Emergent Literacy and Reading Lesson Plans Essay

Lesson Plan #1

General Information

Topic or Unit of Study: Derivations

Subject(s): Word recognition

Grade/Level: 3

Instructional Setting

• Grade: 3^rd
• Subject: Language Arts
• Time: 30 minutes
• Amount: 10 students
• C1. Book Choice Justification

The book Every Dog Has Its Day by John Rousselle was selected for several reasons. First, this book corresponds to the elementary level of academic difficulty. Second, it has many words and derivatives which are necessary for our lessons. The choice of the words are appropriate, there are many examples of the words with word-forming prefixes and derivational suffixes.

Standards and Objectives

Core Curriculum/Student Achievement Standard(s)

According to the standard, students are to know the word-forming elements and to “identify and know the meaning of the most common prefixes and derivational suffixes” (Wisconsin Department of public instruction, 2011, p. 17)

Lesson Objective(s)

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to use word-forming prefixes and derivational suffixes in the words as they are word structure clues that are important to word recognition 95% of the time for creating new parts of speech and the words with new meaning.

Materials and Resources

Instructional Materials

1. Copies of the text Every Dog Has Its Day by John Rousselle
2. Cards, handouts
3. Computer
4. Paper, pencils

Resources

1. School library
2. Internet

Instructional Plan

The sequence of Instructional Procedures/Activities/Events (provide a description and indicate the approximate time for each)

Identification of Student Prerequisite Skills Needed for Lesson: (2 minutes)

1. A teacher shows students colored cards with suffixes and prefixes. Students have to point to the given suffixes and prefixes and show where the separation of the root word and its prefix/suffix is. The students have to create their examples using suffixes and prefixes, if they need help a teacher offers a word, and students are to add a suffix or a prefix. This task should show students the most common prefixes (un-, re-, in-) and suffix (-ful, -ness, -est) and give examples.
2. A teacher tries to understand which prefixes and suffixes students remember, their role in word formation, and language. A teacher should give leading questions if students fail to answer questions themselves.
3. Students need to know that words can be broken up into parts or clusters.

Presentation of New Information or Modeling (4 minutes)

1. After the principle of word-formation is understood, a teacher shows students separate cards one set with root words and one set with suffixes and prefixes. A teacher creates new words using adding suffixes and prefixes to the words. The teacher explains the main function of suffix and prefix in the word. For example, the teacher says the suffix “-ing” and writes it out on the SmartBoard. When added to “chew” we have a new word “chewing”. The teacher writes the word “chewing” on the Smartboard with a division between the root word and its suffix. It would look like this “chew/ing”. More words will be added and will all have divisions between the prefix and the suffix. The words that are written on the Smartboard are “help/ful, re/do, un/do, happi/ly, un/happy, happi/est, un/happi/ly, re/write, writ/ing, un/told, re/sale, in/polite, and great/est. A teacher is to stress that by adding suffixes and prefixes people create different parts of speech (nouns, adjectives, and their degrees, verbs) and sometimes even new words with different meanings (do – redo).
2. A teacher reads the words which are created with the help of prefixes and suffixes in the text Every Dog Has Its Day by John Rousselle and shows how they are written dividing the words into clusters, prefix, root, root, and suffix. Then, students have to repeat the words watching all the possible derivations pointing to the meaning of the word and the parts of speech they are.
3. Students work in front of the computer and watch how animated words are formed. Students have to guess which part of speech has been created. In case the part of speech remains the same, students have to say whether the meaning has changed or remained the same.

Guided Practice (17 minutes)

1. Students are given five words to search for in the text Every Dog Has Its Day by John Rousselle, and to write them on the SmartBoard with different colors. Students are to define the meaning of the words and the parts of speech they belong to. Next, students have to add different suffixes and prefixes with other colors creating new words. It is important to sign each new word having stated what has changed and why a new creating is a new word. Individual work. A teacher just comes to each student and checks whether students succeed in adding derivatives.
2. A teacher presents students with the words. From the paragraphs in the book, students have to find the words with suffixes or prefixes. The book is projectable on the SmartBoard. Each time a student finds a correct answer he/she can raise a hand and say the root word and the word with a derivative aloud having identified the word part of speech and meaning before and after derivation. A teacher carefully follows those who participate in class. The teacher asks those who do not take part in the discussion and if they fail to answer the question, a teacher explains the material one more time.

