Form: "*Designing Instruction Task*"

Created with: Taskstream

Author: Destiny Ramos
Date submitted: 04/18/2016 3:29 pm (PDT)

Before beginning this task, read the complete

directions provided in the CTC TPA Candidate
Handbook.
Step 1: Academic Content Selection and Learning
about Students
Directions:
An important step in planning instruction is to learn about your students. Select one
class, one content area, and the state-adopted academic content standards or stateadopted framework (if your single subject content area does not have content
standards) for this task. Respond to the questions below about this class, unit of
study, and how you learn about the students.

A. Academic Content Selection

(REQUIRED) Grade Level
4th

(REQUIRED) Content area

English

(REQUIRED) Subject matter

This lesson will focus on Reading Informational Text

(REQUIRED) 1. List the state-adopted academic content standards or stateadopted framework that you will cover for this unit of study.
The unit will focus on the following priority standards and incorporate supporting
standards during each task
L.4.2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text;
summarize the text.
RL.4.3: Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing
on specific details in the text (e.g., a characters thoughts, words,
or actions).
RI.4.9: Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or
speak about the subject knowledgeably.
W.4.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and
information clearly.
W.4.2.a: Introduce a topic clearly and group related information in paragraphs and
sections; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when
useful to aiding comprehension.
W.4.2.b: Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or

other information and examples related to the topic.

W.4.2.e: Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or
explanation presented.
SL.4.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in
groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building
on others ideas and expressing their own clearly.
L.4.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words
and phrases based on grade 4 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of
strategies.

(REQUIRED) 2. Describe the unit of study that addresses those standards.

The unit of study will be a five week unit. There will be 25 lesson days in this unit.
Students will engage in a project based learning unit. Students will work with
multiple sources, from varies genres, on one selected topic. They will become
experts on integrating information from multiple sources and writing informative
texts on their topics. Student will work in small groups to complete a real-world task.
Students will be tasked to create an attractive, topic-based display for Barnes and
Nobel that will attract customers and get the customer or audience interested in their
topic. Displays will include examples from different genres and realia that connect to
the respective topic.

(REQUIRED) 3. What is (are) the academic learning goal(s) for this unit of
study?
Students will learn the characteristics of fiction texts, non fiction books a periodicals;
fine art and poetry.
Based on their topic, students will self-select a fiction text, non fiction books and
periodicals, fine art pieces and poetry related to their topic.
Students will write a three paragraph essay about the common theme of their topic
and support with evidence gained by studying the 5 different genres.

Class Information
(REQUIRED) Age range of students
9-10 years old

(REQUIRED) Number of male students

17

(REQUIRED) Number of female students

14

(REQUIRED) Total number of students

31

B. Student Characteristics
Linguistic Background

(REQUIRED) 1. What information that may influence instruction do you

want to learn about your students?
I want to know the students' linguistic backgrounds and content knowledge. I want
to know what the primary language is at home and whether the parents speak
English, Spanish or both. I need to know CELDT scores to determine English
development level.

(REQUIRED) 2. How will you learn about your students? Describe the
methods you will use and why you have chosen to use those particular
methods.
I order to get to know my students in the various categories above I will review
beginning of the year student interview notes, and "All About Me" assignment which
was completed within the first week of school. I will also conduct brief interviews
with the student or parents to learn parents' English language abilities, and number
of years of English language learning. I will contact parents via email, phone call or
in the classroom. STAR testing results, and CELDT results. I will be particularly
interested in students balanced literacy abilities- reading, writing, speaking and
listening. Additionally I will contact previous teachers to learn students previous
knowledge, concept understanding and

(REQUIRED) 3. How will you use this information in planning academic

instruction in your selected content area?
Based on home-life survey I know which students need additional support at home
Based on CELDT scores I know which students will need realia, SDAIE strategies,
assistance students in brainstorming, assign questions for discussion to help facilitate
groups, helps students reread their sources through guided reading, prepares
assigned questions to help students summarize poems, or author's message in
poetry, explain definitions using ELL vocabulary cards with pictures before the
lesson as a reference; and examples, and their own thinking while determining the
main idea and writing a summary of key points.

Academic Language Abilities, Content Knowledge, and Skills

(REQUIRED) 1. What information that may influence instruction do you
want to learn about your students?
I want to know what the student knows and how they want to learn. I want to know
student performance on the 3rd grade district assessment (RCD) and standardized
testing (STAR). I will find the students' independent reading levels and whether the
students read at grade level. I would also like to discover learning preferences and
assessment preferences that students have. Finally I want to know what genres the
students have been exposed to and/or have read independently.

(REQUIRED) 2. How will you learn about your students? Describe the
methods you will use and why you have chosen to use those particular
methods.
I will access CUM files or Aires, and district wide student database system and
previous years' report cards. This will help me analyze specific data that will aid me
with reading comprehension and retelling. I will use teachers' comments to learn
about student language development and writing strengths and weaknesses. I will
use STAR reading through renaissance to assess independent reading levels (IRLA).

(REQUIRED) 3. How will you use this information in planning academic

instruction in your selected content area?
Based on the information gathered, I will either modify or extend the lesson content
to best meet the need of each student. I will properly assess when scaffolding is
appropriate. Based on the compilation of information, students who have unique
learning needs, English learners or struggling learners can be appropriately
individualized. I can provide intentional strategies and intervention to support
reading comprehension. I can use information to determine whether I need to
provide students with outlines, establish a purpose, ask comprehension
questions,guided reading, paired reading or teach students to take notes or annotate
while reading. Contrarily, if a student is performing more advanced then the norm, I
will need to prepare to challenge the student(s) with higher level analysis,
application of knowledge, problem solving and higher reading levels.

