Planning with more Sophisticated
Thinking in Mind
Created by: Donna Anderson and Tammy Reynolds
Prompts for Planning /Context and Purpose(s) for the Sequence
- teach students value of friendship and resilience. How does being resilient influence friendships?
- to have students experience a deeper understanding of “opening the door” to new friendships (“Our most important friends are sometimes those we least expect.”)
- Explicit teaching of “synthesis – big idea”
- Demonstrate relationship between “summarizing” and “synthesizing”.
Resources
“Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship” and “Owen and Mzee: The Language of Friendship”Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, and Dr. Paula Kahumbu
ISBN: 0-439-82973-9; ISBN-10: 0-439-89959-1
“A Mama for Owen”
Marion Dane Bauer
ISBN-10: 0-689 85787-X
List of books used for content lessons and read alouds to teach “Synthesis/Big Idea” “Friendship” and “Resilience”.
A context for New Learning
- What guides the design for the new learning sequence?
- Why am I teaching this?
- What resources will I use?
Skill Focus
- What particular skills will this sequence develop?
- What specific performance standards’ descriptor(s) are you targeting? E.g. synthesis or analysis shows complexity (gr. 3-5)
Curriculum outcomes
Use oral language, engage in exploratory and imaginative play to express themselves, ask for assistance, and exchange ideas with others, and experiment with new ideas
- before writing, engage in discussions as a strategy to generate ideas when responding to text, pictures, stories
- use writing and representing to express a response to experiences.
- use oral language to interact with others and exchange ideas
- use listening strategies to clarify understanding
- shares opinions and gives reasons
- before reading use strategies such as making predictions, asking questions, inference, synthesis and others
- after reading use strategies to confirm and extend meaning
- May be able to identify the message in the story
- Use writing and representing to express personal responses and opinions about experiences or texts
- Use writing and representing to extend thinking by presenting new understandings in a variety of forms, express an alternative viewpoint and demonstrate new understandings
- **
goal setting / * / determining what’s important
accessing prior knowledge / * / justification
predicting/
hypothesizing / * / synthesis
making connections / monitoring understanding
questioning / reflection
* / imagery / self-assessment
End Tasks
- How will the students demonstrate understanding?
- What open-ended or high inference task will they respond to?
- How and when will I set, and prioritize criteria, with the students? (This should happen prior to any important task, e.g. A/B talk, writing a prediction, goal-setting? E.g. T-Square.
Task #1
Task #1
Write a powerful prediction that explains how Owen and Mzee became remarkable friends. Use all your background knowledge about the animals and the situation and explain your thinking, using justification. Make sure your prediction includes an inference about the “big idea” of the story.
Tasks #2, #3, #4
Writing in Role
Write in role as Owen. Explain your journey and how your friendship with each other has helped you.
Task #5
Four Quadrants: “Open the door” to new friendship by learning about your classmates. You must find 10 people in your classroom who have something in common with you. These could be the start of an unexpected friendship. / Key Concepts, Enduring Understandings or Essential Questions that Frame or Guide the Sequence
- A true story about an unexpected friendship between a baby hippo and a 130 year old tortoise after the Tsunami of 2004 demonstrating the power of friendship and resilience.
- Celebration of friendship; keeping an “open door” for “unexpected” friendships and acceptance of people for who they are.
- Synthesis: understanding how we are “changed” by what we read. This is a story that will change your views as humans who empathize with a remarkable tale of an “unexpected” friendship and the power of resilience.
- We also draw hope from HallerPark’s own incredible transformation from bare rock to natural wonder.
Assessment
- What evidence will I gather and reflect on?
- How will I guide the self-assessment, goal-setting and reflection?
Assessment
- Specific aspects to focus on
- Can students merge facts from a text (summarize what’s important) and additional input, their thinking voice(thoughts, feelings etc.) and transform their thinking (new idea or thought)?
- Can students apply what they have learned about friendship and resilience to their own lives?
Goals for sessions:
To use oral language, respectful listening.
To justify their thinking; To allow their thinking to be changed or not changed by the ideas of others
To identify author’s message/big idea; synthesis/transformation
Prompts for Planning
Scaffolding the Learning
What sequence will best develop the learning?
Goals:
- How will I set the goal(s) for today’s session?
- Will the goal(s) be focused on the demonstration task and/or the skill you are developing?
- How will I guide student goal setting in relation to my goal?
- What focus will I give A/B partner talk? E.g., similarities/differences; new ideas; inferring details, feelings; capturing key ideas; making connections.
- What Smart Thinking Tool will I use to develop prior knowledge?
- Will it be oral or written?
- If inference is the skill-focus, what tool will I use to develop thinking? E.g., Sort/Predict & Question; Partner Picture Talk with Coaching Cards; Building from clues.
- How will I coach students to more meaningful or insightful questions?
Connecting /
Plans
- goal(s)
- to use oral language, respectful listening and justification to change or not change the opinions/ideas of others
- to construct meaning when reading by understanding the “Big Idea” (synthesis or transformation)
- to be a powerful reader by setting goals, making connections, asking questions, making inferences, monitoring understanding, creating images and determining what’s important, as I read.
Select A/B Partners… (see quick sheet for information about A/B partners)
Making Connections
- Choose A/B partners in a “friendship” way. Have each partner talk about their friendships.
- Have A or B report out one way their ideas are the same. TEACHER NEEDS TO MODEL!! For example, Tammy talks about how she has different friends because each one brings something different to the relationship. For example, one friend likes shopping and she likes shopping, another friend likes reading books and she likes reading books etc. Donna talks about how many of her friends are long time” friends, people that she feels comfortable with and can rely on.
- Report out one way their friendships are the same. The reporting out might be, “My partner Tammy’s ideas were like mine because we both have lots of different friends.”