Independent Student Practice (5 minutes)

1. Students work individually on creating the derivatives from the words given by a teacher. Students are offered the roots. Each student has a task to create either different parts of speech or new words with other meaning to complete the task. Then, students present the results of their work to the class and in case there are mistakes other students have an opportunity to correct.
2. A teacher does not interfere in the process unless others have not noticed a mistake and a teacher just invites students for better consideration of the phrase.

Culminating or Closing Procedure/Activity/Event (2 minutes)

1. At the end of the lesson, a teacher repeats shortly the new information learned during the class. A teacher enumerates the suffixes and prefixes used for creating and recognizing different parts of speech. Working together, students have shown the suffixes and prefixes in the words saying their role in word-formation. Students read a sentence from the projected book from the SmartBoard.

Pedagogical Strategy (or Strategies)

During the class, different strategies are involved, individual, group, and teacher class strategy. An important factor has been presented – students to the class which is effective for those who make many mistakes. In this case, students are encouraged to notice mistakes and do not make them in their further learning (Killen, 2006).

Differentiated Instruction

When students work individually, a teacher gives them words to deriving them using adding suffixes and prefixes. A teacher chooses simpler words for weaker students allowing them to understand the principle of derivation and he/she offers more complicated words for stronger students to make those think and improve their knowledge and practical skills (Sturma, & Bognera, 2008). For the hearing impaired the teacher will read the words a second time and check if the student heard properly by asking the student to repeat the word after it is read. The ELL and the learning disabled student will be given a paper with the words written down and read out loud to them, gifted/talented student will have a list of more difficult words to add prefixes and suffixes too and can help the weaker students.

Student Assessment/Rubrics

The assessment of the lesson is based on the final individual test. The students will be able to use word-forming prefixes and derivational suffixes in the words in the text 95% of the time.

E. Technology Component

SmartBoard technologies are used in this lesson with the purpose to encourage students to remember information. A Computer makes a lesson more interesting, changes the activity, and helps students remember information faster (Brooks-Young, 2010).

Lesson Plan #2

General Information

Subject(s): Phonological awareness

Topic or Unit of Study: Rhyming words

Grade/Level: 3

Instructional Setting

• Grade: 3^rd
• Subject: Language Arts
• Time: 30 minutes
• Amount: 10 students
• C1. Book Choice Justification

The book Every Dog Has Its Day by John Rousselle was selected for these three lessons for several reasons. Even though it is not a poem, there are many words which rhyme with each other. It helps students search for rhymes individually.

Standards and Objectives

Core Curriculum/Student Achievement Standard(s)

At this age, students have to “demonstrate an understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds” using producing rhyming words and blending and segmenting “onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words” (Wisconsin Department of public instruction, 2011, p. 15).

Lesson Objective(s)

The students will rhyme words that have a similar ending and correctly recognize rhyming. Students will write a poem containing four lines.

Materials and Resources

Instructional Materials

1. Copies of the text Every Dog Has Its Day by John Rousselle
2. Cards, handouts
3. Computer/ SmartBoard
4. Paper, pencils

Resources

1. School library
2. Internet

Instructional Plan

The sequence of Instructional Procedures/Activities/Events (provide a description and indicate the approximate time for each)

Identification of Student Prerequisite Skills Needed for Lesson: (2 minutes)

1. Students need to have experience with poetry. We are working on poetry in writing class. A teacher writes a sentence on the Smartboard. Then, a teacher says that it is a sentence and it consists of words. Having selected a word, for example ‘sometimes’, a teacher divides it into syllables and then into sounds. Then, a teacher writes another sentence on the Smartboard. Students have to repeat the words after a teacher and then each word should be divided into syllables and sounds pointing at similar endings which have similar sounds. A teacher asks students one by one to understand whether all students managed to get new information. If he/she sees that some students fail to understand some information, a teacher gives other students an individual task, a sentence and students have to list the words, then divide each word into syllables and write down the sounds. A teacher works with a group of those who failed to understand a task and repeats new information one more time giving examples. Students are to remember the word composition, such components as a prefix, a root, a suffix, and an ending. (This section of the lesson plan is to recognize what the students need to know to be able to complete this lesson. For example, the students need to know how to sound out words and how to read to be able to rhyme words.)

