Instructional Strategy Lesson Plan #1

Katy Dellinger

March 25, 2010

Name of Strategies Used:

-Anticipation Guide

-Think Pair Share

-Circle Map

Instructional Strategies Sources:

Billmeyer, R., & Barton, M.L. (Ed.). (1998). Teaching reading in the content areas:Anticipation

Guide (p. 104). Denver, CO: McRel.

Lyman, F. (1987). Think-pair-share: An expanding teaching technique. MAA-CIE Cooperative

News, 1, 1-2.

Hyerle, D. (1987). Thinking maps: circle map. Retrieved from

Text students will read/view:

Kipling, R. (Ed.). (2007). Rikki-tikki-tavi. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Cobra vs. mongoose. (2007). [Web]. Retrieved from

Faslund, E. (Ed.). (2007). Mongoose and king cobra.

Materials Needed:

-chart paper to create circle map or board and markers

-student text

-post-it notes for all students

-anticipation guides for all students

Strategy Explanation:

The anticipation guide strategy is a great strategy to use to spark good class discussions based on what students already know before reading a selection and then to discuss what they learned after reading. This strategy is a way for students to give honest answers because at first there are no right or wrong answers, just opinions. Before reading or studying a topic, students are each given an anticipation guide to fill out based on what they already know or do not know about that topic. Teachers have the option of allowing students to work in groups or individually to fill out the guide, based on how complex the subject matter is. The teacher then leads a class discussion by asking the class who agreed with certain statements and who did not. Students are challenged by the teacher to defend their opinions. The students are then assigned to read a selection with the purpose of finding evidence that supports or disconfirms their responses on the guide. After reading, students are then to go back to their original answers on their anticipation guides and revise or confirm their initial responses based on what they have learned. The teacher brings the students back to a class discussion to talk about how they may have changed their answers.

The think-pair-share strategy was created to encourage student engagement and classroom participation. Students are given a topic and then the teacher has the students pair up and discuss the topic, but only after the students have had time themselves to think about what they know about the topic first. Research shows that the quality of student responses increases significantly when the teacher provides more “think time”. The point of this strategy is for students to discuss misconceptions or ideas with other students. Students are more likely to respond and be actively engaged when talking in front of another student instead of talking in front of the entire class. This strategy can be used in a small or large class. Once students have had the opportunity to discuss with their partner, the teacher can randomly call on groups to share their ideas.

The Circle Map came from Thinking Maps. It is used for brainstorming ideas and for showing prior knowledge about a topic by providing context information. A circle map is a very easy strategy to be used in either a large or small classroom. Teachers can create a circle map quickly and easily. They can draw a square on the board, chart paper, promethean board, etc. Within the square the teacher will draw a large circle and then a smaller one. Within the smaller circle the teacher will put up a term or a concept. Students will tell everything they know about the term and the teacher will write it in the larger circle. Inside the box is called the frame of reference, and this is where students tell where or who they have learned their prior knowledge on the concept they are discussing. This could be other teachers, parents, books, internet, TV, etc.

North Carolina Curriculum Competency Goals: (7th Grade English Language Arts)

Competency Goal 1 - The learner will use language to express individual perspectives in response to personal, social, cultural, and historical issues.

Objectives:

1.02 Respond to expressive materials that are read, heard, and/or viewed by:

  • monitoring comprehension for understanding of what is read, heard, and/or viewed.
  • summarizing the characteristics of expressive works.
  • determining the importance of literary effects on the reader/viewer/listener.
  • making connections between works, self and related topics.
  • comparing and/or contrasting information.
  • drawing inferences and/or conclusions.
  • determining the main idea and/or significance of events.
  • generating a learning log or journal.
  • maintaining an annotated list of works read/viewed.
  • creating an artistic interpretation that connects self and/or society to the selection.
  • constructing and presenting book/media reviews.

1.03 Interact in group settings by:

  • responding appropriately to comments and questions.
  • offering personal opinions confidently without dominating.
  • giving appropriate reasons that support opinions.
  • soliciting and respecting another person's opinion.

Competency Goal 5 - The learner will respond to various literary genres using interpretive and evaluative processes.

Objectives:

5.01 Increase fluency, comprehension, and insight through a meaningful and comprehensive literacy program by:

  • using effective reading strategies to match type of text.
  • reading self-selected literature and other materials of individual interest.
  • reading literature and other materials selected by the teacher.
  • assuming an active role in teacher-student conferences.
  • engaging in small group discussions.
  • taking an active role in whole class seminars.
  • analyzing the effects on texts of such literary devices as figurative language, dialogue, flashback, allusion, and irony.
  • analyzing the effects of such elements as plot, theme, point of view, characterization, mood, and style.
  • analyzing themes and central ideas in literature and other texts in relation to personal issues/experiences.
  • extending understanding by creating products for different purposes, different audiences and within various contexts.
  • analyzing the connections of relationships between and among characters, ideas, concepts, and/or experiences.

