Shaw Rebecca Shaw Planning Commentary EPS 513 Fall 2012 1.

Content Focus and Standards I teach in a 2nd grade classroom at Curtis School of Excellence. We currently have 22 students enrolled (9 girls and 13 boys) and the teaching staff consists of 1 mentor and 2 mentor residents. To date there are no students with IEPs in my classroom but there have been concerns addressed with the ECE SPED teacher regarding a couple. My students have various skill and knowledge levels so I always have to keep differentiation in mind when Im planning for them. I chose to focus on a reading strategy that introduced the students to inferencing and how they can begin to infer information from the texts they read. The student objective was to make a text based inference using a teacher read text and be able to artfully record their inference. I began the activity with an anchor chart that listed the definition for inference along with a short story for the students to practice inferencing. After practicing through a few more quick scenarios I tested the students new inferencing skills with a story called Duck on a Bike by David Shannon. As we navigated through the story, I would stop and find parts of the story that students could work on inferencing both individual and in partners. From there, we moved into an activity and exit ticket that students could scaffold and demonstrate their new knowledge. While this was just the start of our work with inferencing, I plan to delve into it more within my lead teaching. Until then, I will continue to remind the students each day during their independent reading and even during read-a-louds to be thinking about ways they can infer information from the stories they read.

Shaw 2. Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching Having been with this group of students since the beginning of the school year Ive been able to assess their academic development through classroom activities, tests and exit tickets and individual and group observations. I understand that there are various strengths and weaknesses among our classroom population so I will have to differentiate to help students reach their full potential. I believe that all students can learn when given the right tools to build their skills and knowledge and pointed down the right path that allows them to develop and enhance those skills and knowledge. It is just as important to continue to build on the skills of those students who have already mastered certain skills and knowledge and allow them to move at their pace. There have also been a few formal assessments administered since the beginning of the school year. To date, students have completed the STEP assessment, the NWEA assessment and the REACH assessment. The data compiled from these various assessments allow me to continue to plan for and inform correctly differentiated instruction for my students. I am continuing to learn the academic language development of my students every day. They are constantly learning new skills so I have to continually assess to be sure that their needs are being met where they are. Do Nows and Exit Tickets are a daily assessment tool that is used that can give a great deal of data about comprehension and processing as it pertains to the students. I am also careful to use academic language throughout my teaching and instruction practices so students will be familiar and comfortable with hearing it regularly and begin to properly use it in their own economy of language. Academic language is expressed in the standards and objectives and teacher creates and reads to/with the students. It is found in the various teaching

Shaw strategies employed by the teachers. It is encouraged in sentence stems and the expectation of speaking in full sentences that becomes the everyday practice in my classroom. It is also used among teaching staff consistently to ensure that students are immersed in its practice on a continual basis. Understanding our students backgrounds, family structures, experiences and interests will also help inform instruction and the way we teach. When we can make learning relevant, students are more apt to enjoy learning and look forward to the learning experience. Our lessons and instructions should be engaging, practical and informative. Often, when I teach, I personalize my lessons by using the students names in my examples and worksheets. I also try to recognize, speak to and get to know the parents and siblings to the best of my ability. Whenever possible, I try to involve the family in projects, volunteer opportunities and open door communication through notes, newsletters and phone calls. Helping the families become involved in the learning process ultimately benefits the students and creates the extended village that is necessary to raise each child. I feel that one of the most important pieces of the learning puzzle is establishing individual relationships with our students. Often, outsiders view the classroom as simply an academic environment. However, as educators, we understand that our students are learning so much more. They are learning who they are and exploring their own identities and need to have a comfortable, open and protected environment where they can share their thoughts and feelings and be respected as individuals. The classroom is another means to develop social skills and practice newly developing skills such as sharing, taking turns, getting along with others, problem solving, conflict resolution,

Shaw respect, responsibility, time management and various other skills. An economy of language is also used here. We model extended language skills as teachers, we find literature that supports the language and allows students to connect with feelings and emotions and we applaud positive efforts being made. We cannot ignore that this may often be the only management offered to our students so we have to take advantage of each teachable moment and help them find their way to becoming successful and productive members of their communities and in society. I have found in these few short months that one of the most effective ways to reach my students is through making my lessons and activities engaging. They enjoy doing group work, interacting with technology, doing hands-on activities and being read to. While it can be difficult some days, I will try to include those instructional methods as often as possible. Group work allows them a structured opportunity to talk to their friends and share their thoughts and feelings all while remaining in the context of learning. It also allows social skills to be practiced. I will often ask students to share what their partner said during a turn and talk session so that they are valuing the opinions of others or assign roles to group projects to be sure that everyone has a part to play and a contribution to offer. My students are excited when they can demonstrate their participation. Often our students have more technological knowledge than we do as teachers. However, even when they dont, students are always anxious to explore with technology and learn something in a different way. One of our reading centers is a technology center where students have an opportunity to use the computers, kindles and an iPad. It is one of the most sought after areas during center time. Also, it possible for students to get bored with hearing the same thing done the same way day in and

Shaw day out. The internet is a wonderful tool to break up the monotony of the classroom routine with its vast expanse of resources. When students enjoy learning, we, as teachers, gain the most instructional time and our students gain the most benefits.