Presentation of New Information or Modeling (4 minutes)

1. A teacher speaks about rhyming showing students the simplest ways of rhyming based on a similar ending, such as way-day, smart-heart, etc. Students are to understand that a rhyme is based on a sound, not on away a word is written, for example, daughter-hotter.
2. A teacher reads students a poem Apple Pie by Mikayla Pacheco
3. Today I made an apple pie.
4. It was pleasing to the nose and eye.
5. My grandma and I each did our part.
6. Pies taste better when they’re made from the heart (Pacheco, 2007).
7. Then, a teacher repeats the last words of each line, then asking students how they are connected. Students have to say that they are rhymed. At the end of presenting new information, a teacher has to say that poems are not the only sources of rhymed words. Students should know that when speaking we often use rhymed words, however, due to specific positions we do not notice it, thus, the lesson is going to be devoted to rhymed words, their search in prose, and rhyming as it is.

Guided Practice (14 minutes)

1. A teacher shows students two sheets of paper with words. Students have to create groups of rhymed words from each of the papers. The task is repeated several times. After this, a teacher looks at those who failed to complete the task. A teacher creates a group of students who have managed to understand the principle of rhyming and asks them to work in groups searching for rhyming words in the text (there are many of them). A teacher repeats the new information one more time to students who failed to understand the principle of rhyming. Training continues up to the time each of the students manages to understand it.
2. Students open the book Every Dog Has Its Day by John Rousselle and read the story aloud. Each student tries to find rhyming words, when one does it, a teacher writes down these words on the blackboard in pairs. The words don’t need to appear on the same page. The main idea is to find the words which have the same ending and which rhyme.
3. Working in pairs, students have to create the lines with the words presented on the blackboard. Students are given a pair of words and are to create two lines that rhyme.

Independent Student Practice (5 minutes)

1. The next step is individual work. All students complete it on computers. Applying to the specific program, students are asked to select the boxes with rhymed words. If students fail to choose the correct box, it lights with a red color. When a correct answer is chosen a box is lighted with a green color. At the end of the lesson, a program rates students’ work based on the balance between correct and incorrect answers. The number of made attempts is also considered.

Culminating or Closing Procedure/Activity/Event (5 minutes)

1. The final stage of the lesson is poem creation. Students are to use the rhymed words from the book. Four lines are enough. It is just important to try to create a meaningful poem applying the words used in the book. The words are still presented on the Smartboard.

Pedagogical Strategy (or Strategies)

I used pair and individual work as the privileged strategies to understand whether students need a class interaction during the lesson. At the end of the class, I understood that classwork is also important as students have to communicate with each other. Work in pairs and individual tasks are boring for them if constantly repeated. At the end of the class, I notice that students tried to communicate with each other about the issues which do not refer to the class lesson (Killen, 2006).

Differentiated Instruction

I successfully used the individual approach to students having created a separate group for those who failed to understand the lesson topic and repeated for them the material one more time. Other students worked on improving their skills (Moll, 2003). The hearing impaired student will sit closer to the teacher, physically disabled, will participate in the lesson with the teacher or teacher aide sitting next to him/her, ELL students and learning disabled student will have their directions written down and read out loud to them, the expectation will also be lowered. The gifted/talented students when done with their poem will be asked to pick a word of their choice and list as many words that rhyme that they can come up with,

Student Assessment/Rubrics

1. Students were graded for pair work and a poem creation. A teacher is responsible for marking students and their poems due to logical and meaningful appropriateness. It is obligatory to use the words offered by a teacher in the poems. Pair work is graded as well. A teacher listens to the responses of each of the students and marks their ability to react in an appropriate form and with the appropriate meaning. Computer testing gives the grade automatically. A teacher just has to summarize all the grades and put the average after the lesson. Students have an opportunity to increase their grades if they want. A teacher gives them rhymed words additionally and students have to create a poem. Students will write a poem containing four lines.
2. E. Technology Component
3. SmartBoard technology is used in this lesson with the purpose to check students’ understanding of the new information. The book was projectable onto the SmartBoard, students can interact with the words and the pages on the SmartBoard. SmartBoard technology makes a lesson more vital, changes the activity, and helps students activate their knowledge.

