6. Language and Literacy - P. Plan Lessons

Use an Online Text

Description:  Plan a lesson asking students to read a newspaper or other online source.
Task Objectives:  Identify a WIDA/SIOP reading standard and create an introductory lesson for students using that standard.
Task WIDA: RR1
Task SIOP: 21 
Points: 15

Action Steps:

  1. Reference your task sheet/introductory survey from the beginning of the semester for tasks that are of interest to you.
  2. Choose an online text that children will read before, during, or after your lesson plan.
    1. Here are possible resources:
      1. NewsELA 
      2. New York Times 
      3. Storyline (free children’s books with audio recording) 
  3. Choose a Reading WIDA Standard and a specific group of students who would read this text in a unit about __(determine unit topic)___.
  4. Create a lesson plan using your program’s template for your text (the lesson could be used before reading to prepare, during reading, or after reading). Option: You can also modify and improve a lesson plan focused on reading a text from a lesson plan website.
    1. High School All Subjects
    2. ESL - All Grades
    3. Science
    4. Social Studies
    5. Reading
    6. Avenues World Elements
    7. Expeditionary Learning
  5. Attach your modified lesson plans to your slide and answer the following questions on your Capstone Google Slideshow (template here if you have not started) in addition to links to any materials created or used: 
    1. Name of the Assignment (1R, 2T, 3C, etc) as the title of the slide and answers to the following questions:
      1. What you learned or your most significant take away from the assignment.
      2. To learn more, what might your next steps be?
  6. Write your responses to the reflection questions (listed below and in this template) in an additional slide on your Capstone Google Slideshow:
    1. Explain how Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) strategies are used in this lesson plan. Connect your explanation to examples in the work you are uploading or linking to. Specifically elaborate on SEI in: 4P - Reading strategies
    2. What challenges, if any, did you encounter? Describe how you addressed the challenges.
    3. Reflect on your learning from this assignment. Complete the sentence: I began thinking… and now I think… so next I will (question or next step action)

 

Must Haves Amazing
1. Response completes the task.
2. Accurately reflects WIDA Standards and the principles of SIOP.
3. Demonstrates precision and accuracy appropriate to the demands of a graduate course (including correct citations, grammar, and mechanics).
4. Demonstrates thoughtfulness and insights appropriate to the demands of a graduate course.
5. Responds specifically and explicitly to an identified language demand taught in an inclusive setting.
* Explain how learning from completing the task can be useful to you.
* Promotes self and cultural awareness.
* Describes possible next steps.
* Relates to developing language skills in specific ways.
* Share materials or examples that may be useful to others.

 

WIDA Writing Lesson Plan

Why this task? Language and literacy skills are highly predictive of academic and social outcomes. It is important we understand what factors into these skills and how we can support our students in these areas.

Points: 15

Must Haves

1. Response completes the task.
2. Accurately reflects WIDA Standards and the principles of SIOP.
3. Demonstrates precision and accuracy appropriate to the demands of a graduate course (including correct citations, grammar, and mechanics).
4. Demonstrates thoughtfulness and insights appropriate to the demands of a graduate course.
5. Responds specifically and explicitly to an identified language demand taught in an inclusive setting.

 

Amazing

* Explain how learning from completing the task can be useful to you.
* Promotes self and cultural awareness.
* Describes possible next steps.
* Relates to developing language skills in specific ways.
* Share materials or examples that may be useful to others.

     

    Action Steps:

    Step 1

    In this task, you will develop a lesson that integrates a writing task.

    Explore one or more of the following for inspiration:

    Select what to teach: Select a content and language objective that you will address. Consider using an upcoming lesson and embedding writing to help meet your lesson’s goals. Ideally, planning lessons should enhance the work you’re already doing!

    Don’t have a lesson? Consider revising an existing lesson plan (see list below for some useful websites, but feel free to use others). If you take this route, you must give credit to the appropriate resource. The lesson plan would have to be revised into a word document that reflects the necessary requirements below. It would not be sufficient to merely download the lesson plan and annotate it with comments on how you would revise it.

    Create a Lesson: Develop a 20-30 minute lesson that integrates a writing task to address your content and language objectives. Your lesson plan should:

    1. Identify the context (e.g., grade level, topic, course, content-area, ages, English language proficiencies of students)

    2. Write out content and language objectives

    3. Articulate how the content and language objectives will be measured. In other words, how will you know that students achieved the objectives? Are they supposed to use a certain number of the focal terms in writing? Will they plan out their arguments and evidence? Are they writing four sentences that integrate the connectives you’ve been working on in class?

    4. Integrate writing: Identify what students are achieving through the writing task (e.g., describing, synthesizing, planning, drafting, writing an argument about…). See this resource for a list of possible verbs to describe what students are achieving through their writing.

    5. Include a step-by-step breakdown of the lesson:

      1. Time: Be specific about how long each task will take! For example, how long are students talking? How long do they have to write down their ideas? How long is the warm up?

      2. Student and Teacher Actions: What are the teachers and students doing at every step of the way? For instance, if students are writing down an idea, what is the teacher doing? If the teacher is introducing a new language concept, what are the students doing?

      3. Help Resources: What help is available to students at every step of the way? For instance, are students working with peers, using sentence stems, relying on a poster, referring to a graphic?

      4. Directions: Scripted directions for the writing task that include roles, rules, turns, and time. (See this resource for a breakdown.)

    6. Include all handouts and materials

     

    Step 2

    Be sure to link your work and documents in the capstone project:

    Capstone table example

     

    Step 3

    Reflection: Answer the following questions on a Capstone slide

    1. Thinking about writing. You can choose one or all questions, or parts from each question. (150-250 words total)

      1. How does the writing task support students in achieving the learning objectives?

      2. How does your lesson give opportunity for all students to participate actively in the learning? Where does it fall short?

      3. How challenging was it to integrate writing in your context or for this topic?

    2. Takeaways: You can choose one or all questions, or parts from each question. (200-250 words)

      1. What was your most significant take away from the assignment? What did you find interesting and useful?

      2. What was most challenging in the task? How did you overcome that challenge?

      3. How will you apply your learning to practice?

      4. To learn more, what might your next steps be?

      5. How would you improve on your current product in the future?