Physical, Social, and Emotional Development

(REQUIRED) 1. What information that may influence instruction do you
want to learn about your students?
I want to be aware of any student has emotional disturbance or behavior based
special attention. I will want to know how students respond to stress- specifically
towards difficult material. I want to know how students respond to cooperative group
activities. I want to know what students lack essential group skills such as
respectfully disagreeing, contributing ideas, independent accountability and group
dependence. I want to know about the social groups within the classroom to know
who cannot work with who. I want to know whether the student performs best in
small or large groups. I also want to know the students level of empathy because
they will be working cooperatively and it is important to see in multiple perspectives

(REQUIRED) 2. How will you learn about your students? Describe the
methods you will use and why you have chosen to use those particular
methods.
I will use social development theories such as Vygotsky's, to have a general
understanding of social development within this age group and how it affects their
learning therefor my instruction. I will look at IEP to utilize the identified needs. I will
also conduct an interview with the previous teachers and consult the school
psychologist for identified needs. I will also interview other adults or professions who
are typically found on an IEP team such as the parents or professions due to their
familiarity with the student.

(REQUIRED) 3. How will you use this information in planning academic

instruction in your selected content area?
Based on identified needs I can determine how to create an appropriate learning
environment, including seating and selecting appropriate partners or group
members. I can pair students with similar needs so I can provide time efficient small
group support. I want to be proactive and prepare against emotional and social
triggers that will disrupt learning for group member or the whole class.

Cultural and Health Considerations

(REQUIRED) 1. What information that may influence instruction do you

want to learn about your students?
Culture can affect how a student interprets language acquisition, importance of
reading and attitude towards collaborative work. I want to know the cultural norms
in order to provide meaningful instruction. I want to know how students
communicate based of cultural expectation.
Last, I want to know whether the student has health issues that will take him or her
out of school often and cause the student to fall behind.

(REQUIRED) 2. How will you learn about your students? Describe the
methods you will use and why you have chosen to use those particular
methods.
I will use "All About Me" worksheets and student interviews to gain understanding of
the influence their culture has on their motivation and interest in reading. I will also
ask whether their family member read, what they read and whether it is something
they do at home. Last I will ask student how he or she communicates with members
of the family. I will ask this because if I expect a student to present using eye
contact, or to contribute ideas it is possible it is not culturally acceptable to do these
things.
Asking the student is the fastest method to gain information. Also, when the goal is
to create a life long learner who enjoys reading, I should focus on the student. I will
also learn about parent perspective and their involvement in their child's education.

(REQUIRED) 3. How will you use this information in planning academic

instruction in your selected content area?
I will use classroom ethnic representation and lack of representation to share those
cultures through text with fellow students in order to broaden our cultural
perspectives. I will research and offer text suggestions that have multicultural
representation or authors from various cultural backgrounds. It is important to keep
an empathetic, respectful, safe learning environment no matter the content area
because students cannot successfully learn if they are not in a comfortable
environment. It is also important to promote cultural perspective within groups to
promote healthy variation of perspective since they will experience this in real world
situations. Cultural understanding will also facilitate presentation styles and how a
student will collaborate and communicate with peers and adults.
Cultural and family dynamic understanding will help me determine what support the
student will have at home.
Unusual health needs or concerns should be considered to prepare at home work, a
different pace of work, and modifications for group work such as google documents,
google slides and google chat.

Interests and Aspirations

(REQUIRED) 1. What information that may influence instruction do you
want to learn about your students?
I want to know what students' interest in literacy and their motivation to read. I
want to consider students' hobbies, passions, desires, wants and career goals. I want
sources to motivate reading and be applicable to the student.

(REQUIRED) 2. How will you learn about your students? Describe the
methods you will use and why you have chosen to use those particular
methods.
I will have students create a journal entry that introduces and describes their
interests, hobbies and aspirations. Before prompting the students to write about 3-5
interest, hobbies or aspirations Last I will create anecdotal notes as the interest
come up in was such as overhearing side conversations, during recess, during circle
check-ins, and by the characters and themes in school supplies. For example, a
student with a Batman backpack who often wears superhero shirts or a student who
has a tiger print backpack and often checks out books about animals from the
library.

(REQUIRED) 3. How will you use this information in planning academic

instruction in your selected content area?
I will incorporated interests to make content more relevant and enjoyable for the
student. I will use common interest to help group students for the unit project so
they can share the research and creative experience with others.

Step 2: Learning about Two Focus Students

Directions: Select two focus students from the class you identified in Step 1. Select
one student who is an English learner and one student who presents a different
instructional challenge. Use some of the methods you described in Step 1 to learn
about these two students. Consider your selected content area and subject matter
when describing what you learned about the two focus students. Complete the
section below. In each box include:

a description of what you learned about each of the students

an explanation of how the information will influence your academic
instructional planning.

Note: Single subject candidates for a credential in Languages Other Than English
who are delivering instruction in the target language may choose another student
with a different instructional challenge rather than an English learner.

Student 1: An English Learner

(REQUIRED) Gender

Female

(REQUIRED) Age
10

(REQUIRED) 1. Why did you select this student?

I chose this student because he rarely shares in class due to lack of confidence in his
work. He speaks with little to no error; and he is at an early advanced CELDT level.
His scores were in the low end of the early advanced range in reading, writing and

comprehension; slightly higher in listening and on the higher end of the range for
speaking. When in a safe, comfortable, one-on-one environment he shows desire to
succeed but he is discouraged by his difficulty learning. Although he is not identified
for any learning disabilities he is being recommended for testing.

