conflict that hinders the character); So (describe how the character reacts to the conflict); Then (describe the resolution of the conflict). Critical Reflection At the beginning of the small reading group project I needed to determine which students would be in my group. I thought about the varying DRA levels in my classroom and the students personalities. After talking with my cooperating teacher, I decided to work with a group of high readers. My teacher suggested that all four lessons focus on retelling, an aspect of comprehension. According to Tompkins (2010), comprehension involves a series of behaviors that occur over time. The comprehension process begins during prereading as students activate their background knowledge and preview the text, and it continues to develop as students read, respond, explore, and apply their reading (p. 258). Based on Tompkins definition of comprehension, I planned my lessons to begin with previewing the text. During the first lesson students simply looked at the illustrations to make predictions and completed an anticipation guide. Addtionally, pertinent vocabulary was pretaught in conjunction with the anticipation guide. The purpose of the anticipation guide was to activate background knowledge and provide students a purpose for reading (Tompkins, 2010, p. 428). The students struggled at first to complete the anticipation guides and did not understand that what they mark should be based on what they know. They thought that whatever they marked had to be the correct answer. Two of the students erased their original marks based on what I put. When asked why, they both responded with shoulder shrugs. I realized I needed to spend more time explicitly teaching the purpose of anticipation guides. In terms of making predictions, there was a wide range of understanding. One of the students wrote that Ruby would

SMALL READING GROUP PROJECT be the first black girl in an all-white school. Because she already heard the story of Ruby Bridges, she wrote what she knew versus a prediction about the storyline. Another student, however, simply wrote She will go to school.

While there was an interesting range in making predictions, all the students seemed to do wonderfully at retelling. All of the students told important details in a coherent manner (Tompkins, 2010, p. 275). It actually turned out that some of the students were almost too excited to share details, and the other students were overshadowed. I would ask a student to retell about Ruby, and they would end up retelling the entire two pages we just read. Using this information for the future, I need to determine how to keep all students involved. Perhaps I could use cards that say character, setting, or plot and hand them to students. When students receive a card, they are only retelling about that card. During the third and fourth lessons I tried to call on one of the quieter students first and remind any student interrupting not to disrespect their peers. In terms of what students learned, they typically met most of the set objectives. However, I set too many specific objectives for such a short amount of time. In a 20 minute period I set 3-4 specific objectives. However, some of the objectives related to different reading strategies, such as retelling, making predictions, inferring, and summarizing. Although I changed the lessons because the students met all the retelling objectives, I included too many other strategies too soon. For example, the students could not meet the objectives for summarizing in the last lesson, and it was my fault. Instead of spending more time gradually releasing responsibility to students through guided and independent reading, I jumped into integrating several strategies in routines (Tompkins, 2010, p. 271). The students were not ready to take on that many strategies without thorough, explicit instruction.

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I should have followed my teachers advice to focus on retelling. The students provided detailed retellings for each section of the book, and it would have been nice to use that information and focus even more on character analysis. Instead, I overestimated their knowledge of summarizing and moved past retelling. Although the students could pick out the big idea when the book was divided into three sections, the majority could not pick apart and condense information into one written piece. I need to explicitly teach summarizing strategies to the students. When teaching the lessons I learned more about each student in my group. One of the students has an extremely strong personality and always wants to participate. From observations in class and talking with my teacher, she loves to read and talk about reading. On the opposite end, one of my students appeared apathetic throughout all the lessons. According to my teacher, the student only enjoys mathematics or analytical situations. I wanted to find a way to keep my unresponsive student engaged and also let my strong personality talk. I found that I had to give my disengaged student more open-ended questions that posed a challenge and consistently remind my eager student to raise their hand or only talk about one aspect of retelling. It was difficult to keep a balanced group dynamic. The other two students participated as well, but were sometimes interrupted by the strong personality. One thing I learned about myself is that I rely too heavily on written lesson plans. Although one of my strong suits is over planning and thinking through multiple situations, I have difficulty deviating from my original plan when modifications are necessary. During the final lesson I should have practiced more summarizing activities or went straight to the anticipation guide. I also could have asked more open-ended questions in the second lesson when students first showed signs being proficient in retelling. Although not an objective of the second lesson,

SMALL READING GROUP PROJECT students could have begun making connections to the characters and noting how the setting changed.

