Teaching Strategies
This unit is based primarily on the pairing of fiction and non-fiction. For example when teaching concepts of the Declaration of Independence, I will pair Life, liberty, and the pursuit of Jellybeans: A fourth of July Story by Heather French Henry with Give me Liberty: The Story of the Declaration of Independence by Russell Freedman. I will provide my students with an assortment of both types of text for engagement. I want students to learn to have an appreciation for both. I will introduce each topic with the use of a literary text to stimulate engagement and possible connections. After using the literary text, I was then use the informational text to teach the concept. At the first grade level students are required to be able to differentiate between fiction and non-fiction without the assistance of a teacher. In addition to that, I also would like for my students to learn to find their similarities. At the first grade level I know a lot of my students will be emergent readers. Because of this it is important that I have text at various ability levels accessible for them. I need to give careful consideration to both the materials and the strategies I use throughout this unit.
Graphic Organizers
Graphic organizers are a way to organize thoughts or new learning in a visual way. I plan to use a K-W-L chart at the beginning of the unit. The K-W-L will allow me to give the students a quick assessment at the beginning of the unit to see what they know. I can also use the chart to find out what they want to learn from the unit and lastly we will revisit the chart at the end to analyze what they learned. I am going to use a Venn diagram. Venn diagrams are used to compare things. I plan to use it compare the two types of text as well various books on the same topic. I have often felt as if Venn diagrams were difficult for the students to use because of the space. I plan to use hula-hoops to create Venn diagrams that are much larger and more accessible for the students. I will also use T-charts for comparisons.
Mini Lesson
A mini lesson is a 10-15 minute lesson. During balanced literacy this is the time spent delivering direct instruction to the students. Even though the mini lesson is short in length it is full of engagement. My school uses an “I do, we do, you do” model. The “I do” is where the teacher is giving instruction or providing the background knowledge. The “we do” is where the teacher and students often collaborate. The “you do” is when the students work independently. This method follows the idea of a gradual release of responsibility. I think these mini lessons are extremely useful at the primary level because it does not require the student to work on one thing for too long. I have found that this method allows my students to stay focused and on task.
Read Aloud
Read alouds are essential to my unit. They will be performed on a daily basis. Read alouds are a way for me to not only model what fluent reading sounds like, but it also gives students access to the content orally. Read alouds in my classroom are done two ways. One way is I have a copy of the book I am reading from and I stop to show the students the pictures along the way. The second way I carry out a read aloud in my classroom is by projecting the book on the smart board so the students can follow along with the text and see the pictures as I read. During a read aloud I usually stop to ask the students questions and allow them to ask any questions they may have.
Shared Writing
Shared writing is a type of collaborative writing between the teacher and the students. The students assist me with a piece of writing that is visible to everyone. Even though I encourage independent writing, shared writing allows us to have conversations about the writing from beginning to end. This gives the students an opportunity to ask questions and share their thoughts in a non-threatening environment. As I stated in my rationale, first grade students are very conversational and are emergent writers. Through shared writing we can take those conversations and transform them into written documents. Usually at the end of a shared writing experience, we have a shared reading activity, in which we chorally read what we have written.
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