(REQUIRED) 2. What did you learn about this student's linguistic

background?
His parents primary language is Spanish. They only have basic English language
communication skills. They are able to communicate basic needs and questions such
as "Where is the bathroom," "Do you speak Spanish," "How much," and other
everyday greetings. His parents require a translator at parent-teacher conferences.
The student did not attend kindergarten and entered 1st grade as a Early
Intermediate EL student. I was told he made great improvement his first two years
of school, third grade was not as immense. Fourth grade his language development
has been relatively consistent but his ELA scores are lower than what he was testing
at at the beginning of the year.

(REQUIRED) 3. What did you learn about this student's academic language
abilities in relation to this academic content area?
As a beginning student teacher I do not have access to the online database AIRES.
Consulting with my master teacher, his language intervention teacher and reviewing
his 3rd grade teacher's notes, the student struggles with language comprehension.
His lack of comprehension effects all other content area because of his difficulty with
content terms, directions and informative text. He can decode at a 3.2 independent
reading level.
Based off observations the student often does not understand what is expected of
him, or the purpose when reading or writing. He is one of few that has homework
taken home each day. Homework is any classwork that was not finished in given
time.
This student only receives an hour of the two and a half hours throughout the day
dedicated to ELA. He is pulled out with eight other students to participate in the EL
language intervention program Language Live.

(REQUIRED) 4. What did you learn about this student's content knowledge
and skills in this subject matter?
The student's strength and prior content knowledge comes from fiction books and he
is able to recall best from this genre. He struggles with informational text and
poetry. When given sentence frames or a story outline prior to reading, the student
is able to identify characters, setting, conflicts, solutions and key event more
successfully than when he reads without support. Class participation observations
show that the student shuts down and stops working when he is confused or
frustrated. He does not want anyone to notice though because he pretends to
understand and work when I am monitoring the classroom and keeping myself
available for questions and support. I will need to modify pace or completion
expectations.
He is working on language foundation skills and comprehension in Language Live.

(REQUIRED) 5. What did you learn about this student's physical, social and
emotional development relevant to this academic content area?
The student is introverted, struggling and requires individualized support. He is at
the social and emotional level that most fourth graders are at. He is self aware and
has displayed understanding of other's feelings and perspectives.

I learned that the student benefits from a social learning environment consisting of 4
to 6 students. He is used to working in this sized group setting when he is in Through
observation in larger groups or whole group instruction, the student did not
contribute to the group.
Thus, my planning includes small group interaction to accommodate his needs.

(REQUIRED) 6. What did you learn about this student's cultural

background, including family and home relevant to this academic content
area?
This student lives in an area of the city where the parents do not feel the need to
learn English. At parent teacher conferences the parents are more concerned with
their son's behavior in the classroom. They value knowing whether he respects the
teacher, stays on task and shows respect more than they are concerned with his
academic growth. They are however proud when academic successes are shared with
them. Both parents are in the working class and do not have more than a high school
diploma. The student does not get support from his parents at home and since he is
the oldest of the siblings, he does not get help from anyone else in the house. He
also does not have a computer at home to allow him to work at home.

(REQUIRED) 7. What did you learn about this student's special

considerations, including health issues relevant to this academic content
area?
The student prefers to work in small groups. He works best when he is in a
homogenous group because when placed in a heterogeneous group he does not
contribute and allows the higher performing students to complete tasks. Also, while
in a heterogeneous group, he does not even copy down the work his group mates
produced. I will structure my lesson for small group activities and I will
predetermine his group. This will allow opportunity for growth in participatory
partnerships and allows him to work in his preferred environment.

(REQUIRED) 8. What did you learn about this student's interests and
aspirations relevant to this academic content area?
While on the school bus heading to a field trip, the student expressed interest in
cars. He spent the entire ride pointing out cars on the freeway and describing his
favorite feature for each car he pointed out. He also shows interest in sports through
his fashion choices (jerseys and sports related graphic tees). The student
participated in the grade-level week long soccer tournament at school. He shares
interest in soccer with all his friends. He also enjoys opportunity to work with Google
Chrome-books. The mentioned topics are all possible topics for the engaging
scenario project.

(REQUIRED) 9. Describe other information relevant to this academic

content area that you learned about the student (e.g., attendance,
extracurricular activities).
The student has good attendance and has not missed class for at least four months.
He participates in after school care program due to his parents being at work when
school is released. He receives homework support for a short time while at the
program. He plays soccer for the Costa Mesa AYSO league.

Student 2: A Student Who Presents a Different

Instructional Challenge
(REQUIRED) Gender

Male

(REQUIRED) Age
9

(REQUIRED) 1. Why did you select this student?

I chose this student because he is an eager learning who is on an IEP. He has
recently decreased his one-on-one instructional aid time from five hours to three and
a half hours. This student is an active participant in classroom in both whole class
and small group settings. He is very strong in English Language Arts.

(REQUIRED) 2. How is the instructional challenge that he or she presents

different from that of the other student?
Unlike the previous student, this student is high performing and social. He is not an
English learner but has Spanish-speaking family. He is on the autism spectrum near
the lower end. Part of his IEP requires an aid to help him with rash social behavior
and academic behavior. He works so hastily, his knowledge is inadequately
measured because he didn't take time to comprehend the questions or show his
work; although he is completely capable. Despite his social inclination, he does not
read social cues well and he has a difficult time seeing from a perspective other than
his own.

(REQUIRED) 3. What did you learn about this student's linguistic

background?
Both parents speak English and Spanish fluently. Spanish is the father's native
language while the mothers native language is English. Both parents were born and
raised in California. His father spoke English fluently by kindergarten and his mother
studied Spanish in high school and college. The student speaks English fluently and
speaks conversational Spanish. The primary language at home is English.

