Historical+Fiction

//My lesson study consists of multiple student work samples, a series of lessons, and a detailed overview, analysis, and baseline of my seventh grade students progress through my genre study unit. I chose to use genre study for my lesson study because I believe that it accurately reflects the need for clear and focused scaffolding, while still adhering closely to the common core standards.//

//I consider the lesson study the most gratifying experience of my student teaching experience. Observing my students take information they learned from me and then synthesize it into a focused presentation that did not rely on scripts or powerpoints made all the turmoil and tumult of student teaching worthwhile. However, my unit also reflects my appreciate for democratic citizenship in my students and pedagogy.//

//I was constantly concerned with students behaving fairly and achieving compromise. Compromise, in particular, was a specific goal of the unit as I was concerned that students could not decide fairly on a book for the entire "book club" or literature circle to read. I was impressed when I watched as some students took up leadership roles, driving conversation and choosing books, but also considered the feelings of other students in the club. Student agency and social skills are among my own pillars of pedagogy; a teacher is not merely delivering curriculum, but is setting an example for students of what maturity means and how it is earned.//

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Student Teaching Seminar - Lesson Study

Applying Historical Fiction and Nonfiction – an Overview Presented with the challenged of using the common core to teach my 7th graders, I decided that presentations would be my final culmination. Discussions with my co-operating teacher revealed that my students had not done any presentation or public speaking work and I set out to challenge them to synthesize information in a new way. I was tasked to create a genre study unit focusing on two genres: mystery and historical fiction. Mystery was a requirement of the school and all-around an enjoyable series of lessons to teach, but it did not have its own culmination—that was destined for the whole of the concept of studying genre and elements. I chose historical fiction as a challenged to myself to meet current common core needs, but amended it with speaking standards and standards focused on constructing arguments. The interesting part of my unit would be to see how well my students could independently create unique and interesting presentations. Overall, it was about 50% successful with about half of the presentations being wholly unique and the rest being similar in content and even structure. My main goal was to effectively interpret the common core standards 7.RL.9 (comparing and contrasting historical fiction with nonfiction) and 7.SL.4 (present claims and findings emphasizing salient points coherently), but still create an interesting and engaging unit. My main process or strategy was to carefully scaffold the presentation process using short exercises and worksheets to allow the students to build all their information for the presentation in the weeks leading up to the presentation. The included lessons and worksheets reflect the last week and half of historical fiction exercises. I began both genres with lessons on elements and framed the entire unit on elements. Starting out with using elements as a guiding principle in genre study I asked students to share with me their elements of historical fiction and then append them with my own. I focused on authentic setting, historical context and embellishment. Each student was in a unique book and no two students shared a novel. This presented problems for my instruction, but the workshop model in Somers Middle School allowed me to teach short, 15 minute mini-lessons and reinforce the strategies of each with useful group activities. After creating a list of elements and glossary terms with the students I asked them to complete what the co-operating teacher previously established as: “glossary work.” Glossary work was basically vocabulary building exercises to help students self-actualize the words into their vocabulary. My assignments included drawing the definition of word, creating a word web of synonyms and antonyms, or redefining the word in their own terms. The glossary work was followed by a worksheet on historical context and a read-aloud of “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving. The worksheet asked students to find their own nonfiction articles from books or the internet that pertained to their time period. The students then recorded what was a nonfictional fact during the time period of their book and what the author actually included in the novel. It was amazing to see students find the connection between history and reality and the fictional reality of World War Two or a similarly based novel. The purpose of the worksheet was to give students facts and examples to cite in their presentations and overall, it worked well and made for some thorough presentations—supposing that the students completed enough of the worksheet during class time. Unfortunately, they didn’t have more time to work on the worksheets during the week, because we moved directly into the read aloud the next day. The read aloud consisted of me reading the first handful of pages of “Rip Van Winkle” to the students then allowing them to discuss the examples of authentic setting with each other in a strict, structured “talk” session. The read-aloud was very effective and helped the students synthesize the concept of authentic setting or the small details that make the story authentic and real. I singled out clothing, economics, fashions, architecture, and speech in particular. I found the entire culmination to be effective at breaking students out of their shells and synthesizing most of what I taught. The best presentations were mind blowing and the worst ones were heart-breaking and disappointing. The best showed me that gifted students excelled from the lessons and the struggling students were not engaged enough. In the future I would love to give more time and direct instruction on using the previously completed worksheets to help frame the presentation. However, it was uplifting to watch the quietest students get rounds of applause for a job well done and truly insightful presentations. I would also put more emphasis on mystery in the presentations, but due to the structure of my unit, the students focused mainly on the historical fiction, but I still feel as if the unit was quite successful as a whole—it was my proudest moment as a teacher since I began in January. Baseline- Glossary Work When the glossary work was assigned the students had already been familiar with the structure of the unit and knew what to expect. The glossary work reflects student’s abilities to synthesize the meaning of the glossary terms into authentic understanding. I reflected on prior final culminations or “celebrations” with my co-operating teacher and realized the students had never been asked to present meaningful information to the class. I set out to break that trend and correlate with the common core to meeting state requirements. I had be considering a presentation at the outset of the unit, but did not commit until I got to the final two weeks of the unit. I knew the unit would culminate in an expression of elements and examples from their books, but I knew that I wanted my students to create claims about the two genres. The unit prior to my arrival was a unit on nonfiction, thus I was able to draw heavily on their prior unit to meet common core standard 7.RL.9. The unit was truly auspicious, because I was able to create an authentically scaffolded series of lessons. I owe much of the students success to the prior unit, which allowed me to draw on their ample prior knowledge of nonfiction and research skills. The glossary work included three options to be completed in about 20 minutes of class time within their “book clubs” or literature circles. On a whim I decided to have each group share their findings with the class, which was an interesting way to prepare them for the experience of presenting information, but because it was a last minute choice this lesson was less than 100% successful. I found that the students worked far less diligently in groups and, despite my circulating and conferencing, the students did not share the work load as evenly as I had hoped. As a result the mini-presentations were less than effective at preparing children for the actual presentation. At this point, the students did not know they would be required to present their materials, but instead I gave them the task sheet the next day. The glossary work activities were not new to the students, because I kept the same routine that my previous teacher had used in an effort to spend less time teaching new exercises and drawing more authentic knowledge from my students. Despite the lesson being less than effective, I found that the glossary work helped give students a vocabulary with which to discuss their claims and arguments during presentations. When the students did share their work with the class I used a document camera to present their own material to the class and then annotated it with the points I felt were important for understanding the words. Each student was supposed to take notes on their classmates work and my amendments. The most effective use of this assignment was that it gave students a personal dictionary to use when planning out their presentation. I made sure that students used this glossary worksheet, but also my other worksheets to help organize and prepare their material during the preparatory class time that I gave them. Overall, the assignment was effective and helped me understand that the students did have a decent understanding of the terms, but made it obvious that I would have to provide concrete examples to them during the week.

