Small Group Mini Lesson

Mini-Lesson Grade: 5th Rationale (Why are you teaching this lesson?): The work of literacy I am using in this lesson is a historical fiction play about the Titanic. The students are extremely interested in the Titanic, and have been learning about it all year. The students have had little exposure to historical fiction in regards to the Titanic, and seeing facts mixed in with a fictional story, based on a true event. This lesson is important because the students will be coming across facts as well as opinions in the play, and will need to distinguish fact from opinion. Objective for this lesson: Students will be able to… (Remember it must be student centered and observable!!!!!!!) Students will be able to distinguish fact from opinion while reading works of historical fiction. Materials & supplies needed: 4 Scholastic Storyworks Magazines, chart paper

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event  • Introduction to the lesson  (What will you say to help children understand the purpose of the lesson?  How will you help them make connections to prior lessons or experiences?  How will you motivate them to become engaged in the lesson?) (___ minutes)  “I know that you have been learning about the Titanic this year, and ways that you’ve been learning about it is through books, and posters and such, but today we’re going to be reading a historical fiction play about the Titanic. From knowing what ‘fiction’ means, raise your hand to tell me what you think ‘historical fiction’ might mean.” (Students will respond) “Historical fiction is a genre that is fiction; not real, but have elements in the story that are based on a true event. So, we all know that the Titanic is a true event, but the characters and the story isn’t true in this play. In this play, the characters will be saying facts as well as opinions. Raise your hand to tell me what an ‘opinion’ is. An opinion is a judgment about something, that’s not based on facts. It is what someone thinks, and everyone’s’ opinions may differ. While we read through the play, I want you to pay very close attention to the characters telling us facts and opinions. If you come across a statement that you feel is a fact I want you to put one thumb up. If you come across a statement that you feel is an opinion, I want you to put both thumbs up. We will create a chart of these facts and opinions as we go.” • OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (Include specific details about how you will begin and end activities; what questions you will use; how you will help children understand behavior expectations during the lesson; when/how you will distribute supplies and materials) (___ minutes) After introducing historical fiction, fact verses opinion, and what I want the students do to when they come across a fact and opinion, I will assign characters to each of the students. Since I am working with a small group of students, there will be more than one role for each student. I will pick these roles randomly. We will all be sitting at the same table together, so I expect there to be minimal behavioral issues. By holding the students accountable for finding facts and opinions, and showing me they know the difference by putting their thumbs up, I hope this will help the students stay focused and on track.  Next, we will read the play. As we read, we will stop when we reach a fact or opinion to write it on chart paper. This might ruin the flow of the story, however, the goal of the lesson is to be able to distinguish fact from opinion, not necessarily comprehension. We can also read the play over again without disruptions if needed. Once we’ve read the entire play and filled out our fact vs. opinion chart, we will review what we’ve done to make sure it all makes sense. The chart should look something like this: Facts Opinions “It was April 14, 1912, and the Titanic had been at sea for four days.” “The Titanic was the most elegant ship ever built.” “Tragically, of approximately 2,200 people on board, only about 700 survived.” “The food and service on the Titanic was better than on other ships.” • Closing summary for the lesson (How will you bring closure to the lesson and involve children in reflecting on their experiences?  How will you involve them making connections to prior lessons or prepare for future experiences?  What kind of feedback do you want from them at this time?) (___ minutes) We will discuss how the students knew that the facts are facts, and that the opinions are opinions. For example, the first opinion states,  “the Titanic was the most elegant ship ever built.” To make sure the students understand why this is an opinion I will say, “How do we know this isn’t a fact? Can we make it into a fact?” Students respond, and we could make this into a fact by stating, “The Titanic was the biggest moving object ever built.” (This is a fact listed in a caption in the play itself) I will help students make connections by having them share facts that they’ve learned either in this play, or previously. I will have the students share an opinion they have about the Titanic as well. I will do this using the think pair share method, so that students have proper think time allotted, are able to feel confident about sharing with one other classmate, and then having the opportunity to share out with the whole group as well. I To have the students prepare for future experiences, I will explain to the students that while reading historical fiction, there will be a mix of both facts and opinions and that it is important for them to know the difference, so they can become knowledgeable about the information they are reading. The feedback I expect from the students at this time is to understand what makes an opinion different from a fact and words such as “better” and “the most” can be clues into an opinion, and not necessarily a fact. I want students to be able to clearly state both a fact and opinion about the Titanic, so I can tell that they’ve learned the difference between the two.

