Domain 1: Planning and Preparations → 1e. Designing Coherent Instruction; Lesson Plans (Strength)

Shown here is the lesson plan I designed as a part of the informational text unit I taught to my Critical Reading students. In this unit, we read a wealth of informational texts closely and learned specific strategies to get “unstuck” or self-monitor one's comprehension. This particular lesson focused on identifying and working through “word gaps,” or unfamiliar words, or words with multiple meanings. The lesson fulfills critical reading standard CS.2.CR.5, to self-monitor comprehension by using fix-up strategies to repair or maintain understanding of text.

I chose this lesson plan as a strength because I believe it was effective in enabling my students to start thinking metacognitively about their reading, therefore speaking to my ability in designing coherent instruction (in accordance to domain 1e.). Educational scholars Cynthia Greenlead et al write about inquiring into how readers make sense of text. There must be conversation both internal, as individual readers observe their own minds in actions, and external, when readers discuss what they are noticing, what they are stumped by, and how they are solving reading problems. This is known as thinking and conversing metacognitively, and what I aim for with my lesson plan.

My word gap lesson works by letting students know that we will be pushing ourselves to think about what to do when we come across words or phrases we don’t understand when we read. I then provide the environment to let my students identify words with multiple meanings and unfamiliar words in shared mentor texts, and model what to do to get "unstuck" and continue reading for maximum comprehension before releasing them to try it on their own in an informational text.