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HALF HOLLOW HILLS CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

NAME_ JACLYN TANNAZZO DATE OCTOBER 25, 2010

PERIOD / SUBJECT 2ND PERIOD / TITLE 1 READING

LESSON / UNIT MAKING INFERENCES / READING KNOW - HOW

DESIRED RESULTS

What are the goals for the lesson?What do you want students toknow, understand and be able todo? How does this lesson fit with alarger unit?

The goal of this lesson is to introduce students to the reading skill of

making inferences as well as practice making inferences with a non-

fiction article. I want students to know the definition of an inference

and understand how and when a reader needs to make an inferencewhen reading both a fiction and non-fiction text. I want the students to

be able to make inferences when we read the non-fiction text as a class.

The students should also be able to follow the steps of the reading

process, as we just concluded a number of lessons on following thereading process when we read. I also want the students to be able to

create a chart to identify the information from the text as well as theinformation they bring to the article that results in their inference. This

is a lesson in the unit of Reading Know-How in which we are

discussing what are the skills of a good reader as well as how to read

actively and engage the text.

LEARNING PLAN

How do you plan to engagestudents in the content? What willyou do? What will the students do?

The lesson will begin with ten minutes of SSR (Sustained Silent

Reading). Each student is currently reading a just right book in classeveryday, as well as at home each night. At the conclusion of SSR, I

will sign the students reading log. The students are responsible for

getting their log signed by their parents each night and by myselfduring class. Next we will watch a brain-pop video that will reinforce

what an inference is and how a reader makes an inference while

reading both fiction and non-fiction text. At the conclusion of thevideo, we will answer the multiple-choice quiz that brain-pop also

provides. The students will use index cards with the letter A,B,C, & D

written on them so that I can assess the students understanding. Next

we will put into practice what we have been discussing. The studentswill read a non-fiction article titled She climbed to the Top, which

requires the students to make inferences. As discussed in previous

lessons, we will follow the reading process as we read the article,

which includes previewing the article, setting a purpose for reading,and planning how to organize our information before we read the

article. At the conclusion of the article, the students will create agraphic organizer to demonstrate their ability to recognize what they

know, what the article tells them, and what they can infer from those

ideas.

ASSIGNED EVIDENCE

How do you plan to assess studentachievement of the goals? Whatprocedures will you use? (Attachany tests or performance tasks,

I plan to assess the students both informally as the lesson is progressing

through class discussions and through the brain-pop quiz we complete

as a class. Formally, I will collect the charts created by the students.Also, the students will be given a homework assignment that requires

them to read a short article and complete another chart describing the

A

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with rubrics or scoring guides.)How do you plan to use the resultsof the assessment?

inferences they made. Based on the results it will determine my futurelessons on inference making. The students will also take a test at the

conclusion of the unit, which will include questions on making

inferences.

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HALF HOLLOW HILLS CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

PRE-OBSERVATION FORM

Rev. 0607

NAME_ JACLYN TANNAZZO SCHOOL/ ADMINISTRATOR WEST HOLLOW MIDDLE SCHOOL/M.STRONG

DATEOF PRE-CONFERENCE 10/25/10 DATE / TIMEOF OBSERVATION 10/26/10 PERIOD 2

Grade Level / Curriculum Area Observed 6th Grade / Title 1 Reading

1. Briefly describe the students in thisclass, including those with specialneeds? How have you used thisinformation to plan for this lesson?(Component 1b)

The students in the Title 1 Reading class have been identified as havingdifficulty with reading skills and strategies, including comprehension, asdetermined by the New York ELA State Exam, the DRA2(Developmental Reading Assessment), and teacher observation. Takingall of this into consideration, I feel that it is beneficial to provide thestudents with direct instruction on the skills and strategies of a goodreader, specifically discussing how to make inferences when reading inaddition to what a reader does before, during, after reading a piece oftext. I have specifically selected texts that are on a lower reading levelso that the students can fully understand the text without having thevocabulary interfere with their comprehension. When teaching a newstrategy I feel it is helpful to select texts that are manageable forstudents with Reading Comprehension difficulties.

2. Why are these goals suitable forthis group of students? (Component1c)

Based on my preliminary observations and baseline assessment, thesestudents will benefit from direct instruction that focuses on the strategiesused by good readers. The students need continual practice at makinginferences so that it will eventually become automatic when they arereading independently. This is an introductory lesson to makinginferences and I anticipate the need for continued instruction on how to

incorporate this strategy while reading.3. How does this lesson support

district priorities and statestandards?

This lesson incorporates a variety of priorities of the district includingusing cooperative learning, the use of different learning styles to guideinstruction, as well as the use of technology in the classroom. Inaddition, this lesson supports New York State Standard 1: Language forInformation and Understanding and Standard 3: Language for CriticalAnalysis and Evaluation.

4. How do these goals relate tobroader curriculum goals in thediscipline as a whole or in otherdisciplines? (Component 1c)

This lesson focuses on making inferences when reading any genre oftext. Students with weaknesses in reading comprehension need to beexplicitly taught the strategies of a good reader and how to use theseskills. Understanding the strategy as well as incorporating the use of thereading process will help them with reading in all disciplines byimproving their comprehension.

5. What difficulties do studentstypically experience in this area,and how do you plan to anticipatethese difficulties? (Component 1a)

Making inferences is one of the more difficult strategies for students tounderstand. Students at this age are very literal and making inferencesasks them to step outside of the text. I anticipate the students will besuccessful when asked to specifically make inferences but when itcomes to automatically making an inference on their own they will havesome difficulties. The best way to compensate for this is to continuallypractice with all forms of text, fiction and non-fiction.

