Ogechukwu Ozo-Onyali

ESL; Special Education. (Co-Teaching Grade IV)

Objectives:
At the beginning of the unit, before the pre-assessments were given, the objective
for the unit was put up on the board and explained in age appropriate language. I
explained to the students that this was the main objective for the unit but we will break it
down into several steps daily so that they would be able to achieve the MCCRS standards
and essential skills and knowledge. Everyday for the rest of the unit, we started the lesson
with a review of the previous days work beginning with the objective then introduced the
days objective, breaking it down into simpler parts so the student would understand what
they would be learning. They were encouraged to ask questions if they had confusions or
worries about the objectives and/or what they might be learning. The objective(s) was
kept displayed on the frame for the entire lesson.

Use of Pre-Assessment Data

Having given the students a pre-assessment test, I was able to use the data
collected to check if my lesson plan was adequate and appropriate for the students. The
data showed me that out of 21 students that took the pre-assessment, 7 students scored
below 50% and 13 students scored 67%. This meant that a great proportion of the class
had some pre-knowledge about the lesson but were not yet proficient in the skills
required to master them therefore, I concluded that the lesson I had planned was just the
right fit.
Instructions: On each day, I split the lesson into several segments of focus group and
practice time. In focus group, I start with a general instruction about the skill that I want
the students to learn and then I model the skill. After each focus group, the students are

then split into groups or independently to practice the skill taught before regrouping for
another focus group. During every practice time, I circulated the classroom and checked
in with groups and individual students, making observations, checking with the students
to see if they could explain their thinking and giving them feedback or providing further
support as needed. During focus groups, I called on students who I had observed to be
struggling at practice time to see if they had gained better understanding after my support
or quick guide. For my students with reading accommodations on their IEP, I paired them
with advanced readers who read the text to them during practice time.

Standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.1, 4.2, W4.2

Alignment to MCCRS: RI1 CCR Anchor Standard
Determine what the text says explicitly and make logical inferences from it; cite
specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the
text.

Materials
Milton Hershey biography article

Post-it notes

Video on Milton Hershey from biography.com

Highlighter Tape

FQR Worksheet
Highlighters
Document Camera
Promethean Board

Day 1 Objective
Students will be able to determine key details from an informational text by
turning headings and titles into questions.

Beginning, Motivation & Bridge

I read and explained the objective for the lesson, asking and answering students
questions to ensure they understood what and how they will be learning. I got them
motivated and excited when I lifted up a bag of Hersheys Candies and asked what they
were. Then I informed them we would be reading a biography about the man who
produced them-Milton Hershey. I asked the students to share what they knew about
Hersheys, either the man or the chocolate. They were all excited at this point and we
were ready to learn.
In order to tap into their prior knowledge and also assess how much they knew
about biographies and autobiographies, I put up the words biography and autobiography
in a Venn diagram, and asked the students, by raising up their hands, to provide me with
the characteristics, similarities and differences of both. About 45% of them knew what
the words meant but only 3 people knew the difference so I explained the definitions of
both, adding more examples, characteristics and differences to the ones the students had
given. I also reminded them about using the root word to make meaning of new words. In
order to ensure they understood and were engaged, I split them into three groups to play a
game I called, Scramble for Kisses they were to come up with words that had auto, bio
and graph in them and the group with the most correct words within the time allotted will
win Hersheys kisses chocolate.

I ended the first focus session by reminding them that autobiography and
biography could also be simply known as first and second hand accounts respectively. I
also asked them to add the new words to their Personal Word Wall Folder.

Focus Lesson
After the introduction and games, the students were ready to learn new content so
I informed them that we were going to watch a video about Milton Hershey and that they
were to listen for key details that are essential to determining what made Milton Hershey
memorable. I reminded the students that the story is a second hand account and asked
them what it would then be called. After the video, I used the first section of the Milton
Hershey article to model how to find the main idea of a text by turning section headings
into guiding questions and informed the students they could also do the same with
chapter headings. Using a document camera, I did a vocabulary review with some
selected words from the text, substituting them as appropriate in the text and using them
in new sentences. I had printed out copies for each student so that they would always
have it in hand and refer to it when needed.

Practice
I then assigned students into groups to read the first part of the Milton article
reminding them to first turn the heading into a question. Giving each student a green and
a yellow highlighter, I asked them to use the green highlighter to highlight any key detail
(sentences that answer the question) as they read. During this time, I collected data for
formative assessment by circulating the classroom, checking the question they had
written beside the section heading, observing the students work and asking them
questions that gave me an insight as to the level of their comprehension of the skill, and

clarifying grey areas any student may have and re-directing those that were experiencing
difficulties.

Focus Lesson
The class came together and I re-read the first section of the Milton Hershey
article and with the students, we turned the section heading into a question and annotated
the key details in that section. Students went through their work and with the yellow
highlighter, highlighted the appropriate sentences.
From my observations, I felt the students were ready to work independently so the
next practice was done independently.

Practice
I asked the students to read and annotate the key details in chapter 6 of their book

Wonders by R.J. Palaccio, reminding them to first turn the chapter heading into a
question. I handed out highlighting tape, post-its notes, ruled paper and post it worksheet
for the students to use and annotate the details in the textbook.

Observations, Scaffolding and Reteach

I observed that three students from my enrichment pathway were highlighting
almost every sentence in the section, so I explained to them that they should highlight a
sentence only if it answered the question that was culled from their heading, because that
means the sentence was an important detail. I noticed some improvement after that.
In the last focus group, I read out the key details in the chapter, and for each one, I
asked the students to show me by giving me thumbs up or thumb down, if they had the
same key detail or not. Majority of the students were able to find at least 80% of the

correct key details. In as much as they did not get all of the key details in the text, I
considered this a success and so knew they were ready for the next days lesson.

