SIOP Lesson #2

Title of Lesson: Story Elements

Subject/Content Area: ELA

Next Generation Standards: 1R3, 1R7

Topic of Lesson: Story Elements

Rationale: Students showed difficulty identifying story elements on their I-Ready Diagnostic Assessment.

Content Objective:

Students will be able to identify story elements of the text A Fine, Fine School.

Language Objective:

Students will be able to listen to a story and tell their partner the story elements.

Vocabulary: principal, soared, strolled, calendar, fine

Student Population:

• Grade Level- 1st

• Grouping- Heterogeneously

• Language- 5 ESL learners

  • 1 Student is Commanding Level

  • 2 Students are Transitioning Level

  • 2 Students are Emerging Level

  • 1 Students speak Urdu

  • 1 Students speak Chinese

  • 3 Student speaks Russian

Learning Community:

• Urban

• School Demographics:

  • Asian 29%

  • Black 3%

  • Hispanic or Latinx 27%

  • Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander 1%

  • White 39%

• School District: NYC DOE District 21 Brooklyn

• Campus Classification: Elementary/Middle School K-8

• Classroom Context: General Education ELA Period

• Classroom Arrangement and Seating: Students sit in heterogeneous pairs facing each other

Materials/Resources:

• A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech

• Google Slides

• Graphic Organizers

• White Boards

• Anchor Charts

• Vocabulary Cards

• SmartBoard

SIOP Components and Explanation

1. Preparation:

• Content Objective: Students will be able to identify story elements of the text A Fine, Fine School. (This objective was determined based on the students’ I-Ready assessments. Students showed difficulty identifying story elements.)

• Language Objective: Students will be able to listen to a story and tell their partner the story elements. (This objective is to help ESL students with their language. By incorporating turn and talk into the lesson, students can interact with each other using language.)

• The content concept is identifying story elements. (According to the Next Generations Standards, 3rd grade students should be able to identify story elements.)

• Supplemental Materials- A Fine, Fine School text, Google Slides presentation, anchor charts, graphic organizers, white boards, vocabulary cards. (All of these materials will act as comprehensible input for all learners, especially the ESL learners.)

• Adapting Content- Assignment will be adapted for ESL students. On their worksheets there will be sentence stems when they are writing. (Sentence stems is a modification that can help ESL learners write their steps to solving the real world word problems.)

• Students will be looking at their text A Fine, Fine School and identifying the story elements in a graphic organizer. Students can illustrate and/or write the story elements. (Using graphic organizers will help students have a visual way of writing the story elements.)

2. Build Background

• Link to Students’ Backgrounds and Experiences: When talking about vocabulary students can make connections to their own lives. When discussing problem and solution students can discuss their own problems from their lives. (Making a connection to their own lives, students relate to the material.)

• Link to Students’ Past Learning: We will connect vocabulary words from the previous lessons to the current lesson. Students also previously learned about character and setting so we can connect this to our current story. (Since students have background knowledge on some aspects of this lesson, making connections will help deepen understanding.)

• Key Vocabulary: principal, soared, strolled, calendar, fine (These terms are vital to understanding the mini lesson. That is why they have to be a focus in the beginning of the lesson.)

3. Comprehensible Input

• Speech: use slower rate and clear enunciation. (This type of speech acts as comprehensible input for ESL learners.)

• Explaining Academic Tasks: tasks will be explained verbally and in writing for students to reference. Students will repeat back the directions. (Presenting the directions in various ways caters to different learning styles and increases the chances of comprehension.)

• Variety of Techniques: model writing a sentence on the SmartBoard, visuals on an anchor chart for students to reference, and graphic organizers. (Using a variety of techniques appeals to different modalities of learning. This is important to ESL students because they can make connections.)

4. Strategies

• Students can make predictions about what the story is about before reading the text. Students will also turn and talk with their partners to clarify and share information. (These strategies are important to ESL students so they can have multiple opportunities to use the strategies.)

• Some scaffolding techniques involve having students in heterogeneous pairs. In addition, students who need are given sentence stems to explain their work. Another scaffold is using white boards to practice their sentence before putting it on paper. (The scaffolds provided help students become more independent workers in the topic of adding integers.)

• A variety of questions helps promote students to use higher order thinking. Students are asked to describe the characters and setting. Students are asked to determine problems and solutions. (Varying the types of questions helps students think more critically and make connections between topics.)

5. Interactions

• Teacher/students interact during the whole class instruction. Then, the teacher circulates the room to help students who need additional support. Teacher/students can work one-to-one if a student needs that intervention. (Teacher and student interactions can act as a scaffold to help students reach independence. Teachers are like a coach for students to explore the content.)

• Student/student interaction happens during the group work practice time. Students work in heterogeneous pairs while completing work. (Students are working in heterogeneous pairs. This allows students who are more proficient to work with students who may need more help. Students also can not work in groups larger than two due to COVID restrictions.)

• The content objective “Students will be able to identify story elements of the text A Fine, Fine School.” can be achieved by putting students in pairs to figure out the different story elements of the text. (The interaction between the partners will help all students reach the content objective.)