6. What instructional materials or otherresources, if any, will you use?(Attach sample materials you will beusing in the lesson.) (Component1d)

LaptopProjectorBrain-Pop videoIndex Cards labeled A,B,C & DArticle: She Climbed to the Top adapted by Pam HalloranInferencing Handout

B

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Homework Assignment: Short article and description of strategy

7. If applicable, describe how theplanning of this lesson reflectsrecommendations made during priorinformal/formal observations andprofessional conversations.

As previously discussed as a department, the role of the Title 1 Readingteacher is to reinforce the strategies of good readers in addition tobuilding students comprehension skills.

Teacher comments pertaining to observation setting. List any items you might want to call to the attention of theAdministrator.I work hard to make my classroom warm and inviting. Due to the size however, I am limited in the amount ofmovement I can incorporate into my lessons.

Observational Focus (optional):

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Name_________________________________________________ Period ___________ Date ________________ Mrs. Tannazzo

Making Inferences with She Climbed to the Top by Pam Halloran

*Reminder: Follow the steps of the reading process to get the most out of what you are reading!!

Step 1: Preview

Step 2: Set a Purpose: _______________________________________________________________

Step 3: Plan

Directions: Use the chart below to show the process you follow to make an inference! I have given you some clues to help you get started.

Clues (from the text) What I Know Inference (what I can figure out)

The group had to dig deep into the snow for

protection and wait for 5 days for the storm to blow

over.

5 days is a long time to wait for a storm that may

not have been planned for.

The group had to prepare for anything before going

on the climb. They must need a lot of experience in

surviving in this environment.

This was just one adventure Merrick had on Denali.

She became the youngest person to reach the top of

the peak.

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FORM E REFLECTION SHEET

NAMEOF TEACHER JACLYN TANNAZZO NAMEOF OBSERVERM. STRONG

DATEOF CONFERENCE 10/27/10 SCHOOL WEST HOLLOW MIDDLE SCHOOL

GRADE LEVEL SIXTH SUBJECT TITLE 1 READING

Did the students learn what you intended for them to learn? What evidence do you have to support this?The students demonstrated evidence of understanding throughout the lesson. I was pleased to see that they were able to make

inferences after watching the Brain Pop video through multiple-choice questions. A couple of students did not immediately get

the correct answer, which worked well because it allowed for a class discussion of why an answer was correct and how we used

the text and what we know to make the inference. Next we discussed the use of the Reading Process when we read something

new and the students were able to follow the before reading steps that we have been practicing. As we read the story SheClimbed to the Top, we used a chart to organize our inferences and the students were able to fill in the information in the

appropriate sections. There were times when we had to discuss why an answer was not what we were looking for but overall

the students were successful at making inferences.

1. To what extent were your goals and objectives appropriate for your students?The goals and objectives were appropriate for this lesson because it is clear through our daily classroom lessons, previous

assessments, as well as this lesson how difficult making inferences are for my students. It can be very difficult for students to

read between the lines as they are more comfortable to just use what is given in the text and not think beyond the words on

the page in front of them. Although I am happy with their understanding and ability to make inferences in this lesson, making

inferences is a skill that we will need to work on throughout the school year.

3. Please comment on different aspects of your instructional delivery. To what extent were they effective? What

would you do differently to improve the lesson?

ActivitiesThe activity of watching a short brain-pop video and then answering a mini-quiz was effective. When playing the video, I had

the closed captioning on so the students could also read the words that were being said, so all variety of learners could engageand understand the video presented. After the video the students were given index cards with the letters A,B,C, and D written

on them so they could display their answer choice. They enjoyed doing this and it also gave me a quick assessment of which

students understood the skill and which did not. Next, we read a short article and completed a chart that asked them to fill in the

text, what they know and what inference that led them to. As I was walking around the table looking at their responses,

most students were able to recognize the difference between the text and what they know but some students did need to be

reminded that what they know should not be found in the text. To improve this lesson in the future, I may use a fiction story

first to introduce the strategy of making inferences because non-fiction inferences seem to be more difficult for the students to

understand.

Grouping of StudentsIn this lesson I did not elect to group the students but in the future it may benefit the students to work with partners to complete

the chart since this was an introductory lesson to inference making.

Materials and ResourcesAlthough this Brain-pop video was from Brain-pop Jr.(which is intended for grades K-3), the material was appropriate for my

students who generally are reading at least 2 grade levels below sixth grade. The video was well organized and enjoyable

because it presented the information in a clear way and is something I will be able to refer back to whenever we discuss making

inferences. For the non-fiction article we read as a class, I again selected text that was on a third to fourth grade reading level so

that the vocabulary would not interfere with the students comprehension.

4. Please comment on your classroom procedures, student conduct, and your use of physical space. To whatextent did these contribute to student learning?

The students in my class demonstrated an understanding and respect for our daily classroom procedures. The students cameinto class, copied down their homework, and immediately began reading their SSR (Sustained Silent Reading) book. At the

conclusion of the 10 minutes of SSR time, they took out their reading log for my signature. Throughout the lesson the students

were respectful of one another and consistently raised their hands. At one point, a student was not watching the video and

looking at her paper. I quietly reminded her to pay attention to the screen. Although my classroom is small, I try to keep an

organized, warm and enjoyable atmosphere. During SSR we shut the lights off and turn on a lamp. I find that for my reluctant

readers, this makes the time special so that it does not feel like required school reading. Also, I hang signs/information relatedto our topic of study so that the students can refer back to the information if necessary. Students are proud of their achievements

and so I keep current student work on display as well.

5. Did you alter your plan? If so, how, and why?No.

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