Craft Lesson 3

Title: Connecting the story to my experience (Comprehension and Writing)

Resource: Ruby Lu, Brave and True by Lenore Look, Illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf

According to TEKS: (9) Reading/comprehension. The student uses a variety of strategies to comprehend selections read aloud. The student is expected to: (A) use prior knowledge to anticipate meaning and make sense of texts (K-3); (C) retell or act out the order of important events in stories (K-3). (15) Writing/composition. The student composes original texts. The student is expected to: (C) write to record ideas and reflections (K-3)

Discussion: There are many writing topics to choose from. However, it is not easy to find the topic that I want to write about. As one of good writing topics, I think that a book review or reflection can be a good topic for writing. After students read a book, if they need to write about what they read, they would read the book as a writer, as well as a reader. If they read a book as a writer, they would try harder to comprehend the text during their reading. In addition, when they write about what they read, they would have time to rethink and find what they missed during their reading. I think a book review or reflection is very helpful for students improve their comprehension and writing.

How to teach (2nd – 3rd grade): As homework, students would read two or three chapters of this book per day. Before they start to read, the teacher will let them know that when they finish reading this book, they are going to have time to write about this book. The teacher also would hand out a chart to the students. Whenever the students finish reading one chapter, they would write the main event of the chapter on the chart. After they finish reading the whole chapter, children would have time to share their chart. Then, the teacher would hand out several questions related to comprehension of this book for children. Children would write down the answers and hand them in to be graded by the teacher. The teacher would analyze what students hand in, and if there are specific parts that children do not comprehend well, the teacher would have time to discuss that part of the story in more detail. In addition, the teacher would give two main discussion topics to the students: Trouble with Christina and Ruby’s driving. Through this discussion, the students have time to think about friends and the danger of driving. Also, they can present their experiences related to these topics. After that, the teacher would let children write the reflection about this book or their discussion. Children also can choose their writing topic among their main event chart.