Planning with more Sophisticated
Thinking in Mind
Created b: Donna Anderson and Tammy Reynolds
Thinking and Learning in MindPrompts for Planning /
Context and Purpose(s) for the Sequence
- teach students value of friendship and resilience. How does being resilient influence friendships?
- to have students experience a deeper understanding of “opening the door” to new friendships (“Our most important friends are sometimes those we least expect.”)
- Explicit teaching of “synthesis – big idea”
- Demonstrate relationship between “summarizing” and “synthesizing”.
Resources
“Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship” and “Owen and Mzee: The Language of Friendship”Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, and Dr. Paula Kahumbu
ISBN: 0-439-82973-9; ISBN-10: 0-439-89959-1
“A Mama for Owen”
Marion Dane Bauer
ISBN-10: 0-689 85787-X
List of books used for content lessons and read alouds to teach “Synthesis/Big Idea” “Friendship” and “Resilience”.
A context for New Learning
- What guides the design for the new learning sequence?
- Why am I teaching this?
- What resources will I use?
Skill Focus
- What particular skills will this sequence develop?
- What specific performance standards’ descriptor(s) are you targeting? E.g. synthesis or analysis shows complexity (gr. 3-5)
Curriculum outcomes
Use oral language, engage in exploratory and imaginative play to express themselves, ask for assistance, and exchange ideas with others, and experiment with new ideas
- before writing, engage in discussions as a strategy to generate ideas when responding to text, pictures, stories
- use writing and representing to express a response to experiences.
- use oral language to interact with others and exchange ideas
- use listening strategies to clarify understanding
- shares opinions and gives reasons
- before reading use strategies such as making predictions, asking questions, inference, synthesis and others
- after reading use strategies to confirm and extend meaning
- May be able to identify the message in the story
- Use writing and representing to express personal responses and opinions about experiences or texts
- Use writing and representing to extend thinking by presenting new understandings in a variety of forms, express an alternative viewpoint and demonstrate new understandings
- **
goal setting / * / determining what’s important
accessing prior knowledge / * / justification
predicting/
hypothesizing / * / synthesis
making connections / monitoring understanding
questioning / reflection
* / imagery / self-assessment
End Tasks
- How will the students demonstrate understanding?
- What open-ended or high inference task will they respond to?
- How and when will I set, and prioritize criteria, with the students? (This should happen prior to any important task, e.g. A/B talk, writing a prediction, goal-setting? E.g. T-Square.
Task #1
Write a powerful prediction that explains how Owen and Mzee became remarkable friends. Use all your background knowledge about the animals and the situation and explain your thinking, using justification. Make sure your prediction includes an inference about the “big idea” of the story.
Tasks #2, #3, #4
Writing in Role
Write in role as Owen. Explain your journey and how your friendship with each other has helped you.
Task #5
Four Quadrants: “Open the door” to new friendship by learning about your classmates. You must find 10 people in your classroom who have something in common with you. These could be the start of an unexpected friendship. / Key Concepts, Enduring Understandings or Essential Questions that Frame or Guide the Sequence
- A true story about an unexpected friendship between a baby hippo and a 130 year old tortoise after the Tsunami of 2004 demonstrating the power of friendship and resilience.
- Celebration of friendship; keeping an “open door” for “unexpected” friendships and acceptance of people for who they are.
- Synthesis: understanding how we are “changed” by what we read. This is a story that will change your views as humans who empathize with a remarkable tale of an “unexpected” friendship and the power of resilience.
- We also draw hope from HallerPark’s own incredible transformation from bare rock to natural wonder.
Assessment
- What evidence will I gather and reflect on?
- How will I guide the self-assessment, goal-setting and reflection?
Assessment
- Specific aspects to focus on
- Can students merge facts from a text (summarize what’s important) and additional input, their thinking voice(thoughts, feelings etc.) and transform their thinking (new idea or thought)?
- Can students apply what they have learned about friendship and resilience to their own lives?
For this sequence we are using the first book, “Owen and Mzee: The true story of a remarkable friendship.”
Prompts for PlanningScaffolding the Learning
What sequence will best develop the learning?Goals:
- How will I set the goal(s) for today’s session?
- Will the goal(s) be focused on the demonstration task and/or the skill you are developing?
