Part e Planning Commentary

Early Childhood
Task 1: Planning Commentary
TASK 1: PLANNING COMMENTARY

Respond to the prompts below (no more than 9 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the
brackets. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Pages exceeding the maximum will not be scored.
1. Central Focus
a. Describe the central focus and purpose of the content you will teach in the learning
segment.
[ The central focus of this learning unit is centered around the students’ ability to identify the
main topic of a text and provide a few details about that main topic. The ultimate goal is for
students to be able to eventually write a paragraph comprised of four sentences: one beginning
sentence, two middle detail sentences, and an ending sentence. The students will be learning
about Abraham Lincoln, and that is the main topic that they will all be writing about.
To support language and literacy development there is at least one new text read to the
children every day (whether it is during this learning segment or integrated into different parts of
the day), and they will have access to a multitude of related texts they can read on their own or
look at the pictures. They are all developmentally appropriate reading levels for the students
and can be easily read independently. If not, there are plenty of pictures for students to look at
for context clues. ]
b. Describe how the standards and learning objectives for your learning segment support
children’s
¡ active and multimodal learning
¡ language and literacy development in an interdisciplinary context
[ The standards and learning objectives chosen for this learning segment support children’s
active and multimodal learning through providing opportunities for students to discover, collect,
and experience components of writing an informative paper. The most active part of this entire
segment is when the children participate in a Read the Room activity, in which students walk
around the room finding notecards with different words written on them. It is a more engaging
and exciting way to learn about transition words and sort them into categories. There are hand
and body gestures given for the major new vocabulary that will be taught. Specifically, when we
say ‘main idea,’ we raise our hands in an arc then hold our hands out and say “what’s it all
about?” When we say the word ‘detail(s)’ we wiggle our fingers to indicate that it is something
smaller than the main idea.
Language and literacy development are supported in the standards and learning objectives
because there is target vocabulary every day that the children will be encouraged to use
throughout the lessons. The standards require children to be able to use the vocabulary words
in an appropriate context throughout the lesson. They will be saying the words aloud, writing
them down, and finding/recognizing them throughout the learning segment.
The standards I have chosen provide an interdisciplinary context for learning because they
apply directly to social studies, history, and English language arts. It could be argued that since
we will be researching that there is a certain scientific approach to how we will be finding our
facts and details about Abraham Lincoln.
c. Explain how your plans build on each other to support children’s language and literacy
development through active and multimodal learning.
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Early Childhood
[ The lessons build on in each other in a way that attempts to maximize student success
when they start writing their sentences. The first lesson gives the children an easy introduction
to the topic while also providing background information and modeling of how to create a
concept web, something they will be expected to do on their own later.
The second lesson is a reinforcement for the things they learned in the first lesson. They will
either be reading additional text to provide more details, or they will be using information they
gathered themselves while reading through the provided additional texts in the classroom
library. All groups that meet will be using the whole group completed concept web as an extra
resource to help come up with details and facts to write in their concept webs.
The third lesson is meant to finally introduce transition words that indicate which type of
sentence they are writing: beginning, middle, or end. I provide them with example sentences
about Abraham Lincoln that include these transition words they will eventually be using. The use
of the example sentences helps the children visually see the pattern in which they will be
writing. This is the most active part of the segment because the children will be walking around
the room trying to find the transition words to sort them into categories.
The fourth lesson is the culmination of all the work they have been putting into finding details
and recording them. The multimodal aspect of this learning segment is the different texts the
children will be reading/listening to, the concept web created as a whole class, the individual
concept webs written by the students, and the sentences that are created from those concept
webs. ]
d. Describe how the physical environment in which you are teaching supports the active
and multimodal nature of children’s learning. (If, in your view, the physical environment
in which you are teaching does not adequately support the active and multimodal nature
of children’s learning, please describe the changes you would make.)
[ I believe the physical environment somewhat supports the active and multimodal nature of
children’s learning. There is a large space for the rug by the calendar for children to move, but in
general it is not a very active environment. The dominant feature of the classroom is the desks
in the center of the room. I personally would arrange the desks in a way that creates maximum
movement flow throughout the whole room. It currently is a little difficult to get through all the
desks. The stations set up for Reading Workshop are not very well labeled and I would like to
make them all a little more definite than just a sign on the wall indicating where materials are.
The curriculum in general is not very active or multimodal, so it would make sense that the
physical environment would reflect that. ]
2. Knowledge of Children to Inform Teaching

For each of the prompts below (2a–c), describe what you know about the children in your
class/group with respect to the central focus of the learning segment.
Consider the variety of learners in your class/group who may require different
strategies/support (e.g., children with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, children
at different points in the developmental continuum, struggling readers, children who are
underperforming or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted children).
a. Children’s development—What do you know about their
¡ social and emotional development
¡ cognitive and physical development
Early Childhood
¡ language development for communication

