Supporting Students With Disabilities: Supporting Students With Dyslexia: Teachers' Edition

http://www.dyslexia.com/library/classroom.htm
This website provides a brief guide to teachers and parents on ways to integrate a child with dyslexia into the classroom, where they feel comfortable in a safe learning environment.
The Patricia Hodge discusses specific strategies for improving students with dyslexia learning experiences in the following areas:

In the class
Reading
Spelling
Math
Handwriting
Marking of work
homework
integration

Click here to have Thank You, Mr. Falker read to you by Jane Kaczmarek

Check out our lesson plan below on "making connection" using Patricia Polacco's Thank You, Mr. Falker. We choose Thank You, Mr. Falker because it is about Patricia's own struggle with dyslexia as a young girl and how a teacher helped her overcome obstacles.

COMPREHENSION STRATEGY LESSONS

GROUP MEMBERS:

Shanna Delaney

Sarah Hartnett

GRADE LEVEL: Third grade.

COMPREHENSION STRATEGY: Making connections: text-to-self.

LESSON OBJECTIVE(S): What do you want students to know and be able to do by the end of each lesson?

1. Students will be able to demonstrate when and how to make text-to-self connections.

2. Students will be able to demonstrate the ability to make text to self connections to the book Thank you, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco.

3. Students will be able to illustrate how it feels to struggle and/or be teased in school.

4. Students will be able to identify why it is important to make text-to-self connections before, during, and after reading a story.

5. Students will be able to demonstrate the ability to recall events from a story.

6. Students will be able to empathize with a person who is having difficulties in school.

7. Students will be able to demonstrate the ability to work in cooperative groups.

8. Students will be able to demonstrate the ability to write a letter.

9. Students will be able to demonstrate the ability to draw a picture of a person who has made a significant impact on their lives.

10. Students will be able to demonstrate the ability to describe how a person has made a significant impact on their lives.

11. Students will be able to demonstrate the ability to share their thoughts and ideas.

COMMON CORE GRADE-LEVEL STANDARD(S): What grade-level standard(s) are being addressed? Write down the applicable standard(s) for your selected grade-level and provide a rationale for your selection.

Third Grade Reading: Literature:

Key Ideas and Details

1. Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

This standard corresponds with: objectives 1, 2, and 5.

3. Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

This standard corresponds with: objectives 1, 2, 5, and 6.

Craft and Structure

6. Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.

This standard corresponds with: objectives 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11.

Writing 3^rd Grade:

Text Types and Purposes

· Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.

3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

This standard corresponds with: objectives 1, 2, 8, 10, and 11.

Production and Distribution of Writing

· 4. With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

This standard corresponds with: objectives 1, 2, and 8.

We decided to use these common core standards because they not only tied to our objectives, but they also covered each activity that is completed within each lesson.

EVALUATION OF YOUR STUDENTS’ LEARNING: What are you assessing? How are you assessing it? This should be connected to your lessons’ objectives. Consider various types of measures, including products students might create to demonstrate their learning.

We are assessing several things within each of our lessons:

· Main ideas of lessons- We are assessing this through observational reports and listening to verbal recalls.

· Main ideas of the story- We are assessing this through observational reports and listening to verbal recalls.

· Text-to-self connections- We are assessing this through observational reports and the ability to provide a connection.

· Group collaboration/cooperative learning/ participation/attentiveness - We are assessing this through observational reports and group dynamics.

· Think-pair-share- We are assessing this through observational reports and listening to verbal recalls that answer the questions.

· Writing- We are assessing this through their ability to empathize with Trisha and their ability to write a thorough letter.

· Scaffolding questions- We are assessing this through listening to verbal recalls.

· Shared responses- We are assessing shared responses through observational reporting.

MATERIALS (INCLUDING “TEXT” TYPE, NAME OF TEXT, AUTHOR, PUBLISHER AND DATE):

Polacco, P. (1998). Thank you, mr. falker. New York, NY: Philomel Books.

