Classroom Environment Lesson Structure Assessment Sample Comprehension Lessons

“Infer Meaning in Poetry”

Sample Lesson: Inferring and Visualizing Strategies
Grade 2

Infer & Visualize Prior to Viewing, See Introduction to Inferring and Visualizing

Purposes of the Lesson: Teach students to:

  • Combine background knowledge with text clues to make inferences about the meaning of poems
  • Talk, write, and/or draw to help infer meaning
  • Notice and enjoy characteristics of poetry (rhythm, language , etc.)

Lesson Segment
(Video Clip)
Segment Focus
Questions to Consider While Viewing (Links to Facilitator Notes for PLC)
Teacher Commentary
(Video Clip)
Supporting Documents
Lesson Introduction Become familiar with the poems and lesson plan Lesson Introduction (3:12)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connect/Engage (6:06)
  • Explain the strategy focus of the lesson;
  • Build/activate background knowledge and motivation for reading the text;
  • Establish or practice procedures/routines
What does the teacher do to set students up to be successful and engaged with the lesson? Connect/Engage (0:53)
Model (3:47)
  • Read aloud and stop at strategic points to think aloud
  • Model how to record thinking
  • Use turn and talk to assess understanding and involve students
Usually when we model, we think aloud first before we invite children’s responses. In this lesson, the teacher chose to have the children make the first inference. Do you think this was a good idea? Why or why not? Model (0:44)
Guided Practice 1 (7:33)
  • Continue to read aloud. Children record their own thinking and turn and talk;
  • Gradually shift responsibility for thinking and recording thinking from teacher to students;
  • Confer with students as they work.
What challenges and what opportunities did the differences in children’s background knowledge create in this segment of the lesson? How did the teacher respond to these differences? Guided Practice 1 (2:40)
Guided Practice 2 (5:17) Guided Practice 2 (3:41)
Independent Practice 1 (3:25)
  • Students work on applying the strategy(ies) on their own or with a partner
  • Teacher confers – listening, scaffolding, and teaching into each student’s needs
How do the children help each other as partners? What might be next steps in teaching them effective partner interactions to support their learning? Independent Practice 1 (2:03)
We recommend viewing before the lesson clip
Independent Practice 2 (3:14) How does the teacher help children use background knowledge to make inferences? Independent Practice 2 (3:03)
Analyzing Student Work Teacher/colleague analysis of student work Analyzing Student work (10:13)
Share and Closure (6:57)
  • Teach, reinforce, and/or utilize established routines to provide a respectful and supportive environment for sharing thinking
  • Reinforce important ideas from the lesson and encourage their future use
What is accomplished in the sharing segment? How did the procedures used contribute to the process? Share and Closure (2:38)
Small Group Follow-up: Lesson Introduction Teacher/colleague discussion of the purposes and plans for follow-up View the Small Group Lesson Plan and Small Group Student Work for one of the groups. Small Group Lesson Introduction (3:04)
Small Group Session (6:20) Support children in applying inferential thinking in small group setting What insights can you take away from the small group lesson? Small Group Session (4:08)
Lesson Reflection No video clip for this lesson reflection