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LESSON STUDY CYCLE 2

Our Team (left to right, bottom)

Carrie - 5th grade teacher at HTeX

Vie - academic support at HTM

Becky - 2nd grade teacher at HTeNC

Melina - 3rd grade teacher at HTeX

Kelsey - Education Specialist at HTMNC

Curtis -  M.Ed Teaching & Learning Course Instructor

Lesson Study Cycle 2

was done at

High Tech High Middle North County

with a small Reading Intervention group of three 6th grade students.  

Lesson Study Overview

Introduction:

 

Our lesson came about when thinking through small reading group instruction.  Our lesson study host had been meeting weekly with 3 middle school students and had noticed difficulty in keeping them engaged with the routine of her small reading group.  The rest of the team have had similar experiences with their small groups and thought about ways to keep students engaged, encourage them to participate and collaborate with one another throughout a lesson.  The following is our flow of lessons called Inferences of Interest created by our lesson study team to meet the needs of our diverse group of learners with resources and materials that our students would enjoy and relate to.  

Sequence of lessons leading up to the Lesson Study:

Lesson 1: Introduction to Inferences

Lesson 2: Making Inferences

  • Slow release story read aloud: "The Raft" (page 2)

  • Inference discussion after every section

Lesson 3: Inferences Jeopardy

  • Practice making inferences through classic Jeopardy game style!

Lesson 4: Lesson Study

  • Students began with a weekend check-in where they had 30 seconds to tell about what they did that weekend.  This began the lesson with a little time for students to socialize with one another.

  • Students then did a 1-5 "how are you?" check-in where they reflected on their feelings to rate where they were at. 

  • To activate prior knowledge, students reviewed "What is an inference?" from previous lessons. 

  • Students then closed their eyes and listened to a read-aloud (see "Picture Nightmare" below), visualizing the beginning of the story.

  • Students were given their own copy of the text to highlight and practice the inferencing skills they have been working on. 

  • On sticky notes, students came up with as many possible endings allowing for students to be creative with their ideas.  

  •  With teacher guidance, students then sorted the sticky notes as "realistic" or "unrealistic" by using evidence from the text to make inferences.

  • Students then had the choice to pick one realistic ending to use and write about in their own stories.     

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Lesson Study Notes taken by our team:

Participation count:

Student A participated 61 times

Student B participated 25 times

Student C participated 55 times

Samples of Student Work

Analysis and Reflections

      During the lesson debrief, the lesson study team shared their observation notes on each student.  Overall, the lesson went well.  All three students were engaged and participated throughout the lesson.  In the end, all students understood how to make inferences from texts by using their own life experiences to make connections.  All three students were also able to use the inferences they made to create the middle and come up with ideas for the end of a story.  We did notice a discrepancy between how students participated and how much each student participated.  Student B, required several prompts to speak up and share her ideas while both student A and C participated openly and confidently much more than student B.  This noticing led to a conversation about student B and why she may lack the confidence to speak up more during small reading group.  We also shared some strategies to implement into future lessons such as inviting a friend for student B to feel more comfortable and confident, using white boards to share answers on, and setting group norms so students learn to share the air and space equally.  

Here are lessons learned through this study cycle:

  • Understanding your students through empathy interviews and observations can help you in creating lessons that all students feel comfortable participating in.  Student B had a difficult time participating in the lesson study and spoke up much less than the other 2 students.  After that noticing I thought about my own students that are English Language Learners and I noticed similarities.  I then looked at ways I can best support my students.  I can create a supportive environment where content is reflective of my students backgrounds and identities.  I can also provide students with sentence frames that will encourage and support reluctant speakers.  Increasing wait/think time is important to process and make sense of the questions asked.  

  • Creating thoughtful student groupings to encourage the sharing of ideas amongst peers is   incredibly helpful in building a thoughtful and inclusive community that is positive for all.  

  • Supporting students does not need to be time consuming or costly.  Supplies as simple as sticky notes and highlighters can be effective in supporting students with learning challenges.  For example, you can help students with Selective Attention Problems by writing on a sticky note what to attend to first, second and third.  Students can also use sticky notes to sequence charts, which highlight the order of specific events when reading text. You can create a list of projects students can work on when they are stuck or have completed a task in class. This list can be written on a sticky note then a choice can be highlighted with a highlighter. 

  • Slowing down the pace and repeating concepts throughout the week allows students to retain more information.  Throughout the 4 part lesson, students reviewed the definition of inferences and were provided with examples and opportunities to practice skills learned throughout each lesson.  By the end of the week, students were able to speak about inferences with confidence and ease.  Slowing down the pace of learning should not be seen as a problem, but rather valued and integrated into your classroom lesson plans.  

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