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Completing the small reading group project helped me develop as a teacher. I was able to explore multiple reading strategies, use assessment to guide instruction, and work with a smaller group of students to identify strength and weaknesses of each reader. I was also able to gain insight to my own strengths and weaknesses, such as thoroughly preparing but having trouble veering away from the written lesson plan when needed. In the future I intend to set fewer objectives over a longer period of time and work even harder to explicitly teach reading strategies with modeling before having students work independently

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Appendix

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A. Lesson Plans 1-4 B. Anticipation Guides C. Beginning, Middle, and End Retelling Packets D. Sentence Stem Summaries

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Appendix A Name: Emily North Small Group Reading Lesson Plan [INTRO LESSON #1] Grade Level: 4th Instruction: 1 day- 20 minutes Number of Students: 4 Length of

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Instructional Location: The rectangle table in the back of the classroom Standard(s) Addressed CC.4.RI.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text. CC.4.RI.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area. CC.4.RL.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. CC.4.RL.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a characters thoughts, words, or actions). Content Objectives Students will be able to activate prior knowledge by completing an anticipation guide so that they can become familiar with key aspects of the setting before reading The Story of Ruby Bridges. Students will be able to describe and identify features of a nonfiction narrative text by giving an example after our initial discussion and defending their choice so that they can look for both information and a story line when reading. Students will be able to define pertinent vocabulary words by looking for the definitions in their student dictionaries and recording the results on index cards so that they can focus on comprehension without stopping to figure out a word and complete an anticipation guide. Students will be able to formulate predictions by looking at the front and back illustrations and reviewing their anticipation guides so that they can have a starting point when reading The Story of Ruby Bridges. Enduring Understandings (Big Ideas) How do strategies help us as readers? What can nonfiction narratives tell readers? How do peoples lives differ in different time periods? How do the characters, setting, and structure provide information? Language Objectives Because all of my students are native English speakers, there are no language objectives addressed from WIDA.

Essential Questions o What is the structure of a nonfiction narrative and why is it important? o What are some characteristics of a setting? o How can we complete a character

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analysis? How can forming predictions guide our reading?

Prerequisite Skills Students previously talked about how some people had different rights during different time periods during a voting discussion. Additionally, the students have practiced filling in true/false questionnaires (necessary for the anticipation guide). Lastly, the students have practiced questioning and making predictions during other read-alouds in their literacy block. Title: The Story of Ruby Bridges Author: Robert Coles Genre/Text Type: nonfiction narrative Theme(s) Nonfiction narrative tells a story with factual information and a beginning, middle, and end The past affects our lives today People did not always have equal rights Assessment Checklist Do students show understanding of the vocabulary words in anticipation guides? Can students tell me the purpose of nonfiction narrative texts? Do students provide verbal defense for the choices on their anticipation guides? Do students write at least predictions on Focus (*only lesson 1) identify text features activate background knowledge vocabulary make predictions Vocabulary Equality (inequality) Segregate (desegregate) Civil rights Protest Predictions Nonfiction Narrative text (use www.wordsmyth.net) and student dictionaries

Lesson 1

Modification/Differentiation -Students can describe to partners in their own words each vocab word discussed -If two students know more about the time period than the other students, they can word in partners to fill out the anticipation guides

Materials Teacher anticipation guide Individual anticipation guides 5 copies of The Story of Ruby Bridges Notecards for vocab and predictions with rings

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their index cards? LESSON 1

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Before Reading: Preview the skill, activate and build background knowledge, set the stage, introduce, and explain Preview the skill: (Teacher led) I will show students the front of the book and read the title. I will explain that this is a nonfiction narrative and describes something that actually happens. I will say to students, I know a narrative tells a story. I also know a story has a beginning, middle, and end. Knowing this about narratives makes it easier to summarize each part of the story. I also know that nonfiction is about something that happened. Often times, nonfiction texts are organized differently and have headings, glossaries, and bold print. Do you see any of these things in this book? I will flip through the pages quickly so students can see that there is no bold print, headings, glossary, or other common features of nonfiction texts. Even though this book doesnt have many of the features, it is still nonfiction because the story actually happened. Activate and build on prior knowledge: I will ask students if they can think of any nonfiction narratives they have read. (Do students mention other stories that are biographical? Do students mention more scientific books that have a beginning, middle, end?) **MORE BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE BUILDING IN ANTICIPATION GUIDE, WHICH SERVES AS THE ACTUAL ACTIVITY FOR THIS LESSON** Set a purpose: (Teacher led & student collaboration) I will tell students that I know they have been talking lately about voting and voting rights. I will tell students that I want to continue learning more about different rights and how not everyone used to have these rights. The Story of Ruby Bridges talks more about how rights for people were different in the past versus today. First, I want to introduce (or possibly review) some vocab that will help us during the story. Ask if anyone knows the meaning of each word (the words will be pre-written on individual notecards. The words will be on the front and together we will fill out the meanings on the back. Then, they will put the index cards onto a ring for later references. Write the meaning of each word on the appropriate index card in student language. The website www.wordmyth.net provides 3 tiers of definitions- beginner, children, and advanced. Now that weve looked over some important terms, lets start talking about what we think will happen in the narrative.

