Standard Six | Reading, Writing, and Oral Communication
The competent teacher has foundational knowledge of reading, writing, and oral communication within the content area and recognizes and addresses student reading, writing, and oral communication needs to facilitate the acquisition of content knowledge.
Artifact 1: Teaching Reading in 7th Grade using A Cafecito Story
Growth in Knowledge Indicator A: understands appropriate and varied instructional approaches used before, during, and after reading, including those that develop word knowledge, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and strategy use in the content areas.
Growth in Performance Indicator C: facilitates the use of appropriate word identification and vocabulary strategies to develop each student’s understanding of content.
Growth in Performance Indicator E: uses modeling, explanation, practice, and feedback to teach students to monitor and apply comprehension strategies independently, appropriate to the content learning.
Below is a lesson plan I created in CI 402 during the Spring 2012 semester at UIUC. It revolves around reading A Cafecito Story in a 7th grade class, and incorporates many different instructional strategies that develop students' vocabulary, comprehension, and reading skills.
Artifact 1: Teaching Reading in 7th Grade using A Cafecito Story
Growth in Knowledge Indicator A: understands appropriate and varied instructional approaches used before, during, and after reading, including those that develop word knowledge, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and strategy use in the content areas.
Growth in Performance Indicator C: facilitates the use of appropriate word identification and vocabulary strategies to develop each student’s understanding of content.
Growth in Performance Indicator E: uses modeling, explanation, practice, and feedback to teach students to monitor and apply comprehension strategies independently, appropriate to the content learning.
Below is a lesson plan I created in CI 402 during the Spring 2012 semester at UIUC. It revolves around reading A Cafecito Story in a 7th grade class, and incorporates many different instructional strategies that develop students' vocabulary, comprehension, and reading skills.
Reflection 1:
The lesson plan included above pertains to Standard Six of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards, which requires teachers to "[recognize] and [address] student reading, writing, and oral communication needs to facilitate the acquisition of content knowledge." The artifact illustrates my understanding of the importance of giving students reading and writing strategies to use and incorporating vocabulary development into lessons, tenets of this standard. Furthermore, the lesson includes "modeling, explanation, practice, and feedback" of strategies such as Reciprocal Teaching, Beat the Dictionary, and Concept Attainment, which relates to Growth in Performance Indicator E because that process "[teaches] students to monitor and apply comprehension strategies independently." With Reciprocal Teaching, students learn how to predict, ask questions, clarify, and summarize information from a text. These abilities improve reading comprehension, reading fluency, and critical thinking within students. Students also gain experience working in small groups where tasks are split up, which can often make group work more focused and productive. Having a handout to complete as they work helps students learn to write down their ideas as they think about them, and having groups present some of their findings from the Reciprocal Teaching exercise at the end of class allows them to practice oral communication. The vocabulary aspect of the lesson is great in that it uses a game - Beat the Dictionary - to get students in the habit of using a few different tools to facilitate language acquisition: thinking about their prior knowledge of similar words, collaborating with others to come up with the meaning, or ultimately looking up words they do not understand in the dictionary. This specific lesson is also useful in that some of the words from A Cafecity Story are Spanish, allowing the teacher to highlight and show appreciation for the multilingualism and multiculturalism of students in the class. I have strengthened my grasp of how to address students reading, writing, and oral communication needs through the development of this lesson plan, and I will continue to learn about and incorporate different strategies as I progress in my career.
The lesson plan included above pertains to Standard Six of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards, which requires teachers to "[recognize] and [address] student reading, writing, and oral communication needs to facilitate the acquisition of content knowledge." The artifact illustrates my understanding of the importance of giving students reading and writing strategies to use and incorporating vocabulary development into lessons, tenets of this standard. Furthermore, the lesson includes "modeling, explanation, practice, and feedback" of strategies such as Reciprocal Teaching, Beat the Dictionary, and Concept Attainment, which relates to Growth in Performance Indicator E because that process "[teaches] students to monitor and apply comprehension strategies independently." With Reciprocal Teaching, students learn how to predict, ask questions, clarify, and summarize information from a text. These abilities improve reading comprehension, reading fluency, and critical thinking within students. Students also gain experience working in small groups where tasks are split up, which can often make group work more focused and productive. Having a handout to complete as they work helps students learn to write down their ideas as they think about them, and having groups present some of their findings from the Reciprocal Teaching exercise at the end of class allows them to practice oral communication. The vocabulary aspect of the lesson is great in that it uses a game - Beat the Dictionary - to get students in the habit of using a few different tools to facilitate language acquisition: thinking about their prior knowledge of similar words, collaborating with others to come up with the meaning, or ultimately looking up words they do not understand in the dictionary. This specific lesson is also useful in that some of the words from A Cafecity Story are Spanish, allowing the teacher to highlight and show appreciation for the multilingualism and multiculturalism of students in the class. I have strengthened my grasp of how to address students reading, writing, and oral communication needs through the development of this lesson plan, and I will continue to learn about and incorporate different strategies as I progress in my career.
Artifact 2: Midsummer Language Lesson
Growth in Knowledge Indicator A: understands appropriate and varied instructional approaches used before, during, and after reading, including those that develop word knowledge, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and strategy use in the content areas.