Review and Closing

I reviewed the days objective, pointing out that we able to determine key details
from the articles we read by turning our section and chapter titles into questions. I also
told them they could also do this for movie titles to help them find key details of any
content. I also reminded the students that we can often determine if a person is
memorable by reading the persons autobiography or biography and also by learning how
that persons life journey shaped him/her.
In order to communicate with parents with regards to what they were studying in
class as well as to provide the students with extra practice opportunity, I asked the
students to use post-it notes and annotate the key details found in the
autobiography/biography text of their choice, making sure to write it in their reading log.

Day Two Objective

Students will be able to distinguish between essential and interesting facts by
sorting the interesting and essential facts in an informational text and completing an FQR
chart.

Beginning, Motivation & Bridge

I reviewed yesterdays lesson and all they had learnt. I then read and explained
the objective for the days lesson, asking and answering students questions to ensure they
understood what and how they will be learning. We reviewed the article we had read
yesterday and I told them that today they would be sorting through details in a text so as
to decide if they were essential details or just interesting details. I asked students to tell

me the difference between an essential detail and an interesting detail. Only one student
could satisfactorily explain the difference so I explained to them that an essential detail is
a sentence that was key to us understanding and making meaning from the text while
interesting facts are details that were added to the story to make it interesting but if they
were removed, we would still understand the main idea. I gave them some examples. To
further cement their understanding, I replayed the movie from yesterday, asking them to
note the key details in the video as they were going to play a game activity after watching
the video.

Practice
After the video, I split the students into groups, I gave them the sort worksheet to
cut out the details written in boxes and sort them into two piles; interesting details vs
essential details. I went round to each group discussing with the students and prompting
them to explain why they sorted the details the way they did. Sometimes my questions
made them change their minds while in some instances, their explanations made sense
and we left the cards the way they were. I also used this opportunity to teach the students
that a different idea may also be right so they should be open to a different point of view.

Focus Group
I read the second section of the Milton Hershey article and by asking the students
leading questions, I modeled filling out an FQR sheet with key details from a text.

Practice
The students were then split into their groups and asked to read and annotate The
Chocolate King section of the Milton Hershey article and then fill out the FQR
worksheet with essential facts, questions they may have, and interesting responses they

found in the text. As the students read and discussed, I observed and listened to their
discussions and work, asking questions that either guided their thinking or gave me
insight about their level of understanding.

Focus Group
Using the document camera, each group came up and presented their completed
FQR worksheet. We then reviewed the section as a class and I gave the students my
feedback. We re-read the section, I encouraged the students to think critically and
creatively by asking them questions that guided them towards identifying an important
detail vs. an interesting one.
While the students were working on the last rotation of their daily five, I pulled
together 5 students that have reading comprehension, fluency and vocabulary goals on
their IEPs, and had them each read a sentence from the Early Years section of the
article. I then asked them to give me the key details they got from the text, 3 students
were able to respond reasonably, but 2 of them still struggled.

Review and Closing

Once again I reviewed the days objective, pointing out that we able to distinguish
between essential and interesting details from the articles we read by asking if the
sentence was key to us understanding or knowing why he was memorable. I asked them
to turn in their FQR and annotated articles. Those that were still working on theirs took
them home as homework.

Day 3 Objective:
Students will be able to write a summary of an informational text using details
and examples from the text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when
drawing inferences from the text.

Beginning, Motivation & Bridge

The lesson started with a review of previous lessons. In age appropriate language,
I read and explained the objective for the days lesson, discussing all we had learnt and
how we have almost achieved all the MCCRS for this unit. I asked the students if they
had any questions or if there were areas we had studied that they still needed help on. No
one rose up their hand or said anything.
I handed back the FQRs and annotated articles to the students and I explained to
the students that today, we would be using facts and details from the text to form an
opinion and justify that opinion today.

Focus Group
Using Chapter 3 of Wonders, I modeled how to respond to the prompt using
details and examples from the text to explain why ---is a--- making sure to refer to what
the text says explicitly, and also drawing inferences from the text. I began by reading the
text, then the question/prompt I was required to answer and then I went back to re-read
the text and highlight any important/essential detail that could help me develop the topic
while answering the prompt. Using the document camera, I answered the prompt making
sure to use concrete details, quotations, or other information I also asked the students for
inferences they made from the text that we could add to our writing. I refreshed their

memory on how to link ideas within categories of information using words and phrases
such as, another, for example, also, and because.

Practice
Independently, the students were then asked to re-read the The Chocolate King
Section of the Milton Hershey article and respond to the prompt, , Is Chocolate King a
good title for this section? Explain your thinking using key details from the text to
support your response. This question was to check if students had gained understanding
and the ability to use facts and details from an informational text to form an opinion and
justify that opinion.
A modified worksheet with sentence starters was given to students that required
the modification. Human Readers and Scribes were also provided for the students that
needed the accommodation.
I went round and did spot checks as the students worked, giving them immediate
feedback and those that had satisfactorily completed their work, I gave the summative
assessment prompt to begin.
After all the students were done with the practice section, I assigned the
assessment section, which was the Man of the People Section. The students were to
respond to the prompt, Is Man of the People a good title for this section? Explain your
thinking using key details from the text to support your response.

Review and Closing

We reviewed the days objective, I pointed out that we were able to write a summary of
an informational text by making sure to use essential details, quotations, inferences and
other information from the text. I then brought up the unit objective and reviewing the

work we have done in this unit, showed them how we have achieved the MCCR
standards for this unit.