Lesson Plan #3

General Information

Subject(s): Oral reading fluency

Topic or Unit of Study: Reading fluency

Grade/Level: 3

Instructional Setting:

• Grade: 3^rd
• Subject: Language Arts
• Time: 30 minutes
• Amount: 10 students
• C1. Book Choice Justification

The book Every Dog Has Its Day by John Rousselle was selected for the lesson for several reasons. First, this book corresponds to the elementary level of academic difficulty. Second, it has a rich vocabulary with an abundance of new words which expands student’s lexicon. Third, the book has a well-developed plot structure with the introduction, the main part, and the conclusion. Furthermore, the book is logically structured, it has appealing illustrations, it carries an appropriate message without discrimination, and has good meaning.

Standards and Objectives

Core Curriculum/Student Achievement Standard(s)

1. Students are to “read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehensions, such as read on-level text with purpose and understanding and read on-level prose orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings” (Wisconsin Department of public instruction, 2011, p. 15).

Lesson Objective(s)

1. The students will be able to read more fluently and increasing their words per minute by at least 3 words.

Materials and Resources

Instructional Materials

1. Copies of the text Every Dog Has Its Day by John Rousselle
2. Cards, handouts
3. Projector

Resources

1. School library
2. Internet

Instructional Plan

The sequence of Instructional Procedures/Activities/Events (provide a description and indicate the approximate time for each)

Identification of Student Prerequisite Skills Needed for Lesson: (2 minutes)

1. A teacher talks to students about reading and how fast it can be. A teacher asks students about two ways of reading, aloud, and in silence. The students need to know how to read, decode words, and what read aloud and in silence means.

Presentation of New Information or Modeling (1 minute)

1. A teacher says to the students that they have an opportunity to train their reading fluency. Using a TV projector, a teacher shows students two ways of reading, aloud and in silence.

Guided Practice (5 minutes)

1. The practical task is focused on the teacher reading a text Every Dog Has Its Day by John Rousselle sentence by sentence and students have to repeat it after him/her. The students start reading the passage at a slower pace and increase their speed as they are reading.
2. The next task is reading with the teacher simultaneously. Reading with the teacher will help with the student’s fluency because the students have to keep the same pace as the teacher.

Independent Student Practice (9 minutes)

1. Each student is given a paragraph from the book Every Dog Has Its Day by John Rousselle. A teacher notes 1 minute during which students are to read their paragraph. When a minute ends, students have to mark the word they stopped at. A teacher counts the read words.

Culminating or Closing Procedure/Activity/Event (13 minutes)

1. The final stage is the monitoring of students’ ability to read fluently. Each student comes to a teacher and he/she has to read aloud. A teacher stops students after 1 minute. The teacher will then count the correct words per minute read.

Pedagogical Strategy (or Strategies)

Due to the specifics of the lesson purpose, individual work is dominating (Pawlak, 2012). Students do not work in groups; they do not interact with the class and do not work in pairs. Such lessons are to be present, however, they are to be as less as possible as students will be bored (Killen, 2006).

Differentiated Instruction

The whole lesson is based on the student-oriented approach when each student is treated individually (Sturma, & Bognera, 2008). The same instructions are given to the whole class. However, a teacher follows how each of the students completes the task. Having presented new information for students, a teacher tries to understand who has managed to get the data and who still has some problems in completing the task individually. Counting students’ words and trying to understand whether fluent reading allows students to understand the main idea of the book, a teacher creates a personal opinion about a student’s abilities and this information is going to be the instructions for actions in the future. There is an idea to work with those students who have problems with reading fluently. The hearing impaired and ELL student will listen to the book on CD with a headset, A teacher assistant will assist the student that is visually impaired, for the student with a learning disability the teacher will be close by and the student with a learning disability will be paired up with a gifted and talented student to read to each other with the teacher listening too.