• The language objective “Students will be able to listen to a story and tell their partner the story elements.” can be achieved by putting students in pairs because students can help each other read the story, listen to each other, speak to each other, and write sentences together. (The interaction between partners can help students achieve the language objective.)

• Wait Time: After questions are asked, wait time will be given to students. Especially when asking higher order thinking questions, it is important to allot an appropriate amount of wait time. (Wait time is an important strategy for teaching ESL students. By providing wait time, teachers give students time to process the information completely before formulating a response.)

• Students who need L1 clarification will be in pairs with someone who speaks the same L1. They can clarify directions with their partner and practice work they are completing. (It is important to allow students to clarify information in their L1 so they can transfer that knowledge into their L2.)

6. Practice/Application

• Students will have the text A Fine, Fine School on their desk and a graphic organizer of the four story elements: character, setting, problem, and solution. Students who need it will have sight word cards, vocabulary cards, and white boards. (Using graphic organizers and various materials is a scaffold to help students towards understanding the topic independently.)

• To apply the content objective, students will be given a graphic organizer with the four story elements. (The provided oragnizer will give students the opportunity to practice the skill and achieve the content objective.)

• To apply the language objective, students will turn and talk and work in pairs. (Students will be able to achieve the language objective by working in partners.)

• Students will be reading a text and writing the story elements. Students will be listening and speaking to their partners. (This shows how students will be using all of the four domains of language skills.)

7. Lesson Delivery

• The content and language objectives will be displayed and read aloud by a student. The activities planned will allow students to work towards and achieve these objectives. (When students read and see the objectives, they understand the purpose of the lesson. This helps students have a rationale for the lesson which helps engagement and motivation.)

• Engagement: One way to engage students is questioning. (By enlisting students to answer prompts, they become more involved in the lesson.) Another way is visuals and manipulatives. (There are anchor charts, Google Slides, and vocabulary cards to reference.) Another way is working in pairs. (By working with a peer, students can communicate with each other about the material to stay engaged.)

• Pacing: There will be a 10-15 minute mini lesson introducing vocabulary, modeling the skill, and a guided practice problem. Then 20 minutes of practice with the graphic organizers with a partner. Finally a 5-10 minute share out. (This pacing follows the workshop model implemented at my school. The pacing also allows students the time to be introduced to a topic, have guidance with the work, and then explore for themselves. This allows them to be scaffold to independently be able to identify story elements.)

8. Review/Assessment

• Review Key Vocabulary: In the beginning of the lesson the vocabulary words principal, soared, strolled, calendar, fine will be presented and discussed. Students will complete a matching assessment to show understanding of the terms. (Assessing key vocabulary is vital when working with ESL students. We want to see if the vocabulary was comprehended and can be used to build on in future lessons.)

• Review Key Concepts: In the beginning students will make connections between their prior knowledge of the text A Fine, Fine School. Throughout the lesson students will be practicing the skill of identifying story elements with this text. At the end students will share out. (The activities give insight into students’ understanding of the key concepts. This can be built on in the next lessons.)

• Feedback: Throughout the lesson students will have verbal feedback while working on activities. After reviewing the organizers, the teacher will give feedback to students using a glow and a grow. (By giving verbal feedback during the lesson, students can be motivated and also scaffolded to independent understanding. The glow and grow feedback on the exit question gives students praise for something they did well and then ways to continue their learning next time.)

• Assessment on Objectives: Students will be assessed on the following two objectives:

  • Content Objective: Students will be able to identify story elements of the text A Fine, Fine School.

  • Language Objective: Students will be able to listen to a story and tell their partner the story elements.

  • The assessments include questioning, observations, graphic organizers, and share out. (These assessments will help me see if students achieved the objectives. This can help me determine next steps.)

9. Extension/Homework

• The extension activity is for students to read a library book and identify the story elements of that text.. (This extension can increase higher order thinking.)

• Students will be given a homework to read a story at home and identify the story elements. (The homework can reinforce the content and language used in class.)

Source: Short, D., Hudec, J., & Echevarria, J. (2002). Using the SIOP Model: Professional Development Manual for Sheltered Instruction. Washington DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.

Section II: Lesson Plan Commentary

Reflection

I was really excited about this lesson because I currently teach first grade and being about to be in my element when teaching really was a positive experience. The students interacted with each other throughout the lesson and seemed engaged with the materials presented. I liked the way students were using all four domains of language learning. I observed students speaking to each other, listening to each other, reading their story books, and writing the story elements. It’s really extra special seeing the students interacting with each other because with the pandemic in the beginning of the year many students had trouble with the interaction component of learning but they definitely showed a lot of growth in that area. One thing I would add is sentence stems on students’ desks who need to reference. For example, “the character is” or “the problem in the story was.” Having sentence stems for English Language Learners can act as a scaffold for them to write more complete sentences.

In terms of lesson planning, I really took my time and focused on each component of the SIOP format. I focused especially on vocabulary because students showed struggle with on grade level vocabulary on I-Ready assessments. This made me want to use the method Total Physical Response when discussing the words “strolled” and “soared.” Students were partnering a motion with the vocabulary words. TPR is a method that is beneficial to English Language Learners because it helps connect a visual to a word. Overall I was very happy with how the lesson went and will continue to use the strategies learned in my TESOL studies in my everyday lessons.