Dr. t. lee
Grade 5 Little Red Riding Hood Unit
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
Unit Introduction
This unit was conducted with Grade 5 students; detailed information about the instructional context can be found in the Little Red Riding Hood Unit PowerPoint. The students had previously completed an independent reading of the story and received a traditional introduction to vocabulary words; my co-teacher asked me to read the story aloud for them and conduct lessons related to it.
Unit PowerPoint
Figure 87 contains the instructional PowerPoint for this lesson.
Click the box below to begin the PowerPoint.
Advance by clicking on the slides.
Figure 87. Grade 5 Little Red Riding Hood Unit PowerPoint.
Teaching in Action
The first phase of this unit involved a preview of comprehension questions intended to activate student awareness during the read aloud and focus their listening (see Grade 5 Little Red Riding Hood Unit PowerPoint).
The active reading phase involved the use of immediate feedback questions that were interspersed throughout my dramatic reading. I posed questions using question cards so that students could not predict who might be called upon to answer. Interrupting an oral reading with questions encourages students to interact more with the text instead of just passively following along as someone reads to them. Students then engaged in a think, pair, share activity wherein they discussed comprehension questions with a partner and were randomly selected to share their discussions. Usage of such activities requires advanced classroom management ability and active teacher patrolling/redirection of focus/management of time in order to ensure that students stay on task.
The post-reading phase had five components. First, students learned about character adjectives and collaborated to write sentences describing the story characters (see Figure 88).
Figure 88. Little Red Riding Hood character adjectives student sample.
Second, students collaborated to sequence a storyboard of plot events (see Figure 89). After sequencing the images, students matched sentence strips to them (see Figure 90); there was quite a bit of celebration when teams successfully completed both sequencing tasks (see Figure 91). The sentence strips were then read aloud while volunteers from the class performed the actions in an impromptu dramatic role play session (see Figure 92).
Figure 89. Students collaborated to sequence storyboard images for Little Red Riding Hood.
Figure 90. Students collaborated to match sentence strips to storyboard images for Little Red Riding Hood.
Figure 91. Student teams celebrated their successful sequencing.
Figure 92. Students conducted an impromptu dramatic role play of the story events.
Third, students used their imaginations to create an alternate ending to the story - please note that this was prior to the explicit instructions to students to only use pencil when drafting or writing in English class (see Figures 93, 94).
Figure 93. A student’s alternative ending for Little Red Riding Hood example A.
Figure 94. A student’s alternative ending for Little Red Riding Hood example B.
Fourth, students viewed a Golden Book movie adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood that they used to complete a Venn Diagram. The class survey about familiarity with Venn Diagrams was unclear. On the whole, students had no prior exposure to using a structured Venn Diagram. Students completed the first comparison in class via guided practice and completed the second comparison independently (see Figures 95, 96, 97, 98, 99).
Figure 95. Level 4 Little Red Riding Hood Venn Diagram Example A.
Figure 96. Level 4 Little Red Riding Hood Venn Diagram Example B.
Figure 97. Level 3 Little Red Riding Hood Venn Diagram Example A.
Figure 98. Level 3 Little Red Riding Hood Venn Diagram Example B.
Figure 99. Level 2 Little Red Riding Hood Venn Diagram.
Philosophical Chairs Discussion
Finally, students participated in a Philosophical Chairs discussion about Little Red Riding Hood. The classroom seating arrangement was changed to facilitate “Yes,” “No,” and “Undecided” sections where students sat as their opinions evolved (see Figure 100). Participation in Philosophical Chairs discussions encourages the students to consider multiple perspectives and evaluate opinions. Prior to, during, and after the discussion, students took notes about their opinions on the discussion topics; students were permitted to take notes in Georgian or English (see Figures 101, 102). Due to time constraints, only one topic was addressed during the Philosophical Chairs lesson but the conversation was fruitful (see Figure 103 for a video excerpt).
Figure 100. Student seating arrangement for Philosophical Chairs discussion.
Figure 101. Philosophical Chairs student notes example A.