Student Assessment/Rubrics

1. The fastest student gets 10 points additionally while reading on time.
2. The further points are shared as follows.
3. For silent reading: those who managed to finish reading before the minute ends get 40 points. Those students who managed to read 130 words get 35 points, 120 words mean 30 points, 110 means 20 points and 100 words is 10 points. Those who failed to read 100 words get encouraging 3 points.
4. For aloud reading, those who managed to read a text before 1 minute ended get 40 points. Those who read 120 words got 40 points, 115 words deserved 30 points, 110 words meant 20 points, 10 were given for 100 words, and those who failed to read 100 words got encouraging 3 points. The students will be able to read more fluently and increasing their words per minute by at least 3 words.
5. A projector is used for presenting new information for students and the task. This is a new way for information delivery; therefore, students were interested in it (Wada, Huang, & Lin, 2009).

Reflection Protocol

Observation and Description

10 students in the class of 3rd-grade work during the lesson for 30 minutes. During the lessons, students study words and their derivations, syllables, rhyming words and the way how words may be rhymed, and oral reading fluency. Each lesson was structured based on four stages, the repetition of the material students was to know and which was to be used as the background data for the lessons. Then I turned to the presentation of the new material after which I trained students to make sure that the new information is understood. Finally, the testing was implemented. All the lessons were successful and I managed to gain the set objectives as the grades students got were high.

Analysis, Exploration, and Reasoning

During the lesson, students were all involved in the lesson as I structured the lesson in such a way that students did not have an opportunity to communicate on other topics. Moreover, I tried to involve innovative technologies and students’ interest in drawing during the lessons. All three lessons were effective and successfully met the lesson objectives; the final monitoring of students’ skills supports this statement. During all of the lessons, students were deeply involved in the lesson activities, as I tried as much as possible to make sure that the tasks I incorporated were interesting. The student’s body language was that of excitement. The students were raising their hands and wanting to participate in the lesson. The students were excited to come up to the SmartBoard when called upon. Moreover, I tried to change the activities and to redirect student’s attention from one action into another one. The attention of students in the 3^rd grade is not stable. Starting with the repetition of the information students had to know I turned to the discussion of the new material and then its guided practice. Students paid more attention to the tasks which were graded, therefore, it is important not to stress such points at the beginning of the lesson to make students work effectively during the whole class.

Connections to Other Effective Teaching Practices

Social constructivism theory is referred to as one of the most appropriate due to the high collaboration among students and group work. During each of the lessons, I referred to either group or pair work to help students collaborate. The oral reading fluency lesson was based on individual work. At the end of the lesson I saw that students were exhausted, they wanted to speak to each other. Therefore, I have concluded that social relations are important. Incorporating group and pair work, the teacher allow students to realize one of their main needs – to socialize with others (Gunning, 2010). Moreover, the examples students refer to should be taken from the surrounding world. A story about a dog is a good idea for lesson plans as it acquaints students with the environment and possible situations.

Evaluation

The information presented during the lesson was effective as I managed to give students new information and after testing their knowledge at the end of the lesson I saw that this information was perceived. Students managed to answer questions and complete other tasks at the final control stage. During the lesson students also showed their understanding, therefore, the conclusion may be drawn that the information was effectively presented.

Evaluation (F4b. Explanation of Thinking Process)

Trying to consider the evaluation process of students, it is important to check the stages of the lesson. At the beginning of the lesson, I tried to understand how much students know about further data. Then, I presented new information after which a guided practice was done. The individual work followed where students showed their understanding of the lesson material. Finally, during the control procedure, students showed high rates that make it possible for me to say that the thinking process of students was completed. This evaluation is based on logical ideas and the ability to see the connection between the achieved goals and the results. The results of each lesson are high as students received high grades, therefore, it may be concluded that I managed to reach the goals. The thinking process students were guided by may be characterized by logic.