Introduce and explain: (Teacher led) Before we start reading it is helpful to think about what we already know. Today we are going to fill out an anticipation guide. This guide has some information that you may or may not already know about Ruby Bridges. We want to use this information to help form predictions before we start reading. Predictions are what we think might happen. During Activity: Explicit instruction, active engagement in meaning making, and practice (you should check for understanding throughout) When you start the guide, think about what you already know about Ruby Bridges or about civil rights. The middle of the guide has 6 statements about Ruby Bridges and some of our vocab words. The left side has two options- agree or disagree. We are going to fill out the left side today before we read the book. After we read the book, we will go back and talk about our statements and pull information directly from the text.

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Model: Complete the statement on the anticipation guide for students using a think-aloud. So, the first statement says that Ruby Bridges experienced inequality. I know that inequality means not being equal. I also know Ruby Bridges is black, and in the past, black individuals didnt have as many rights. Thats not fair or equal. Im going to mark agree. Guided practice: Lets look at the next two statements. I will read the 2nd statement aloud to students and ask them as a group what they think. Depending on if they say agree or disagree, I will ask them to justify their reasoning based on prior knowledge or pulling from the vocab words we just looked at. I will complete the 2nd and 3rd statements with the students. Independent practice: For the rest of the statements I want you to work independently to answer agree or disagree. Remember to think about what you already know and use that to answer agree or disagree. Assessment: Informal check for understanding- I will talk with each student about one of the statements and their justification. After they mark disagree or agree, we will come back together as a whole group to mark our class copy of the anticipation guide and listen to each others responses.

After Activity: Restate teaching point, clarify key points, extend ideas, check for understanding Check for understanding: Lets look back at the book again. Who can tell me what a nonfiction narrative is? I will wait for students to respond (a true story, a story with information about Ruby Bridges that has a beginning, middle, and end). Restate the teaching point & Clarify key concepts: Now that we talked about some vocab and ideas related to the story, lets use this information to make predictions. Predictions help us to guide our reading. When we read, we look for details and information from the text to keep or change our predictions. I will hold up the book and show the front and back illustrations. I will tell students to look at the pictures and think about what they know. Students are to write at least 2 predictions based on background knowledge, discussion of the anticipation guide, and the illustrations. They will attach these predictions to their ring with vocab cards (the front section is marked vocab and the back predictions). Please write your predictions on the front of the notecard where it says before. After we start reading, you can go back and change your prediction on the back where it says after. We will start reading on Friday. Repertoire of strategies : activating background knowledge, vocabulary, Extensions: Students can make more predictions and discuss these predictions with partners.

Modify Tomorrows Plan Based on todays lesson, what changes will you make for tomorrows lesson? In tomorrows lesson I plan on reviewing all of the vocab and having students look up definitions in the dictionary. The pages will already be marked with post-its for less time. They will add to or change the definitions they wrote on their card, and we will talk about one example for each (ex. I might protest having more homework at night; The boys and girls were segregated during a math game with teams). I will also have to go over the anticipation guide and provide time for students to explain their thoughts

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and reasoning for the answers. One of the most important modifications will be the setting for my reading group. Sitting in the class library on the floor just didnt quite work. I want to use the back table or arrange 5 desks in the back corner. The students definitely need a space to put their guides, notecards, and their book. Sitting on the floor just wont work.

Name: Emily North Small Group Reading Lesson Plan [Lesson #2] Grade Level: 4th Instruction: 1 day- 20 minutes Instructional Location: A table in the library Standard(s) Addressed CC.4.RI.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text. CC.4.RL.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. CC.4.RL.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a characters thoughts, words, or actions). CC.4.SL.2 Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Content Objectives Students will be able to describe the process of retelling to a partner after watching the teacher model the skill so that they can prepare to use the skill in group and independent reading. Students will be able to retell key details in sequential order by reading 2 pages together and verbally sharing aided and unaided retellings in a group discussion so that they can improve literal comprehension. Students will be able to retell key details in sequential order by listening to a partner read and noting important details every two pages so that they can improve literal comprehension. Students will be able to form predictions by using the information from retellings to revise and create new predictions so that they can think about the changes that occur as they read. Enduring Understandings (Big Ideas) How do strategies help us as readers? What can nonfiction narratives tell readers? How do peoples lives differ in different time periods? Language Objectives Because all of my students are native English speakers, there are no language objectives addressed from WIDA. Number of Students: 4 Length of

Essential Questions o What is retelling and why is it important? o What do we want to retell and in

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How do the characters, setting, and structure provide information?

