Using Pictures to Build Vocabulary and Fluency While Supporting Comprehension
This week, I designed a lesson to help my students build their reading comprehension by increasing their vocabulary and strengthening their fluency. I used our intervention and benchmark assessment program, Istation, to target a known skill and knowledge gap for my students. My district uses Istation because it assesses students using the ISIP for benchmarks and state testing, and it provides personalized, targeted instruction based on the data from the ISIP. It also provides suggested lessons for teachers to implement based off of the priority report's findings.
I used such a lesson centered around analyzing individual words in sentences for understanding. When implementing the lesson, my first step is to read the sentence to my students and put it up on the SMART board, either by writing it or having it typed and ready to go in a presentation. Next, I will ask my students to review each individual word or phrase within the sentence for the information it provides. The students will also be asked to act out any action words to add some movement and fun to the lesson. After reviewing each component, we will reread the sentence together, building our fluency, and check for understanding of the sentence as a whole. Finally, to demonstrate their understanding, students will need to match the sentence to a picture. Students will repeat the process in an interactive whiteboard activity with a partner before completing an independent summative assessment on Otus, our learning platform. Early finishers will be able to do a Kahoot that provides even more practice with this skill!
How I chose the strategies and planned for readiness, interest, and learning style
Research shows that learners vary in their motivation, their learning processes, and how they demonstrate their learning (Perez & Grant, 2022). They also come to school with various readiness levels and interests, so as a teacher, I needed to take into account what I knew of my students and their preferences and learning styles as well as how they learn and perform. My students tend to be auditory learners that benefit from visual supports. A few of them prefer learning kinesthetically or with their hands, but overall, they tend to be auditory learners. They love learning new things, moving around while they learn, and using the SMART board or their Chromebooks.
In differentiated instruction, teachers can adjust the content, the process, the products, and/or the learning environment for their students (Tomlinson, n.d.). The lesson I designed was suggested by Istation, my district's chosen program, however, its original format was traditional lecture, pencil, and paper. I kept the content of the lesson, but I adjusted the process for my students to match their varied levels of readiness and learning styles by adding in extra supports, more auditory support, and partner work. They are very social students but could use the practice in communicating politely with each other even when they disagree.
How I differentiated the assessment and how I would differentiate for varied learners
The original assessment required students to read some sentences and choose from four similar pictures to pick the one that best matched the full meaning of the sentence. I took the lesson and decided to rebuild it into our learning platform, Otus. This allowed me to vary the structure of the tasks to suit my different learners. For example, I could create multiple choice questions, drag and drop questions, true and false, etc. Since my students are primarily auditory learners, I added in a Text-to-Speech feature that they are able to use to read any and all words on the page with the click of a button. They select the words they want to have read aloud, and a voice will read the words and highlight them to help the students track. For my students that dislike using the technology or are hampered by it, I decided to have the print versions available. I would provide auditory support myself if needed.
In order to support my varied learners, I worked to implement tenets of UDL: reducing barriers for learners, providing appropriate challenges for the varied readiness levels, accommodating student interests when possible, and providing alternative pathways for processes and products (Vanderbilt University, 2022). I do not have any ELL students in my class, but I do have one student with a speech IEP. To differentiate for her, I incorporated extra auditory supports into the lesson that she can access as many times as needed as well as allowing her to work with a partner since she is not ready to work on reading independently. For her assessment, she benefits greatly from the Text-to-Speech tool and will be able to use a "Check Answer" button before submitting her work. This allows her a chance for immediate feedback and revision.
I also have two students who have been identified as potentially having gifted abilities. They are strong, independent, self-directed learners who are reading above grade level. Their comprehension sentences will be adjusted to include higher level academic vocabulary and greater varieties of sentence structure to analyze and comprehend. These students also typically fall in my early finisher category. For any students who do finish early, there will be a Kahoot available for extra practice (my students are major fans of Kahoot). They can also work with their partner again (if they are finished) and give each other a sentence to read and analyze before selecting the picture that best matches it.
Technology and Curriculum Materials
A key component of differentiating for my students within the lesson and assessment was technology. I teach first graders, and while we have been working hard at learning how to use our Chromebooks and learning platform, Otus, technology can sometimes be a hindrance instead of a helper if it gets too complicated or is stacked on top of new routines or skills. Therefore, when deciding on what to use, I looked for tools the students already know how to access and use. I also looked for things that would appeal to their interests and needs. This is how I determined what to use in the lesson.
During the "We do" portion of the lesson, I decided to incorporate an interactive whiteboard activity that they would complete with their partner. For students that enjoy working with others, this is appealing. It also helps mitigate the technology barrier for students that are uncomfortable with it because they have a buddy to work with. For the summative assessment, converting it to an activity on Otus allowed for greater variety in task format as well as the ability to give my students access to the Text-to-Speech tool. As the purpose of the lesson was to practice skills that could help build vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, I felt this support was not only allowed, but appropriate.
Technology also helped me as the teacher decide on what curriculum materials to use. I used the priority report data from our Istation program to target skills that needed support. The same report provided me with a range of lessons to implement for intensive interventions. The lesson that I developed is based on the first lesson of a series. Its format and delivery was not right for my students, however, so I kept the core content and concepts and adapted the lesson to benefit my students. Not only does this help them work towards success within first grade, but it also is helping them prepare for our upcoming state testing.
Final Thoughts
Differentiation helps teachers tailor their instruction and assessment strategies to fit the needs and interests of their students. Knowing my students preferred learning styles helped a lot in deciding which portions of the curriculum to adapt and how. I also needed to take into account their readiness levels and whether or not they had any special needs or gifted abilities. By getting to know them and analyzing their assessment data, I was able to design a lesson plan that will help support the success of all of my students.
Thank you for reading!
Cassandra Coleman
References:
Perez, L., & Grant, K. (2022, February 9). 30+ tools for diverse learners | ISTE. ISTE. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.iste.org/explore/Toolbox/30-tools-for-diverse-learners
Tomlinson, C. A. (n.d.). What is differentiated instruction. Reading Rockets. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.readingrockets.org/article/what-differentiated-instruction
Vanderbilt University. (2022). IRIS | page 1: Universal design for learning (UDL). IRIS Center. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/udl/cresource/q1/p01/#content
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