(REQUIRED) 4. What did you learn about this student's academic language
abilities in relation to this academic content area?
The student is strong in academic vocabulary. Based on his reading log, AR tests,
ELA assessments and previous year's standardized testing scores I believe the
student will require little to know vocabulary support. This student is very motivated
to read and score well for AR comprehension quizzes. He is familiar with components
of a story and he understand literature terms.

(REQUIRED) 5. What did you learn about this student's content knowledge
and skills in this subject matter?
The student is advanced for fourth grade curriculum. The student often finishes his
work so quickly that he sits at his desk just fidgeting until the aid or a teacher
prompts him to get on task so he needs to stay busy.

Due to the rigorous, school-wide AR model the student has proven knowledgeable in
this content area.

(REQUIRED) 6. What did you learn about this student's physical, social and
emotional development relevant to this academic content area?
The student can become easily impatient and self centered, where most fourth
graders are at least exploring multiple perspectives and empathy. I have
experienced the student's weaknesses within a team during a group math game. The
student was so focused on getting a turn to represent the team that he didn't consult
before acting and lost the game. After the teammates groaned and told the student
he gave up the game, the student threw himself to the ground and cried. The reality
is that he was acting independently and not practicing positive group skills. I lost
instructional time having to explain to this student positive group considerations and
helping him see from his classmates perspective. I spoke with the student shortly
after the incident and told him to slow down before acting and realize that others are
affected by his actions. After some reflection and processing the student made the
conclusion that his teammates reacted appropriately and communicated why he felt
attacked by their action even though they were not wrong. This illustrates that he is
capable of understanding these concepts and can infer in these social situations but
he needs to be guided. Additionally this student sometimes needs to take a "break"
and remove himself from groups before he can contribute effectively.
He has a tendency for catastrophizing, where he believes that something is far
worse than it actually is. He does this for both present situations and hypothetical
situations that are suggested to him.

(REQUIRED) 7. What did you learn about this student's cultural

background, including family and home relevant to this academic content
area?
The student's father and mother both have college degrees. They are very family
oriented and spend most weekends on family outing or with extended family
members. Both parents value education and play an active role in their son's
academic and personal growth. Parents are supportive of helping the student meet
his academic, social and emotional needs outside of the classroom. His mother
comes in once a week to help in the classroom or see extracurricular activities that
her son participates in.

(REQUIRED) 8. What did you learn about this student's special

considerations, including health issues relevant to this academic content
area?
The student prefers whole class instruction and to work independently. He will need
to work cooperatively in this lesson which can be difficult because he has difficulty
reading other students' nonverbal cues or seeing from others' perspectives. He often
works ahead before asking permission because once he understands the concept or
procedure, he wants to apply it right away. Since he has strong content knowledge
for this content area, I anticipate him working and becoming impatient with other
students who may not work as quickly as he does. In a true cooperative project, the
student will have a opportunity to work independently with his individual
responsibility. In my planing I will need to give more responsibility to the student
and challenge the student to reflect and review his work. I plan to slow the student
down by asking him to use learning logs to reflect on what he has learned from the
text. He can summarize literature chapters or paragraphs from articles to force him
to process the information. He will also take a leadership role to allow for his social

yet independent preferences.

The student is on the autism scale and needs to have modification when asked to
participate in multi sensory activities.

(REQUIRED) 9. What did you learn about this student's interests and
aspirations relevant to this academic content area?
The student wants to go to USC because his parents attended the university. He also
enjoys watching and attending various USC sport events. He enjoys football, soccer
and basketball the most. The student enjoys going to the movies, specifically
superhero movies. He often wears super hero logo shirts. He has shared with me
that his favorite is Batman because he is intelligent and does not kill. He is very
interested in technology and is the number one student to use ELA and MATH
programs like Lexia Core 5 at home.

(REQUIRED) 10. Describe other information relevant to the academic

content area that you learned about the student (e.g., attendance,
extracurricular activities).
The student is mostly at school and rarely misses. He is often in the nurse's office or
asking to go to the nurses office, especially during recess and lunch. He has a
tendency for catastrophizing, where he believes that something is far worse than it
actually is. He does this for both present situations and hypothetical situations that
are suggested to him. He participates in various school sport opportunities, in
orchestra and in coding. He has a few experiences of catrastrophizing in all these
extracurriculars, especially when he is on a team or in a group.

Step 3: Planning for Academic Instruction for the

Whole Class
Directions:
Consider your academic content selection in Step 1 and what you want the students
to learn. As you begin to think about a lesson that falls within the selected unit of
study, respond to the questions below about your plan for academic instruction for
the whole class.

(REQUIRED) 1. At what point in the sequence of the unit is this lesson? Put
an X next to one:

Between the beginning and the end of the unit of study

(REQUIRED) 2. List the state-adopted academic content standard(s) or

state-adopted framework you will address in the lesson.
RI.4.9: Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or
speak about the subject knowledgeably.
Supporting standards:
W.4.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and
information clearly.
L.4.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words
and phrases based on grade 4 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of
strategies.

(REQUIRED) 3. What is (are) your academic learning goal(s)? What

specifically do you expect students to know or be able to do as a result of
the lesson?
Students will learn the characteristics of non-fiction texts and periodical; and
strategies for summarizing expository texts. Students will self-select and read a nonfiction book and a periodical article related to their topic, then write a summary by
synthesizing both sources.

