Context for Learning Information Directions: Respond to the prompts below ( no more than 3 singlespaced pages, including prompts)

by typing your responses within the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts; both the prompts and your responses are included in the total page count allowed. Refer to the evidence chart in the handbook to ensure that this document complies with all format specifications. Pages exceeding the maximum will not be scored.

About the School Where You Are Teaching

1. In what type of school do you teach? Elementary school: [ X ] Middle school: [ ] Other (please describe): [ ] Urban: [ ] Suburban: [ X ] Rural: [ ] 2. List any special features of your school or classroom setting (e.g., charter, co-teaching, themed magnet, classroom aide, bilingual, team taught with a special education teacher) that will affect your teaching in this learning segment. [The schools population is predominately middle to upper class and is not full to capacity; an empty classroom is on every hall. One is used as a Science Lab; others are used to quickly accommodate students with IEP and 504 plans which require a separate setting for testing and others are used for Professional Development opportunities for faculty and staff. Art, Music, PE, Character Education and Spanish are taught in a rotating fashion through an enhancement schedule at which time the teacher has her/his planning time. Most days teachers have a duty free lunch time and PLC meetings are conducted weekly through a dedicated time for students and teachers. Students are given opportunities during this time to participate in Yoga, Battle of the Books or to attend a 6 week rotation of additional opportunities in the enhancement class. Though not provided this year, for the last several years, an enhancement class included technology instruction at which time the students were given explicit instruction on most Google Apps such as Google Docs, Gmail and Google Drive, explicit instruction practice with Prezi and much more. Therefore most students and many of the teachers are technologically savvy and use this knowledge to their advantage. A classroom set of Ipad minis is available for check-out and is used in the classrooms often. Recently, a Google ChromeBook classroom set was purchased and will be integrated into instructional opportunities soon. A school-wide reading program such as Accelerated Reader, which routinely tracks and assesses students growth and comprehension success, is not available at this school. Yet many students read often and are encouraged through book projects/report days to read a variety of independently selected texts. In fifth grade, the grade for which these lessons were created, all students are flex-grouped across five teachers for English Language Arts and Math. This grouping provides targeted instruction for students at the level in which than can best excel. Periodically groups are restructured from data collected through formal testing such as MAP and classroom summative assessments as well as informal observations and various formative assessments. The schools PTA provides each student in grades 3-5 with an agenda which is used in a variety of ways to support students and allows the teachers to remain in constant contact with parents. The fifth grade students are asked to record all grades in a text box which appears in each weeks layout and do so for every grade given. Recently, a weekly folder routine was implemented where the previous weeks work goes home for parents to view and return to school. This procedure supports, and expects, parental involvement in the students academic life.] 3. Describe any district, school, or cooperating teacher requirements or expectations that might affect your planning or delivery of instruction, such as required curricula, pacing plan, use of specific instructional strategies, or standardized tests.

[The district and school do not dictate materials that must be used in the classroom. It is expected that the Common Core is used to target skills in which the students must be given opportunities to become proficient, but a centralized approach in how to do so is not provided. For AIG identified students, the district provides the William and Mary Language Arts Program for acceleration in Language Arts and Project M3: Mentoring Mathematical Minds Series is provided for acceleration in Math; no specific program is used to support the opposite spectrum of achieving students. The district recommends implementation of an RtI system and this procedure is used in this school. Students are not fully supported through this procedure and further differentiated until the second nine weeks of the school year. The school has provided a series for Math instruction, Investigations in Number, Data & Space, that is expected to be implemented in the fifth grade. In Language Arts; however, previous year basal books, programmed strategy sets, novel studies and various lessons found from free or low cost sources are implemented at the teachers discretion. In the class for which this lesson was created, students are supported by the classroom teacher and a resource teacher in an inclusion format. The resource teacher provides accommodations for students in accordance to their IEP and or 504 plans during the instructional period.]

About the Class Featured in This Assessment

1. How much time is devoted each day to literacy instruction in your classroom? [90 minutes ] 2. Is there any ability grouping or tracking in literacy? If so, please describe how it affects your class. [All students in this grade are flex-grouped across five teachers for English Language Arts and Math. This grouping provides targeted instruction for students at the level in which than can best excel. Periodically, groups are restructured from data collected through formal testing such as MAP and classroom summative assessments as well as informal observations and various formative assessments. The class for which this lesson has been created holds the lowest leveled students in the grade. Prior to this lessons creation, an assessment of the students orthographic knowledge was done by administering the Elementary spelling inventory (p.30) suggested by Words Their Way (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2008). These results were analyzed and reviewed using the text as a guide. The majority of the students fell within the Within Word Pattern (Bear et.al., p.37-43) which is much below grade level. In formative assessments given expressly for the purpose of creation for this lesson, students reading comprehension was also well below grade level. Through these assessments it was determined that these students need explicit instruction with literacy comprehension strategies, sentence structure, spelling patterns, and much more. Additionally it was determined that instruction be at a pace that is slow, steady and well scaffolded ] 3. Identify any textbook or instructional program you primarily use for literacy instruction. If a textbook, please provide the title, publisher, and date of publication. [Used often in the classroom and used for lessons 1 and 3 in this portfolio are materials from, Sundance/Newbridge Educational Publishing, LLC. (2007). Comprehension Strategies Kit. Kit 3, 69-77. Sundance Publishing. Used often in the classroom and used for lesson 2 are materials from, Triumph Learning, LLC. (2008). Best Practices in Reading. 61-66. (P. Menta, Ed.) Options Publishing] 4. List other resources (e.g., electronic whiteboard, classroom library or other text sets, on-line professional resources) you use for literacy instruction in this class. [ In this classroom, a SMART Board connected to a computer with internet access is available at all times. The program used for these lessons provides a classroom set of text cards (Sundance, 2007) and books (Options, 2008) for student use. The books for lesson 2 (Options, 2008) are created to be consumable, yet in this classroom the students are not allowed to write in the book itself and use their reading notebooks; a spiral bound notebook used daily which was implemented at the beginning of the school year. For group work, the students use their previously created Clock Partners (http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2012/11/partner-clocks-great-

way-students-find-partners-quickly ) in which each number on the clock is a predetermined partner to work with. ]

About the Students in the Class Featured in This Assessment

1. Grade level(s): [ 5 ] 2. Number of

students in the class [ 24 ] males [ 17 ] females [ 7 ]

3. Complete the chart below to summarize required or needed supports, accommodations or modifications for your students that will affect your instruction in this learning segment. As needed, consult with your cooperating teacher to complete the chart. Some rows have been completed in italics as examples. Use as many rows as you need. Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/supports or accommodations/modifications to instruction or assessment (e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students needing greater support or challenge). Students with Specific Learning Needs IEP/504 Plans: Classifications/Needs Numbe r of Studen ts 9 Supports, Accommodations, Modifications, Pertinent IEP Goals

IEP

Other Learning Needs Struggling readers

Number of Students 10

Modified assignments, preferential seating, study guides, testing separate room, multiple sessions Supports, Accommodations, Modifications Ongoing reading assessments, leveled text

Planning Commentary Directions: Respond to the prompts below (no more than 9 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts; both the prompts and your responses are included in the total page count allowed. Refer to the evidence chart in the handbook to ensure that this document complies with all format specifications. Pages exceeding the maximum will not be scored.

