Final Co-Teaching Debrief for 2011-2012

June 18, 2012

Feedback
• student ideas improved
• there were a variety of beginnings
• students used transition words more effectively
• some students were able to end their stories effectively, some needed more work on how to make a story feel finished
• perhaps the students were not inspired by the assessment task or perhaps the time of day (afternoon) affected the work that was produced
• there were too many brainstorm webs  --> perhaps they should be used for non-fiction rather than fiction

• while students were doing very well with the graphic organizers during the lessons, some students struggled with the graphic organizer for the assessment task
• struggling students are beginning to use strategies, such as dictionaries, word wall, sounds

Next Steps:
• focus on the purposes for each graphic organizer and how to choose an appropriate graphic organizer for the assigned task
• vary the tasks next year, sometimes long stories, sometimes short stories with limited space
• set up Learning Centers during Guided Reading and Guided Writing time (half of literacy block for guided reading, half of literacy block for writing conferences)

Spelling Strategies
• sound boxes with magnetic letters
• word families and word starters
• sorting words by patterns
• word study center
• eyes on your fries
• connecting words (e.g. lair is just like hair)

Learning Center Ideas
• Eyes on Your Fries (word study)
• "I Speak Word" on Ipads (spelling quizzes)
• Reader's Theater (to build reading fluency) (thematic)
• Storytelling Center

• Reading Buddy Station (thematic books - social studies/science)
• From 3 to 3 Retells of Oral Stories and Riddle Answers
• Free Writing
• Thematic Station (writing - procedural, research, graphic organizers)
• Computers (create a Gr. 2 Literacy Center Block with computer assignment)

--> Students will have a contract and complete each center at their own pace.  When their contract is completed, they show it to the teacher and then start all over again.  Students will be pulled out of their center for Guided Reading or a Writer's Workshop Conference.

Writer's Workshop Focus for September/October
1. Idea bubbles  --> students put their main idea in the center of the bubble and then brainstorm words that might match the main idea (e.g. pirates).
2. Beginning, Middle, Ending (BME) --> How can we organize our ideas in the Idea Bubble to create a story plan with a beginning, middle and ending?

3. CSA --> Add extra details to the plan, such as the character and setting.  The BME now becomes part of the Action section of the Graphic Organizer.

4. AAA (Triple A) - Persuasive Writing (Argument, Argument, Argument)


Recommended Resources
Guide to Effective Instruction in Writing
On Solid Ground by Sharon Taberski
Literacy Work Stations by Debbie Diller
What's Next for this Beginning Writer? by Janine Reid (Pembroke Publishing)
Good First Teaching by Fontis and Pinnell
First Steps Writing

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Curriculum Expectations:
* identify and order main ideas and supporting details, using graphic organizers (e.g. a story grammar: characters, setting, problem, solution; a sequential chart: first, then, next, finally) and organizational patterns (e.g. problem/solution, chronological order)

Specific Expectations:
* use a graphic organizer to order ideas
* understand that stories have a specific sequence to develop the characters, problem and the solution
* use ideas to elaborate and to write descriptively in order

Materials:
writing paper
"Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" by Judith Viorst
pictures from the book
chart paper divided into three sections

Resources:
Ministy of Education: Language (2006)
Trait Based Mini-Lessons for Teaching Writing
Using Picture Books to Teach Writing With the Traits
Getting Started With the Traits
Website: http://so024.k12.sd.us/organization/htm

Lesson Plan:
 Activation:
• Review how we develop ideas. (chart paper)
• Read the book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst and periodically stop and ask what will happen next.
• After reading and briefly discussing the book, make a list of words that could describe how Alexander felt during the day.
• Show pictures from the story and have volunteers put the story in order.  Have them briefly retell the story in order with the pictures.

Lesson:
• Show a picture of a child that  looks totally content and happy and ask them to imagine that this is them at the end of the day.
• What would have had to happen so that they look and feel like that?  Brainstorm words that could describe how the content child felt during the day.
• Hand out graphic organizer to pairs and invite them to complete the organizer (by writing or drawing pictures) describing their "Most Fabulous, Awesome, Great, Very Good Day".
• After 15 minutes, call students back to the circle to share what they have done so far.
• Give them time to finish the organizer and then write their story in pairs on chart paper.
• Walk around, observe, discuss and ask questions.

Debriefing/Consolidating:
• Have students share a part of their stories with the group.
• They can also share their descriptions with another group.  Groups can also ask each other questions to fill in any missing details from the story.

Extensions/Accommodations:
• Discuss success criteria for this writing assignments.
• Give at least 1 more writing session to complete partner stories and have them share it with another group.

Evaluation:
• Observations and anecdotal notes.
• Use of success criteria.