[ The children in my classroom are generally very well developed in their social-emotional
health. They do not often butt heads, but when they do, they are good at resolving conflict on
their own. They are also inclusive and will play with any child, especially if that child is alone or
not playing with anyone. I do have two children who have a difficult time managing their
emotions. One of which has been diagnosed with generalized anxiety and has strong emotional
reactions to any change in routine. His reaction to any situation is variable, but he will typically
do one of three things: run into the hallway to hide in his cubby, throw a tantrum, or proceed to
throw things onto the ground. In general, he can be consoled into rejoining a lesson, but he will
likely need to spend time by himself to cool down. My other student has difficulty managing his
emotions when he feels as though he is not doing an assignment correctly or cannot do
something perfectly. This is typically experienced during the addition and subtraction time tests
that take place every Tuesday and Thursday as well as any time that he is writing something.
He has been meeting with the school psychologist once a week to work on naming his
emotions. Other than these two students, the rest of the class presents as typically developing
in the social and emotional domains.
I would not say that any of my students have any sort of physical limitations; all of the students
are typically developing in the physical domain. That being said, I have a few students who see
an occupational therapist during school hours to practice their fine motor skills. The only area
this affects is handwriting; their ability to spell is on track with typical development of a first
grader and continues to improve every day.
There are no major limitations or delays in the cognitive domain for my students. There are
students who struggle academically in certain areas, but this is not due to any sort of diagnosed
cognitive delay. This is just a result of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses as a learner.
n general, the children are very adept at learning new vocabulary. They are introduced to new
spelling words and sight words weekly and usually do very well (two words spelled wrong or
less) on their spelling tests. They practice writing in a variety of contexts, and I have noticed that
even since the time I arrived they have made vast improvements in the complexity of their
sentences. All of my students are able to express themselves very well verbally. I do have a
student who has a stutter, but this does not affect his comprehension skills or dedication to
doing well in school. Additionally, there are a few children who see a speech pathologist once a
week to address some specific speech issues: difficulty pronouncing the ‘r’ sound, and a child
with a lisp. ]
b. Personal, cultural, and community assets—What do you know about your children’s
everyday experiences, cultural and language backgrounds and practices, and
interests?
[ I know that the majority of my students come from families with multiple children, most of which
are also students in the school. Therefore, I know that my students are constantly interacting
with children around their same age. There seems to be a relatively even split between children
who have two working parents, and those who have a parent that stays home during the day.
My students also participate in extracurricular activities in the form of organized team sports.
They are all active, healthy children who all have stable home lives. I have noticed that they
always play in groups whenever we are out at recess; they enjoy organized games with rules.
They are all social children and enjoy working in small groups or partners.
Early Childhood
All of my students speak English and do not speak any other languages at home, as far as I am
aware. All of the students are a part of the same culture. ]
c. Prior learning and prerequisite skills related to language and literacy development—
What can they do and what are they learning to do related to language and literacy
development? Cite evidence from your knowledge of this class/group of children.
[ They currently are very capable of writing sentences about a specific topic. They are finishing
up a nonfiction writing unit in which they need to choose a topic they know a lot about and write
a book on it. I plan to make a similar sort of product (just a paragraph, not book) with the
sentences about Abraham Lincoln.
The majority of them are strong readers and are able to pay attention while a book is being read
aloud. Although they may not do many read alouds during the school day, there is always a
Guest Reader that visits the classroom on Friday afternoons to read several books out loud. ]
3. Supporting Children’s Development and Learning
Respond to prompts 3a–c below. To support your justifications, refer to the plans and
materials you included as part of Planning Task 1. In addition, use principles from
research and/or developmental theory to support your justifications.
a. Justify how your planned learning experiences and materials align with your
understanding of the children’s development, prior learning, and personal, cultural, and
community assets (from prompts 2a–c above). Be explicit about these connections and
support your justification with research/developmental theory.
[ It is important to teach children new vocabulary explicitly, which is what I do in Learning
Experience 3. It must be given to the students directly before it can be mastered. This idea is
supported through research on language and literacy development stating that authentic
learning experiences and explicit teaching are essential to developing vocabulary (Purcell-
Gates, Duke, & Martineau, 2007). ]
b. Describe and justify how you plan to support the varied learning needs of all the
children in your class/group, including individuals with specific learning needs.
strategies/support (e.g., children with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners,
children at different points in the developmental continuum, struggling readers, and/or
gifted children).
[ I plan to support all of the children with specific learning needs with a lot of patience and
accommodations that fit their abilities. For example, some sentences, ideas, or words may need
to be written down by an adult instead of the child. Some answers may need to be provided
verbally instead of handwritten. Even though I do have a specific product for each lesson, I am
