Using the Voice Record Pro app.... (practice before the lesson)
My goal in this lesson is to really target the students ability to understand the characters' point of view. This is a great book because the characters' motivations are clear in this text and there is evidence (illustrations and text) provided for their motivation and actions. I like using this text because the limited wording allows the students to add in their own dialogue and not worry if it's 'right' or 'wrong'. The author leaves the text open to the reader to interpret. By acknowledging differences in the points of view of characters and speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud, the students are able to evidence the characters' motivations. (RL.2.6) We assess how the point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text - how the characters look at situations and each other influences what happens in the story.
If you have not taught lessons about question writing, I encourage you to look at some of the earlier lessons so your students get some practice with writing and answering questions. These lessons include The Whys and Whens of Questioning about Literature, So What Do You Think, Using Evaluative Questions with Literature, Evaluative Questions-Pick Your Side and Argue, Questions Help Us See How Characters Develop, That Striking Language, Ask Questions About Those Illustrations and The 'What's' and 'Where's' of Literature.
Underlined words below are lesson vocabulary words that are emphasized and written on sentence strips for my Reading & Writing word wall. I pull off the words off the wall for each lesson, helping students understand this key 'reading and writing' vocabulary can be generalized across texts and topics. The focus on acquiring and using these words is part of a shift in the Common Core Standards towards building students’ academic vocabulary. My words are color coded ‘pink’ for literature/’blue’ for reading strategies/’orange’ for informational text/'yellow' for writing/’green’ for all other words)
Common starting point
This chart and the use of questioning is something that my students have worked extensively on in the past few weeks. I feel my students have really become comfortable using questioning before, during and after and find answers in the text. This drive to use evidence (illustrations, text) to answer questions and use questioning to understand what they have read is a shift represented by the Common Core standards towards the students ability to draw on their own ability to answer questions rather than rely on adults to supply the facts. (RL.2.1)
Get students engaged
Give the purpose of the lesson
Introduce the strategy & model ***
Practice strategy - guided practice
*** Make sure you're familiar with the app - its pretty easy, but you don't want to take class time to try to remember how to save or play back. I showed the kids twice in this section and then they needed almost NO help at all after that!
Set up groups - optional depending on how many iPads & books you have (If you have only one of each, then have students come up and take a turn.)
Assign Task
Formative Assessment
Show your work
Wrap up
Scaffolding and Special Education: This lesson could be easily scaffolded up or down, depending on student ability.
Students should be in mixed groups, with high and low achievers. This is a great lesson because, regardless of academic skill, the kids can all be creative and use voicing and perspective without the need to write or read a lot. I like using these lessons that step away from the paper and pencil!!