Feedback/Debriefing Session (Co-Teachers)
 • Next steps - Develop Success Criteria around expanding ideas, e.g. Success Criteria for "Showing Sentences", "Vocabulary", "Paragraphs"
• During consolidation circle, each pair shared one part of their fabulous day.  There were lots of great ideas.
• While pair writing, some groups just copied the plan, not adding extra details, e.g. "When I woke up, I watched my favourite tv show.  Then I played on the computer." Teacher needs to ask questions to expand ideas (e.g. What is your favourite tv show?  What happened during it? What were you doing while you were watching?)  Students needed some modeling re. how to turn sections of brainstorming into paragraphs.
• Margaret recommended the book "Knowing What Counts: Setting and Using Success Criteria" by Kathleen Gregory and Caren Cameron ISBN 978-0-9783193-9-7.
• Success Criteria process: 1. Group brainstorming. 2. Share. 3. Group sort and categorize. 4. Share. 5. Full group agreement.
• Margaret also recommended "The Reading Teacher" magazine and the NCTM journal.

 Lisa's Extensions
After completing the co-teaching lesson in Fern's room and participating in the debriefing feedback session, I taught the lesson in my room.  Most elements stayed the same.  However, I decided to work with building Success Criteria.  After the student pairs all completed their graphic organizers, I collected them and chose 4 to display as examples on large mural paper.  The students then told their stories using their graphic organizer and then as a class we made a list of what they did well and suggestions for improvement.  One organizer stood out as being extremely complete and leading to a great oral storytelling where lots of additional details and interesting vocabulary emerged.  From these notes, we decided on four elements that make a great Graphic Organizer for a story.  Students were then given the opportunity to go back to their own organizers to add more detail or make changes.  One pair even decided to start over because they were unsatisfied with their organizer the way they have completed it.

Birthday Parties Co-Teaching

LESSON  PLAN  FOR  WRITER’S WORKSHOP: CO-TEACHING

Class: Indra                                                       Date: March 20, 2012

Time: 9:15am- 10:15am                                    Subject: Language Arts (Writing)

Other Participants: Lisa, Margaret, Fern

Curriculum Expectations

Overall Expectation:1. generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience

Specific Expectations

1.2: generate ideas about a potential topic, using a variety of strategies and resources

2.2: establish a personal voice in their writing, with a focus on using familiar words that convey their attitude or feeling towards the subject or audience

Materials

Writing paper

Picture (birthday celebration)

Chart paper

Resources

Ministry of Education : Language (2006)

Writing Styles Photo Prompts (Edu. Press)

LESSON PLAN

Lesson Plan/Instruction Method/Length                                    

Activation

* Ask students to turn to a partner and share what happened at his/her birthday party or a birthday party they have attended             ( whole group 2 mins )

* Recall students and invite them to share their experiences

* On chart paper teacher records birthday words

Lesson

* Have chart paper with B M E on it

       * Place birthday picture in Middle section

* Ask students to brainstorm with partner

-         what happened before the picture

-         what is happening in the picture

-         what happened after the picture  (15 min)

* Recall students and invite them to share their ideas

* Send students with partner to make a B M E about The Best Birthday Ever (20 mins)

CONSOLIDATION/DEBRIEFING (15 mins.)

* Put up all B M Es on board and let students talk about them

* Pair students with another partner to talk about their B M E

Extensions and Accommodations

*Students write independent story – add more birthday words to list if presented by students

*Write transition words on chart for students needing them (First, Next, Then)

*Some students draw pictures and add labels

Debriefing Notes

• students generally used the BME organizer well (Beginning, Middle, Ending)
• some pairs worked well together, while others needed some further modeling as to how to work cooperatively
• less time should be spent on the Think Pair Share, as the students got off topic after a couple of minutes
• use different strategies for the Think Pair Share (rather than always knee to knee), e.g. Mingle to Music (students have 20 seconds to talk to partner before music starts again)
• students were very literal in their interpretation of the Ultimate Birthday Party
• some students were writing in full sentences in the BME
• some students were very slow writing high frequency words
• students thought they had to record their ideas in order, from the beginning, middle and then the ending

Next Steps:

• practice writing all the words they know in five to ten minutes (only with students struggling to write the words they know quickly) either once a day or week --> by this point in Grade 2, students should be able to write 80 words (minimum) in 10 minutes --> give clues as to how to increase the numbers of words, e.g., friends' names, rhyming words, small words
• when group brainstorming about a topic is not part of a lesson, students should brainstorm a vocabulary list or ideas list on the back of the graphic organizer before completing the BME
• review that the ideas can be place in the BME in an order (e.g., if you have an idea for the ending, write it down near the end of the E)

Learning Goals:

• Grade 1 students and students on an IEP in Grade 2 will continue to work on generating ideas (Curriculum Expectation 1.2, Ontario Curriculum Documents)
• Grade 2 students will move on to Expectation 2.2 from the Ontario Curriculum Document (establishing personal voice) and Expectation 2.5 (point of view)

Assessment Goals:

• By the end of April, redo Adventure Story assessment (from EQAO document) to compare to initial results.

Co-Teaching February 29, 2012

Generating Ideas Using Your Senses

Grade: 2

Subject: Writing

Co-teachers: Fern, Lisa, Indra, Margaret

Curriculum Expectations from the Ontario Curriculum

Overall

• Generate ideas about a potential topic using a variety of strategies and resources.

Big Ideas

• Take a small topic and use ideas to describe the topic in details.
• Recognize that the details of a piece of writing come from brainstorming ideas.
• Use webs and lists.
• Use ideas to elaborate and to write descriptively.