Patricia Polacco costume
index cards
“Thank You____ writing worksheet”
“Trisha’s” letter
chart paper
markers
pencils
crayons/colored pencils
writer’s notebook
easel
computers
papers
a ball
a child friendly rubric

LESSON ONE

APPROX. TIME FOR EACH STEP	SEQUENCE OF STEPS: Write in detail each step that will occur during your lesson. Each lesson needs to contain detailed step-by step procedures. You may have many steps.	ASSESSMENTS: Write any specific assessments that are used for the corresponding step of the lesson.	ADAPTATIONS: Write any specific adaptations that are needed for the corresponding step of the lesson.
Five Minutes.	Creative Introduction: How will you grab the students’ attention and put them in a receptive frame of mind for learning? This should be engaging, meaningful, inclusive, culturally relevant, and potentially exciting. In order for the students to become engaged in the activity, the teacher will separate the class to provide them with an experience of feeling different/left out. The teacher will hand half of the students red index cards, and give the other half blue cards. The distribution of the cards will be randomized. Next, the teacher will tell the red card group to come to the carpet and ask the students with the blue cards to remain in their desks. The students who are on the floor will be able to play a game of Mum Ball, while the students who remained at their seat must read silently. After two minutes, the teacher will have both activities stopped. The teacher will call the students who are at their desks to the carpet. He/she will then ask the students to turn to a partner and discuss how this activity made them feel. Then the teacher will ask students to volunteer some of their answers and will hold a large group discussion about how this activity is similar to how students who are struggling in school might feel.	While the students are participating in think-pair-share, the teacher will implement an informal observational assessments, by walking around the room and listening to the students’ responses.	If students who are in the blue card group struggle with reading, they can listen to a text on tape. If the students who are in the red card group do not want to play Mum Ball, they can go to the reading group.
Ten minutes.	The Mini-lesson: · Explicit Explaining: *The teacher will explain that they will be reading the first half of Thank you Mr. Falker* by Patricia Polacco together as a class:** “Today class, we are going to start reading a story about a girl named Trisha, who is struggling in school.” They will also explain that the book is being read in order for the class to develop an appreciation for students who struggle in reading. “The point of reading this story is to help us as good readers to see when our friends may be in need when we are at school.” To activate prior knowledge, the teacher will ask the students, “how many of you at any point in time have ever struggled in school or have ever been teased? Raise your hand and tell us about it.” The teacher will then explain that: “One ‘secret’ to understanding a text is to make personal or text-to-self connections. Good readers use this strategy before, during, and after reading in order to relate to characters and events that occur within a story.” The teacher will also say, “You have already used this strategy by sharing your personal stories about struggling and/or being teased in school.” They will also say that “This strategy will help you to become better readers and writers because it allows you to relate to a text on a personal level.” By the end of the lesson, students will be able to understand when and how to make text to self connections. · Modeling: The teacher will say: “Now that we have all of this information, let’s begin reading our story. Now pay attention as I use our ‘secrets strategy’ to make connections.” The teacher will read up until the third page. They will then say, “Just by reading this part of the text, it jogged my memory about when I was Trisha’s age and my mother used to read me a story every night before bed.” The teacher will provide an elaboration on this topic. Once this is complete, the teacher will continue reading the story. The teacher will then pause on page fifteen. They will then recall to the students a time they were struggling in school and a time they were teased for it. I remember a time when I was struggling in math. I could not remember my six times tables. I used to get teased when I messed up the factors when my teacher called on me. My classmates would laugh at me and call me dumb. It made me very sad.” The teacher will then read one more page of the text and then will say, “This is a good stopping place for today. We will continue reading tomorrow.” · Whole Group/Shared Practice: Once the first half of the story is read, the teacher will say to the students, “Now it is your turn to help me make more text-to-self connections.” He/She will say, “Can we make a text-to-self connection using the details from the story about Trisha being read a bedtime story together.” The teacher will elicit responses while providing support.	As an assessment, the teacher will be listening to the students’ shared story responses. They will make sure that the students are answering and covering the topic thoroughly, by asking for clarification or more details if and when necessary (scaffolding).	If more clarification on making text to self connections are necessary, the teacher will provide more examples of their own personal connections they can make to the story. If students cannot make a personal connection about a time where they either struggled or were teased in school, they can tell stories about other times where they may have struggled outside of school.
Seven minutes.	Closure: This is to help students organize their learning for that day, to reinforce major points and to clarify confusions. This might also serve as one opportunity for assessment. How will you help students to make sense of what they learned that lesson? In order to reinforce the lesson, the teacher will be holding a ball and will say, “One thing I learned today was that we have a lot in common with Trisha. Who else would like to share one thing they learned today” The teacher will pass the ball around and have each student share one thing that they learned today. The teacher will answer any questions the students may have while sharing in order to clarify any confusion. This activity is completed in order to not only reinforce the ideas learned within the lesson, but to engage every student, and ensure that they understand that one ‘secret’ to becoming a better reader is to make text-to-self connection.	The teacher will be assessing the students by making sure that their answers actually entail what was covered within the class period.	For students who are reluctant to share their ideas, the teacher will prompt them by giving the students a starting sentence idea.