1. Central Focus a. Describe the central focus and purpose for the content you will teach in the learning segment. [The central focus of this lesson is for the students to infer meaning from evidence in the text. ] b. Given the central focus, describe how the standards and learning objectives within your learning segment address

an essential literacy strategy requisite skills reading/writing connections

[The standard targeted in this lesson, RL.5.1.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text, directly supports the central focus and specifically addresses using evidence to predict. Readers infer or read between the lines by adding what they already know (prior knowledge) to the information in a text. Readers make inferences from the text features and the authors hints and language to make judgments and form their own ideas. Readers make predictions or best guesses based on concepts, facts

and events in the text as well as on inferences they have drawn. They check, confirm and possibly change these predictions as they read. The lesson sequence provides opportunity for modeling the use of strategies and supporting the acquisition of requisite skills needed to use the strategy with proficiency and thus manifesting into stronger comprehension. Each lesson provides practice in writing thoughts in a clear and concise way, scaffolding instruction and support throughout, both whole class and individually. The final lesson includes a one-on-one writing conference to assess an authentic writing sample for mechanics, clarity and proper use of using evidence from text for inferences.] c. Explain how your plans build on each other to help students make connections between skills and the essential strategy to comprehend OR compose text in meaningful contexts. [The plans are specifically designed to build upon each other to support the low level learners which make up the class. Upon first glance for the grade level one will see that the pace, constant repetition of the strategy and basic skills stressed doesnt match. This is; however, part of the strategic plan for building the skills in which the students are currently least proficient. In plan 1, students are presented multiple images without sentences and multiple sentences without images to determine whats happening. Then the students are given both, thus scaffolding the strategy instruction in such a way that is clear as these students can become easily confused when presented information. Through the usage of graphic organizers to organize thinking, checklists to monitor thinking and a targeted glossary for the texts unknown vocabulary, the students are given explicit support in ways that help them realize the necessity of the usage of various resources for successful comprehension. In lesson 2, the organizer and strategy checklist as specific supports, thus giving explicit instruction on their use with a different text. The vocabulary is provided within the text feature of this text and is chosen to be within the sequence of learning to allow students the opportunity to understand that meanings of unknown words can be found from various sources, but must be sought. In lesson 2, the world glum is specifically targeted because its definition is not provided, yet the context clues allow for a possible inference towards its meaning. It is therefore important to note that these students are not proficient in the use of context clues, yet the skill of inferencing closely matches and is thus specifically targeted. In lesson plan 3, the three targeted supports remain the same as lesson plan 1 (organizer, glossary and checklist. The decision to remain consistent was planned to support the lower ability of these students in a clear way that provides ample instruction on their usage. While multiple additional strategies for inferencing exist, knowing and applying the age old adage practice makes perfect helps these students, who know they are low and whose self esteem suffers as a result, have the revelation that practice does indeed prove perfect. Through the quick Independent Practice Ticket Out the Door strategy slips in lesson 1 and 2, authentic student samples are provided to provide specific, targeted and scaffolded support to all students of all ability leveled.] 2. Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching For each of the prompts below (2ab), describe what you know about your students with respect to the central focus of the learning segment. Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/support (e.g., students with IEPs, English language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students). a. Prior academic learning and prerequisite skills related to the central focusWhat do students know, what can they do, and what are they learning to do? [The class for which this lesson has been created holds the lowest leveled students in the grade. Prior to this lessons creation, an assessment of the students orthographic knowledge was done by administering the Elementary spelling inventory (p.30) suggested by Words Their Way (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2008). These results were analyzed and reviewed using the text as a guide. The majority of the students fell within the Within Word Pattern (Bear et.al., p.3743) which is much below grade level. In formative assessments given expressly for the purpose of creation for this lesson, students reading comprehension was also well below grade level. Through these assessments it was determined that these students need explicit instruction with literacy comprehension strategies, sentence structure, spelling patterns, and much more.

Additionally it was determined that instruction be at a pace that is slow, steady and well scaffolded Students can read, yet are below grade level.] b. Personal/cultural/community assets related to the central focusWhat do you know about your students everyday experiences, cultural backgrounds and practices, and interests? [While the school is predominantly middle to upper class, not surprisingly, this class is not. Many of the students in this class do not have experiences in their life that provide opportunities for rich language acquisition as their peers. Additionally, many of these students have a huge dislike for reading because it is a struggle for them. Their lack of these two important culutural factors contributes significantly to their deficits in their comprehension. This is of utmost concern as CITE SHERRIES SOURCE HERE! and many other researchers explain less minutes read equates to lower test scores. ] 3. Supporting Students Literacy Learning Respond to prompts 3ac below. To support your explanations, refer to the instructional materials and lesson plans you have included as part of Task 1. In addition, use principles from research and/or theory to support your explanations. a. Explain how your understanding of your students prior academic learning and personal/cultural/community assets (from prompts 2ab above) guided your choice or adaptation of learning tasks and materials. [ As cited in Educational Psychology: An International Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology in their article The Effect of Inference Training on Skilled and Less Skilled Comprehenders, authors Anna McGee and Heather Johnson note multiple researchers that found evidence of poor readers difficulty understanding the relationship between evidence and conclusions. They found that these children found it difficult to make inferences using clues from text. Additionally, they cited research that showed significant growth in low level students that received explicit inferencing instruction. Through their own research, results indicated explicit inferencing training to be a significant factor in comprehension growth and such instructional focus was a larger contributing factor than any other studied.] b. Describe and justify why your instructional strategies and planned supports are appropriate for the whole class, individuals, and/or groups of students with specific learning needs. Consider students with IEPs, English language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students. [ Only five out of twenty-five students is at grade level. While these five are at grade level, they still have deficits in multiple areas of English Language Arts. This class isnt yet proficient in group work; partly because of behavior, partly because of skill level. While group work isnt smooth, being an inclusion class with an EC Resource teacher available to help with tiered support, multiple opportunities exist for group work to be monitored and supported. Further into the school year more learning collaboration will occur, yet just as these students need explicit instruction on academic skills, they need the same for collaboration skills. The lessons move from whole group, to Think-Pair-Share, to larger discussion groups. Instructions are given in writing, orally and often repeated to ensure understanding. Through the usage of graphic organizers to organize thinking, checklists to monitor thinking and a targeted glossary for the texts unknown vocabulary in lessons 1 & 3, the students are given explicit support in ways that help them realize the necessity of the usage of various resources for successful comprehension. In lesson 2, the organizer and strategy checklist as specific supports, thus giving explicit instruction on their use with a different text. The vocabulary is provided within the text feature of this text and is chosen to be within the sequence of learning to allow students the opportunity to understand that meanings of unknown words can be found from various sources, but must be sought.