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what order? What are some characteristics of a setting? How can we complete a character analysis? How can forming predictions guide our reading?

o o o

Prerequisite Skills Students previewed the book the day before and made predictions. Students know the book is a nonfiction narrative and follows a storyline. Additionally, the students have practiced questioning, making predictions, and retelling during other read-alouds in their literacy block. Students know what makes up the setting of a story, can identify main events, and know that stories have a particular, sequential structure. Title: The Story of Ruby Bridges Author: Robert Coles Genre/Text Type: nonfiction narrative Theme(s) Retelling helps readers increase comprehension and organize details Retelling improves critical thinking skills and develops understanding of story structure The past affects our lives today People did not always have equal rights Assessment Informal- Discussion Do all students participate? Do students exhibit literal comprehension by noting details about the plot, character, and setting for the pages read? Do students make predictions using the Focus (lesson 2) Review vocabulary Retell parts of The Story of Ruby Bridges Make and revise predictions Vocabulary Equality (inequality) Segregate (desegregate) Civil rights Protest Predictions Nonfiction Narrative text Retelling Sequencing Main event Setting

Lesson 1

Modification/Differentiation - The teacher can switch to aided retellings during independent practice if the student is having difficulty with unaided retellings. -The teacher can use pictures to help students put their thoughts in sequential order before adding details for retelling.

Materials Notecards with vocab and predictions 5 copies of The Story of Ruby Bridges Pencils Post-its (to mark the beginning, middle, and end of the book)

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information from retelling? LESSON 2

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Before Reading: Preview the skill, activate and build background knowledge, set the stage, introduce, and explain Preview the skill: (Teacher led) *The first thing I will do is go back to the anticipation guide and allow students 3 minutes to finish. I will remind students that they are just marking what they think, and that there is no right or wrong answer at this point in time. I will again show students the book and explain that this is a nonfiction narrative. I will say to students, Last time we talked a bit about nonfiction narratives. Nonfiction narratives tell information in a story line with a beginning, middle, and end. The Story of Ruby Bridges is an actual story. I will tell students we are going to continue making predictions today. Does everyone have their predictions from last class? Today, after we read, we will review and revise those predictions. We will also keep making predictions as we read. I will tell students that we are adding another skill to help us make and revise predictions. I also want to teach you about retelling. Retelling is a strategy readers use to think about what they are reading. When we retell a story, we tell the important parts, in the right order. This helps us to understand the story better and remember it longer. We can also use the details from retelling to make or change predictions. When we read today we will retell details about three things: the characters, the setting, and the main events. Again, we use retelling to think about what we read and note the important details to talk about the story. Turn to the person next to you and explain to them what retelling is. Explain to them what three things we tell details about. After students share with each other have them come back as a group. So, who can tell me what retelling is? (Noting the key details of the story about character, setting, and main events in the right order). Great! Activate and build on prior knowledge: I will ask students to remind the group what they know about the setting of a story. Ok boys and girls- I know you always talk about the setting of stories or different texts. Who can remind us what the setting is again and what details we should remember? (The students have a poster in the class that says the setting is where and when the story takes place). Ok, so we know the setting is where and when the story takes place. This might include information about the time period, or details about how the where of the story looks or feels. The setting can also change, such as moving from someones house to someones school. I will also remind students that the main events are the most important things to happen in the reading. Everything else is just supporting details. We also need to remember that the details in the story go in order. When we put the story in the correct order we are sequencing. Lastly, lets look over our vocab words from yesterday. Have the students look at the pages marked in the dictionary and quickly go over the meaning of each word. Ok, so now that we reviewed our vocab we should be able to use these words to help us understand what we are reading. Set a purpose: (Teacher led & student collaboration) I will tell students that I know they have been talking lately about voting and voting rights. I will

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tell students that I want to continue learning more about different rights and how not everyone used to have these rights. The Story of Ruby Bridges talks more about how rights for people were different in the past versus today. I will also tell students that once we read through the story and practice retelling we will eventually write a summary and look back at our anticipation guide. Introduce and explain: (Teacher led) Before we start reading lets look over our predictions from yesterday. Everyone take a minute or so to read over their predictions. After looking over their predictions, students should share one with the group. As we read lets remember to think about important details that will help use better understand the story. These details will also help us figure out if we need to change our predictions. During Reading: Explicit instruction, active engagement in meaning making, and practice (check for understanding throughout) Today we are going to read The Story of Ruby Bridges together and practice retelling. Remember to think about our three big things as we read: the characters, the setting, and the main events. Also, at the end of our reading, we will make some more predictions. Model: Turn to the beginning of the story and read the title and first two pages aloud. So, let me think about who the characters are. The author tells us about Ruby Bridges, her mother, and her father. I also read that Ruby is four years old. Her dad worked picking crops, but then became a janitor. Her mom would scrub floors at night. Now, what do I know about the setting? Well, it says the family lived in Mississippi and moved to New Orleans. Also, it says the year is 1957, which is the time period. I think one main event of this part would be that Rubys family moved to New Orleans, but I might need to read a little bit more. So, to sum up what I just readRuby and her family lived in Mississippi in 1957. Her dad worked picking crops, but the family later moved to New Orleans. Her dad got a job as a janitor and her mom went to work scrubbing floors at night. See how I put these details in the order they happened? Sometimes though, we cant really pick out main events until we have move information. For this class, lets try to find two main events for the beginning, middle, and end of the book. To do that, we need to keep reading. Guided practice: Lets read the next two pages and try to practice retelling. I will read the next two pages aloud. Ok, now that we just read, we need to retell our important details. Remember, the details tell us about the character and setting, and the main events if we have enough information. Who can retell about the characters? I will call on a student. Who can retell about the setting? I will call on a student. What do we think the main events are? I will call on a student, and depending on if students provide enough detail, other students should be called on to help add. You might say Thats a very important part of the story! Did we learn anything else about the character/setting? Did it change at all? Now that we found the important details we need to remember to put them in order. If students are struggling with this perhaps show the pictures from the text in order and see if this helps them with sequencing. I will continue reading until I reach the middle of the book. Then, I will have students participate in a retelling again, but more unaided without prompts for character and setting. I will also tell students to look back at their predictions. Did anyone find an answer to their prediction? Do you need to change your prediction? Tell students to write on the back of their notecard a new or revised prediction.