LESSON TWO

APPROX. TIME FOR EACH STEP	SEQUENCE OF STEPS: Write in detail each step that will occur during your lesson. Each lesson needs to contain detailed step-by step procedures. You may have many steps.	ASSESSMENTS: Write any specific assessments that are used for the corresponding step of the lesson.	ADAPTATIONS: Write any specific adaptations that are needed for the corresponding step of the lesson.
Five minutes.	Creative Introduction/Review: How will you grab the students’ attention and put them in a receptive frame of mind for learning? How will you review what was learned yesterday and prepare them for today’s lesson? This should be engaging, meaningful, inclusive, culturally relevant, and potentially exciting. At the start of the period, the teacher will tell the students that they received a letter. The teacher will say, “Guess what readers? This morning, when I was in the office, I found a letter in my school mailbox addressed to our third grade class! Let’s open it and read to see who it is from.” The letter will be from Trisha (the teacher has created this letter the night before). The letter will state that “Trisha” heard that the class was making personal connections to her story. “Trisha” will also state that she is writing to ask the students to continue to make personal connections and to see if whether or not they would tease her at the conclusion of her story. Once the letter is read, the teacher will state that, “Before we continue reading Trisha’s story, let’s recall what we learned yesterday. Turn to your partner and tell them one thing you remember from yesterday’s lesson.” *Students will volunteer to share answers regarding the plot of Thank you Mr. Falker, as well as what the class learned about making text to self connections.* After recalling the ideas from yesterday’s lesson, the teacher will pass out index cards to each student and will say, “Okay class, I want you to write one word that would describe how you might feel if you were struggling to read like Trisha.”	The teacher will assess the students through informal observations based on their ability to recall the main ideas of yesterday’s lesson. The teacher will also be assessing the students based on the explanation of the word they wrote on their index cards.	If students are having difficulty recalling main ideas from yesterday’s lesson, the teacher will provide an example. If the students are having trouble writing a word to describe how they might have felt if they were Trisha, they could either draw a picture or verbally say how they would feel.
Ten minutes.	Scaffolding: · Guided Small-Group Practice (i.e., teacher coaching, conferring, and re-teaching as small groups of students practice the strategy) *The teacher will continue to read Thank you, Mr. Falker. After the first page, the teacher will make one more personal text-to-self connection about having a supportive teacher.* “Remember yesterday when I told you that I was struggling in math. Well, my math teacher really helped me. He would stay after school everyday to help me with my six times tables. Keep this story in mind as we continue reading the story and get to know Mr. Falker better. Now what was our ‘secret strategy again.” Once the students answer this question, the teacher will say, “If anyone has a text-to-self connection to make, raise your hand and I will call on you.” The teacher will begin reading the last half of the story. Once the teacher has finished reading a page, they will call on students to share their text to self connections. Once the story is complete, the teacher will break the students into groups of four and will say, “In your groups, I want you to write a letter to Trisha. Within the letter, you should recall how Trisha was treated and how you might treat her differently.” Before the students begin this activity, the teacher will ensure that the students understand the elements to writing a letter. The teacher will get out her easel and chart paper and will review the parts to a letter.	The teacher will assess the students based on their accuracy of making proper text to self connections. Using a child friendly rubric, the teacher will assess the students’ spelling, grammar, sentence structure, format, and details within their letters. The teacher will also assess how well the students work together as a group (participation grade).	If the students are not comfortable sharing personal connections aloud to the class, they can write them down in their writer’s notebook. The teacher can dictate and act as a scribe for students who are struggling to write their letters or they can use another peer as a scribe. If computers are made readily available, another option could be that students can type their responses.
Seven minutes.	Closure/Student Sharing/Teacher Debriefing: This is to help student organize their learning for that day, to reinforce major points to clarify any confusion. This might also serve as one opportunity for assessment. How will you help students to make sense of what they learned during the lesson? As a conclusion to the lesson, the teacher will obtain the attention of the class. He/She will say, “May I have your attention please, I want (the teacher will call each group one by one to the carpet) to come to the carpet. Who would like to share their letter that they wrote to Trisha?” Once every group has shared their letter, he/she will say, “Those are all really nice letters. Let’s combine our ideas to write one big letter to send to Trisha.” Within the letter, students must state how her story helped them to make text to self connections. One by one students will come up to the easel to contribute a sentence towards the letter.	The teacher will assess the students based on their ability to collaborate as a team. The teacher will also assess the students’ ability to articulate how Trisha’s story helped them to make text to self connections.	If a student is unable to write on the easel, the student can dictate what they would like to say in the letter and either the teacher or another peer can act as a scribe.