- How will I guide student goal setting in relation to my goal?
- What focus will I give A/B partner talk? E.g., similarities/differences; new ideas; inferring details, feelings; capturing key ideas; making connections.
- What Smart Thinking Tool will I use to develop prior knowledge?
- Will it be oral or written?
- If inference is the skill-focus, what tool will I use to develop thinking? E.g., Sort/Predict & Question; Partner Picture Talk with Coaching Cards; Buildingfrom clues.
- How will I coach students to more meaningful or insightful questions?
To use oral language, respectful listening.
To justify their thinking; To allow their thinking to be changed or not changed by the ideas of others
To identify author’s message/big idea; synthesis/transformation / Skill focus:
- Imagery
- Big Idea/synthesis/transformation
Connecting /
Plans
Session # 1
/Session # 2
/Session # 3
- goal(s)
Behavjour Goal:
- to use oral language, respectful listening and justification to change or not change the opinions/ideas of others.
- to construct meaning when reading by understanding the “Big Idea” (synthesis or transformation)
- to be a powerful reader by setting goals, making connections, asking questions, making inferences, monitoring understanding, creating images and determining what’s important, as I read.
A/B parners (See quick sheet for information about A/B partners)
Making Connections
Choose A/B partners in a “friendship” way. Have each partner talk about their friendships and then have A or B report out one way their ideas are the same. TEACHER NEEDS TO MODEL!! For example, Tammy talks about how she has different friends because each one brings something different to the relationship. For example, one friend likes shopping and she likes shopping, another friend likes reading books and she likes reading books etc. Donna talks about how many of her friends arelong time” friends, people that she feels comfortable with and can rely on. Report out one way their friendships are the same. The reporting out might be, “My partner Tammy’s ideas were like mine because we both have lots of different friends.”
Accessing Prior Knowledge (APK)
4 Quadrants Think of a Time
“Our most important friends are sometimes the ones we least expect.”
This tool is to help students begin thinking about diversity. It is important to recognize and appreciate differences in people, ideas, and situations. Children must learn that while they are unique and special individuals, they also have many things in common with others. If they listen to and learn about children they do not normally associate with, they may find an “unexpected friend.”
For students who say they don’t have or haven’t had any “unexpected” friends, then ask them to think outside the box. Think about books you have read, movies you have watched or the lives of other people. Pick one example to write about using the 4 Quadrants tool.
If you have not been recording
“clues to the story” on chart paper go over what they know about the story so far. “What clues have there been that will help us understand the story better?” (Prereading information: tortoises, hippos, wildlife sanctuaries, tsunamis, friendships, resilience so you know something tramatic happens etc.) The teacher now says, ““Now I am going to give you another clue by showing you the cover of the book.Do you think this story is fiction or non-fiction? Talk with your A/B partner and discuss this question. Remember to justify your thinking.”
Have a group of students report out.
PREDICTING
Show students the cover of the book. In A/B partners have them describe everything they see. Report out one important clue to the story. Add their ideas to the “Clues to the Story” chart.
We’ve been talking about a story’s “Big Idea” (Pre-reading concept lessons. See if you can infer what you think the big idea in the story is...
A/B Parners…Report out with justification.
In A/B partners discuss all the questions you now have.
ASKING QUESTIONS
Powerful readers always ask questions, before they read, while they are reading and after they read. Now ask students why it is important to know how to ask powerful questions and be able to find the answers.
“How does asking questions make you a powerful reader?”
“What difference does it make in your reading and thinking?”
In A/B partners think of as many questions as you can (teacher models first). Have partners come up with questions then have them report out the one they think is most important. Challenge their thinking by not accepting the same question twice. Tell them to be ready with a second question…also makes them accountable for listening/thinking. If old enough, have students identify each question as “literal” or “inferential”. With older students you can even have them turn some of the literal questions into inferential..I do this in Grade 3.
The big question you want to get them to come up with is, “How did this remarkable friendship happen? This must be deep! It is not about how they met, but how they were able to develop a friendship.Talk about the word, “Remarkable”. Listen to and record their questions and then summarize by coming up with this big question. / Repeat goals and overview of task (Writing in Role)
Self Assessment (writing)
Teachers assess writing night before. It works well if you highlight one of the most important criteria…in this case maybe if they were able to infer the BIG IDEA with justification.