5.02 Study the characteristics of literary genres (fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry) through:

  • reading a variety of literature and other text (e.g., mysteries, novels, science fiction, historical documents, newspapers, skits, lyric poems).
  • analyzing what genre specific characteristics have on the meaning of the work.
  • analyzing how the author's choice and use of a genre shapes the meaning of the literary work.
  • analyzing what impact literary elements have on the meaning of the text such as the influence of setting on the problem and its resolution.

Lesson Plan:

“Okay, today class we are going to read a short story called Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. I am sure many of you have heard of this story before, but before we read it I would like for you to answer a few questions on an anticipation guide. Can anyone tell me what an anticipation guide is?” (Give students a chance to respond) Then explain that an anticipation guide are questions you answer before you read something or hear something to see what you already know about the topic we are going to be discussing. After learning the material we will then go back and check to see if we made a good hypothesis based on what we already know. I will pass out an anticipation guide (see attached) to each student and give the students about 10 minutes to answer each question. I will explain that they are only to be filling out the left hand column and they will put a check beside the T if they agree with the statement and think that it is true and if not then they will put a check beside the F. The right hand column will be completed after we have read the material. After the students have completed their anticipation guides, as a class we will have a brief discussion about the answers they wrote down and why they felt this way. This gives them a chance to use critical thinking skills because they can not only just say their hypothesis, but they must also give an explanation as to why they thought the way they did.

“Now I am going to pass out each student a few post-it notes. On these post-it notes I am going to give you a minute to come up with everything you know about this word: dance.” (I will have already written the word on the board/overhead/promethean board/chart paper for the class to see.) “This is called the think-pair-share strategy and for right now you are thinking about the word dance and writing down your thoughts.” After a minute is up, I will have them get with a partner or person sitting beside them and share their thoughts about this word. I will explain to them that if their partner has the same word or words written down, then they are to throw away or ball up the second word so each set of partners will only have the word(s) once. After the students have paired up and shared their information with their partners, we will then have a class discussion about this word and I will create a circle map with this word in the center on chart paper in front of the entire class. I will briefly explain that this is a circle map and I will give them directions on what they are going to do with the circle map. Each pair will give me some information about what they know about this word. Some might say types of dancing such as slow dancing, hip-hop, etc. Anything they say I will write up on the chart paper. I will then draw a square around the circle to provide a frame of reference and students will tell me how they have learned what this word is and they will say: movies, music, TV shows, parents, older siblings, etc. I will then explain to them that in the short story we are about to read, the term “dance” is used, but it is used in a different way than what we typically think of.

I will then put a copy of the poem called Mongoose and King Cobra(see attached) up on the overhead for everyone to see. I will read the poem to the students and I will ask them how the term “dance” is used differently in the poem than what we normally think of when we hear that word. We will talk about the tone and how in the poem “dance” is referred to as fighting or killing and we normally think of dancing as being something happy and carefree. After we have discussed the poem I will then show the youtube video of the mongoose and the cobra. I will explain that in the story we will be reading, the main characters are a mongoose and two cobras. I will have the students predict what they think the story will be about.

We will then read the story Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. After stopping at points of high anticipation I will continue asking the students to predict what is going to happen and why. After we have completed the story, I will have the students complete the right hand column of their anticipation guide and we will go over the answers as a class. Most of the class would most likely have predicted that the cobras would have attacked the mongoose, but to their surprise they will have learned that mongooses are known for their ability to fight snakes.

Reflection of Lesson:

The best part about teaching this lesson was focusing on the term “dance” and how in the story it is used differently than what we normally think of when we hear this word. Students were really engaged in this activity because they could relate to what dance means to them. Both girls and guys in the class enjoyed the think-pair-share activity and everyone participated when we had the class discussion during the circle map strategy. All of my students had a lot to say when we had the class discussion.

Also, this was the first time I had used the anticipation guide in my class and I now know that I am going to use it more often. I say this because my students were more engaged in the text while we were reading and wanted to find out whether they were right or wrong on their anticipation guides. I feel like students are more prone to pay attention when they are reading. I learned in Dr. Gill’s class last semester that students will learn better if they make a hypothesis first, and so far I have tried this and it is true. Students will remember things significantly better if they make a guess about it first.

I used this lesson in my resource language arts class and since my students are struggling readers, I had them listen to the audiotape of the story since it is pretty long. The students loved this story and I really felt like they were involved in all of the class discussions we had about it. At the end of the story, we also created a plot diagram chart on butcher paper just to make sure the students understood the narrative elements of the story as they were listening to the audiotape. I also split them up with partners and they were sentence strips to put parts of the story in the correct sequence. I think overall the students really enjoyed this lesson and reading Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. The strategies and activities that I used made this lesson fun and engaging!!