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Independent practice: Once the retelling is complete, students will read the middle section of the book on their own with a partner. The book is sectioned off into beginning, middle, and end with post-its in each book. Now that we practiced retelling together I want you to read the middle section of the book with a partner. One person will read two pages at a time. The person not reading will retell important details. What kinds of details should we look for? Then, the two partners will switch. The first reader will become the listener, and the listener will read the next two pages. For example, I would read two pages and Timmy would retell what I read. Then, Timmy would read two pages and I would retell what Timmy read. Students should also make 1-2 predictions after they read the middle section. Students should then do the same activity for the end section of the book. Assessment: Informal check for understanding- I will listen to each group as they read and do retellings. If students only give minimal details I will use prompts to help them include more information. Students will also be assessed based on their participation in the guided activity for practicing retelling.

After Activity: Restate teaching point, clarify key points, extend ideas, check for understanding Check for understanding: You all worked very well together and noted some pretty important details. Who can tell me again what we do when we retell? I will wait for students to respond with possible answers such as telling what happens in the story with important details in the right order or that we retell things about the characters, setting and main events. Restate the teaching point & Clarify key concepts: So, we know that retelling helps us keep track of what is happening in the story and note important details. Knowing these details helps us realize how the characters and setting changed throughout the story. Tomorrow we will review retelling and look more at the important details we discovered. During the next lesson students will fill out a worksheet to organize their retellings to use when summarizing later on. Repertoire of strategies : predicting, retelling Extensions: Students can make more predictions and discuss these predictions with partners; Students can draw a chart to keep track of key details

Modify Tomorrows Plan Based on todays lesson, what changes will you make for tomorrows lesson? Tomorrow I will have a worksheet for students to fill out. Although most of the students were engaged, I think some might benefit from having a paper in front of them to track their ideas. Today we just practiced retelling key details in sequential order. The next lesson will require the students to remember their retellings and use the information to engage in discussion about character analysis. Instead of having students work in partners to fill out the worksheet, I will have us work as a group. Two of the students have very strong personalities and struggle to let their partners express their thoughts and details without interrupting. Although I am glad that the students are grasping the concepts, I want all the students to be able to talk and share the information without being overshadowed. I will also probably call on the student who seemed disinterested more frequently and try to pose open-ended questions that make him think. I know my main goal is to help students retell, but I need to make the activity more analytical to get him thinking and engaged in the story.

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Name: Emily North Small Group Reading Lesson Plan [Lesson #3] Grade Level: 4th Instruction: 1 day- 20 minutes Instructional Location: A table in the library Standard(s) Addressed CC.4.RI.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text. CC.4.RL.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. CC.4.RL.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a characters thoughts, words, or actions). CC.4.SL.2 Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Content Objectives Students will be able to record key details from retellings by filling out a sequenced worksheet as a whole group so that they can organize their retelling to aid in summary development. Students will be able to verbally describe character and setting changes by referencing their filled out sequencing worksheets so that they can analyze how stories change from the beginning to end (minor character analysis). Students will be able to come up with character traits by referencing their sequencing worksheet and the book so that they can practice defending their reasoning with textual examples. MINOR: Students will describe character feelings by referring to details and examples from The Story of Ruby Bridges so that they can practice drawing inferences. Enduring Understandings (Big Ideas) How do strategies help us as readers? What can nonfiction narratives tell readers? How do peoples lives differ in different time periods? How do the characters, setting, and structure provide information? Language Objectives Because all of my students are native English speakers, there are no language objectives addressed from WIDA. Number of Students: 4 Length of

Essential Questions o What is retelling and why is it important? o What do we want to retell and in what order? o How can we complete a character analysis?