4 Quadrants Think of a Time
“Our most important friends are sometimes the ones we least expect.”
- This tool is to help students begin thinking about diversity. It is important to recognize and appreciate differences in people, ideas, and situations. Children must learn that while they are unique and special individuals, they also have many things in common with others. If they listen to and learn about children they do not normally associate with, they may find an “unexpected friend.”
- For students who say they don’t have or haven’t had any “unexpected” friends, then ask them to think outside the box. Think about books you have read, movies you have watched or the lives of other people. Pick one example to write about using the 4 Quadrants tool
- If you have not been recording “clues to the story” on chart paper go over what they know about the story so far. “What clues have there been that will help us understand the story better?” (Prereading information: tortoises, hippos, wildlife sanctuaries, tsunamis, friendships, resilience so you know something tramatic happens etc.)
- “Now I am going to give you another clue by showing you the cover of the book.
- Do you think this story is fiction or non-fiction. Talk with you’re A/B partner and discuss this question. Remember to justify your thinking.
- Have a group of students report out.
- Show students the cover of the book. In A/B partners have them describe everything they see.
- Report out one important clue to the story. Add their ideas to the “Clues to the Story” chart.
A/B Parners…Report out with justification.
ASKING QUESTIONS… (see quick sheet about questioning and use the “questioning” charts developed by Donna and Tammy)
- Powerful readers always ask questions. before they read, while they are reading and after they read. Now ask students why it is important to know how to ask powerful questions and be able to find the answers.
“What difference does it make in your reading and thinking?”
- In A/B partners think of as many questions as you can (teacher models first). Have partners come up with questions then have them report out the one they think is most important. Challenge their thinking by not accepting the same question twice. Tell them to be ready with a second question…also makes them accountable for listening/thinking. If old enough, have students identify each question as “literal” or “inferential”. With older students you can even have them turn some of the literal questions into inferential..I do this in Grade 3.
- The big question you want to get them to come up with is, “How did this remarkable friendship happen? This must be deep! It is not about how they met, but how they were able to develop a friendship.
- Talk about the word, “Remarkable”. Listen to and record their questions and then summarize by coming up with this big question.
- accessing prior knowledge
- predicting
- questioning
- How will students interact and think with text (video, visuals, experiences), and with each other, to develop understanding? E.g., Images, Thinking bubbles, IQ, What’s Important and Why?, Four Quadrants, Thinking like …; Key Ideas, Connections, Questions.
- What focus will I give A/B partner talk? E.g., similarities/differences; new ideas; inferring details, feeling; capturing key.
Smart thinking tools / Mental Imagery:
A MUST: Read, “sending an image “ See “Quick Sheet” to get information on how to Send an Image and read SMART handout on imagery for the steps to use when teaching imagery as well as research behind teaching imagery.. .
Give students “coaching cards”. If you have not used these before you will have to go over with students and teach how to use them. They are an amazing tool for so many things!
- After they have sent and received image(as outlined on “Quicksheet”) ask them: “How has seeing this picture changed your prediction/thinking?” Discuss in A/B. Have them report out.
MENTAL IMAGERY (PREDICTIONS)
- Now we are going to add 3 more clues…remember, keep thinking what made their friendship work? Use all the clues, everything you know about the animals, setting, situation (tsunami). Think about the pieces of the puzzle…how are they going to go together to build a complete story?
- Make coloured OH of the pictures from the beginning, middle and end. The beginning picture is the one where the hippo pod is on the shore of the river, the middle one is the one where the village people are running along side the truck and the end picture is the last picture in the story where Owen’s head is resting on Mzee’s leg.
- Talk about the “Big Idea”. Have them think about what they inferred the big idea was earlier. Has your thinkingchanged? A/B Partners
- How will I set and prioritize criteria with the students?
- How will students demonstrate their understandings?
- Will I use A/B or Walk-to-Talk partner to reinforce, extend or refine the learning?
Six Big AFL Strategies:
1. Intentions
2. Criteria
3. Descriptive Feedback
4. Questions
5. Self and peer assessment
6. Ownership
See Faye Brownlie’s WEBCAST to understand for learning assessment strategies at:
Webcastseries/20071017/
Archive.html
Go over criteria for a powerful prediction using the class charts (if making powerful predictions were covered in detail at the beginning of the year you would just have to review . If you have not done this then you need to ask students what a powerful prediction would include. Building criteria with them gives ownership. This is assessment for learning..they need to know what a “3” looks like. Give them a copy of the criteria…can be attached to writing the prediction sheet if you build them ahead of time.
Write a Powerful Prediction
Use all the clues to answer the big question:
“How did this remarkable friendship happen?” by writing a powerful prediction. You must include an inference that explains what you think the “big idea” of this book will be and remember to justify your thinking.
Task #1
Teachers: the intentions must be clear for students
Write a powerful prediction explaining how Owen and Mzee became remarkable friends. Use all your background knowledge about the animals and the situation and explain your thinking, using justification. Make sure your prediction includes an inference about the “big idea” of the story.
Teachers: Remember to use descriptive feedback as you go…what’s working, what’s not? (class, indivi, peers etc.)
Let students ask questions..it invites dialogue.
Have students “own” assessment. They need to be owners and agents of their learning (Faye Brownlie).
For learning to be effective students must own it. “I know what is wrong and I know what to do.”
Reflecting
- How will I strengthen the capturing of new ideas, connection-making and questioning?
- How will I focus the noticing, the metacognition?
- How will I guide the setting of new goals for learning?
- Will I use A/B talk to reinforce, extend or refine the learning?
- New ideas, connections, questions
- Noticing…
- Setting new goals for learning
How did thinking about a “remarkable” friendship change your thinking about your own friendships?
How did thinking about the big idea help you construct a powerful prediction?