willing to change my expectations for each and every child that may need to express their
knowledge differently. ]
c. Describe common developmental approximations1 or misunderstandings that pertain to
the learning experiences you are planning for the children and how you plan to address
them.
1
For example, common beginning or transitional language errors or other attempts to use skills or processes just beyond a
child’s current level/capability.
Early Childhood
[ The most difficult part of this learning segment will involve the transition words and most likely
the wording of beginning and ending sentences. These concepts have not been explicitly taught
to the children yet, so I suspect the use of the various transition words will be a bit confusing at
first. There are certain times when writing sentences that each transition word is appropriate,
but that will not be the main focus of the lesson. Instead, they will merely be expected to pick
one of the words to indicate that they know which part of the paragraph that particular sentence
is within the whole context. ]
4. Supporting Children’s Vocabulary Development
Respond to prompts 4a–c below by referring to children’s range of vocabulary development
related to the learning segment—What do they know, what are they struggling with,
and/or what is new to them?
a. Identify the key vocabulary2 (i.e., developmentally appropriate sounds, words,
phrases, sentences, and paragraphs) essential for children to use during the learning
segment.
[ The children will essentially be required to utilize their reading tools that they learned way back
before I was in the classroom. They all know how to chop words into sounds, look at the
pictures for clues, and have a lot of phonics instruction under their belts. At this point, they
should be able to pronounce words with super e, long vowels, blends, digraphs, and a few
diphthongs (aw, au). The key vocabulary for writing the sentences will be those of the transition
words/phrases. They will not be expected to know every single word/phrase, but they should
know if it’s a beginning, middle, or ending word and be able to sound it out. These
words/phrases are as follows: first of all, to begin, at first, first, to start, initially, another, after
that, then, next, in fact, also, in the end, all in all, in conclusion, finally, and lastly. ]
b. Identify the learning experience that provides children with opportunities to develop,
practice, and/or use the key vocabulary identified in prompt 4a. (Identify the plan
day/number.)
[ Very specifically, they will be using the new vocabulary that they learn during Learning
Experience 2: Small Group Concept Web Creation and Learning Experience 4: Writing the
Sentences. ]
c. Describe how you plan to support the children (during and/or prior to the learning
experience) to develop and use the key vocabulary identified in prompt 4a.
[ I plan to use the words in context as much as I can. If we are working in a small group and
reading a book, I will preview it beforehand to pick out words and sounds that the children may
have difficulty with. At this point I am familiar with the sounds the children should be able to
sound out on their own as well as familiar with the ability levels of the children in each small
group. I can easily pick out the most difficult words (especially sight words) that they will find
challenging to pronounce. Whenever we are reading a book aloud and we come across a new
vocabulary word, I will pause to ask the students if anyone knows what it means and if they can
provide a definition. If not, I will provide the definition. ]
5. Monitoring Children’s Learning
2
Developmentally appropriate sounds, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that you want children to use or create to
engage in the learning experience.
Early Childhood
In response to the prompts below, refer to the assessments you will submit as part of the
materials for Planning Task 1.
a. Describe how your planned formal and informal assessments provide direct evidence to
monitor children’s multimodal learning throughout the learning segment.
[ The direct evidence is in the details, words, and sentences that they write down in Learning
Experiences 2, 3, and 4. The evidence is right there on the page to be observed and analyzed,
but there are also anecdotal records kept for each child on the assessments. This is so that the
teacher is able to have a little bit of context for why a student performed the way he/she did.
This also provides a space for participation, an important component of these lessons, to be
recorded and analyzed directly. It is more of an informal assessment, but can be made into
something a bit more formal. ]
b. Explain how your design or adaptation of planned assessments allows children with
specific needs to demonstrate their learning.
strategies/support (e.g., all children along the continuum of development, including
children with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, struggling readers, and/or
gifted children).
[ All of my assessments include a portion where I can keep notes of how the student was doing
before, during, and after the lesson. There are particular students whose performance is very
dependent on their mood and how their day is going up until that point. I will keep notes on
those children and adjust my expectations accordingly. Spelling is not essential for these
learning experiences, so that will never count against the children. This accommodates well for
the children who struggle with spelling no matter what. All activities in this learning segment
have a lot of information to record, such as: 17 transition words and 6 bubbles to fill in their
concept webs. For these lessons, it is not essential that every single word or every single
bubble is filled out. It will not be counted against them if the sections are not filled out
completely, but they must be correct. For students who are easily distracted or have difficulty
multitasking (as is somewhat required for Learning Experience 3: Read the Room), the student
can be assisted by a teacher to either write the answers for them while they answer, or just
have the answers recited verbally. ]

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Part e Planning Commentary

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Early Childhood

Task 1: Planning Commentary

TASK 1: PLANNING COMMENTARY

2. Knowledge of Children to Inform Teaching

¡ language development for communication

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