Title: Guided Reading Lesson Plan

Date: Spring Semester 2013

Description: My artifact that I am using for this standard is a lesson plan that I created for a
guided reading group. I worked with a group of five kindergarteners for guided reading, and we
read a book titled Who Hid? I taught the students about camouflage and how animals use it for
protection.
Alignment:
Wisconsin Teacher Standard Alignment:
This lesson plan best aligns with Standard One: Content. This states that The teacher
understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the disciplines she or he
teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful
for pupils. The lesson plan best aligns to this standard because for this guided reading group,
camouflage and protection was the topic of discussion. I picked this particular book because it
had many great illustrations of how specific animals used camouflage. I needed to teach the
students vocabulary words such as camouflage and predator in order for them to understand
the story fully. While I was spending time with the group, I noticed that a student in the class
was wearing pants with camouflage. To help the students really grasp the concept of camouflage,
I had that student stand by the table we were working at and explained to them that people in the
military often wear clothing that looked similar to the students pants. I then asked the students
how that kind of camouflage would help people hide. With prompt, they eventually told me that
it would help people blend into grass and trees. The students were very engaged in this
discussion, and they seemed to really enjoy the book.
UW-Platteville School of Education Knowledge, Skill, Disposition Alignment:
This experience best aligns with KSD1.a., Demonstrates Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy,
which states The candidate displays extensive content knowledge of his/her subject areas and
demonstrates a continuing search for new content knowledge, resources, and best instructional
practices, while understanding student diversity and student misconceptions and
misunderstandings as key to the teaching process. The lesson plans best aligns to this KSD
because I was very knowledgeable about the topic that I was teaching, which was camouflage.
As stated above, I had the students actually look at camouflage on a students pants to fully grasp
the concept. I do not think that the activity would have been as meaningful if the students did not
have something physical to look at. Some of the students were not as strong of readers as the
other students in the group. To help these students, I helped them sound out the words in the
story while we read it together and asked questions to make sure they comprehended what was
read. After the students took turns reading the book, I had them read the book together so they
could practice reading it aloud another time. After we were finished reading the book, we
discussed the animals that were in the story, along with other animals, and how they used
camouflage for protection from other animals.
Secondary KSDs:
KSD1.e. Designing Coherent Instruction
KDS1.c Selects Instructional Goals

KSD3.c. Engages Students in Learning.

Reflection:
What I learned about teaching/learning:
I learned many things by writing this lesson plan and using it to teach a guided reading group. I
learned that one reading strategy may not work for every student; I need to differentiate my
instruction to teach to each students learning styles. Another thing that I learned is that students
need to be engaged in real life situations in order to understand the meaning behind material that
is being taught. If the teacher can relate the material to something that is actually happened,
students will be more engaged and willing to learn.
What I learned about myself as a prospective teacher:
I learned that I need to discuss my expectations of the students before I begin teaching. The
students knew what my expectations were but needed a reminder in order to behave well.
Another thing that I learned is that I need to not overestimate what students know. If I think that
they have already learned about a topic, I need to asked them questions about it and review the
topic before moving on to something else. If I do not do this, I will assume that students have
already learned about the particular topic, move on, and the students will miss important
information.