Main Idea and Supporting Details
Overview: I teach Deaf* (Deaf* defined as all inclusive of spectrum, e.g. Deaf, hard of hearing, DeafBlind) adults. The class I am using this lesson plan with is an English class with six students ranging from a 5th to 7th grade level equivalent. This is an English class and the content/context is focused on language comprehension and analysis via reading and answering questions; and expression via discussion and writing (with attention to substance as well as grammar/spelling/punctuation).
Total time in-class is 1.5 hours.
Digital Literacy Standards addressed (Northstar):
Email: 3. Register for a new email account. 4. Log on to email. Note: we are using gmail.
The new skills my students have learned and are utilizing include: accessing Google Drive from their gmail screen; navigating Drive; understanding My Drive and Shared with me; creating a new folder and a new doc; making a copy of a doc in ‘Shared with me’ and moving it to ‘My Drive’; renaming documents; utilizing the ‘comments’ to read comments and respond; navigating the ‘share with’ settings for their work.
College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) and/or Transitions Integration Framework (TIF) Standards addressed:
--Reading CCR Anchor 2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
--Writing CCR Anchor 2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
--ACES-TIF: Effective Communication: Skill 1: Engage positively and actively with individuals both one-on-one and team settings to accomplish goals.
--ACES-TIF: Learning Strategies: Skill 1: Apply appropriate strategies for comprehending oral and written language in texts and listening activities. (In our classroom this means reading and signing, receptive and expressive).
ACES-TIF: Learning Strategies: Skill 3: Apply appropriate strategies to compensate for and fill in gaps in knowledge.
ACES-TIF: Critical Thinking: Skill 1: Organize, analyze and illustrate relationships between components, items, and ideas.
Lesson Objective(s): At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
-- Read and comprehend the passage.
-- Identify the main idea(s).
-- Answer analysis questions provided by the text correctly (see sample, described below).
-- Identify keyword/concepts in the passage.
-- Write a 3-5 sentence paragraph summarizing the main ideas/points of the passage with key supporting ideas/details.
-- Use Google docs for parts of this lesson as needed (see below).
Assessing Mastery of the Objective(s): By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
-- Correctly answer text-dependent questions provided in order to illustrate comprehension, analytical skills, and synthesizing of information.
-- Write a 3-5 sentence paragraph summarizing the main ideas/points and supporting key ideas/details of the passage to illustrate ability to extract and utilize information in the text to create and synthesize a meaningful summary.
Materials/links:
https://www.amazon.com/Six-Way-Paragraphs-Content-Areas-Introductory/dp/0809203715
I created a Google Slide show with images relating to content in the passage utilized for this lesson. This was done in order to spark interest in the reading, aid in comprehension of concepts/vocabulary, and engage the students in connecting the content/concepts to their lives and experiences.
Lesson Outline:
Introduction:
At the beginning of the semester, each student created a new gmail account that was going to be used exclusively for school. In their Drive, they created a folder for English class which they shared with me. For this lesson, I have scanned a copy of one of the passages from the text and put it in my English folder which I have shared with all of the students. The students can access this passage. During class, each student has a laptop open and can view the passage. In addition, I use my laptop to project the passage onto the classroom whiteboard. The students take turns coming up to the front of the class and signing a paragraph from the passage. Upon the completion of each paragraph, questions are welcome and discussion/ clarification/ analysis may ensue as needed. (This discussion can include how to use context clues for unknown vocabulary words and filling in knowledge gaps; using prior knowledge; making inferences, etc.)
When we are finished reading, we move on to the questions provided in the text. Each student is encouraged to share their answer which we then indicate (by marking their initials) on the whiteboard. The questions and potential answer options are analyzed and discussed utilizing the passage, inference, logic, process of elimination (for multiple choice), etc.
Next, as a group, we brainstorm keywords/ key concepts, from the passage, that we believe are essential to a single paragraph summary each student will write on their own. These go on the whiteboard. Students can then volunteer to write one sentence of their own on the whiteboard that they are thinking about using in their summary. This is a chance for them to receive feedback from their classmates and from me.
Each student writes a 3-5 sentence paragraph summarizing the passage, focusing on the main ideas/concepts and key supporting details, in a new Google doc they create and title in their English folder. They can finish/touch this up at home. I read each one and offer suggestions (Google doc edit option) and comments. The students can respond to the comments and/or asked questions on the doc and/or in person.
Explanation/Modeling:
There is explanation and discussion throughout all steps of the process. Modeling comes in when I contribute a keyword/concept in our brainstorm and perhaps a sample sentence that could be part of a summary. Modelling is also evident when I ask guiding questions, and model figuring out unknown vocabulary and unknown information using context clues, prior knowledge, inferences.
Guided Practice:
The students receive feedback throughout our class discussions, during their contributions of keywords/concepts brainstorm, the summary sentence they share, and eventually via my suggestions/comments on their summary on their Google doc.
Independent Practice:
Students have an opportunity to practice independently when they share their ideas during the brainstorm, when they share their sentence, and especially when they write their paragraph summary independently.