LESSON THREE

APPROX. TIME FOR EACH STEP	SEQUENCE OF STEPS: Write in detail each step that will occur during your lesson. Each lesson needs to contain detailed step-by step procedures. You may have many steps.	ASSESSMENTS: Write any specific assessments that are used for the corresponding step of the lesson.	ADAPTATIONS: Write any specific adaptations that are needed for the corresponding step of the lesson.
Five minutes.	Creative Introduction/Review: How will you grab the students’ attention and put them in a receptive frame of mind for learning? How will you review what was learned yesterday and prepare them for today’s lesson? This should be engaging, meaningful, inclusive, culturally relevant, and potentially exciting. When class begins, there will be a knock at the door. The teacher will say, “I wonder who that could be? Come in please. Another faculty member who is familiar with Patricia Polacco’s life, such as a push-in teacher, parent, or librarian will come in dressed up like her. The other teacher will say, “My name is Patricia Polacco. I came today to show you how Mr. Falker helped me to become a reader. Can you help me recall how he help me?” After this discussion, she will also explain that, “Today, I would like you to think about one person in your life that has helped you deal with a time where you were either struggling and/or were teased.”	The teacher will assess the students based on their response to how Mr. Falker helped Trisha become a reader. This is assessing their ability to recall the events in the conclusion of the story.	If the students are not comfortable sharing their ideas with the class, they can write it in their writer’s notebook.
Ten Minutes.	Even More Scaffolding: · Independent Practice: (i.e., coaching, conferring, and re-teaching as needed as teams or individuals practice the strategy) The teacher will display a worksheet in her hand and say, “This will help guide your writing. At the top of the worksheet, I want you to fill in the blank with the name of the person you would like to thank for helping you. In the middle of the worksheet, I would like you to either draw a picture of the person or a time when they were helping you. At the bottom of this sheet, I want you to write a paragraph describing your picture.”	Using the child friendly rubric, the teacher will assess the students spelling, grammar, punctuation, and details about their pictures.	If students are struggling to create a picture detailing an event, they can just draw a picture of the person. If students have difficulty writing about the event, they can either orally dictate the event, or have someone such as another peer or the teacher serve as a scribe. Another option could be to type their responses if computers are accessible.
Seven minutes.	Closure/Student Sharing/Teacher Debriefing: This is to help student organize their learning for that day, to reinforce major points and to clarify confusions. This might also serve as one opportunity for assessment. How will you help students to make sense of what they learned during the lesson? As a conclusion to this lesson, the teacher will say, “Who would like to share their picture to Trisha? Once you finish sharing, you could ask her one question about her life.” Once this is complete, the teacher will say, “Well class, our time with Patricia is almost over. Why don’t we volunteer to tell her one thing we have learned over the past three days. I will begin. Trisha, I have learned that reading is never mastered in one sitting, you are always learning new strategies and that reading is an important part of everyone’s life. Who would like to go next?” Once everyone finishes volunteering, the teacher will say, “Okay class, let’s thank Patricia for coming in and helping us to become better readers by using our ‘secret’ strategy of making text-to-self connections.”	The teacher will assess the students’ verbal responses to the “ticket out the door” activity.	If the students are uncomfortable talking to “Trisha”, the students can either write her a note or tell the teacher what they have learned.

Interviews:

Meet The Author: Patricia Polacco

The author talks about her family life and discusses her teacher Mr. Falker (who she wrote her book Thank You Mr. Falker in recognition and in gratitude of what he did to help her learn how to read).