Prerequisite Skills Students know the book is a nonfiction narrative and follows a storyline. Additionally, the students have

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practiced questioning, making predictions, and retelling during other read-alouds in their literacy block. Students have read The Story of Ruby Bridges and completed verbal retellings in the previous lesson. Students have practiced a character analysis in another book, Class President. Title: The Story of Ruby Bridges Author: Robert Coles Genre/Text Type: nonfiction narrative Theme(s) Retelling and summarizing improves critical thinking skills and develops understanding of story structure The past affects our lives today People did not always have equal rights Focus (lesson 2) Review retelling Character analysis and how the setting changed (some inferring) Vocabulary Sequencing Main event Setting Character Analysis

Lesson 1

Assessment Modification/Differentiation Informal- The teacher can have Do students students verbally record participate? their worksheet if they Can students tell have trouble writing. how the main - The teacher can have character students use a graphic changed from organizer for character beginning to development versus end? discussion if students have Can students tell trouble. how the setting changed from beginning to end? Can students pull information from the text to describe changes? Formal- Worksheet Do students fill in information about the characters? Do students fill in information about the setting?

Materials Notecards with vocab and predictions (just for reference) 5 copies of The Story of Ruby Bridges Pencils Individual copies of the retelling worksheet

SMALL READING GROUP PROJECT

Do students fill in information about the plot? Do students write 1-2 main events? LESSON 3

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Before Reading: Preview the skill, activate and build background knowledge, set the stage, introduce, and explain Preview the skill: (Teacher led) Yesterday you did a really good job with retelling! Today I want to read the book to you one more time and see how well we do with retelling. We will also be filling out a worksheet to keep track of our retelling and see how the character and setting changed from beginning to end. I know it seems like a lot, but you have done so well in our past lessons. I know you can do it! Activate and build on prior knowledge: Before we start, who can remind me what it means to retell? Then, wait for student response. After, I will start talking to students about a character analysis. Remember when you read Class President? What things do you remember about Julio in the beginning of the book? How did he feel or act? I will wait for student responses that might include shy, uncertain, or nervous. How did Julio change throughout the book? I will wait for student responses that might include became more confident, decided to run for president, or was more enthusiastic. What did we learn about Julio as a person? I will wait for student responses, such as he was nice, he was friendly, or he cared about his friends. What are the all the words we used to describe Julio called? (character traits) How did we find this out? (from information in the text) When we think about all these things we perform a character analysis. A character analysis is when we think about how the character acts or feels, what kinds of traits they have, and how they change from the beginning to the end of the story. Set a purpose: (Teacher led & student collaboration) Today we will record all our details from our retelling and use the information to determine how our main character changed throughout the story. Class, who do you think was the main character? (Ruby) Great! I will go through section by section to record key details to help students in a discussion for character analysis.

Introduce and explain: (Teacher led) Today I will re-read the whole story to you. Then, we will go through the beginning, middle, and end of the story to mark details about the main events, characters, and setting. Dont forget, your book already has post-its that mark the beginning, middle and end. The details we record will help us complete our character analysis. During Reading: Explicit instruction, active engagement in meaning making, and practice (you should check for understanding throughout) I will start out by reading the entire story the whole way through. Then, I will turn back to the beginning and hand out the retelling packets to students. The packets are separated into beginning, middle, and end, and each section includes a section for main events, characters, and setting.

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Model: Everyone take a look at the first page. The top says beginning. On this page we will record information only about the beginning of the story, or up until your first post-it. Notice that under the word beginning there are three sections. What are the three sections? (main events, characters, setting) Good! Do the first part about main events for the students. Ok, I think I know from reading yesterday and today what the main events are. I only want to put 1-2 because these sections are short. I think one important event is that Rubys family moved from Mississippi to New Orleans when Ruby was four. I think this might be a main event because if they didnt move, Ruby would have never been sent to an all-white school. What do you all think? Wait for student response, and then list another main event. I think the next main event is when Ruby is told to go to William Frantz Elementary School. If she never went to this school, she would not have been the only black child and would have never changed history. Complete the main events part with students, then move onto guided practice. Guided practice: Go through the packet together with students. Have students note details about the characters taken from the text. Once the entire packet is filled out, return to the beginning. Review the concept of character traits. Character traits tell about a characters personality. We can determine these traits based on the characters actions. We can look back at our packet and the details to find more information about our main character, Ruby. For example, Ruby is told to go to an all-white school by herself. How do you think she felt? (Wait for student response). What are some words we could use to describe Ruby? (Wait for student response). How do we know this? (Wait for student response). I will continue to review the packet with students and talk more about Rubys development. Questions should include the following: -How did Ruby feel? Why do you think this? -What did Ruby do? -What words can we use to describe Ruby? -Why did you use those words? What examples from the text support these traits? -How did Ruby change from the beginning to the middle? The middle to the end? -How did the setting change from the beginning to the middle? The middle to the end? -What was happening during the time period of the setting? Overall, this lesson is just a review of retelling with some character analysis. During the past lessons students were able to complete both aided and unaided retellings in a discussion. At this point, I wanted to give the students something more analytical that pulled information from the retelling.