3. Supporting Student Learning

As I recently mentioned, my students love being read to. They wont move a muscle when they are engaged in a story that they are enjoying, which is typically all of them. I try to structure my teaching styles to that I can meet each of the multiple intelligences represented in the student population. Gardner understood that each of us learns in our own way and that while those learning styles may share similarities, the styles are unique to the learner. My understanding of Gardners theory allows me to take a more holistic approach to teaching and try to differentiate for each students needs. I take these styles and integrate them into the classroom environment and scaffold it into the instruction and planning processes. Using examples, hands-on experiences, dialogue about comprehension with questions that lend to deeper, inferential, critical thinking skills will help student make connections between skills and strategies. In understanding Gardners theory, I also understand that some students will need additional, individualized support. Armed with the knowledge of who my students are, how they learn and their appropriate levels, I can begin to address them specifically and differentiate individually. Already we have begun to group students according to skill level and give them instruction and materials that meet them where they are. We utilize a number of differentiation strategies from the information that is formed into a worksheet to the reading groups that are formed. Students are allowed to move at their pace but still encouraged to succeed.

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4. Supporting Student Understanding and Use of Academic Language The best way I know to support academic language development is to model is and immerse my classroom environment and students in it. The more practice they have with it and the more they are prompted to use it, it becomes second nature in their lives as students. Providing them with the proper guidance is key in supporting and maintaining academic language development. If it used, expected and respected, it will quickly become to norm within the classroom community. Vocabulary should be addressed daily. Oral and written practice should be addressed daily. Instructional concepts, skills and language should be taught daily. When we miss opportunities to address these areas, our students miss opportunities to learn. When we correctly plan for differentiation, instruction and content, it allows us to gather and use as much of our day that is available learning space to teach students. Every moment in the classroom in precious and should be treated as such.

A. Analyzing Student Learning If I were to summarize student performance for this activity I would say that overall most of the students did okay but there is still a population that needs to revisit this again to gain more practice and experience with inferential thinking and being able to pull clues from the text. Those students in the middle either had surface thinking when answering their questions or simply missed answering a question all together. The students at the bottom of the pack either didnt answer inferentially at all, didnt write an answer at all or, in the case of my sample student, wrote unreadable word that I had to dictate for him. Below is a breakdown of the class scores:

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Students who did well were able to grasp the concept of inferencing and pull evidence from the text to support their inference. No one in the middle got the wrong multiple choice answer. What they lacked was the ability to pull evidence from the text to support the inference. Of the ones who failed, they either got the wrong multiple choice answer, didnt write any evidence or both. Those students, even though the assignment is read out loud, lack the ability to comprehend the instructions or even write out their thoughts. While the exit ticket focused on simply the definition of inferencing, the same students did pretty much the same things in terms of results. These results tell me that the students need more practice with not only inferencing but learning to pull the evidence that supports the inference. Over the course of the next week, we continued to practice these skills with the students and the grades improved. So, I was secure in the fact that Id begun to point them down the path of comprehension.

B. Feedback To Guide Further Learning

Shaw I wanted to take a closer look at the middle and high students. The young man who was on the bottom is so below grade level on the majority of his skills that hes being referred for SPED services. Outside of dictation, he simply doesnt have the vocabulary or comprehension skills needed to get further than he did without teacher assistance. Then, he doesnt retain information taught to him so it would be hard for me to figure out how to help him in this particular skill set. Whenever I grade, I typically put comments and feedback right onto their work. This assignment was no different. The feedback is personal to their experience with the assignment and is meant to help them on the path toward the next steps in their thinking. I try to keep it positive and applaud their thinking even when it may be a bit off the mark. Additionally, I want to say something on every students paperwork that will get them thinking about their thinking and that will continue to develop relationships with each of them. The students typically have another opportunity to practice something theyre working on more than once before a true grade is taken from an assessment. The goal is to make sure they have absorbed as much information as they can.

C. Using Assessment To Inform Instruction My next steps for whole class instruction would be to revisit this activity or one similar to it that will allow me to stretch the I Do and We Do sections of the lesson out so that students can get more practice with it. Through the use of direct instruction, thinking, pairing and sharing with peers, and independent practice, students can begin to scaffold their thinking and grasp the concepts Im trying to teach. I will look for other ways of teaching the same skill so that the students will have several strategies to choose from that will gain them the greatest result.

Shaw For my high student, Nadia, I would give her texts of greater depth that challenge her ability to infer and search for the evidence she needs to support her inference. I want to move her thinking into the next phases without going too far away from what she knows, but just far away enough that it will stretch her boundaries. For my middle student, Faith, I will continue giving her simple texts like the one she was given on the worksheet until she can begin to think deeper about inferencing and scaffold on her own layer of knowledge. It wasnt that she didnt understand, it was simply that she needed support with finding relevant evidence. It may also be a good idea to pair the two students so they could learn and help one another. Having them dialogue about their experiences with inferencing could prove to be just as valuable as a pen and paper assessment. Finally, being prepared with open-ended questions and with Blooms prompting will also benefit the scaffolding process and allow students to use their metacognition skills in every area of learning.