Recommendations

The alternative recommendation strategies apart from the group and individual work were as follows. I made it possible for students to interact with the whole class. However, I failed to present the restatement strategy. At the end of the stage where I presented new material, I could ask students to restate the data I have just said. It would improve their memorizing qualities.

The restatement strategy is very effective as when students listen to the new information and then turn to complete tasks, they may fail to remember some facts. The restatement of the data gives students a chance to revise new knowledge and get to know some facts which were missed.

Personal Meaning and Professional Growth

It is important t change activities, otherwise, students distract from the lesson, they become bored. Conducting a lesson, students should be offered different types of tasks, activities, and information. Thus, using the example of the lessons under consideration, the following aspects should be described. At the beginning of each lesson, the warming-up task was based on the information which students might know. I either turned to the data they learn from the previous lesson or to the information which is very important for the current class. After this, students were presented with new information. After active participation in the lesson, students had to sit still and to listen to a teacher’s lecture. After this, I involved students’ in the discussion, however, not very actively. After the new information was given, students were encouraged to take part in the lesson actively. This is one of the most important stages of the lesson. It is important to make students read, speak, write, communicate and refer to other activities which make their mind work in different directions, changing the activities and do not allow them to become bored and tied.

The use of innovative technologies is a real strength for my lessons as each time I referred to them with different purposes. During one of the lessons, I used innovative technologies for presenting new information. Such a way of information delivery was new for students therefore, they were very attentive. The next time, I used a computer to check how well students understood the material. Such tasks motivated students for better performance. It also helped them activate all their knowledge as the task was new and interesting. Computer incorporation into the monitoring task was also an interesting decision as students were revealed from the usual form of knowledge check. An interest made students more attentive. Students activated their knowledge; therefore, their performance was better.

Student-oriented (differentiated) strategy is to be improved. I have analyzed my lessons, I noticed that I did not use the personal-oriented approach in full length. I sometimes forgot that students were different and they had various abilities and skills. I suppose this fact could negatively affect the lesson outcome. Some students failed to understand information properly. If I paid more attention to those who lagged, more profit could be made. Additionally, the strongest students are also to be detected as having better skills they become bored while making simple tasks. Those who managed to get the information faster have to be offered additional tasks, more creative, and more complicated.

I would try to create a group of students who failed to understand the material for each lesson, as it is an effective strategy. Being a part of the personally-oriented approach, I would pay more attention to those who have problems in understanding new information and to those who get it too fast. Additional classes are to be organized for these students to develop their skills.

I would recommend my peers to use more innovative technologies during the lesson. As I have already said, innovative technologies help a teacher to create a difference, to change an activity, and to make students more devoted to the lesson. Innovative technologies perform several functions, they involve students more in the learning process, they help students organize their thoughts better and they do not allow them to relax without making them too tired. Being a relatively new activity, innovation technologies help teachers to complete many tasks and be incorporated into many stages, such as information presentation, training, and control.

Reference List

Brooks-Young, S. (2010). Teaching with the Tools Kids Really Use: Learning with Web and Mobile Technologies. New York: Corwin Press.

Gunning, T. (2010). Creating literacy instruction for all students (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon/Pearson Education.

Killen, R. (2006). Effective Teaching Strategies: Lessons from Research and Practice. Sydney: Cengage Learning Australia.

Moll, A. M. (2003). Differentiated Instruction Guide for Inclusive Teaching. New York: NPR Inc.

Pawlak, M. (2012). New Perspectives on Individual Differences in Language Learning and Teaching. New York: Springer.

Sturma, H. & Bognera, F. X. (2008). Student‐oriented versus Teacher‐centered: The effect of learning at workstations about birds and bird flight on cognitive achievement and motivation. International Journal of Science Education, 30(7), 941-959.

Wada, T., Huang, F., & Lin, S. (2009). Advances in Image and Video Technology. New York: Springer.

Wisconsin Department of public instruction. (2011). Common core state standards for English language art. Madison: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Pacheco, M. (2007). Apple Pie. Rhyming Poems. Web.