(REQUIRED) 4. How is (are) your academic learning goal(s) related to the

state-adopted academic content standards or state-adopted framework?
The state standards state the student should be able to determine or clarify the
meaning of unknown words or multiple-meaning words, integrate information from
two pieces texts about the same topic. It also asks students to write informative or
explanatory texts.
My learning goals are aligned because they I want my students to skillfully
integrating information from multiple sources and writing informative texts on their
topics. Students will be asked to annotate and define unknown terms.

(REQUIRED) 5. How will the content of the lesson build on what the
students already know and are able to do?
This lessons builds on third grade standards determining main idea and key details of
the desk, and using two pieces of text to compare and contrast. Students have also
been exposed to grade-level informative text through their science and history
textbooks.
Students will broaden their knowledge by using multiple sources to synthesizing a
single,informative and engaging piece. I will also ask students to enrich their reading
with comprehension skills.

(REQUIRED) 6. How will the content of the lesson connect to the content of
preceding and subsequent lessons?
Students will self-select or be provided with a non-fiction book and a periodical
article related to their topic. Students will learn the characteristics of non-fiction
texts and periodicals. Students will learn strategies for summarizing non-fiction.
Students will practice summary of their non-fiction book and periodical article.
All of these skills that students will be using in this lesson can be used in future
informational text lessons and activities, and interdisciplinary connections such as
history and science.

(REQUIRED) 7. What difficulties do you anticipate students could have with

the lesson content and why do you think these difficulties will arise?
The lesson content I anticipate the students may have difficulty decoding and
understanding the educational terms within the informative books or articles. Due to
class data such as IRLA, AR scores and state test scores I believe students will need
support with strategies for comprehension such as rereading, annotation and graphic
organizers. I also believe that students will have difficulty finding pieces informative
text resources about their topics on their own because their literature preferences
are fiction books.

(REQUIRED) 8. What evidence will you collect during the lesson or at the
end of the lesson that will show the extent to which the students have
learned what you intended?

Students use google documents share their graphic organizers, summaries and other
written pieces with me.
At the end of the lesson I will expect individual documents and the synthesized group
rough draft.
I will also check in with groups while groups are working on reading articles and
writing. These informal checks ins will allow me to check for understanding of
expectations and the text.

9. Think about how you will sequence your instruction of the

academic content to be covered in this lesson. Describe your plan
for instruction in the order in which it will be implemented.
Address each of the following prompts and provide a rationale for each of your
decisions.

(REQUIRED) Communicating the academic learning goal(s) to the students

Instruction Plan

Rationale

I will start by congratulating the students

for having completed the first genre for
their storefront display. I will ask
students to recall what other genres will
be included in their displays. After listing
fiction, nonfiction, periodical, poetry and
fine art, I will let remind students that
we will now to working on nonfiction for
the following four days. I will require the
students to access prior knowledge by
stating what they learned in the previous
lesson( nonfiction strategies and
nonfiction summary frames).

I hope to motivate students by

recognizing their accomplishments and
encouraging positive group outcomes. By
requiring the students to connect to prior
learning, I will engage them in a more
meaningful reflection process and help
them see how each task within the unit
will connect together. This will also allow
students to prepare for reviewing content
from the previous lesson.

(REQUIRED) Instructional strategies

Instruction Plan

Rationale

I will ask all students to pull out their

checklists and rubrics and direct their
attention to the nonfiction text. We will
review the strategies and . Then I will
clearly communicate the objective and
academic goals for the lesson. Students
will read jigsaw read the nonfiction
sources, then create a compare and
contrast to begin synthesizing a
comprehensive summary. I will post
documents, steps and expectations under
the unit on the class Haiku Learning web
page.

By reinforcing strategies and components

of informative text, the students will
become more familiar with the academic
language and its execution. Giving a
clear objective will give purpose to
student work and keep students task
oriented. As I review the strategies and
examples of summaries, I will ask
students for an informal check in
(thumbs up or thumbs down under their
chins) to see who feels they understand
and who feels they need more support. I
will make mental notes to work with
these students.

(REQUIRED) Student activities

Instruction Plan

Rationale

Students will participate in a review of

the previous lesson. They will participate
in pair-share to reflect on the previous
lesson and to share the objective of
today's lesson. Students will check that
their sources are related. Students will
get into their cooperative groups, assign
articles to pairs and jigsaw read. After
reading and taking notes students will
discuss their portions and adding
discussion notes to their two column
notes. Then they will create a summary.
Then the pair will share with the other
pair. Together they will synthesize a
summary from the two
different sources.
All materials and resources are available
via Haiku learning on my class page. This
will be explicitly shared.

To engage students and build upon prior

knowledge will work with partners to
discuss what characteristics non-fiction
and periodicals have. Then they will
verbalize the objective in their own
words. Since they will be working
collaboratively, I wanted their discussion
to be aligned with the activity and
assessment which are cooperative.
During this reflection time I can check for
understanding and give students an
opportunity to ask questions.
I want to provide students with both
verbal and oral directions to meet all
learners' needs. I will use Haiku web
page because the students cannot
misplace the electronic copy and it is
easily accessed.

(REQUIRED) Student grouping

Instruction Plan

Rationale

In the beginning of the lesson students

will be in whole class with opportunities
for pair share.
Students will also work in their
cooperative groups. By this point of the
lesson student will be in predetermined
groups. Within their groups of four (one
group of three) students will be in a
combination of heterogeneous and
homogenous groups with shared
interest-project topic.

Some students may require support from

their classmates during review of the
initial learning process. It will provide
them the opportunity to ask questions
and have concepts clarified through
verbal questioning. Although this can
happen within their cooperative groups I
want to give students the opportunity to
use student knowledge from students
outside their group who can offer
information that group members may
not. Later students work within their
small groups. This will give students
opportunity to have consulted with
several students before I check in with
students who had concerns at the
beginning of class.
Jigsawing the reading will help students
learn co dependency in a group and allow
for a level of independent work at their
own pace.