Growth in Knowledge Indicator F: recognizes the relationships among reading, writing, and oral communication and understands how to integrate these components to increase content learning.
Growth in Performance Indicator H: integrates reading, writing, and oral communication to engage students in content learning.
Growth in Performance Indicator J: stimulates discussion in the content areas for varied instructional and conversational purposes.
The lesson below was taught during the first week of a unit on A Midsummer Night's Dream. I wanted to introduce students to the language and discuss what they were nervous about, give them strategies to get used to his unique language, and help them find it creative and fun by asking them to create a Shakespearean dialogue.
Growth in Knowledge Indicator A: understands appropriate and varied instructional approaches used before, during, and after reading, including those that develop word knowledge, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and strategy use in the content areas.
Growth in Knowledge Indicator F: recognizes the relationships among reading, writing, and oral communication and understands how to integrate these components to increase content learning.
Growth in Performance Indicator H: integrates reading, writing, and oral communication to engage students in content learning.
Growth in Performance Indicator J: stimulates discussion in the content areas for varied instructional and conversational purposes.
The lesson below was taught during the first week of a unit on A Midsummer Night's Dream. I wanted to introduce students to the language and discuss what they were nervous about, give them strategies to get used to his unique language, and help them find it creative and fun by asking them to create a Shakespearean dialogue.
Reflection 2:
The artifact embedded above pertains to Standard Six of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards, which calls for teachers to understand and “address student reading, writing, and oral communication needs.” In this lesson, I wanted students to become comfortable reading, speaking, and writing in Shakespearean language. One of my primary goals for the beginning of the lesson was to “[stimulate] discussion in the content areas for varied instructional and conversational purposes,” Performance Indicator J; I played part of “English is Cuh-ray-zee” and we discussed language in a broader context than just Shakespearean dialogue. I wanted them to see our current version of English as idiosyncratic and put the complexity of his language in the context of slang and other easily-learned aspects of language. By stimulating a discussion on slang, language anomalies, and how Shakespeare would feel listening to us talk, I put them in a more positive mindset to read Midsummer. My use of a song, a video of John Green discussing Shakespearean language, a writing activity, discussion, and some reading shows that I “[integrate] reading, writing, and oral communication to engage students in content learning” (Performance Indicator H). In addition to this lesson introduction, I “[recognize] the relationships among reading, writing, and oral communication” (Knowledge Indicator F) by asking students to not only read Shakespeare silently and out loud, but also write in the language. This helps them become confident about the style, helps them learn both common and unique vocabulary words throughout his writing, and allows them an opportunity for creative writing. I gave them the assignment to write a dialogue using Shakespearean language after we read Act 1, Scene 1 as a class but before we moved on to the rest of the play. This was because I “[understand] appropriate and varied instructional approaches used before, during, and after reading, including those that develop word knowledge, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and strategy use in the content area” (Knowledge Indicator A). I also helped develop their comfort and fluency with Shakespeare by discussing seven different reading strategies with them the day before. During this class period, we went over that worksheet as we summarized the scene, discussing which strategies they found most useful. Overall, by discussing and practicing Shakespearean language and how to read Shakespeare in fun, creative ways, I helped address their reading, writing, and oral communication needs during this unit.
The artifact embedded above pertains to Standard Six of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards, which calls for teachers to understand and “address student reading, writing, and oral communication needs.” In this lesson, I wanted students to become comfortable reading, speaking, and writing in Shakespearean language. One of my primary goals for the beginning of the lesson was to “[stimulate] discussion in the content areas for varied instructional and conversational purposes,” Performance Indicator J; I played part of “English is Cuh-ray-zee” and we discussed language in a broader context than just Shakespearean dialogue. I wanted them to see our current version of English as idiosyncratic and put the complexity of his language in the context of slang and other easily-learned aspects of language. By stimulating a discussion on slang, language anomalies, and how Shakespeare would feel listening to us talk, I put them in a more positive mindset to read Midsummer. My use of a song, a video of John Green discussing Shakespearean language, a writing activity, discussion, and some reading shows that I “[integrate] reading, writing, and oral communication to engage students in content learning” (Performance Indicator H). In addition to this lesson introduction, I “[recognize] the relationships among reading, writing, and oral communication” (Knowledge Indicator F) by asking students to not only read Shakespeare silently and out loud, but also write in the language. This helps them become confident about the style, helps them learn both common and unique vocabulary words throughout his writing, and allows them an opportunity for creative writing. I gave them the assignment to write a dialogue using Shakespearean language after we read Act 1, Scene 1 as a class but before we moved on to the rest of the play. This was because I “[understand] appropriate and varied instructional approaches used before, during, and after reading, including those that develop word knowledge, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and strategy use in the content area” (Knowledge Indicator A). I also helped develop their comfort and fluency with Shakespeare by discussing seven different reading strategies with them the day before. During this class period, we went over that worksheet as we summarized the scene, discussing which strategies they found most useful. Overall, by discussing and practicing Shakespearean language and how to read Shakespeare in fun, creative ways, I helped address their reading, writing, and oral communication needs during this unit.