Independent practice: There is no independent practice for this lesson. Assessment: Informal check for understanding- Students will be assessed during the discussion on Ruby as the main character. If a student provides a character trait, such as timid, I will ask them why. Can they give me an instance from the text that explains why Ruby is timid? I will constantly ask students to provide evidence to support the character traits they say. The students will also be assessed for completion of the worksheet. Since we will be going over the worksheet together, and students have already verbally completed a retelling the day prior, the

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worksheet does not have to be overly detailed. It is mainly a resource for students to use when they summarize later on.

After Activity: Restate teaching point, clarify key points, extend ideas, check for understanding Check for understanding: I will ask students again to describe the process of retelling. (Telling what happens in the story with important details in the right order. We retell things about the characters, setting and main events). Then, I will ask students to either give me one word to describe Ruby with reasoning or tell me how the setting changed before we dismiss. You all did a wonderful job today! Im glad to see you remembered so much about the story. Before we go, lets review once more: I want everyone to either tell me one word that describes Ruby and why OR an example of how the setting changed. Restate the teaching point & Clarify key concepts: So, we know that retelling helps us keep track of what is happening in the story and note important details. Knowing these details helps us realize how the characters and setting changed throughout the story. During the next lesson we will use all this information to write our summary and take a look back at our anticipation guides from the first day. Repertoire of strategies : retelling, inferring feelings during a minor character analysis Extensions: Students could complete a graphic organizer about Rubys growth throughout the story.

Modify Tomorrows Plan Based on todays lesson, what changes will you make for tomorrows lesson? For the last lesson I am going to give the students control in terms of how they compose their summary. I am more interested to see what they took from the book in terms of comprehension and how their views changed from first completing the anticipation guide. I will probably have the students write a summary, but it will be on the surface and cover the events that happened. With the summary, I want to see if students can pick out the main events and put them in sequential order. Our main discussion will probably come during the review of the anticipation guides.

Name: Emily North Small Group Reading Lesson Plan [Lesson #4] Grade Level: 4th Instruction: 1 day- 27 minutes Instructional Location: A table in the library Standard(s) Addressed CC.4.RI.2 Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text. Number of Students: 4 Length of

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CC.4.RI.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text. CC.4.RL.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a characters thoughts, words, or actions). CC.4.SL.2 Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Content Objectives Language Objectives Students will be able to complete a written summary by Because all of my students are native referencing their sequencing worksheets and using English speakers, there are no sentence stems so that they can reflect comprehension of language objectives addressed from The Story of Ruby Bridges. WIDA. Students will be able to revise their anticipation guides by referencing discussions, worksheets, and summaries of all lessons so that they can reflect comprehension and show understanding of the time period. Enduring Understandings (Big Ideas) Essential Questions o What does it mean to summarize? How do strategies help us as readers? o How can we use what we read to What can nonfiction narratives tell readers? revise our anticipation guides? How do peoples lives differ in different time periods? o How did Ruby Bridges change How do the characters, setting, and structure provide history? information? Prerequisite Skills Students have read The Story of Ruby Bridges twice, previously written summaries for other books, and already completed the before section of the anticipation guide. Title: The Story of Ruby Bridges Author: Robert Coles Genre/Text Type: nonfiction narrative Theme(s) Writing a summary involves picking out the most important events and details The past affects our lives today People did not always have equal rights Assessment Informal Can students tell what a summary is? Do students defend their reasoning during the anticipation guide review? FormalFocus (lesson 2) Summarize The Story of Ruby Bridges Revise predictions Apply knowledge from previous lessons to evaluate the historical impact of Ruby Bridges Vocabulary Summary

Lesson 1

Modification/Differentiation - The teacher can have students verbally record their summary if they have trouble writing. The teacher can go over additionally summary models to help students further understand how to

Materials 5 copies of The Story of Ruby Bridges Pencils Individual copies of the summary framework Original copies

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Summary/Anticipation Guide Do students include the main events? Do students include information about the main character? Is the summary in chronological order? Do the students fill out the After Reading portion of the anticipation guide? write a summary. of the anticipation guide