(REQUIRED) Materials, technology, and/or resources, including the use of

instructional aides, parents, or other adults in the room

Instruction Plan

Rationale

In the beginning of the lesson I will use

the Smartboard. I may have focus
student #2's aid in the classroom during
the lesson. This Lesson would take place
on a Tuesday when parent helpers are
not available however students had
volunteer support to .She will play a
passive role and will mostly observe.
Students will be using individual
Chomebooks to access google drive and
the corresponding applications, including
Google docs and messaging.

I want to use materials that are familiar

since the informational text is difficult to
work with. Unlike textbooks, the
informative sources will all be different
and mostly student selected therefor I
will not provide . By using their 1:1
technology, the class website and google
drive, student has easy access to teacher
support, teacher and peer feedback and
supporting resources.

For comprehension support I will have

both electronic and hard copies of
graphic organizers and work of terms
found within the text.

(REQUIRED) Progress monitoring of student learning

Instruction Plan

Rationale

In the beginning of the lesson I will ask

for thumbs to express their confidence in
their understanding. When walking
around the classroom and checking in
with students I will ask students where
their concerns come from and on a scale
of 1-5 how much support or review they
need. I will use anecdotal notes when
meeting with the topic groups to assess
which students will require additional
support in the next three days of working
with nonfiction text. I will also ask
students to share their work with me via
google documents.

One of the fastest and reliable source of

student learning information comes
directly from the student. The student
can give me insight that their
performance may not show.

(REQUIRED) 10. Given the difficulties you anticipate students could have
with the content, what additional steps would you take to foster access and
comprehension for all students?
I had anticipated students needing guidance or being unable to find a resources in a
time sensitive manner. Since I am not assessing research ability or ability to find
appropriate resources I will plan to provide non fiction choices to my struggling
students. Conversely I will plan ahead to provide my advanced learners with
challenging texts and text that can promote extending the topic by inspiring further
research. It would not be time effective to provide outlines to front-load each
student, rather I will provide blank graphic organizers to direct student attention and
improve comprehension. I will provide examples and non examples to illustrate my
expectations. I will also provide sentence or summary frames to aid students.

(REQUIRED) 11. How would you share the results of student academic
learning with students and families?
Since we are using online materials and applications, I will use these platforms to
communicate progress and final product feedback. Students will receive comments
throughout the week on their product, pace, quality; and they will receive
recommendations and challenges to push their work to the next level.
Parents will be able to see results the Monday after the task is submitted and again
at the end of the unit where additional revisions and edits may have been made. On
the public Haiku class page, I will have the task outlined for the week and welcome
parents to contact me if they have questions or concerns about their students' work.
Parents also have the option of accessing students' documents in their google drive.
The documents will have teacher comments.

Step 4: Lesson Adaptations for the Two Focus

Students
Directions:
Consider what you have learned about the two focus students in Step 2, along with
the implications for instruction that you identified for each of them. For the two
students, determine what adaptations you will make to this lesson you have planned
for the whole class. Describe those adaptations for each of the two focus students. If
you determine that no adaptations are needed for a part of the plan for instruction,
indicate and explain that decision. In each box below, include:

Your decisions about lesson adaptations

A rationale for these decisions

Student 1: An English Learner

(REQUIRED) 1. Academic learning goal(s) or your expectations of
what the student should know or be able to do as a result of this
lesson.
Student will be held to the same expectation as the rest of the class. He will
learn the same material but I will place an emphasis on his group selection.
The student will be in a predetermined group that I will design. I will design
his group to include students who also participate in the Language! Live
program. On Fridays, Language! live does not participate in language learning
rather they offer support in the ELA lessons and assignments they had over
the week. Due to intentional grouping, my student will have additional
support he needs outside the classroom since he doesn't get it at home.

(REQUIRED) 2. Evidence of student learning you will collect during

the lesson and/or at the end of the lesson.
The student will be require to turn in the same His evidence will also be his
filled out graphic organizer and sentence frames to identify key points in a
summary form.

(REQUIRED) 3. Communicating the academic learning goal(s) and/or

expectations to the student.
I expect the student to master the same standards as I expect from the class.
I will provide a rubric for the overall unit broken down by task. He can
reference the Task 2: Informational Text rubric and checklist via the
classroom website on Haiku learning. He will also have a hard copy that was
given to him at the beginning of the unit when the engaging scenario and
project were introduced. I will provide examples of papers that represent
exemplary work. I will inform him that he is not expected to complete the
assignment as quickly as the others. He will be provided with an hour and a
half of support, and extra time on Fridays in his Language! live pull out.

(REQUIRED) 4. Instructional strategies

I will modify my instruction by keeping oral instructions concise and reinforce
them with a brief cue words that will be consistent to the words found in the
lesson outline on Haiku learning. Throughout the student activity, I will
simplify by re- wording complicated directions. These adjustments address his
slower processing ability and continue to give purpose to his work.
In order to support his writing and comprehension I will provide several
documents both electronic and hard copies to organize thoughts. Additionally
I will work with the student to introduce and review the format of expository
text. We will spend sometime reviewing visual cues and graphic elements of
the text. Some elements to review are bullets, bold prints, titles, sidebars,
graphs and pictures. I will give the student ELL vocabulary cards with pictures
before the lesson as a reference. I plan to help student reread their sources
through guided reading.

