Sample Lesson Planning Guide for Reading

Objectives: (What will students learn and be able to do as a result of this activity?)




Assessment and Evaluation: (What do students know and do as readers? What do they not know or do as readers? What criteria and guidelines will help students know what is expected in this lesson? What mini-lesson(s) might be needed for students to succeed?)






Task: (What is the task? What demands will the print text make on students? What reading skills and strategies do students need in order to comprehend the text?)






Before Reading: (What pre-reading activities will help the students prepare to read? How will they access their background knowledge and think about what they know on the topic? Is there key vocabulary that they need to know? How will they set a purpose for reading?)






During Reading: (What strategies can students use to understand what they are reading? How will they make personal connections, visualize, identify parts that confuse, monitor understanding, and note and recall important ideas? How will they make and confirm predictions, make inferences, evaluate, and reflect upon what they are reading? How can they determine the meaning of words that they do not know?)






After Reading: (What activities or guidelines will help students follow up on the reading, review what they have read, clarify, and reflect upon the text? What activities will help students analyze and synthesize what they have read? What activities will help them evaluate the text and draw conclusions? Will students have an opportunity to reread the text or to read a related text?)







Sample Teacher Checklist to Support Reading

1. Do I model and share reading strategies, as well as a personal pleasure in reading?
__ read to students
__ encourage and model active reading
__ teach and model a variety of comprehension strategies that readers use before, during, and after interacting with texts
__ employ and model a variety of strategies to help students respond to texts
__ help students extend their initial understanding and interpretations

2. Do I use mini-lessons to help students review or acquire a reading skill or strategy or learn a specific language concept in the context of their reading?
__ analyze what individuals and groups of students need to know and build on what they already know
__ provide direct instruction by demonstrating and modelling a reading strategy
__ provide short but focused direct instruction about a language concept, convention, format, or issue

3. Do I provide opportunities for students to read and discuss a variety of genres from a variety of historical periods, cultures, etc.?
__ use novels, poems, short stories, essays, editorials, biographies, information articles, picture books, and others
__ include Saskatchewan and other Canadian voices and perspectives such as Aboriginal, multicultural, male and female, etc.
__ include traditional and contemporary voices and perspectives

4. Do I encourage students to take risks and to offer unique responses to literature supported by their experiences and evidence in texts?
__ help students to trust and build on their initial and personal responses
__ encourage students to talk about their reading
__ give students opportunities to clarify and extend their thinking about what they read
__ encourage students to make connections to the broader issues and world around them
__ model the use of a variety of types of evidential support from text

5. Do I provide opportunities for students to reflect, discuss, and think critically about their reading?
__ encourage students to share their first impressions and understanding, and then to examine those impressions
__ help students explore motivations, implications, and causes and effects
__ help students examine the literary form, techniques, and language employed
__ help students understand that each text reflects a particular viewpoint and set of values that is shaped by its personal, social, cultural, and historical context

6. Do I help students develop their reading skills and strategies within meaningful contexts rather than in isolation?
__ use texts that are related to the unit or topic being discussed
__ have students compare texts
__ provide instruction at the time of need
__ build or model problem-solving strategies using all the cueing systems

7. Do I encourage students to select and read independently from a variety of resources?
__ provide opportunities for student choice of reading selection, activity, etc.
__ balance guided reading experiences with independent experiences
__ demonstrate interest in students' personal reading activities outside of school

8. Do I involve students in assessing reading practices and behaviours?
__ identify students' strengths and needs before, during, and after reading
__ use checklists, rubrics, conferences, and anecdotal notes
__ involve students in developing appropriate criteria