Figure 102. Philosophical Chairs student notes example B.
Click the play button to view the video.
Figure 103.Video excerpt from Philosophical Chairs discussion about Little Red Riding Hood.
Connections to my Teaching Philosophy
This unit demonstrates components 1-7 of my Teaching Philosophy.
Several learning activities that enhanced students’ higher order thinking skills were included in this unit. The impromptu dramatic role play demanded that students engage in higher order thinking in order to dramatize their interpretations of the sentence strips on the fly. The Venn Diagram comparison of movie and text versions of the story required students to analyze and synthesize similarities and differences between the telling of this traditional tale.
The Philosophical Chairs discussion was of particular importance as it assists the students with oral fluency and higher order thinking. The questions posed during a Philosophical Chairs activity require students to think and form an opinion and rely on one another for information instead of the teachers. The process used requires students to synthesize ideas and practice keeping an open mind by considering multiple perspectives and develop a willingness to reconsider their position when presented with reasonable information. These are skills that Georgian teachers and students will be well served to continue developing.
The students really enjoyed working with teams to sequence the storyboard images and matching the story strips to the storyboard images. They also liked the dramatic role play that their classmates conducted while I read the story events in order.
Assessment of Student Learning
My co-teacher and I were able to assess student learning throughout the sequencing activities by observing team performance and interacting with the teams. Student performance on the Venn Diagrams was assessed via rubric and comments were provided to students who were meeting the learning goals as well as those who struggled to meet the learning goals (see Figures 95, 96, 97, 98, 99). Detailed teacher feedback assists students performing at all levels with their individual development as readers, writers, speakers, and thinkers.
Assessment of Teaching
Student surveys were administered so that students could provide their assessment of my teaching. These surveys were the second that the students had ever been asked to take. A survey was also provided to my co-teacher to solicit their input about my teaching.
Student Feedback
Figure 104 provides examples of completed student surveys for the Little Red Riding Hood Unit. Qualitative data from the surveys included:”I liked the philosophical chairs activity.” Figures 105-113 summarize the student survey results. While the majority of students liked all instructional activities contained in the unit, less overall enjoyment was expressed for writing an alternative ending to the story and the Philosophical Chairs Discussion. This could be due to student unfamiliarity with the learning format and expectations of these lessons which require a high level of creativity and independent thinking. Student comprehensive ranking of the unit was that 83% felt the unit was the best, or a “10” on a 1-10 scale. A need to incorporate more higher order thinking skills and activities is warranted.
Figure 104. Examples of completed student surveys for the Little Red Riding Hood Unit.
Figure 105. “I liked listening to Dr. Lee’s dramatic reading of Little Red Riding Hood” – Grade 5 Little Red Riding Hood student survey.
Figure 106. “The Think-Pair-Share helped me understand the story” – Grade 5 Little Red Riding Hood student survey.
Figure 107. “I enjoyed the character adjectives lesson” – Grade 5 Little Red Riding Hood student survey.
Figure 108. “I enjoyed doing the storyboard and sentence strip sequencing” – Grade 5 Little Red Riding Hood student survey.
Figure 109. “I enjoyed my classmates’ dramatic role play of the story” – Grade 5 Little Red Riding Hood student survey.
Figure 110. “I enjoyed writing a different ending to the story” – Grade 5 Little Red Riding Hood student survey
Figure 111. “I liked comparing the movie and text versions of the story” – Grade 5 Little Red Riding Hood student survey.
Figure 112. “I liked the Philosophical Chairs activity” – Grade 5 Little Red Riding Hood student survey.
Figure 113. Student comprehensive ranking of the Little Red Riding Hood Unit.
Co-teacher Feedback
Figure 114 is the co-teacher survey for this unit. Qualitative data included the comment: “I’m so pleased and proud being your co-teacher.” My co-teacher agreed that the activities we engaged in this unit helped support student English listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills.
Figure 114. Co-teacher survey for the Little Red Riding Hood Unit.
_Go to Reflections about Parallel Teaching Writing Instruction