Materials

• writing paper
• All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan
• Chart paper divided into three sections

Resources

• Ontario Ministry of Education: Language (2006)
• Trait-Based Mini-Lessons for Teaching Writing

Lesson Plan

Activation (Whole Group, 15 Minutes)

• Review sense that we have (sight, taste, touch, smell, hearing)
• Use senses to describe an apple, Canada's Wonderland, walking through the forest on our trip to Downsview Park
• Read All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan and show the picture of the child wearing a raincoat and looking at a turtle.
• Imagine you are in the picture.  What do you see?  Record responses on the chart paper under "I See"
• Repeat for "I Feel" and "I Hear"

Getting Ready (Whole Group, 2 to 3 Minutes)

• Invite students to "put themselves" in the picture and write about what they see, hear, and feel.
• They may use ideas from the chart and encourage them to use only a few ideas from each section
• To get them started, I ask "What would be a good first sentence for this piece of writing?" Brainstorm ideas and I may have them share their ideas with a partner in the class.
• Write a first sentence to help the reader know that they piece is about...
• Remember to include all of your senses in your description.
• Describe how to create a web to record our ideas.

Independent Task

• Use the web to describe the picture.  Your title is "A Rainy Day".

Consolidation

• Record students ideas on a web on the chalkboard.

Lesson Observations/Debriefing

• design lessons using the model of the three part lesson
• the web could have been done in groups or pairs
• students needed prompting to come up with descriptive vocabulary
• the topic was too big; it would have been better to focus on just one thing in the picture
• not all the senses could be used for each topic (e.g. turtle --> you are not going to taste the turtle)

Next Steps

• Continue to use webbing to extend a main idea related to a topic.
• Focus on a few familiar graphic organizers (BME, CSA, picture, web)
• Students will learn to choose an appropriate graphic organizer for the task at hand

Learning Goals

• Brainstorm ideas about a topic you want to write about.

Co-Teaching February 2012 Grade 2

Generating Ideas
Written by: Lisa M.
Co-Teaching Team: Fern D., Indra K., Margaret DS

Lesson/Unit of Study Title
Generating Ideas
Map Adventure Story (80 minutes total)

Grade
2

Learning Goal/Ontario Curriculum Expectations
1.1 identify the topic, purpose, audience, and form for writing

1.2 generate ideas about a potential topic, using a variety of strategies and resources

1.5 identify and order main ideas and supporting details, using graphic organizers (e.g., a story grammar: characters, setting, problem, solution; a sequential chart: first, then, next, finally) and organizational patterns (e.g., problem solution,

Resources
• http://www.eqao.com/Educators/Elementary/036/BookletsandGuides.aspx?Lang=E&gr=036&yr=09
• 2010 Language 2 Scoring Guide EQAO
• 2010 Language Book 2 EQAO

Language Lesson Plan
Activation: What is an adventure story?  Generate and record ideas on the chart.  (10 minutes)
Partner Work: You find a map in the playground.  With a partner, generate a list of ideas that describe where that map might take you. (10 minutes)
Independent: EQAO 2010 - You find a map in the playground.  Write an adventure story about where the map takes you.  You have 10 minutes to generate ideas for your story and 50 minutes to write your story. Pay attention to the amount of space you have to write today.  You can not go over.

Reflections/Observations
• The students believed that the adventures had to be from their own life experiences. This stemmed from the Small Moments we had been writing.
• Many students had difficulty understanding how to use a graphic organizer to plan a story. Instead they drew a map of the place they were going to go for their adventure.  Only a few students drew a map that showed a progression of events.
• Many students did not refer to the context of the story starter in their introduction.
While writing, many students were still spelling high frequency words incorrectly and using a lower case “i” for the word “I”.
 • Many students were still struggling with using punctuation corrrectly.

Goals for Instruction
• Margaret suggested taking a step back and spending at least two weeks just working on graphic organizers.  She suggested focussing on one or two that the students were familiar with already.
• We wanted students to recognize that adventure stories can stem from their imaginations.  They do not have to be rooted in personal experiences or small moments.  For example, you can go to visit Jupiter in an adventure story and use the prior knowledge to describe the character’s experiences while exploring.
• Our curriculum focus for the 6 week period became “generating ideas”.

Post-Unit Reflections
• The students had a much better understanding of an adventure story that stemmed from the imagination.
• While a few students drew a map again during the summative assessment, most understood that planning your ideas meant using a graphic organizer, such as a BME (beginning, middle, ending) or CSA (character, setting, action).
• Students were able to construct their own graphic organizer using the models displayed on the writing wall.
• Students ideas were much more creative and most stories had a clear beginning, middle and ending.
• Students had a better understanding of how to use the space given during an EQAO assessment piece.

Post-Unit Goals for Improvement
• Students need to work on beginning sentences in a variety of ways.
• Students will learn to add additional detail to the middle of their compositions.
• Students will continue to build their bank of descriptive and interesting vocabulary.
• Students will apply the knowledge of a beginning, middle and ending to non-fiction pieces.
• Students will learn to choose which graphic organizer is the most appropriate for their assignment.