Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program Learning Activity Plan October 2015 Chris Van Allsburg Unit: LAP 1 Casey Rothenberg I. Content : Describe what it is you will teach. What is the content? This will be an introduction lesson to the unit study on Chris Van Allsburg. Most of the lesson will be spent as whole group discussion and reading, as we begin to explore his writings and illustrations. Students will have an opportunity to analyze common themes, characters, and stories in the books of Chris Van Allsburg. Students learn through teacher read alouds how his books reflect his writing style and what he likes to write about. The class will collaboratively reflect on the readings, thoroughly discussing whether something should be added to the author anchor chart. Students must consider if a characteristic or style is important to Chris Van Allsburg’s writing. Also they must consider what he frequently makes the reader do, like: constantly makings inferences and asking questions. Students will also have an opportunity to compare two of his books, which will both be read aloud. This will be helpful for confirming or denying characteristics/styles/themes that are consistent throughout his books. II. Learning Goal(s) : Describe what specifically students will know and be able to do after the experience of this class. Students will be able to: • Begin developing a list characteristics and styles of Chris Van Allsburg writing and illustrations. • Working independently and successfully to compare similarities and differences between two Van Allsburg texts: Jumangi and Zathura. • Identify reappearing and new characteristics and styles of Chris Van Allsburg writing and illustrations, which can be added to the author anchor chart. • Articulating reasons for choosing specific examples from the book that highlight how Van Allsburg writes/illustrates. • Working together successfully in whole group discussion III. Rationale : Explain how the content and learning goal(s) relate to your Curriculum Unit Plan learning goals. It is important for students to start familiarizing themselves with different texts written by Chris Van Allsburg. This will be accomplished by engaging in an in-depth reading and discussion of this author’s works. All of these activities align with the unit’s essential question: what is required in composing a Van Allsburg text? A lot of this lesson spends time examining and developing an understanding of what these details are, and if they are consistent with more than just one book. It is important for students to pick up on commonalities between an authors writings. This will require students to use their inferring skills because things are rarely straightforward and explained in his writing.
Transcript
Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program Learning Activity Plan
October 2015
Chris Van Allsburg Unit: LAP 1
Casey Rothenberg
I. Content: Describe what it is you will teach. What is the content? This will be an introduction lesson to the unit study on Chris Van Allsburg. Most of the lesson will be spent as whole group discussion and reading, as we begin to explore his writings and illustrations. Students will have an opportunity to analyze common themes, characters, and stories in the books of Chris Van Allsburg. Students learn through teacher read alouds how his books reflect his writing style and what he likes to write about. The class will collaboratively reflect on the readings, thoroughly discussing whether something should be added to the author anchor chart. Students must consider if a characteristic or style is important to Chris Van Allsburg’s writing. Also they must consider what he frequently makes the reader do, like: constantly makings inferences and asking questions. Students will also have an opportunity to compare two of his books, which will both be read aloud. This will be helpful for confirming or denying characteristics/styles/themes that are consistent throughout his books.
II. Learning Goal(s): Describe what specifically students will know and be able
to do after the experience of this class. Students will be able to:
• Begin developing a list characteristics and styles of Chris Van Allsburg writing and illustrations.
• Working independently and successfully to compare similarities and differences between two Van Allsburg texts: Jumangi and Zathura.
• Identify reappearing and new characteristics and styles of Chris Van Allsburg writing and illustrations, which can be added to the author anchor chart.
• Articulating reasons for choosing specific examples from the book that highlight how Van Allsburg writes/illustrates.
• Working together successfully in whole group discussion III. Rationale: Explain how the content and learning goal(s) relate to your
Curriculum Unit Plan learning goals.
It is important for students to start familiarizing themselves with different texts written by Chris Van Allsburg. This will be accomplished by engaging in an in-depth reading and discussion of this author’s works. All of these activities align with the unit’s essential question: what is required in composing a Van Allsburg text? A lot of this lesson spends time examining and developing an understanding of what these details are, and if they are consistent with more than just one book. It is important for students to pick up on commonalities between an authors writings. This will require students to use their inferring skills because things are rarely straightforward and explained in his writing.
Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program Learning Activity Plan
October 2015
IV. Assessment: Describe how you and your students will know they have reached your learning goals.
Since this is just an introduction to the unit, most of the assessments will be informal. Students will be generally observed on their participation and comprehension of what we are doing. Students will be responsible for contributing to the author anchor chart, this includes either acknowledging/agreeing or respectfully disagreeing with other students comments. The only some-what formal assessment will be the Venn diagram, where students must compare the two readings. I will check in with student’s individuals as they complete their Venn diagram. During this time I will make sure they are comfortable with the process of identifying similarities and differences, and using the text appropriately. Also during this writing time I will observe, listen, question, probe, suggest and encourage.
V. Personalization and equity: Describe how you will provide for individual
student strengths and needs. How will you and your lesson consider the needs of each student and scaffold learning? How specifically will ELL students and students with learning disabilities gain access and be supported?
Since most of the lesson will be completed as a whole group, there won’t be to many activities that create issues and challenges for students. Both of the texts will be read aloud to the class, which helps ELL’s and poor readers keep up with the literature and comprehension. During group discussions I will model how to appropriately make observations about Van Allsburg’s writing and even use some content vocabulary, like: some similarities I noticed…something I think is important…this could be a theme/characteristic/style because…The only independent writing component is the Venn diagram. I will thoroughly model how to set up the diagram, and what type of information should be included in the specific text boxes. As a class we will come up with details for each of the three sections and discussing why they fit or don’t fit, which will allow students to observe this thinking process. Once students start independent work I will be circulating around the classroom, giving more attention and feedback to the lower ELL’s and students on IEP’s. When I conference with them I will ask them prompting questions and make purposeful observations, both of which should encourage perseverance and understanding. If necessary I will retell details and events from the story and/or allow them to briefly look at the text (however this can become an issue with only one available text). I will meet with a couple students prior to the class discussion and ask them to prepare one or two observations for when I call on them. This will provide time to develop confidence within their learning and speaking and avoids putting them on the spot.
Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program Learning Activity Plan
October 2015
Activity description and agenda a. Describe the activities that will help your students understand the content
of your class lesson by creating an agenda with time frames for your class. Be prepared to explain why you think each activity will help students on the path toward understanding.
Time Teacher will Student Will Materials
10 min. -Introduce Chris Van Allsburg and the authors reading bin and how we will be adding it -Read aloud Jumangi
-Listen and ask questions -Start thinking of characteristics of Van Allsburg (discuss this as whole group and in turn-and-talk)
-Jumangi -Picture of Chris Van Allsburg and blurb of biographical information students can read independently if the choose to.
5-7 min. -Reviewing characteristics and writing/illustration style of Van Allsburg -Introduce ‘Van Allsburg fingerprint’ anchor chart and begin adding to it
-Asking questions and making comments about writing style and characteristics -adding new information to chart if appropriate
-Anchor chart template on Van Allsburg
10 min. -Remind students to continue thinking of characteristics/styles when reading new text. Do things match up? Do we have new things to add? -Read aloud Zathura
-Listen and ask questions -continue thinking of characteristics of Van Allsburg
-Anchor chart as a reference -Zathura
10 min. -pass out Venn diagram and instruct students that we will be comparing Jumangi and Zathura -model information that can go in each column -circulate among students providing individual help, asking questions, scribe when necessary, support and encouragement
-complete Venn diagram independently, putting at least five pieces of information in each column
-Venn diagrams for each student
Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program Learning Activity Plan
October 2015
b. What particular challenges, in terms of student learning or implementing
planned activity, do you anticipate and how will you address them? I do expect the Venn diagram activity to be cumbersome and difficult for some students to get through in the allotted time. It will be crucial for students to be paying close attention during both readings in order to be able to complete the post activities. This may be a challenge because it will be a lot of time spent on the rug sitting still and listening. I will do my best to maintain student’s concentration during the readings, and I will walk around monitoring and assisting during the Venn diagram activity. I am anticipating spending most of my time talking with a couple students and helping them create their comparisons. VI. List the Massachusetts Learning Standards this lesson addresses.