Analysis- Leaving the Shell Behind Before considering the effectiveness of the culmination, I find it prudent to mention that I had many students who were uncomfortable with the idea of presenting data and information. Discussing this with my co-operating teacher I found that it would be acceptable to push these students to deliver such a presentation and sought out ways to build their confidence. The best tactic I found was to carefully help structure what they would say without them writing scripts to speak from. My biggest challenge was a girl named Jennifer. Jennifer had mild Asperger’s syndrome and had difficulty understanding my lessons, but was also quite shy. During lunch periods and her study halls I would sit with her and help structure her note card in a way that made it easy to fill in the information, but I also tried to help her speaking skills. During these periods I would model speaking methods for her and help her try to imitate and make them her own skills. Jennifer was still quite stressed out by the entire process, but found it far more bearable with a little extra help outside of class. I consider this experience to be my proudest, most gratifying moment of teaching since I have begun student teaching. Despite some students failing the presentation due to lack of information and preparation, overall I believe this unit was effective at breaking students out of their shell and making presentations a little more commonplace, if not less frightening. The celebration was graded in two parts. Every student had to prepare a note card with information organized into “speaking points.” Speaking points was a strategy that I designed for my student to easily grasp the idea of keeping notes on a card that did not involve writing out a detailed script. I was careful to ensure that my students did not read from scripts or try to create scripts, but some still did despite my warnings. The second part was the rubric or group presentation. The groups would be graded based on a rubric I developed with my co-operating teacher and made up one half of their grade for the project. The presentations were delivered by groups of three to four people lasting around a target goal of ten minutes each. I was able to get about six minutes on average from every group. While my students did not meet my goal for time, most of the information was applied in original, unique ways that did not reflect a simple recitation of previous lessons. Overall, the presentations were a powerful tool for allowing students to aggregate information necessary to defending a claim. While I feel as though my unit was successful, I believe that I could have done more explicit scaffolding to prepare my students for the presentations. In some cases, I was disappointed by the lack of interest and level of completion from certain groups. I believe they underperformed, because I did not give enough explicit lessons on using all of the previous materials, rather I focused on a lesson concerning particular elements of a confident, exuberant public speaker. My focus on public speaking was a valuable lesson for many students, as I had many students ask me: “Mr. Weiss! Did you see me talk with my hands and walk around without pacing!” It gave students the background necessary to deliver a confident speech successfully, but I wish I spent more time on using previous materials to help students create a powerful, in-depth presentation.