Assessment: (How will you know the students are progressing toward your identified objective?  What will you observe for and/or take notes on to help you plan follow-up instruction?) I will know that the students are progressing toward the objective by giving the students statements one by one and having them tell me if the sentence is fact or an opinion. I will then ask why and have the student explain to me why the statement is a fact or opinion, so I will be able to tell If they understand the difference. I am able to do this since there it is a small group. If a student seems to hesitate before answering and may not be sure about the answer, I will make a note of that for follow-up instruction. For a whole class assessment, I would create a historical fiction paragraph and have the students put a circle around the facts, and underline the opinions. Then, I would have students write their own historical fiction essay based on something they are learning about in Social Studies or Science. For example, if the students were learning about Space, I would have them write a story about Space using a certain amount of facts (from their textbook) and opinions.           I chose to work with four focus students for my small group lesson. I decided to choose brand new students that I have not focused on for any specific task at all this year. This semester, I have made it a point to get to know a different student each time I visit the class. I take note on how they work, participate, and interact during recess. Student A is a boy who joined the class after Christmas. He seems to have fit in just fine, but still doesn’t participate often during whole class discussions. However, while reading his journals, he seems to make good connections to previous experiences. I would say that Student A’s strengths are being able to make connections to his own life, and what he learned at his old school. Student A’s challenges would be sharing with the class and expanding on ideas other students may have during discussion. Student B is a student who doesn’t participate at all in class, but has been on the honor roll all year. This student’s strengths are his ability to pay attention to minute details in the story and remember them later in the story. For example, he is able to answer comprehension questions and refer to details that were previously mentioned. Student B’s challenges are that he seems to get frustrated easily. He doesn’t seem to have confidence in himself, or his work and often thinks he isn’t doing well. Student C is a girl who has behavioral issues in the class. Her strengths are that when she focuses and stays on task is able to make connections with what she’s learned previously. She is also one of the students who will notice something in the reading that they’ve talked about before, and bring it to the class’s attention. Student C’s challenges are being able to focus and not get so easily distracted. She tends to only do the minimal work, even if she has more to say. Student D is a girl who seems to not have many friends within the class, but is not shy. Her strengths are that she participates and is always willing to read. Her challenges are that she becomes easily frustrated when given an assignment because she doesn’t want to complete it. She comes up with excuses and it takes a while for her to get started. Once she gets on task and stays on task, Student D is able to get out many thoughts on paper and makes valid connections.      For this lesson, I wanted to focus on the skills of focusing, connecting, and really understanding the difference between fact and opinion. Since a few of the students I chose do not often participate in a whole group setting, I was curious to see how they would do in a small group lesson. I gave the students something not only look for while reading, but something to show me they understood, to keep them focused and engaged; which is normally a problem for a few of my students. The lesson went really well. The students were able to share with me what they’ve learned about the Titanic throughout the year, to connect their previous knowledge to the play. The students really seemed to enjoy the play as well. I gave each of the students parts and they were almost fighting over roles, as they all wanted to participate. The students also got into the intonation of the characters, and would speak louder when there was an exclamatory sentence. While reading, the students would put their thumbs up and we would stop to discuss why the statement they just read was a fact or opinion. When we got to the sentence, “The Titanic was the most elegant ship ever built,” the students automatically put two thumbs up. I asked the students to think about why this was an opinion, and not a fact. Then, I had two students share out. Student A said, “They could have thought it was the most elegant, that’s what they think.” Student D said, “She might have never been on a ship before, so that one may be the most elegant, so she doesn’t know.” This helped me to see what the students were thinking through during the activity. After reading, I gave the students each a sentence. Each of the students responded correctly, and wanted to answer for the next student. Overall, they were extremely engaged and excited about the task. I believe that this helped the students to speak up and participate. I also think that this activity helped build confidence with the students because they were so knowledgeable about the Titanic, from previous knowledge. If I were to teach this lesson again, I would create my own historical fiction story that contained harder statements that would make the students think harder about if they were facts or opinions. I would also have the students create their own historical fiction stories, incorporating facts as well as opinions. This would utilize their writing and spelling skills, integrate a different subject, and show me what they’ve learned about facts vs. opinions. I think the writing portion could also be a follow-up lesson, staying with the historical fiction, so that the students have more exposure to this genre.