Reading Standards for Literature
1. Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Speaking and Listening Standards 1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups,
and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
4. Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace
5-7 min. -gather class together and go over what students said in their diagram, comparing similarities and differences of the two stories -review and continue to add to author anchor chart
-share out examples from their writing -continue thinking of characteristics/styles of Van Allsburg -adding new information to author anchor chart if appropriate
-Anchor chart on Van Allsburg
Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program Learning Activity Plan
October 2015
VII. Reflection
a. In light of all areas of planning, but especially in terms of your stated purpose and learning goals, in what ways was the activity(ies) successful? How do you know? In what ways was it not successful? How might the activity be planned differently another time?
Despite medium levels of engagement, almost all of the learning goals for the lesson
were achieved. I was very excited to at how our Van Allsburg Characteristic anchor chart
began developing, and I think we have some great starters. I introduced that anchor chart
to them and explained how we would continue developing it after each Van Allsburg text
we read. After the second read a loud, Zathura, students were able to recognize
reappearing themes and new ones. I either put a check next to a previously developed
characteristic or crossed it out depending on student’s opinions. Also, we were able to
add a couple new characteristics that didn’t arise during the first read a loud. During this
process of whole group discussion, I was pleased by student’s abilities to articulate the
reasoning for adding or retracting different characteristics. Almost every student
explained their reasoning, and some students even provided appropriate responses for
whether they agree or disagree with what someone else had just said.
Unfortunately students were unable to work independently to create their Venn
diagrams comparing Zathura and Jumangi. After going back to our anchor chart, for the
second time, we started making our Venn diagrams. I modeled the process on the board,
and as a whole we group we added one piece of information to each category. Afterwards
students began working independently to continue adding to their diagram. This was
already an hour into the lesson and students were obviously becoming restless, all of
which participated to the lack of success in student’s independent work. Coming up with
Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program Learning Activity Plan
October 2015
similarities was definitely the easiest because most of these were talked about in the
author anchor chart. Students were really struggling to find unique characteristics about
each story, which was slightly frustrating because it made me think they weren’t paying
much attention during the readings. After noticing the general class struggles, I had
everyone stop and reconvene as a class to complete the rest of the diagram. I briefly
highlighted some of the stories main details in order to prompt students, while also
calling on others who had paid more attention to the readings. In the end almost every
students Venn diagram contained pretty good details comparing and contrasting, but this
was achieved on a whole group level, instead of an independent level.
b. What did you learn from the experience of this lesson that will inform your next
LAP?
I learned that even though learning goals are met, the lesson might not be as engaging
as planned. I also learned that distracting and disruptive behaviors must be nipped in the
bud at the beginning of the lesson, or else they will remain and continue to grow. I was
hoping that the stories would capture student’s attention and limit their unproductive
decisions. However, instead some students weren’t ready for the read a loud and were
unable to engage with the text and ended up thinking the book was boring, which is very
unfortunate.
Another thing I learned was how difficult time management can be, and how I will
need to work on that aspect of my teaching. This includes making adjustments before and
during my lessons, like accounting for more time while writing lesson plans and making
on the fly decisions to hurry or skip part of the lesson for time sake. This lesson took at
least a half hour longer than I anticipated, mainly because the books were so long and
Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program Learning Activity Plan
October 2015
transition time was not accounted for in my planning. Also I had to spend a decent
amount of time addressing student’s behavior and trying to attain the attention of the
whole class. This means, that for my following lessons, I need to give more time for
readings and transitions. Also I need to be aware of distractions and keeping the class on
track in the most efficient way, which may require having certain students leave the
classroom and knowing if addressing a student will waste time or keep the class on task.
Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program Learning Activity Plan
October 2015
Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program Learning Activity Plan
October 2015
Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program Learning Activity Plan