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LESSON 4 Before Reading: Preview the skill, activate and build background knowledge, set the stage, introduce, and explain Preview the skill: (Teacher led) I am so impressed with your character analysis from yesterday. I know you can retell the details of the story and provide important information about how the character and setting changed. Today we are going to summarize the story. Most importantly, we are going to review our anticipation guides from the first day to see if your original thoughts changed. Im interested to see what everyone has to say! Activate and build on prior knowledge: I will ask the students what it means to summarize. I will wait for student responses, and depending on the answer, ask for more responses. Then, I will direct the students attention to the poster hanging in the room about summarizing. Those were all good answers. In case you forget, the poster in our room says summarizing is Telling or writing the main ideas in the correct order. Summaries tell readers what a piece of writing is all about. Remember when you wrote summaries last week about Class President? You picked out the most important parts and wrote them in the correct order. Today, we are going to do the same thing. Set a purpose: I will tell students that once we complete our summaries and show we really understand the events of the story we can go back to our anticipation guide. I will remind students that we have been talking lately about voting and voting rights. I will tell students that we can finally go back and talk about how rights for people in the past were different than rights people have today. We will talk about how schooling for children in the past is different than schooling today. Introduce and explain: (Teacher led) Ok, class. Now its time to write our summaries. Who can tell me what strategies you used last time you wrote your summary? I will wait for student responses. Students have been using sentence stems to help them write their summaries. The stems tell the sequential order. Thats right! We have been using the same setup to help us become familiar with the order of a story.

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Before we start writing, I want to practice with you. During Reading: Explicit instruction, active engagement in meaning making, and practice (you should check for understanding throughout)

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Model: As an example for the summary with sentence stems I will The Three Little Pigs. I asked my teacher beforehand if the students knew the story and would be able to follow, since she typically uses fairy tales as examples. Does everyone remember the story of The Three Little Pigs? Great! I am going to practice summarizing the story before you write your own about Ruby Bridges. I will show students the worksheet that lists the following sentence stems: in the beginning, next, then, after that, and in the end. I will go through the first two sections and say 1-2 sentences before moving on to the next sentence stem. In the beginning, the three little pigs all built houses. One built a house with straw, another with sticks, and the last pig built his house with bricks. Next, the big bad wolf came along and thought the pigs looked delicious. He chased the pigs and they ran into their houses. I will be pointing to the sentence stems as I tell my summary. What sentence stem will I start with now? Students should respond with then. Good, now lets have you try! Guided practice: What happens after the wolf runs into the pigs houses? Try starting off with then. Wait for students responses. Try and lead students into using the next stem, which is after that. I will tell students that they just summarized The Three Little Pigs out loud. Good job summarizing! Now, I want you to do the same thing with The Story of Ruby Bridges. You can use your packet to help you. Remember, you only need tell the most important events! I will also tell students that they do not have to use the sentence stems if they do not need to, but they need to have the summary in the correct order. Independent practice: Students will work individually to complete their written summaries. After students complete the summaries, we will move on to reviewing the anticipation guide. More focus should be placed on the anticipation guide versus the summary. Assessment: Informal check for understanding- I will check to see if students are able to complete the verbal summarizing of the three little pigs. I will also walk around as students complete their summaries and see if they have chosen the main events and put them in sequential order.

**FOR ANTICIPATION GUIDE Model: Im so excited you learned so much from reading The Story of Ruby Bridges. Lets look back at the predictions we made on our anticipation guide and see if anything changed. I will model statement number 1 for the students by explaining my reasoning. The first statement says Ruby Bridges experienced inequality. I know that inequality means things were not equal or they were unfair. I also know that it was unfair that at first, Ruby could not attend a white school. After reading this book, I think that Ruby Bridges did indeed experience inequality. Guided Practice: Go through statements 2-6 with students. Students must defend their answers. If students need help, use cues to put them on the right track. For example, if a student says that all schools were desegregated by 1960, ask what year the story starts and ask what is happening at the time. Students should be able to provide reasoning for their thoughts.

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Independent Practice: There is no independent practice for the anticipation guide. We will review all the statements as a group. Assessment: For completing the anticipation guide, I will ask students to defend their answers and guide the students using cues.

After Activity: Restate teaching point, clarify key points, extend ideas, check for understanding Check for understanding: I will ask students to tell me what they did when they summarized the story of Ruby Bridges. I will ask students to tell me the purpose of summarizing. I will be making mental notes to see if students can describe the process and purpose of summarizing. Restate the teaching point & Clarify key concepts: After today we were able to summarize what we learned about Ruby Bridges to help other people learn more about her. We also looked back and revised predictions we made before we even read. Im glad we were able to use all the details and information to talk about why Ruby Bridges is so important and how she changed history. You didnt even need to look back at your book to talk about each statement because you know the story so well! Repertoire of strategies : summarizing, revising predictions Extensions: Students might create illustrations to go with their summaries. Students might further research Ruby Bridges or watch informational videos online.

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SMALL READING GROUP PROJECT Appendix C

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SMALL READING GROUP PROJECT Appendix D

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SMALL READING GROUP PROJECT Reference Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

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