Week Six Assignment One

            As a teacher I would want Mary to feel confident in her ability to answer questions. To begin my instruction, I would give the students material that they are all familiar with prior to learning about in class. This would help boost my students’ level of confidence in their word identification and reading comprehension. If I gave my students’ a topic that they are all familiar with, they will most likely be interested in the material and be able to derive details to support the main idea of the text. As stated in Dr. Hsu’s explanation, students that score above a 55% on the prior knowledge part of the assessment generally score above 70% on the comprehension part of the assessment.

            This type of intervention would typically take anywhere from 2-3 weeks. I want to incorporate this type of instruction in my daily routine and boost my students’ level of confidence up as much as I can. It is important for my students to feel safe and secure while learning new things and exploring new ideas. I would give my students alternate assignments that involve group work and collaborate while I intervene in Mary’s assignment. This lesson would not take longer than 10-15 minutes so that I do not disregard the needs of my other students.

            I would want Mary to be able to look back in the text to find her answers. As a beginning towards this intervention I would highlight key words in the question and key words in the passage to show Mary that she can find her answers quickly if she just matches the words together. This way, Mary can feel safe to look back at the text whenever she feels the need to without being prompt by the teacher to do so. I also want Mary to be able to decode important phrases by searching the surrounding words in the sentence. One of the parts of the intervention with Mary would be to give her sentences with unfamiliar words and tangle them in a sentence with words she is familiar with. This way, Mary can feel confident that her contextual clues will help guide her through unfamiliar words.

Mini-Lesson

Description of Lesson: Mary will be asked to locate key words in the question to key words in the passage. She will identify words and underline possible answers to the question.

Standards Addressed:

• Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1)      Ask Mary the questions she will be required to answer.

2)      Determine if Mary is able to answer the questions with accuracy.

3)      Have Mary read expository text.

4)      Show Mary the same questions and highlight key words.

5)      Have Mary go back in the text to find those same key words.

6)      Have Mary underline possible answers that surround that key word.

7)      Ask Mary to answer the question verbally with as much detail as possible.

8)      Have Mary write her answer down on the paper.

Adaptations:

Provide Mary with a highlighter and a pencil to use in underlining and highlighting key words and answers.

Homework/Extended Learning:

Mary will be asked to go home and read for 20 minutes that night. She will need to “retell” the story to her parent/guardian and write her answers down with the assistance of the parent/guardian.

EXAMPLE

Why do birds fly south for the winter?

HIGHLIGHT key words. BIRDS SOUTH WINTER

LOCATE key words in text.

Birds fly south for the winter in order to reach warmer land.

HIGHLIGHT key words. Birds fly south for the winter in order to reach warmer land.

UNDERLINE possible answers. Birds fly south for the winter in order to reach warmer land.