In lesson plan 3, students write a journal entry from a character in the storys point of view using clues from the story as evidence for their inferencing. Students will have individual writing conferences at which time the teacher will help them guide their thinking further expressing the need for more details or to clear any misunderstandings the students may still have about inferencing. A rubric will be used to guide the students thinking about their success or lack thereof. During a subsequent lesson, students will be asked to write another journal entry at which time a line will be added to this rubric stating; 4, I have met all goals set during my writing conference; 3, I have used someand so forth This way, students are not only given support in their acquisition of this reading skill, they are also given support in making their writing more complete and their thinking deeper, in an individual one-on-one approach. At each conference, goals for their next writing will be written on the rubric to support subsequent instruction. Higher order questioning will be used at a minimum for each lesson, yet questioning complexity will increase as now students become more receptive for deeper thinking skills and thus these will be encouraged.] c. Describe common developmental approximations or common misconceptions within your literacy central focus and how you will address them. [During a previous novel study, it was noticed that often students would make inferences or predictions which in no way connected to the text. Students may be confused as to how to properly make assumptions about an authors purpose, the usage of certain verbiage and overall nuances within a text. Explicit instruction on the inferencing will provide these students with clarity in this confusion. Through various whole-class discussions their ability to cite the text for clues (evidence) will be discussed often. In lesson plan 1 and 2, students will use a Ticket Out the Door slip of paper to record their answers to questions about the story read. These slips will not be graded; however during review of these slips the teacher will look to see several key points have been accomplished: 1. Did the student clearly reference the text for their inference, even if the inference was off the mark? 2. Did the student (other than the two students mentioned in differentiation portion of the plan) use capitals, punctuation and complete sentences in their answer? 3. Did their answer match the question? Any major points of confusion will be discussed during the focus and review of lesson 2 & 3 accordingly as they build upon one another to be certain students receive the support and scaffolding necessary to begin proficiency] 4. Supporting Literacy Development Through Language a. Language Function. Identify one language function essential for students to learn the literacy strategy within your central focus. Listed below are some sample language functions. You may choose one of these or another more appropriate for your learning segment. Analyze Interpret Argue Predict Categorize Compare/contrast Describe Question Retell Summarize Explain

[Predict: The standard targeted in this lesson, RL.5.1.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text, directly supports the central focus and specifically addresses using evidence to predict. Readers infer or read between the lines by adding what they already know (prior knowledge) to the information in a text. Readers make inferences from the text features and the authors hints and language to make judgments and form their own ideas. Readers make predictions or best guesses based on concepts, facts and events in the text as well as on inferences they have drawn. They check, confirm and possibly change these predictions as they read. ] b. Identify a key learning task from your plans that provides students with opportunities to practice using the language function. Identify the lesson in which the learning task occurs. (Give lesson day/number.) [In the Teacher Input of plan 3, students are encouraged through a Think-Pair-Share format to think about their inferences, & predictions, and then discuss their thoughts with a partner.

Students are reminded to cite the text for clues and are constantly asked What are the clues? What do we know? What is our inference so far? What is out prediction? When students answer, they will be reminded to use the correct language and to explicitly explain from textual evidence how they arrived at their answer. Through the Think-Pair-Share format students are given opportunity to think about their answer, then to discuss their thoughts to solidify understanding in a collaborative environment and hear a peers prediction that may or may not differ from their own. With this format students are not only hearing the language target from the teacher, but also from a peer which supports development of expressing their own ideas. Before, during and after the Think-Pair-Share students are using a graphic organizer to help organize their thinking in clear ways to help dispel any misconceptions about their inferences and predictions and to be certain text evidence is being used while doing so.] c. Additional Language Demands. Given the language function and learning task identified above, describe the following associated language demands (written or oral) students need to understand and/or use:

Vocabulary or key phrases Plus at least one of the following: Syntax Discourse
Consider the range of students understandings of the language function and other language demandswhat do students already know, what are they struggling with, and/or what is new to them? [Academic language significant within this lesson include; infer, guess, probably, happened, clues, judging, conclusion, feel, think, believe, referring, describe, reason, determined. Unknown vocabulary is listed in text boxes at the bottom of each page of the text. (Options, 2008) and provided in the form of a Glossary (Sundance, 2007). Through syntax, students will be expected to complete the Independent Practice this lesson with complete sentences. Students have received explicit instructions during previous lessons on the use of capitalization and punctuation within their sentence structure. Being a predominately low level group, this area continues to be of utmost concern as the lack of consistent use of this basic skill is well below grade level expectations.] d. Language Supports. Refer to your lesson plans and instructional materials as needed in your response to the prompt.

Describe the instructional supports (during and/or prior to the learning task) that help
students understand and successfully use the language function and additional language demands identified in prompts 4ac. [Instructional practices used within this task include the use of organizers and grouping and formative assessment through questioning to clarify thinking. ] 5. Monitoring Student Learning In response to the prompts below, refer to the assessments you will submit as part of the materials for Task 1. a. Describe how your planned formal and informal assessments will provide direct evidence that students can use the literacy strategy and requisite skills to comprehend or compose text throughout the learning segment. [Students will be informally assessed and monitored throughout the entire lesson to be sure they are understanding and grasping the concept of inferencing. Higher order questioning will be used at a minimum for this lesson; however will be used more than the previous two as now students may be ready for deeper thinking skills to be encouraged. As stated previously, these students reading skills are not strong and thus scaffolding questioning will be a necessity. In lesson plan 1 & 2, students will use a Ticket Out the Door slip of paper to record their answers to questions about the story read. These slips will not be graded; however during review of these slips the teacher will

look to see several key points have been accomplished: 1. Did the student clearly reference the text for their inference, even if the inference was off the mark? 2. Did the student (other than the two students mentioned in differentiation portion of the plan) use capitals, punctuation and complete sentences in their answer? 3. Did their answer match the question? Any major points of confusion will be discussed during the focus and review of lesson 2 & 3 accordingly as they build upon one another to be certain students receive the support and scaffolding necessary to begin proficiency. In plan 3, students write a journal entry from a character in the storys point of view using clues from the story as evidence for their inferencing. Students will have individual writing conferences at which time the teacher will help them guide their thinking further expressing the need for more details or to clear any misunderstandings the students may still have about inferencing. A rubric will be used to guide the students thinking about their success or lack thereof. Readers infer or read between the lines by adding what they already know (prior knowledge) to the information in a text. Readers make inferences from the text features and the authors hints and language to make judgments and form their own ideas. Readers make predictions or best guesses based on concepts, facts and events in the text as well as on inferences they have drawn. They check, confirm and possibly change these predictions as they read. The lessons various assessments provide opportunity for modeling the use of strategies and supporting the acquisition of requisite skills needed to use the strategy with proficiency and thus manifesting into stronger comprehension. Each lesson provides practice in writing thoughts in a clear and concise way, scaffolding instruction and support throughout, both whole class and individually. The final lesson includes a one-on-one writing conference to assess an authentic writing sample for mechanics, clarity and proper use of using evidence from text for inferences] Lesson Plan Directions: Respond to the prompts below by typing your responses within the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts. This is my Lesson# 1 2 3 (Circle one)

