Standard 6 - Reading, Writing, and Oral Communication – The competent teacher has foundational knowledge of reading, writing, and oral communication within the content area and recognizes and addresses student reading, writing, and oral communication needs to facilitate the acquisition of content knowledge.
For my picture book unit, I decided to use the story, My Lucky Day. This story is an entertaining, fun and thought-provoking story that I believe my students will enjoy. The story offers an unexpected twist that I believe students will find comical, easy to relate to and interesting to talk about. This story is also full of vocabulary words that will be new to students thereby enhancing their learning. Students will find this story relatable to their everyday lives where they often feel unheard because they are small. We will enjoy discussions around being small but heard, the importance of education and the impact that small voices can make in their school and community. This picture book unit will encompass Reading, Writing and Communication which has a direct connection to the Illinois Professional Teaching Standard 6.
6A) understands appropriate and varied instructional approaches used before, during, and after reading, including those that develop word knowledge, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency,and strategy use in the content areas;
I have included before during and after reading lessons that encourage discourse and that develop the students’ vocabulary skills and word knowledge. Through our cover clues, students will learn vocabulary and practice skills to enhance their comprehension of the story. Students will also be required to complete graphic organizers requiring them to communicate through writing and drawing.
1C) understands how teaching and student learning are influenced by development (physical, social and emotional, cognitive, linguistic), past experiences, talents, prior knowledge, economic circumstances and diversity within the community;
Throughout this lesson we will spend a great deal of time on social and emotional issues. Through discussion we will explore many areas including past experiences, economic circumstances and community relations. Many students reside in impoverished communities and may feel the need to express sensitive topics.
This Unit Plan as well as other assignments in the Elementary Literacy class have helped me to develop an overall understanding of what it takes to build students’ Reading, Writing and Comprehension skills. I can better assess the needs of individual students and adjust my plans accordingly. I understand the importance of modeling, repetition, building vocabulary and reading fluency and comprehension. I am also sensitive to the social and emotional needs of my students and will consider every lesson as a possible opportunity for discussion. Despite the abundance of learning there are always opportunities for growth. I intend to continuously explore opportunities to better assess the needs of my students so that I can ensure that the needs of all students are being properly addressed and that all students continue to learn and grow.