Jason Weiss Somers Middle School: Student Teaching Placement #1

Introduction to the mystery genre for the genre study unit
 * Lesson Topic: **


 * Goal: ** To introduce students to the elements of a mystery novel, thereby preparing them for the rest of lessons on mystery. The elements will allow the students to discourse on their personal novels effectively.


 * Time: **38 minute period—(18~20 minute mini-lesson/ 18~20 workshop time)


 * Objectives: **
 * Terms will be introduced to give the students a vocabulary to discuss the novels and elements in their book club novels.
 * Students will activate their schema on mystery with me recording their responses on the SMARTboard. This is an //informal assessment//.
 * Students will be given a refined list of the elements after schema have been activated to glue into their **reader’s notebooks** for reference. This list will be paramount in the upcoming lessons, particularly the next lesson following which concerns active vs. passive reading.


 * Hook: ** Just like in our other units, we need a vocabulary and set of activated to schema to properly “get into the meat” of our studies. Studying genre is all about understanding how and why the author creates it, in the particular features of that genre.


 * Standards addressed: **
 * 7.RL.6 **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">7.RL.3 **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">SMARTBoard and lessons <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Reader’s notebooks <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Pen/pencil <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Glue stick or tape
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Teaching materials: **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Process: **
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Time ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Activity ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Purpose ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">1 Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students will come in, sit down, take out their assignment pads and copy the homework for the week || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Continuing daily routine and established organizational skills ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">5 Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students will copy down the words/terms into their notebook and I will begin to discuss them w/ students || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Created student-owned glossary of terms for reference. Will be used to build vocabulary with quizzes and “glossary work” later in the unit ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">1-2~ Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Elaborate on the use of terms and how the correct understanding and use of them will allow the students to discuss the novels easily in their book clubs || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Create a relationship between words and enduring understanding of the mystery genre. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">6 Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Activate schema with students on board. Allow them to informally assess themselves and create a personal understanding of the mystery genre. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Creates student-owned understanding of the genre. Reinforces prior skills such as schema with students while progressing the lesson ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">1 Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hand out typed elements sheet and allow students to add to their readers notebook || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Creates a physical reference library for the students. Also, prevents them from losing the sheet or the terms. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">5 Min. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Discuss why knowing the elements is useful to understanding a genre. Learning the elements is crucial to discussing the stories, but also to being active readers that engage with the text || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gives the students a purpose for their learning the elements. ||
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">WT ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Move to WT ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">WT ** ||

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Overview of presentation skills and tips
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Lesson Topic: **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Goal: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Model for students the best practices for delivering speeches, presentations, and talking in front of an audience with confidence and poise.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Time: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">38 minute period—(18~20 minute mini-lesson/ 18~20 workshop time)


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Objectives: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students will feel more comfortable delivering information
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students will understand how to create note cards with speaking points, but not create scripts
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students will understand how to deliver information quickly and effectively


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hook: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Is presenting scary? Sure it is! But with a few simple tips and a little preparation anyone can deliver an award winning speech!


