Target Area

Alyssa Kay

1. Describe your target area for guided lead teaching.

My target area for guided lead teaching will be Phonemic Awareness. Phonemic Awareness must be taught so students become effective readers and writers. Phonemic Awareness is identified as understanding that words or in broader terms the English Language, is made up of individual letter sounds.  Understanding the smallest units of sound is an essential skill for beginning readers to master. The instruction within this target area will overall ensure that my kindergartners will be able to decode and identify words.

2. Approximately how much time per day is allotted for your instruction in this area?

The whole morning is devoted to Literacy.  Literacy instructions begin promptly at 9:00 and runs till 11:15-11:30. Reading is from 9:00-10:00 and after restroom and snack break Writing runs from 10:30-11:15ish.

3. Which Common Core State Standard(s) will you work toward?

First half of Guided Lead Teaching will include:
Reading R.WS.00.07 Follow familiar written text while pointing to matching words.
Writing W.PR.00.03 Use semi-phonetic spelling when writing & incorporate pictures/drawings.
Second half of Guided Lead Teaching will include:
Reading R.IT.00.11 Identify and describe the basic form and purpose of information genre…
Writing (Reading Standard) R.NT.00.05 Respond to text…discussing, illustrating, and/or writing to reflect, make meaning, and make connections.

4. How will teaching in this target area provide opportunities for students to learn important content and/or skills that relate to their lives?  In what ways does this learning include learning literacy, learning about literacy, and/or learning through literacy?

This target area (Phonemic Awareness) is an area within its larger context, Phonological Awareness. Throughout this whole process students understand how words and the English Language are made up of units of sounds through Rhyme, Onset & Rime, and Phoneme Segmentation (Phonemic Awareness). In order to connect oral language knowledge to written text, students must become aware of the individual sounds that make up a word(s). Once these skills are developed they will become fluent readers and writers which will overall help them succeed in school and the community in which they live. They will recognize literacy is apart of everyday life and can be seen in the many places they travel to during the day.
Learning Literacy: Developing the skills to decode and identify words, ensuring a child will be able to read and write.
Learning about Literacy: Students will learn strategies to read and understand the different types of text, as well as, begin to understand writing (drawings, squiggles, and word-like clusters) is a tool for communicating their ideas and/or knowledge.
Learning through Literacy: Students will make connections to their real-life context or community, as they start to use their developing skills of phonemic awareness. They will recognize words help convey different types of meaning in varies places in our world/their community.

5. What types of classroom talk take place within this target area? To what extent is the talk teacher-led, student-led, or focused on higher-level thinking? What norms for interaction would you like to build within your classroom as you teach in this target area (e.g., see ideas in Chapter 6 of Strategies that Work, the Berne & Clark 2008 article, or draw from some of the readings done in TE 402 on classroom talk)?

Classroom talk: Re voicing- letter sounds or other expressions students use for their work, morning alphabet practice (pairing a letter-sound-and picture), morning message (repeating after teacher and sounding out fill in the blanks for weather and a personal “like”), hearing songs & rhyming sounds. Restating- voicing back a message a student is trying to convey and sounded it out (worksheets & morning message). Prompting- sounded out the beginning, middle, and end letters of a word (morning message, read alouds, name writing, and worksheets).

Throughout varies activities and lessons that make up the day, classroom talk is both teacher-led and student-led. Our classroom stresses the importance of finding a effective balance. For example some activities such as the morning alphabet sounds have been teacher-led, but will transition into a student-led talk once the students have been exposed and practiced this daily routine. This type of opportunity will empower them as students giving them not only practice but confidence as a learner/leader. Higher-level thinking occurs mainly now through worksheets. The higher level task is at the bottom once the student practices they then can apply it to a more “thinking experience” to apply the learn letter to a word.

Classroom Norms: Respectful behavior when listening to a speaker, Classroom Management Strategies (fire-crackers, hand clap, transition songs or phrases), Voices turned off when teacher is reading a story; sit like a pretzel during group time. All the same norms will be reinstated to make sure the learning environment is kept to its best.

6. Which ‘core practice’ do you want to work on developing/improving as you teach in this target area (refer to document “Resources for Developing Core Practices”)? How will focusing on this core practice contribute to your own professional learning?

In terms of a ‘core practice’ I would like to focus on the Segmenting of individual letter sounds in a word and incorporate it into Writers Workshop “mini whole group conferences”. Within the 10 days I will have 2-3 students share their writing sample that was completed that day. All students will sit on the carpet while one student sits in a special writers chair to share their work. Here they will tell the class about their drawing and read what they filled in their “writing blank space”. (eg. “I like the color __[red]__.”) They will get the opportunity to be the “teacher” as they use the phoneme segmentation song to segment their word(s) and then have the class repeat it with them. Focusing on this core practice will allow me to become a more effective teacher in the long run, as I practice this strategy to better help my students develop reading and writing skills. I will learn what ideas work and what I ideas I will need to further fix for a future practice. I would ideally love to always be in lower grade levels therefore, phonemic awareness and all its larger parts will be a huge part of my lesson instruction in the future.

7. What resources within the community, neighborhood, school district, school or classroom do you have to work with in this target area?

Resources: Houghton & Mifflin Books (Theme: Colors), Music on C.D.’s, Smart Board Games and Youtube videos, Southfield Public Library, other classroom books.

8. What additional resources do you need to obtain? Personal books, printables, sources to benefit my instruction, there could be more as I expand on this lesson.

9. How will you pre-assess your students in your target area?

My Mentor Teacher and I have been pre-assessing student for MLPP and I will also be obtaining results from DIBBLES. These assessments will again be implemented in the November.

10. What else will you need to find out about all students in your class to help you develop lesson plans for your Guided Lead Teaching?

1. I want to find out about ALL the students interest so I can create lessons and activities that vest in the students everyday interests.
2. Find out what letter sounds students are having the most trouble and what letter sounds students are most proficient with.
3. What type of assistance they would need for writing letters (dots, modeling, etc.)

11. What else do you need/want to learn about the ‘core practice’ to support your planning and teaching?

1. How much time should be spent on one student during Phoneme Segmenting Writers Workshop.
2. How can I extend the conference into developing more writing ideas or segmenting words (“I noticed a bus is in your picture as well, let’s segment the word /b/ /u/ /s/).

12. What concerns, if any, do you have about planning and teaching your unit?

I hope that all the “KUDS” my teacher needs done within this time, I can effective implement and incorporate into my lesson. I would not want specific goals to be rushed. I feel I am starting to develop more of an idea of where I want this unit to go and see it serving an even greater purpose with the Writers Workshop core practice.