Title of Lesson Plan - Inferencing and Predicting Grade Level: [5] Subject/Content Area(s): [English Language Arts] NCSCOS Goal(s): [RL.5.1 Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.] NCSCOS Standards(s): [RL.5.1.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.] Lesson Objective: [The student will make logical inferences from a story using the text as a guide with 80% accuracy.] Academic Language:

Vocabulary or key phrases associated with content [infer, guess, probably, happened, clues, judging, conclusion, feel, think, believe, referring, describe, reason, determined. Unknown vocabulary is listed on Glossary handout (Sundance, 2007).] language functions [Students will be expected to analyze, predict, evaluate and infer through this lesson. While the words infer and predict will be explicitly used during this lesson, there may be times when the other functions will be used and discussed accordingly as they are skills in which scaffold ] syntax [Students will be expected to complete the Independent Practice this lesson with complete sentences. Students have received explicit instructions during previous lessons on the use of capitalization and punctuation within their sentence structure. Being a predominately low level group, this area continues to be of utmost concern as the lack of consistent use of this basic skill is well below grade level expectations.] discourse [Students will participate in class discussions as and create a written product.] Language Objective: [The student will use correct vocabulary when explaining their thinking and inferencing while reading a story with support from teacher and peers with 80% accuracy] Differentiation: Content [Content will not be modified for students with specific learning needs during this lesson; they will however be differentiated through leveled text in Lesson Plan 3. The content within the stories of this lesson are explicitly discussed, read aloud and supported through all sections of the lesson. The content and objective of this lesson was thoughtfully created to specifically support all students in the class and is being delivered with a base-line approach to the skill] Process [The process will not be modified for students with specific learning needs during this lesson, however, nine of the students which have IEP and 504 plans will receive targeted support from the inclusion teacher during the entire lesson. Four students are struggling readers and therefore their engagement and the engagement of the aforementioned nine will be constantly monitored and scaffolded as needed. ] Product [The final product of this lesson is a Ticket Out the Door slip that students will write their answers to two simple inferencing questions. One differentiated student cannot write a complete sentence, yet verbally has shown signs of strong comprehension. This students product will be pulled and the student will be allowed to verbalize his thinking to be sure hes on target. One students handwriting is so bad that he cant even read it. Unlike the other student, he has not shown signs of strong comprehension. The inclusion teacher will sit with this student, and any others that seem to be struggling with the concept, during the Independent Practice and will help them formulate their answers in a clear coherent way. Therefore, for these students, what is listed as independent will be guided practice.] Learning Environment [All students in this grade are flex-grouped across five teachers for English Language Arts and Math. This grouping provides targeted instruction for students at the level in which than can best excel. The class for which this lesson has been created holds the lowest leveled students in the grade. Through various assessments it was determined that these students need explicit instruction with literacy comprehension strategies, sentence structure, spelling patterns, and much more. Additionally it was determined that instruction be at a pace that is slow, steady and well scaffolded. Group work is kept at a minimum as many students are unable to effectively work in groups and stay on task. When collaboration with peers is implemented into a lesson, all students are stopped and supported at least every 5 minutes to ensure they are on task and both teachers constantly monitor conversation.] List of Materials: [Students reading notebook (spiral bound notebook, previously introduced, used daily), SMART Board with SMARTTools, Microsoft PowerPoint file titled What can

you infer?, Inference Graphic Organizer copy for every student (Sundance, 2007), copy of Glossary page for every student(Sundance, 2007), copy of Ticket Out the Door for every student, PDF of story titled The Vanished Laptop (Sundance, 2007).] Visuals Used: [Graphic Organizer (Sundance, 2007), Projected story: The Vanished Laptop (Sundance, 2007)] Classroom Management Strategy: [J. Langston will use the Holloman/Yates BPL (Holloman & Yates, 2010) and Glasser theories (Pearson Education, 2011) in speaking with students and facilitating, promoting and enhancing classroom discussions. (i.e., I like how youre thinking that through; Lets listen how Jane is connecting this thought; Johns group is following directions nicely and is having some wonderful discussions I am excited to hear their approach to the sort, etc.). When circulating around the room, J Langston will give a slight touch on the students back to help them know shes there, but also to solidify the above comments. In response to misbehavior or disruptive behavior J Langston will use complete I messages such as, When you are talking in your groups and Im interrupted before Im finished talking, I find it hard to explain the directions clearly. It makes me distracted and frustrated because I want you to do well. For group work, the students will use their previously created Clock Partners in which each number on the clock is a predetermined partner to work with. During the Independent Practice, the instructions written on the board will give directions to eliminate what theorist Fred Jones calls Helpless Handraisers and to dispel any distracting behaviors while other students are working. In the classroom in which this lesson will be delivered, students are expected to put the proper heading on all papers; Name, Date, Homeroom Teacher and Number.] ECU Co-Teaching Strategy (If applicable): [N/A] Assessment Strategy: [Students will be formatively assessed and monitored throughout the entire lesson to be sure they are understanding and grasping the concept of inferencing. Higher order questioning will be used at a minimum for this lesson as these students reading skills are not strong and thus scaffolding questioning will be a necessity. Students will use a Ticket Out the Door slip of paper to record their answers to two questions about the story read. These slips will not be graded; however during review of these slips the teacher will look to see several key points have been accomplished: 1. Did the student clearly reference the text for their inference, even if the inference was off the mark? 2. Did the student (other than the two students mentioned in differentiation) use capitals, punctuation and complete sentences in their answer? 3. Did their answer match the question? Any major points of confusion will be discussed during the focus and review of lesson 2 as the build upon one another to be certain students receive the support and scaffolding necessary to begin proficiency with their inferencing skills.] Procedures: 1. Focus and Review: [On the SMART Board, present Microsoft PowerPoint file, slides 1-3, ask the students questions for each group in the following manner, What are the clues in the pictures that help you make that statement? How does what you already know about swimming, fishing and soccer help you in making your statements.] 2. Statement of Objective: [Page 4 from the PPT: (How does this connect to Reading? You make an inference when you use clues to figure out something that the author does not tell