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Standards addressed: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">7.SL.3- Delineate a speaker’s argument and specific claims **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">7.L.3- Knowledge of language when speaking **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">7.L.1- Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">7.SL.6- Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">SMARTBoard and lessons <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Reader’s notebooks <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Pen/pencil
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Teaching materials: **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Process: **
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Time ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Activity ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Purpose ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">1 Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students will come in, sit down, take out their assignment pads and copy the homework for the week || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Continuing daily routine and established organizational skills ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">5 Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students will gather in the meeting area and copy down notes on board concerning strategies for presenting and their requirements || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Give the students a toolbox of skills and guidelines to make sure their understanding of the assignment and how to make it easier is explicit. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">10 Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Model sample speaking techniques from board. Ask students to think about how I teach and speak and how to effectively use hand gestures or multimedia. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Fun way to ease tension about speaking while also providing them with powerful tools to speak and present information with. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">1 Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Room to answer questions and ask questions about what to do and what not to do when presenting. Explain the speaking points strategy again for understanding. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Assure that students understand what is required of them and how to best handle the spotlight. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">20~ Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Independent reading time || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Give students a chance to continue independently reading or ask questions of me for further understanding. They should still be in 300~ page novels with the finish date closing in. ||

Student teaching seminar May 2, 2012 Read Aloud Lesson During an 80 minute period read students an excerpt from “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving and have them participate in a guide discussion
 * Lesson Topic:**

Allow students to experience and identify examples of //authentic setting// according to previous lessons //Authentic setting- The small details that make a story seem true and genuine. Ex: speech, dialect, clothing, economy, ect.//
 * Goal:**

Sure, we know that historical fiction happened a long time ago, but why do we accept the worlds such books take place in as true? What makes them seem so genuine? Authentic setting: speech, economics, religions, governments, and even fashion!
 * Time:** 80 minute period
 * 20 minutes to read story
 * 20 minutes to have discussion
 * 20 minutes to work as a class to identify examples of authentic setting in story
 * 20 minutes of independent reading
 * Objectives:**
 * Give students an exemplar of authentic setting, while still exposing them to historical fiction
 * Allow students to discuss and work out their own, authentic understanding of authentic setting
 * Work with the students and give them agency to develop and notice elements of authentic setting in the story
 * Solidify examples and categories for identifying authentic setting
 * Allow the students to apply the lesson in their own books
 * Hook:**


 * Standards addressed:**
 * 7.RL.3- Analyze how particular elements of a story interact**
 * 7.RL.9- Compare and constrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction alter history**
 * 7.SL.6- Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English**
 * 7.SL.1- Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse topics**

SMARTBoard and lessons Reader’s notebooks Pen/pencil “Rip Van Winkle”
 * Teaching materials:**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Process: **
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Time ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Activity ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Purpose ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">1 Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students will come in, sit down, take out their assignment pads and copy the homework for the week || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Continuing daily routine and established organizational skills ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">5 Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students will join me in the meeting area and I will give a brief background of Washington Irving and his story || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Prepare students for the reading and give them a general background ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">20 Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Read the first 5-6 pages of “Rip Van Winkle” stopping frequently to check for understanding and help illuminate certain vocabulary || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Give the students a mentor text and help build vocabulary. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">2 Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Review what happened thus far in the story with the students. Check for understanding and shift into “Talk” discussion || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Assure that the students are on a similar level of understanding to garner the best possible discussion ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">15-20 Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Give students an opportunity volunteer a first topic, but guide discussions towards the concept of identifying authentic setting and what is and is not authentic setting || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Allow the students to activate and appropriate the knowledge on their own without me feeding them answers. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">15 Min || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wrap up discussion and have students take out their notebooks. In their notebooks they will copy down a small chart where, together, we build a list of the things that comprise AS. Ex: Economy, fashion, ect. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Solidify an understanding of AS to the students and give them a list to refer to during independent reading. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">15-20 Min || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Independent reading ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Give students the opportunity to apply the lesson and newly found knowledge in their chosen novels. ** ||