(REQUIRED) 5. Student activities

I will modify the lesson activities for the student to work less independently.
The student will have peer, resource and teacher support.
To help student understand the objective the student will receive direct,
concise, simplified oral instruction and written instruction to reference.
Student will refer to the cards as I am teaching
The student will be provided with a partner and the two will take turns
reading. This will allow the student to focus on key detail note taking while
being read to and focus on decoding and comprehension while reading. When
checking in I will have students participate in rereading their sources through
guided reading. I will model highlighting key details and using two column
notes. I will also model asking comprehension questions and making
prediction based off text headings and scanning through the page, or
paragraph. When asking comprehension questions I will provide ample wait
time during question and response time.
The student will be given an example and non example to base his work off.
Since I will be picking his non fiction text, I will find a source that includes
visuals and opportunity for realia. The reading level of the text will not be at
grade level, rather it will be slightly lower than his average independent
reading level for fiction books.

(REQUIRED) 6. Student grouping

This student will not choose his group like the other students in class, he will
be in a homogeneous group with similar needs. The decision was made
because I want to offer opportunity for student to have support outside of the
general classroom. The student and his group members are all pulled out for
an hour and a half in the beginning of the day for ELA instruction with the
Language! Live program. Students would receive support there that they
don't get from home.

(REQUIRED) 7. Materials, technology, and/or resources, including

the use of instructional aides, parents, or other adults in the room
Essential materials the student will use is the Google Chromebook, graphic
organizer document, vocabulary cards, summary frame document, Haiku
learning and google share.

(REQUIRED) 8. Progress monitoring of student learning

I will monitor students progress by suggesting what products the student
should have at the end of the lesson. The goal is to produce a graphic
organizer and to fill out the sentence frames by the end of the session. The
student will share their documents via Google Docs sharing. I will be able to
monitor progress, quality of work and student understanding.
I will also check in work with the student and his group. During this time I will
make observations and note what the student's strengths, weaknesses and
feeling are during the assignment.

(REQUIRED) 9. Sharing results of the student learning with the

student and/or the family
After the student submits any work I will provide feedback. Both the student
and parents will have the final rubric sent home after the table display is
presented. At the end of the unit all the displays will be in the MPR room.
Students will be encouraged to invite parents to come see the final work the
students put together. Students will also add their work and pictures of the
table display on a google slides presentation.

Student 2: A Student Who Presents a Different Instructional

Challenge
(REQUIRED) 1. Academic learning goal(s) or your expectations of
what the student should know or be able to do as a result of this
lesson.
I expect my student to learn the same material and meet the same
expectations for products but extend his thinking and ask that the student
answer additional questions. Besides creating a summary to prepare
synthesizing two sources of information with the group members, I will ask

the student create a short response where he can compare and contrast good
vs bad sources to support why his source is a good one. Another expectation I
want for this student is to focus on quality and working at a slower pace than
he usually works.

(REQUIRED) 2. Evidence of student learning you will collect during

the lesson and/or at the end of the lesson.
I will work closely with the instructional aid to collect her observational notes
and interaction with the student.
During the lesson I will conference with the student to see what
comprehension skills he is using, to share the key details and tell me his
feelings toward the assignment. At the end of the lesson I will have the
students two column notes and his summaries. I will use this to assess his
progress towards mastering the synthesis of both sources.

(REQUIRED) 3. Communicating the academic learning goal(s) and/or

expectations to the student.
The student will be given clear, concise oral and written objectives. I will
explicitly ask the student his learning behavior goal is to slow down to process
and reflect on his reading comprehension. He will also have learning goals
reminders and restating with his instructional aid throughout the lesson. I will
also check in with him at the end of the day to set goals for homework.

(REQUIRED) 4. Instructional strategies

To keep student focused and provide small goals within the instructional goal
the student will have a outline for his work. This will also tell him whether he
is going through his work too quickly so that he stays at an effective. To
minimize distraction I will have the student stay near the teacher desk and in
an area where his instructional aid can position herself comfortably in sight.
Since he is on the autism spectrum he can seem distracted and a bit active.
Allowing the student to work independently will decrease distraction with
other students. He will need expectations modeled.
I will also use the students behavior chart that he keeps in his desk to give
positive reinforcement for positive, responsible working.

(REQUIRED) 5. Student activities

The student will be working more independently than other students when
reading the articles, taking notes and coming up with summaries. He will
asked to read the articles a total of four times each. He will first scan the text,
then he will read through the text, third he will read and take two column
notes, and the fourth time he will annotate and add to his notes. At some
point, the aid may ask the student to read aloud, especially if she sees he is
reading every quickly. Before he writes his summary he will be asked to
verbally summarize to the aid. He will repeat this process for the second
article. If time grants, he will create his own synthesis of the two sources.
Per request of the student and the student's parents I will assign this student

with homework reflected on the lesson. I will have the student identify the
components of a good expository text in a deeper understanding than the
other students. Instead of identifying components in the layout, I will ask the
student to identify a good source from a bad source. This will allow the
student to use his computer skills and knowledge and give additional purpose
to the reading.

(REQUIRED) 6. Student grouping

Groups will jigsaw read two articles, two students for each article. I will not
require the student to pair up, as I have observed that he excels in
independent study. The student will work with his aid to determine an
efficient pace where the student reads for comprehension, not fluency. The
student is extremely comfortable with asking questions so he will seek my
guidance or the aid's guidance when he encounters difficult problems. Since
he has difficulty working cooperatively, the student will read both articles that
his group . This grouping allows for modifications in the student activities in
each task. Although he will not get to that point in this lesson, in the following
lesson he will take a mediator role in the group to help synthesize the two
summaries the teammates have made. He will have background knowledge of
the text and will have a goal when working with others. He has difficulty
giving up control in a group setting and can forget the objective when working
with others.
Additionally I will develop the group that the student is in because there are
certain student that he does not work well with or that trigger disruptive
emotional and behavioral behaviors. His group will be heterogeneous and
readers will within a range slightly lower than his own independent reading
level. Having easier informational text will help the student with
comprehension.