you) Explain to the students that you can use the clues in sentences and pictures to infer what an unfamiliar word means, you can use the clues in sentences and pictures to infer what the paragraph or stories are about or even to predict through inferencing what happens to the characters after the story is over!] 3. Teacher Input: [Pass out a copy of the Strategy Checklist & Glossary (Sundance, 2007) to each student; have them paste them into their reading notebook. Read over the Strategy Checklist (Sundance, 2007) with the students and ask if they have questions. Explain to the students that we made inferences from the images without any sentences or words and now well make inferences without any images. Tell the students that images help us infer just as much as words, but sometimes we don't have pictures but we can still use clues. Project the sentence frames on slides 6-8 in the PowerPoint; encourage students to look at their checklist when making an inference. Call on students one by one and ask them to explain their thinking by using the Strategy Checklist (Sundance, 2007) as a guide to determine clues in the sentence. When finished, display slide 9 of the PowerPoint which shows the graphic organizer (Sundance, 2007). Explain to the students that when were reading more than one sentence and trying to infer the authors meaning, or events happening in the story, its important to organize our thinking. Explain that an organizer, like this one, can help us do that. Review the parts of the organizer with the students. Pass out a copy of the graphic organizer (Sundance, 2007) to each student; have them paste it into their reading notebook. Project the story The Vanished Laptop (Sundance, 2007) on the SMART Board and launch SMARTTools so pens can be used during the reading of the story. Read the first paragraph to the students. Go back to the bold printed word, incredulity, and underline it. The use of context clues was previously taught; therefore, ask the students to reread the sentence before and the sentence the word is in to predict what they think the word means. Guide the students to the word disbelief, explaining that incredulity is a synonym for disbelief. Guide the students to the copy of the Glossary (Sundance, 2007) given to them earlier to check if their thoughts were right. Reread the rest of the story in a Think Aloud format, saying something like I see that Rosas laptop is missing and there is a note in place of it (I used the picture to help me with that). Ill underline in the text what the note says. Rosa thinks her brother might have something to do with her laptop being missing. I can infer from the note the laptop wasnt stolen. Shell probably get a good surprise because its her birthday. Switch views back to the organizer. Guide the students to the sections asking: What are the clues? What do we know? What is our inference so far? What is our prediction? Write the students answers into the organizer using the SMARTTools pen. Have the students write the class discussed answers in their organizer. Switch back to the story.] 4. Guided Practice: [Read the left hand column of page 2 aloud to the students. Using a ThinkPair-Share format, ask students to pause for a moment and silently think about the story thus far asking themselves; What are the clues? What do we know? What is our inference so far? What is our prediction? After 1-2 minutes has elapsed ask them to turn to the person sitting beside them and talk about their inferences thus far, using the organizer as a guide for their thinking. After 2-3 minutes has elapsed, call on students to share what they and their partner discussed. Use the SMARTTools to highlight or underline the clues within the text. Encourage students to write these things in the area it belongs in the organizer. 5. Independent Practice: [Switch back to the PowerPoint and display slide 10. Give the students a copy of the Ticket Out the Door page, explaining that this is their ticket out the door and to write their answers in complete sentences. Give them a minimum of 5 minutes to answer the questions.] 6. Closure: [Today we talked about inferencing. We now know that we can use the clues in sentences and pictures to infer what an unfamiliar word means, you can use the clues in sentences and pictures to infer what the paragraph or stories are about or even to predict

through inferencing what happens to the characters after the story is over! We will work more on that tomorrow.] Assessment note to prepare for Lesson 2 Review the Ticket Out the Door slips. Look for one student who got the wrong answer to the first question was Who is Javier, is he related to Rosa?, What clues do you have from the story that helps you make this inference? and one student that was correct. Do the same for question number 2. If applicable, look for other answers that were close, but needed more detail or something significant that needs to be addressed. Make notes all slips to support students to think deeper or provide additional details to make their answer more clear; returned all slips to the students at the end of lesson 2. Lesson Plan Directions: Respond to the prompts below by typing your responses within the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts. This is my Lesson# 1 2 3 (Circle one)

Title of Lesson Plan - Inferencing and Predicting Grade Level: [5]

Subject/Content Area(s): [English Language Arts] NCSCOS Goal(s): [RL.5.1 Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.] NCSCOS Standards(s): [RL.5.1.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.] Academic Language:
Vocabulary or key phrases associated with content [infer, guess, probably, happened, clues, judging, conclusion, feel, think, believe, referring, describe, reason, determined. Unknown vocabulary is listed in text boxes at the bottom of each page of the text. (Options, 2008).] language functions [Students will be expected to analyze, predict, evaluate and infer through this lesson. While the words infer and predict will be explicitly used during this lesson, there may be times when the other functions will be used and discussed accordingly as they are skills in which scaffold.]

syntax [ Students will be expected to complete the Independent Practice this lesson with complete sentences. Students have received explicit instructions during previous lessons on the use of capitalization and punctuation within their sentence structure. Being a predominately low level group, this area continues to be of utmost concern as the lack of consistent use of this basic skill is well below grade level expectations.] discourse [Students will participate in class discussions as and create a written product.] Language Objective: [The student will use correct vocabulary when explaining their thinking and inferencing while reading a story with support from teacher and peers with 80% accuracy] Differentiation:

Content [Content will not be modified for students with specific learning needs during this lesson; they will however be differentiated through leveled text in Lesson Plan 3. The content within the stories of this lesson are explicitly discussed, read aloud and supported through all sections of the lesson. The content and objective of this lesson was thoughtfully created to specifically support all students in the class and is being delivered with a base-line approach to the skill] Process [The process will not be modified for students with specific learning needs during this lesson, however, nine of the students which have IEP and 504 plans will receive targeted support from the inclusion teacher during the entire lesson. Four students are struggling readers and therefore their engagement and the engagement of the aforementioned nine will be constantly monitored and scaffolded as needed. ] Product [The final product of this lesson is a Ticket Out the Door slip that students will write their answers to two simple inferencing questions. One differentiated student cannot write a complete sentence, yet verbally has shown signs of strong comprehension. This students product will be pulled and the student will be allowed to verbalize his thinking to be sure hes on target. One students handwriting is so bad that he cant even read it. Unlike the other student, he has not shown signs of strong comprehension. The inclusion teacher will sit with this student, and any others that seem to be struggling with the concept, during the Independent Practice and will help them formulate their answers in a clear coherent way. Therefore, for these students, what is listed as independent will be guided practice.] Learning Environment [All students in this grade are flex-grouped across five teachers for English Language Arts and Math. This grouping provides targeted instruction for students at the level in which than can best excel. The class for which this lesson has been created holds the lowest leveled students in the grade. Through various assessments it was determined that these students need explicit instruction with literacy comprehension strategies, sentence structure, spelling patterns, and much more. Additionally it was determined that instruction be at a pace that is slow, steady and well scaffolded. Group work is kept at a minimum as many students are unable to effectively work in groups and stay on task. When collaboration with peers is implemented into a lesson, all students are stopped and supported at least every 5 minutes to ensure they are on task and both teachers constantly monitor conversation.]

