Inquiry 2 Part A

Inquiry 2 Part A:

1). The target area I will be working with is Comprehension Strategy Instruction and Assessment.

2). I have approximately 45 minutes per day for instruction in this area. However, this amount is flexible and can be altered at any time.

3). The Common Core Standards I will be working toward are CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. The other standard I will be incorporating into this unit is CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

4). Students must comprehend reading and writing throughout their daily lives. If they are reading a sign outside, looking at a magazine, or reading the TV guide, they must use comprehension skills to understand the text. It is pertinent that my students are able to take text and create an understanding from the words they see or hear. Students will learn about literacy as they are taught the various strategies to make sense of the materials they are reading. I believe it is important for me to teach students that if they cannot read a recipe, they will be unable to successfully carry out an everyday task. Literacy includes everyday activities that they, their families, and those around them take part in. Students can also learn through literacy because comprehension is understanding the text they read. If students read about the planets, they are utilizing literacy to achieve their understanding. 

5). Within this target area, the talk will begin as teacher-led. I will model how to read effectively and demonstrate how to use comprehension strategies. I want my students to view how to productively have a conversation about a text by observing first. However, as the unit progresses, I hope for my students to be leading conversations and building ideas off one another. Following the ideas of Berne & Clark, I will have the instructor begin the instruction and talk, but as the days go on I will have more and more students supporting conversations. I wish to conclude my lesson with students solely discussing their understanding of a text in a group setting. I will closely monitor student discussions and step in when appropriate. I know that this practice will not come right away and will require an immense amount of practice.

6). The core practices I wish to work on closely are activating and connecting background knowledge, questioning, and visualizing. During this week's planning, the third grade teachers discussed how important it is to concentrate on the practice of visualizing. If students are able to visualize what is happening in a story, they will be much more likely to retell the story and answer comprehension questions more accurately. Teaching visualizing will strengthen my own professional learning because it will require me to be creative and thoughtful about what activities will truly get students visualizing the text they are reading and listening to. I have ideas of students creating their own illustrations and detailing for me what they see as they hear certain passages. By visualizing, students will draw inferences from the story and state these ideas aloud. Students will clearly state exactly what is occurring and suggest their levels of comprehension with their levels of visualization. 

7). I have several resources available to me. The resources I will be working with are the student basal reader, the teacher's edition, the making meaning books and curriculum, and the school library. My classroom also has an ELMO and Promethean board that are great technological resources that will assist my unit plan lessons. There is a public library in the community that is also a great resource to find additional books that would be beneficial. The third grader teachers are also a great resource because they always have a multitude of ideas and resources to work with. 

8). Additional resources I will be using are the websites my teachers use for meaningful activities. These websites include teachers pay teachers, super teacher, and other various sites that have valuable content. I will have to make activities including retelling prompts, summaries, graphic organizers, and comprehension questions that effectively assess student progress.

9). Students are assessed formally in the third grade with the DRA. This is currently taking place in my classroom. I plan on pre-assessing students both formally and informally. I constantly informally assess my students as I ask them about what they are reading. Before my guided lead teaching, I hope to continue to read passages with my students and ask them to respond to various questions and have them make connections within the text. To get an idea of each individual student's comprehension skills, I would like to read a passage aloud, demonstrate effective reading strategies, and then ask students to respond both aloud and in writing the answers to a series of questions. This will help me gauge the levels of understandings and where I need to help students.

10). I hope to find out more about my students' abilities to demonstrate comprehensive strategies. I want to know if they are able to take past experiences and background knoweledge and incorporate this into their learning. I also want to know how strong they are in questioning a text, close reading, and visualizing a story. I will have to do this through my informal assessments. By doing this, I will continue to learn about my students as learners. In order for my unit to be successful, I must figure out what areas truly need to be practiced. I want to know what strategies are strong and those that are inhibiting my students' understanding of the texts they read. I will start by observing the class as a whole and then focus on individual students that struggle with certain approaches. 

11). I will need to do more research on visualizing. When I hear visualizing, I simply think of students sharing what they believe a story looks like and what they see as they hear or read a text. However, I know this process does not come naturally and specific activities guide this core practice's understanding. Students need guidance to begin mentally picturing each event in a story. I am very interested in working alongside my mentor teacher and fellow interns to come up with strategies to best accomplish this practice.

12). I am very excited to begin planning and teaching my unit plan. I have an immense amount of ideas and resources I would like to incorporate. However, I am concerned about trying to cover too much in my unit plan or individual lessons. I want to make sure to keep my lessons concise and purposeful. I will have to be careful that I am not stretching for too much to be done at a time. I want each student to be engaged and comfortable with the content. This makes me nervous about what to include and what to leave out.