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https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/modeling-strategy-getty

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Focused Instruction- Planning Sheet for Mini-lessons

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Focused Instruction- Planning Sheet for Mini-lessons

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Focused Instruction- Viewing Guide for Mini-lessons

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Focused Instruction- Viewing Guide for Mini-lessons

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Focused Instruction- Architecture of a Mini-lesson

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Focused Instruction- Architecture of a Mini-lesson

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This is the phase that Fisher and Frey say is applied too early too often. If a student has just been introduced to a skill, if independent practice is assigned too soon, the student may practice the skill incorrectly, repeatedly, before the teacher notices the confusion. Formatively assess students to determine who is ready to show independent mastery of the AKS. Consider the purpose of this independent work time? Are students applying a skill? Spiraling a skill? Extending a skill? Building fluency with a skill? Check Better Learning Through Structured Teaching for the purpose of homework and consider if this same theory works for planning independent work time in class.

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Gradual Release of Responsibility Lesson Plan Template

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Gradual Release of Responsibility Lesson Plan Template

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***Read Like a Reader/Read Like a Writer***

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***Read Like a Reader/Read Like a Writer***

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Some LA AKS ask students to read like a reader (What does the text say? What does the text mean?). Others ask students to read like a writer (How does the text work? Why did the author make these choices?)

Clustering the reading and writing AKS in a way to build on this connection is important. If I want to teach argumentative writing, first we need to read and analyze argumentative writing for meaning then for structure.

This works for all genres of writing. It's not appropriate to assign a narrative and expect good dialogue unless we have read multiple narratives with good dialogue and understand why and how author's use dialogue in a narrative.

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Focused Instruction- More Tips for Planning and Delivering a Great Mini-lesson

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Focused Instruction- More Tips for Planning and Delivering a Great Mini-lesson

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*First and foremost, know exactly what it is you want your students to be able to do at the end of the lesson. Clearly be able to name your teaching point.  Be ready to say, "Writers, today I want to teach you that_____________."  Teachers must clearly understand the teaching point before getting down to the business of planning.
*Remember, there are four specific parts to every mini lesson. Rather than spending 45 minutes planning a 10 minute mini lesson, try to identify the parts to your lesson using a simple planning sheet.
*Once your planning is done, think out your delivery of the lesson. I found it helpful to take a minute or two to visualize my mini lessons. Once you've thought out your lesson- it's showtime!
*Carefully and expressively deliver your connection.  The delivery of your connection to students should take roughly no more than 2 minutes.  In fact, shoot for less than 2 minutes.
*At the end of the connection, clearly name the teaching point! I also found it helpful to write it in simple language on the board or smart board for students to refer back to during writing time.
*Immediately after, launch into the teaching portion of the lesson.  Do not take questions during this time.  Set up this routine early.  Interruptions disrupt the lesson’s flow, and may disrupt many students' internal processing.
*Quickly transition into the active engagement portion of the lesson.  This gives students an opportunity to practice the teaching point.  During these few minutes, walk around, get down on the floor with your students, look and what they are doing and what they are not doing.  This is a great time for teachers to formatively assess how students are grasping the teaching point.
*Give the link that connects back to the teaching point, and send students on their way to write!  With less lesson, students are more engaged and have the opportunity to produce more writing with more time.
*Remember, all of this should take no more than fifteen minutes.  It's not easy to accomplish. The more you do it, the more natural it will feel.

*Try to spend some time watching mini lesson videos (some great ones are linked below). Identify the four parts of the lesson while watching. Doing this helped me tremendously.

Lots of great lessons at this link!

http://readingandwritingproject.org/resources/units-of-study#

Some great ones to watch that are MS or can be adapted to MS:

This is great lesson for looking at the parts of a mini-lesson and seeing how much can be accomplished in under 15 minutes.

"Whole Class Instruction to Support Comparing and Contrasting Sources of Information Related to Immigration (3-5)"

Other videos to support Focused Instruction that are specific to grades 5-8 at this link:

"Whole Class Instruction in Studying Author's Craft and Intent: Reading a Mentor Text so Writers Learn Literary Techniques"

"Whole Class Instruction: Teaching Students to Organize Information Text to Support a Claim"

"Teach Students to Examine Craft Moves and Author's Intent in Mentor Persuasive Essay in Order to Support Revision"

"Whole Class Instruction: Fantasy Writers Develop Setting"

"Whole Class Instruction in Perspective and Point of View"

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The teacher can pull small groups at any time during the Gradual Release process. Did some students struggle with the Active Engagement part of the mini-lesson? Pull a small group to continue that conversation. If students need additional scaffolding for a skill, write a new mini-lesson but deliver it in a small group. Students working in collaborative groups or independently could benefit from you conferring with them a few minutes with strategic use of questioning, prompting, and cuing.

Check out these videos of guided instruction at
http://readingandwritingproject.org/resources/units-of-study#

"A Reading Conference: Teaching Intertextuality to a Student"

"An Ensuing Conference: Providing Critical Feedback to Raise Standards"

"Assessing Endings to Persuasive Essays in Order to Clarify Expectations and Inform Essay Revisions"

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Examples of lessons from Argumentative Writing

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Examples of lessons from Argumentative Writing

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Go to this additional padlet link for tools for argument.
http://padlet.com/kay_b_reynolds/bnlmdhrizhmh

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Remember that collaborative learning is when students are working together to continue refining their understanding of the AKS. This is a time for productive struggle. This is NOT divide and conquer for an end product like in cooperative learning groups. This is needing each other, needing to think through the work together. A starting point for collaborative learning is for students to take the learning from the mini-lesson and apply the skill to a new scenario or text together. Consider the purpose of this collaborative time? Are students applying a skill? Spiraling a skill? Extending a skill? Building fluency with a skill? Use your speaking and listening AKS to establish grade-appropriate collaborative habits.

Check out these videos of collaborative learning at http://readingandwritingproject.org/resources/units-of-study#

"Partners Discuss the Different Perspectives of Characters in a Text"

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Focused Instruction- Key to Planning a Minilesson

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Focused Instruction- Key to Planning a Minilesson

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When planning a minilesson, consider creating a sentence like these below. It helps us focus on teaching skills in a way where students can transfer that learning to a new text or scenario.

Readers _____(skill) by _____(strategy).

For example:

*One way readers can track the theme of a story is by looking for words of wisdom from elders in the story. (Use signposts from Notice and Note to practice this strategy)

*Readers make inferences based on  historical photographs by using "I notice" and "I wonder" when studying the photographs.

*Readers look for the counterclaim of an argument by looking for transitional words and phrases that suggest contrast like "however" or "on the other hand."

Writers _____(skill) by _____ (strategy).

*Writers establish chronological order when writing procedural directions by using transitional words.

*Writers choose a side during an argument by stating a claim then providing evidence to support that claim.

*Writers include dialogue in their narratives to help propel the plot.

*Writers use first person point of view in order to let the reader into the mind of the narrator, which offers a better understanding of the internal conflict.

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Yes, this is a middle school minilesson, but notice the reading and writing flip in this lesson. First we read like a reader.  Then students are asked to read like a writer and consider which moves will best support their own writing. This same type of minilessons work in high school classrooms.
https://vimeo.com/56066196