List of Materials: [Students reading notebook (spiral bound notebook, previously introduced, used daily), SMART Board with SMARTTools, Microsoft PowerPoint file titled What can you infer?, Inference Graphic Organizer copy for every student (Sundance, 2007), copy of Glossary page for every student(Sundance, 2007), copy of Ticket Out the Door for every student, Best Practices in Reading books (Options, 2008) for each student, samples of student responses from previous lessons Ticket Out the Door, Pre-loaded YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/v/0_C2HJvtRDY Extremely important! Teacher must use this link to show video to the students, and ideally will pre-load before lesson start, as it this link will load the video full screen without comments. Video comments on YouTube are dynamic and appropriateness cannot be controlled and must be used guardedly. Again, the link included is SPECIFICALLY designed to show the video in full screen format and not show comments.] Visuals Used: [Graphic Organizer (Sundance, 2007)] Classroom Management Strategy: [J. Langston will use the Holloman/Yates BPL (Holloman & Yates, 2010) and Glasser theories (Pearson Education, 2011) in speaking with students and facilitating, promoting and enhancing classroom discussions. (i.e., I like how youre thinking that through; Lets listen how Jane is connecting this thought; Johns group is following directions nicely and is having some wonderful discussions I am excited to hear their approach to the sort, etc.). When circulating around the room, J Langston will give a slight touch on the students back to help them know shes there, but also to solidify the above comments. In response to misbehavior or disruptive behavior J Langston will use complete I messages such as, When you are talking in your groups and Im interrupted before Im finished talking, I find it hard to explain the directions clearly. It makes me distracted and frustrated because I want you

to do well. For group work, the students will use their previously created Clock Partners in which each number on the clock is a predetermined partner to work with. During the Independent Practice, the instructions written on the board will give directions to eliminate what theorist Fred Jones calls Helpless Handraisers and to dispel any distracting behaviors while other students are working. In the classroom in which this lesson will be delivered, students are expected to put the proper heading on all papers; Name, Date, Homeroom Teacher and Number.] ECU Co-Teaching Strategy (If applicable): [N/A] Assessment Strategy: [Students will be formatively assessed and monitored throughout the entire lesson to be sure they are understanding and grasping the concept of inferencing. Higher order questioning will be used at a minimum for this lesson as these students reading skills are not strong and thus scaffolding questioning will be a necessity. Students will use a Ticket Out the Door slip of paper to record their answers to two questions about the story read. These slips will not be graded; however during review of these slips the teacher will look to see several key points have been accomplished: 1. Did the student clearly reference the text for their inference, even if the inference was off the mark? 2. Did the student (other than the two students mentioned in differentiation) use capitals, punctuation and complete sentences in their answer? 3. Did their answer match the question? Any major points of confusion will be discussed during the focus and review of lesson 3 as the build upon one another to be certain students receive the support and scaffolding necessary to begin proficiency with their inferencing skills.] Procedures:
1. Focus and Review: [Play Scooby Doo theme song (link and important information found in materials list). After the 1:02 minute clip, ask the students what happens in a Scooby Doo episode? Guide the students to the understanding that they use clues to solve a mystery. Explain to the students that yesterday we read about a story called The Vanishing Laptop. We used the clues in the story to help make inferences while we were reading. Remind the students that at the end of our time together they were given a Ticket Out the Door slip that asked some questions about our story. The first question was Who is Javier, is he related to Rosa?, you were also asked What clues do you have from the story that helps you make this inference? . This person answered*******(as noted in previous lesson, if available choose one that was wrong and read the students real answer). This person answered*******(as noted in previous lesson, choose one that was right and read the students real answer). Ask the students who was right and lead a discussion about the facts within the text, invite them to look at their notes if they need to. Be sure to support the students wrong answers by saying verbiage like We grow by making mistakes and clarifying those mistakes and working towards success next time . Its okay that these answers are not exactly right because weve just started working on this skill (DO NOT call out the students names. Return lesson ones ticket out the door slips with feedback written on it at the END of this lesson, not now. T his way, the students who were wrong have more time to see their error through further practice and can better reflect on ways to build their skills.) The second question was Do you think Rosa is happy at the end of the story? again, you were also asked What clues do you have from the story that helps you make this inference? Repeat process. Statement of Objective: [Today were going to learn more about how to use the clues in the text to help us make inferences. Remember, you can make an inference when you use clues to figure out something that the author does not tell you. Explain to the students that you can use the clues in sentences and pictures to infer what an unfamiliar word means, you can use the clues in sentences and pictures to infer what the paragraph or stories are about or even to predict through inferencing what happens to the characters after the story is over! (repeated from previous lesson)]

2.

3.

Teacher Input: [on the SMART Board , load the Microsoft PowerPoint file, and move to slide 11; launch SMARTTools so pens can be used. Pass out a copy of the graphic organizer (Sundance, 2007) to each student; have them paste it into their reading notebook. Explain to the students that yesterday we used this sheet to help us organize our thoughts and the clues in the story, today well do the same thing but with a different story. Have them turn to page 61 in their books (Options, 2008). Tell the students that the title of the story we are going to read today is The Mystery of the Missing Hawks and read the introduction aloud as students read along silently. Invite the students to turn through pages 62, 63, and 64 and see if they can, using the pictures and the introduction as clues complete any portion of the graphic organizer. Work together as a class modeling for the students that we see trees and a Park Ranger. Say something like, Because I know that what a Park Ranger is I can make an inference from the picture that they may go to a State or National Park. If you hadnt ever seen a Park Ranger you might not know that. Sometimes, we can use our prior knowledge when we are making inferences. (Quickly refer back to yesterdays lesson and the pictures. If youd never seen a comp etitive swimmer, or knew about professional fishermen, you would have had a harder time inferring what the picture was about!) Turn back to page 61. Have the students mentally answer the question under Preview and Predict. After 1-2 minutes has elapsed ask them to raise their hand if they chose A (anyone that raises their hand should explain citing clues from the text, as this is the wrong answer. In a positive manner guide the student to the revelation that they are wrong), proceed with B (ask a few, since this is the right answer, to explain citing clues from the text), proceed with C (anyone that raises their hand should explain citing clues from the text, as this is the wrong answer. In a positive manner guide the student to the revelation that they are wrong) Say: Remember yesterday when we came across those words we didnt know. In this text there are words we might not know too, but in this book the author or publisher has provided those definitions for us. Lets look at those. Ask the students t o move through pages 62, 63, and 64 of the text again. There are 2 vocabulary words defined on each page. Guide the students to these and read each definition. Begin to read page 62 to the students. Stop at the end of paragraph 4 and direct the student s attention to the text box to the left of the text; read the heading, text and thinking bubble. Ask the students if they have more thoughts thus far asking, What clues do you have from the story that helps you make this inference? . Read the next paragraph, (which is highlighted yellow) calling attention to the words grove and promising, rereading the definition. Stop at the end of the paragraph and again direct the students attention to the text box to the left of the text and ask them the question. Using a Think-Pair-Share format, ask them to pause for a moment and silently think about the story thus far asking themselves; What are the clues? What do we know? What is our inference so far? What is our prediction?. After 1-2 minutes has elapsed ask them to turn to the person sitting beside them and talk about their inferences thus far, using the organizer as a guide for their thinking. After 2-3 minutes has elapsed, call on students to share what they and their partner discussed. Use the SMARTTools to fill in the graphic organizer as the students share their answers. Read the next paragraph. Students may not know the meaning of glum and it isnt defined in the text call attention to the word and ask for their inferences based on the context clues in the paragraph. Read the next paragraph, stopping at the end of the page. Using a Think-Pair-Share format, ask the students to pause for a moment and silently think about the story thus far asking themselves; What are the clues? What do we know? What is our inference so far? What is our prediction?. After 1-2 minutes has elapsed ask them to turn to the person sitting beside them and talk about their inferences thus far, using the organizer as a guide for their thinking. After 2-3 minutes has elapsed, call on students to share what they and their partner discussed. Use the SMARTTools to fill in the graphic organizer as the students share their answers.] Guided Practice: [Ask students get with their 3:00 clock partner, (previously created classroom management strategy, 3:00 makes a group of 3). Once they have done this have the students combine their group with another group (thus making a group of 6). Continue reading on the next page and stop at the end of paragraph 1; calling attention to the word atypical rereading definition. Pause at paragraph 3 and ask the students to look at their graphic organizer and discuss with their group if we have anything else to add, wait 3 minutes. What are the clues? What do we know? Continue reading to the end of the page, calling attention to the word indicating rereading definition. Ask the students to pause and look at the picture on page 63. Ask them to discuss with their group what they can infer about how the characters feel about what Nancy has told them and review the graphic organizer thus far. Ask again, What are the clues? What do we know? What is our inference so far? What is our prediction? Has our prediction changed now that we have more evidence?. Allow about 3 minutes for groups to discuss their thoughts(provide longer time if the majority of students are still discussing thoughts) Tell the groups to finish reading the story, being sure to stop at the highlighted words rereading the definition. Have them review their graphic organizer. Is it complete? Were our predictions correct? Were our inferences correct? ]