(REQUIRED) 7. Materials, technology, and/or resources, including

the use of instructional aides, parents, or other adults in the room
Essential materials the student will use is the Google Chromebook, graphic
organizer document, the student selected article, two column note document,
Haiku learning, google drive and his instructional aid. I will also provide the
student with a work schedule because he learns best when he goes into an
activity knowing what to expect and having small goals to reach his learning
goal. For example it will show that I will spend approximately 10 minutes
reviewing and stating objectives, 15 minutes should be spent reading and
taking notes for the first article...etc. I will use the term approximately
because he will not feel comfortable if the timing isn't exact. Earlier in the
year we learned the term approximately and he has come to an
understanding that approximately may mean give or take 5 minutes. If it is
more than that he is able to ask questions.

(REQUIRED) 8. Progress monitoring of student learning

The instructional aide will assist in progress monitoring when available. She is
in the classroom more often than not. She will directly ask the student what

he should be doing an review teacher directions and references Haiku learning

to redirect the student. To ensure progression of the academic learning, the
aid often asks the student to read the text aloud and she will ask him
comprehension questions, ask him to make predictions and asks him to define
terms.
I will evaluate the students class progress towards a final draft and
eventually use a rubric. I will conference the student to better understand
their feeling about their progress and comprehension as well as encourage
independence.

(REQUIRED) 9. Sharing results of the student learning with the

student and/or the family
This student's IEP includes daily and weekly emails to the parent. The daily
emails are to share academic and behavioral objectives and goals, and
whether their student met them. The student checks in with me everyday
within the last half hour of school to review what I will be sending to his
parents so when he talks to them about his day we are all on the same page.
Additionally, both the student and parents will have the final rubric sent home
after the table display is presented. At the end of the unit all the displays will
be in the MPR room. Students will be encouraged to invite parents to come
see the final work the students put together. Students will also add their work
and pictures of the table display on a google slides presentation.

Step 5: Reflection on Connecting

Instructional Planning to Student
Characteristics
Directions:
Read your responses to the questions in Steps 1-4. Think about what you
have learned by completing this task, including the characteristics of the two
focus students, your instructional planning for the whole class, and your
adaptations for the focus students. Respond to the questions below

(REQUIRED) 1. What information that you collected for the whole

class and/or for the two focus students most influenced your
planning for this lesson?
In your response, describe how and why the information was influential and
why you found it to be so.
I collected many pieces of information from the whole class data and my two
focus students. Academic knowledge, language and ability helped me develop
the lessons within the Unit because my lessons build upon prior knowledge.
Linguistic background also helped me determine decoding and fluency in
combination with comprehension. Just because a student can read a passage
does not mean the student understands. I also believe learning about family
involvement in student work was important so that I can provide additional
support in class if its not happening at home. Because nearly 1/3 of my class

are EL students and I have many students whose primary language is not
English, I know to integrate SIOP model and SDAIE strategies in whole class
instruction to keep content accessible to all learners.
My focus student #1 is an EL student who spends at least six and half hours
outside the core classroom. He is a struggling learner whose difficulty
understanding and completing work in class has been attributed to language
acquisition and comprehension. It is important to gather social, cognitive,
personal and family information about this student because his learning may
be stunted by a learning disability. This vital information enabled me to
establish differentiated expectations of content knowledge and applications,
while scaffolding instruction. At the beginning of the year, the student was
performing lower than he did at the end of third grade, which should put up a
red flag. It was extremely difficult to determine how to differentiate
instruction in order to satisfy their individual needs if you are differentiating
for the wrong reason. In the process of collecting information for this student,
I have made generalizations, looked for patterns and collected evidence to
get him tested for other learning needs.
In regards to my focus student #2, this student is a high performer with
social, emotional and special needs. This tells me to place higher expectations
of content knowledge and application to ensure that he was challenged by the
lesson objectives, while simultaneously scaffolding instruction to keep him
comfortable and on task. I have learned how important it is to collaborate
with his aid. Part of the planning process is incorporating the aid in the lesson
because she often interacts with the student more than I do. This is great to
use that time to help other students but means I miss on my own
observations. I have learned who to partner him with and who to avoid. If I
place him in his group I am able to help him learn the underlying cooperative
skills such as building trust, conflict management, compromising, respectfully
communicating ideas and disagreements. I have learned that he worked
better as an individual. In that setting, he was able to work on behavioral
goals without compromising his learning or others learning pace. Given the
information, I was able to allow for individual work, yet provide him with a
learning environment that allowed for support in the course of the lesson plan
and prepares him for group work.
Knowing about individual also helps whole class lesson plans because you
want to make sure one students needs are not held as more important than
an others and you do not want one student's needs to compromise the
learning of any student in the class.

(REQUIRED) 2. How will you use what you have learned regarding
connecting instructional planning to student characteristics in the
future?
Instructional planning must be adapted to meet the needs of students.
Student needs are always changing as they strengthen understanding and
skills, or have new concepts introduced. I will use what I learned about
students to create student profiles to aid instructional planning. After
collecting my data, I will use past evidence to formulate generalizations that
can guide my instruction to successfully address individual

needs. Generalizations are certainly never the end goal because student
monitoring is an ongoing process of data collection, instruction reflection and
implementation of various strategies. I will use a combination of student
interviews, observations, various assessments, evidence from other adults
and professionals and student attitudes to developing an appropriate
pedagogical practices based on unique student characteristics and state
standards.