- Partners talk to examine writing from session 1. They determine why the teacher highlighted certain words, phrases, big idea etc.
- Teacher models T -square using a student‘s predictions from previous day (select this ahead of time and look for an example that demonstrates what you were emphasizing (justification, punctuation, powerful language etc.) The criteria we build for this story will include having them use clues from background knowledge about animals etc. as well as being able to infer the “big idea”. These are the things I would highlight the night before. I always ask the student ahead if I can use their work but do not reveal their name until the end. Sometimes if the class in general did not do what you asked (at least well enough to be an example) then you can be the guest author and just tell them the author doesn’t want to be recognized. You must set the criteria up with your class…have a chart on wall they can constantly refer to). As we go over the example, I use short forms and write them directly above: PL for Powerful Language, C for capitals, B for beginning etc. These are on our charts so the students can use them when they are assessing their work. It is very easy for them to follow and be successful.
- Students go back to their work and do a T square (have them use short forms over sentences identifying criteria i.e. powerful language use PL). Students can simply use a check mark on the T square to show which criteria they have included and how many times. This is very visual for them and easy for them to self assess their work.
What new questions do you have? What are wondering about the story? Discuss with your partner. Report out how your partner's thinking has changed and why. Add to the chart where you recorded their first questions.
Now that they have seen the cover and 3 pictures from the story have them use “questioning chains” to think deeper about the story.
Our first questions are usually not the deepest…it’s the questions we ask second, third etc. that take us to deeper understanding of text.
Have students review the questions on the chart and choose the question they feel is most important to answer.
Use this question to complete one question chain. Others will be completed after reading Chunk 1 and then again after reading Chunk 2.
Word sort helps students “predict” what the story will be about whereas the “Inferring Word Meaning” below works on vocabulary development.)
Inferring Word Meaning Using Clues from Pictures and Words.
This story has many words that will be unfamiliar to students. One way for students to figure out unfamiliar words is to use picture clues and text clues. Use the BLM provided. Have students look at the pictures and context clues and then write a meaning for the word (underlined and in bold.
We decided to have 3 lists of words…one for each chunk.
See included sheets. / Repeat goals and overview of task (Writing in Role)
Think about criteria for writing in role.
APK
Think about what you know about the characters. Owen has not met Mzee but we can infer that they are going to become “unexpected” friends.
Let’s look at the word “unexpected” and see what we know about Owen and what we know about Mzee that people would not expect them to be friends.
Divide the class into groups of 4. Give each group one sheet of chart paper. Each student needs a marker. Use a placemat strategy to have them gather information about the animals that would make people believe they could not be friends.
Divide the placemat into 4 sections with the following titles:
Hippos on 2 sections
Tortoises on 2 sections
Students will have 5 minutes to fill in their section. They can use all their knowledge about the story so far to help including ideas about diversity and resilience (Owen has not shown resilience yet). Then have themform 2 groups…1 who worked on the hippo section and one who worked on the tortoise section, form a pair. Each pair will collaborate and come up with their best reasons why Owen and Mzee would not be expected to become friends. Then they will share with the other pair in their group. The four students must then come up with a “best reason”.
Record reasons on chart paper to refer back to later.
Question Chain
Now that they have heard the second chunk of text, ask students what new questions they have. Once again, have them choose their most important question to complete the second question chain.
Inferring Word Meaning Using Clues from Pictures and Words.
- accessing prior knowledge
FOR BEST RESULTS (student learning) ALWAYS USE THE “GRADUAL RELEASE OF RESPONSIBILITY” MODEL.
- Model
- Guided Practice
- Independence
- Predicting
- Questioning
Processing
- How will students interact and think with text (video, visuals, experiences), and with each other, to develop understanding? E.g., Images, Thinking bubbles, IQ, What’s Important and Why?, Four Quadrants, Thinking like …; Key Ideas, Connections, Questions.
- What focus will I give A/B partner talk? E.g., similarities/differences; new ideas; inferring details, feeling; capturing key.
- SMART thinking tools
A MUST: Read, “sendingan image “See “Quick Sheet” to get information on how to Send an Image and read SMART handout on imagery for the steps to use when teaching imagery as well as research behind teaching imagery.. .