4.

5. Independent Practice: [From the PowerPoint and display slide 12. Give the students a copy of the Ticket Out the Door page, explaining that, like yesterday, this is their ticket out the door and to write their answers in complete sentences. Give them a minimum of 5 minutes to answer the questions.] 6. Closure: [Today we learned more ways we can use the clues in sentences and pictures to infer what an unfamiliar word means, you can use the clues in sentences and pictures to infer what the paragraph or stories are about or even to predict through inferencing what happens to the characters after the story is over! Tomorrow well work more to see how much better we can become at this strategy] Assessment note to prepare for Lesson 3 Review the Ticket Out the Door slips. Look for one student who got the wrong answer and one student that was correct. If applicable, look for other answers that were close, but needed more detail or something significant that needs to be addressed. Make notes all slips to support students to think deeper or provide additional details to make their answer more clear; returned all slips to the students at the end of lesson 3. Lesson Plan Directions: Respond to the prompts below by typing your responses within the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts.

This is my Lesson# 1

3 (Circle one)

Title of Lesson Plan - Inferencing and Predicting

Grade Level: [5]

Subject/Content Area(s): [English Language Arts] NCSCOS Goal(s): [RL.5.1 Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.] NCSCOS Standards(s): [RL.5.1.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.] Academic Language:
Vocabulary or key phrases associated with content [infer, guess, probably, happened, clues, judging, conclusion, feel, think, believe, referring, describe, reason, determined. Unknown vocabulary is listed in text boxes at the bottom of each page of the text. (Options, 2008).] language functions [Students will be expected to analyze, predict, evaluate and infer through this lesson. While the words infer and predict will be explicitly used during this lesson, there may be times when the other functions will be used and discussed accordingly as they are skills in which scaffold.]

syntax [ Students will be expected to complete the Independent Practice this lesson with complete sentences. Students have received explicit instructions during previous lessons on the use of capitalization and punctuation within their sentence structure. Being a predominately

low level group, this area continues to be of utmost concern as the lack of consistent use of this basic skill is well below grade level expectations.] discourse [Students will participate in class discussions as and create a written product.] Language Objective: [The student will use correct vocabulary when explaining their thinking and inferencing while reading a story with support from teacher and peers with 80% accuracy] Differentiation:
Content [Content will be modified for students with specific learning needs through leveled text in the Guided Practice portion of the lesson. Instead of the typical clock partner grouping, groups will be determined on ability level and formed strategically to support all students.] Process [The process will not be modified for students with specific learning needs during this lesson, however, nine of the students which have IEP and 504 plans will receive targeted support from the inclusion teacher during the entire lesson. Four students are struggling readers and therefore their engagement and the engagement of the aforementioned nine will be constantly monitored and scaffolded as needed. ] Product [Students will write a Journal Entry from a characters point of view citing evidence(clues) from the text while making inferences. One differentiated student cannot write a complete sentence, yet verbally has shown signs of strong comprehension. This student will be expected to write independently since explicit support through the previous two lessons was provided. During the writing conference, which is also meant t give one-on-one support to each student, any suggestions made during the previous lessons supports will be monitored and new goals and expectations will be discussed; including clearing up any misconceptions he may have with inferencing. One students handwriting is so bad that he cant even read it. Unlike the other student, he has not shown signs of strong comprehension. The process for which his journal will be assessed will be the same as the aforementioned student. Through the on-on-one writing conference, all students will be monitored for understanding and supported and strengthened individually] Learning Environment [All students in this grade are flex-grouped across five teachers for English Language Arts and Math. This grouping provides targeted instruction for students at the level in which than can best excel. The class for which this lesson has been created holds the lowest leveled students in the grade. Through various assessments it was determined that these students need explicit instruction with literacy comprehension strategies, sentence structure, spelling patterns, and much more. Additionally it was determined that instruction be at a pace that is slow, steady and well scaffolded. Group work is kept at a minimum as many students are unable to effectively work in groups and stay on task. When collaboration with peers is implemented into a lesson, all students are stopped and supported at least every 5 minutes to ensure they are on task and both teachers constantly monitor conversation.]

List of Materials: [Students reading notebook (spiral bound notebook, previously introduced, used daily), SMART Board with SMARTTools, Inference Graphic Organizer copy for every student (Sundance, 2007), copy of Glossary page for every student(Sundance, 2007) which was previously glued into notebooks, samples of student responses from previous lessons Ticket Out the Door, Leveled text Aunt Agathas Ghost & The Glowing (Sundance, 2007), Text Card: Something from Down Under (Sundance, 2007), copy of directions for working in leveled text for each group, copy of Journal Entry directions for each student, copy for each student of the rubric titled Learning to Inference through a Journal Entry and two Mystery Bags each with an object likely unknown to students (cheese slicer and caliper which measures tree trunk diameter and determines value of a field grown or container grown tree) and 3 clues to help guide them into understanding what the item is. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVu_CqyEpo)] Visuals Used: [Graphic Organizer (Sundance, 2007), Leveled Text Cards (Sundance, 2007), Text Card, Something from Down Under (Sundance, 2007), Mystery Bag, Rubric]

Classroom Management Strategy: [J. Langston will use the Holloman/Yates BPL (Holloman & Yates, 2010) and Glasser theories (Pearson Education, 2011) in speaking with students and facilitating, promoting and enhancing classroom discussions. (i.e., I like how youre thinking that through; Lets listen how Jane is connecting this thought; Johns group is following directions nicely and is having some wonderful discussions I am excited to hear their approach to the sort, etc.). When circulating around the room, J Langston will give a slight touch on the students back to help them know shes there, but also to solidify the above comments. In response to misbehavior or disruptive behavior J Langston will use complete I messages such as, When you are talking in your groups and Im interrupted before Im finished talking, I find it hard to explain the directions clearly. It makes me distracted and frustrated because I want you to do well. For group work, the students will use their previously created Clock Partners in which each number on the clock is a predetermined partner to work with. During the Independent Practice, the instructions written on the board will give directions to eliminate what theorist Fred Jones calls Helpless Handraisers and to dispel any distracting behaviors while other students are working. In the classroom in which this lesson will be delivered, students are expected to put the proper heading on all papers; Name, Date, Homeroom Teacher and Number.] ECU Co-Teaching Strategy (If applicable): [N/A] Assessment Strategy: [Students will be formatively assessed and monitored throughout the entire lesson to be sure they are understanding and grasping the concept of inferencing. Higher order questioning will be used at a minimum for this lesson; however will be used more than the previous two as now students may be ready for deeper thinking skills to be encouraged. As stated previously, these students reading skills are not strong and thus scaffolding questioning will be a necessity. Students write a journal entry from a character in the storys point of view using clues from the story as evidence for their inferencing. Students will have individual writing conferences at which time the teacher will help them guide their thinking further expressing the need for more details or to clear any misunderstandings the students may still have about inferencing. A rubric will be used to guide the students thinking about their success or lack thereof.]

Procedures:
7. Focus and Review: [Show the students the Mystery Bag; show the object, have students guess what it is, then read clue 1 and ask for inferences based on clue; repeat 2-3 for clues. Explain to the students that sometimes even when we have the clue we still need a bit of prior knowledge to help us. When were confused, we need to stop and ask for help. We can look in a dictionary, online, or ask a peer or adult. Just like the pictures we saw, what we knew helped us understand. And yesterday, because I knew what a Park Ranger was, I could tell where they might be going in the story.] Statement of Objective: [Today were going to learn more about how to use the clues in the text to help us make inferences. Remember, you can make an inference when you use clues to figure out something that the author does not tell you. Explain to the students that you can use the clues in sentences and pictures to infer what an unfamiliar word means, you can use the clues in sentences and pictures to infer what the paragraph or stories are about or even to predict through inferencing what happens to the characters after the story is over! (repeated from previous lessons)] Teacher Input: [Explain to the students that for the last two lessons we used the clues in the story to help make inferences while we were reading. Remind the students that at the end of our time together they were given a Ticket Out the Door slip that asked some questions about our story. The question was Using the clues from the story for evidence, explain what you think the boy's trip will be like next year. Will it be the same or different as it

8.

9.

was this year? This person answered*******(as noted in previous lesson, if available choose one that was wrong and read the students real answer). This person answered*******(as noted in previous lesson, choose one that was right and read the students real answer). Ask the students who was right and lead a discussion abo ut the facts within the text, invite them to look at their notes if they need to. Be sure to support the students wrong answers by saying verbiage like We grow by making mistakes and clarifying those mistakes and working towards success next time. Its okay that these answers are not exactly right because weve just started working on this skill (DO NOT call out the students names. Return lesson ones ticket out the door slips with feedback written on it at the END of this lesson, not now. This way, the students who were wrong have more time to see their error through further practice and can better reflect on ways to build their skills.) On the SMART Board, load the copy of Something from Down Under (Sundance, 2007). Divide the students into clock partners of two. Give each group a text card of the story and a copy of the graphic organizer (Sundance, 2007) to each student; have them paste it into their reading notebook. Explain to the students that today well do the same thing with the organizer as before but with a different story. To activate prior knowledge, ask the students what experiences they have had in which they were confused or frightened by an unusual sound. Invite discussion about how they found the source of the sound. Preview the story and point out the title and illustrations. Guide students to use the pictures to predict what the story will be about. Ask what they think the story will be about. Ask what they think the white lines coming out of the window represent. Read the first paragraph aloud to the students and then ask volunteers to continue reading stop at the appropriate places in the text to ask the following questions, encourage them to make inferences or predictions and guide them in writing them in their organizer; being sure to have them cite from the text in doing so. How did Jake react to the strange noise? How did Carlos React? Which parts of the text tells about Jakes personality? Why do you think Jake told his mother about the noise? Why does Jake tell Carols not to forget the key? Why does Jake say that the woman is an alien? Why do you think Bruiser started to bark? What do you predict the boys will see coming out of the shadows? What does Mr. Foster s greeting tell about the kind of person he is? What can you tell about Mr. Fosters personality from the invitation to come and see the aliens? Do you predict that the mysterious noise might be a musical instrument?

Guided Practice: [Divide students into predetermined groups. Invite them to move to a location in the room of their choice. Give each group a copy of the leveled text story card and each student a copy of the directions sheet. Since the two story cards instructions on the first page match, read those aloud and give the students time to discuss answers in their groups. Wait 3 minutes then ask for 2 or 4 groups to share. Have the students draw a simplified grid on the back of the direction sheet (similar to a KWL chart) with column headings Text Clues + What I Know = Inference. Explain that this time, theyll use the same process to organize their thoughts but with a different organizer. Allow students ample time to complete the story cards, if groups finish early, encourage them to read the story a second time. Constantly rotate around the room to monitor, support, dispel misconceptions and guide students during the activity. Once ample time has elapsed, have students return to their seat, returning the story cards.] 10. Independent Practice: [Give each student a copy of the journal/diary page for the story they read with their group. Review & discuss on the board what a journal entry should look like and include: Date, complete sentences, correct punctuation, clear thoughts and sentences that make sense. Be sure to direct the students to the fact that this assignment should be written for the characters point of view as stated in the directions. Remembering the level at which these students are, be sure to make this very clear and provide an example for clarity, saying something like: If I were to write a journal entry about my day, would I say Mrs. Langston woke up, then she got dressed, then she ate breakfastcontinue. Help them to see that this is a first person dialog with feeling and meaning. Pass out a copy of the rubric titled Learning to Inference through a Journal Entry and encourage students to check their work against the rubric when they are finished. Allow students ample time to complete their entry. Constantly rotate around the room to monitor, support, dispel misconceptions and guide students during the activity. If a student is making minor errors, allow them to continue but make a note to discuss them during the writing conference. The assessment of the journal entry will be done

as a writing conference one-on-one; thus simultaneously bringing the lesson to a close. During the writing conference, students journal entry should be read aloud by the teacher, to the student to help them monitor their sentences for clarity, making minor corrections as needed.] 11. Closure: [Explain to the students that today we learned how to use our inference skills to write a journal entry from a characters point of view. We learned that we must look for clues in the text and pictures to make our inferences. We also learned ways we can make our writing stronger and explain our inferences more clearly.]