Early Childhood

Task 1: Planning Commentary

TASK 1: PLANNING COMMENTARY

Respond to the prompts below (no more than single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the
brackets. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Pages exceeding the maximum will not be scored.

1. Central Focus
a. Describe the central focus and purpose of the content you will teach in the learning
segment.
[The central focus for this learning segment is Reading Comprehension, focused in the content
area of Language Arts. Reading Comprehension is developmentally appropriate for first graders
in the second half of the year because it builds upon and requires students to apply prior
knowledge and skills for reading fluency that they have been developing throughout
Kindergarten and First Grade. I selected reading comprehension as a central focus that would
be beneficial for the whole group of students in my class. They are at different levels regarding
fluency and comprehension skills, but all can benefit from developing their comprehension skills.
It is important for students to develop their comprehension skills while they are developing their
reading fluency, so they have a larger understanding of the overall content of a text while
developing their ability to understand the words they are reading This will allow them to apply
their comprehension skills to a variety of contexts related to different content areas, and
participate in related discussions that allow them to apply their higher order thinking skills.
Therefore, although all the students will be using the central focus throughout the
learning segment, students will be working in small groups to complete tasks based on what
kind of support they need to develop reading comprehension skills. For example, students will
be reading different instructional level texts within small groups to complete tasks.
As a result of the learning segment, students will be able to
apply prior knowledge and reading fluency skills to be able to gain a general and detailed
understanding of an instructional level text. They will be able to use this understanding to create
a book report that contains both objective and subjective information from their text.
I derived five learning experiences
from the central focus. There are five learning experiences in this learning segment to allow for
sufficient time for students to engage with the texts, collaborate to complete tasks, and create a
product that showcases their reading comprehension skills applied to various contexts including
the text, social studies (specifically peoples social roles) and their classmates as a supportive
audience.
The first learning experience will be
an introduction to the learning segment. I plan to provide a model book report for the students to
review and discuss the kind of academic language and structure that is found in this type of
writing. The students will also each be provided a text for their reading level and be placed into
groups based on that level.
The four texts were chosen based on the students reading
levels. The groups for this learning segment were created based on their small group reading
groups already in place in the classroom. Each of the texts fits an instructional reading level for
the students challenging enough that they are able to work together to decode and use
context clues to gain an understanding of unknown words, yet not so challenging that it takes
focus away from the central focus of reading comprehension. This allowed me to create a
learning experience in which students are able to engage with new words and vocabulary, as
well an interesting plot to support students in developing their reading and writing skills.
I created the second learning experience to
apply their reading comprehension skills in a few different ways. First, the students will be
retelling the story they read the previous day to their peers. This will allow them to help each
other recall important details of the text they may not have remembered individually. Students
will also identify aspects of a book report that were discussed during the modeling of the
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Early Childhood
Task 1: Planning Commentary

previous day in their own texts. The third learning experience allows students to use what they
found in order to culminate it into individual book reports. The ;
]
]
b. Describe how the standards and learning objectives for your learning segment support
childrens

active and multimodal learning

language and literacy development in an interdisciplinary context
[ ]
c. Explain how your plans build on each other to support childrens language and literacy
development through active and multimodal learning.
[ ]
d. Describe how the physical environment in which you are teaching supports the active
and multimodal nature of childrens learning. (If, in your view, the physical environment in
which you are teaching does not adequately support the active and multimodal nature of
childrens learning, please describe the changes you would make.)
[ ]
2. Knowledge of Children to Inform Teaching
For each of the prompts below (2ac), describe what you know about the children in your
class/group with respect to the central focus of the learning segment.
Consider the variety of learners in your class/group who may require different
strategies/support (e.g., children with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, children
at different points in the developmental continuum, struggling readers, children who are
underperforming or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted children).
a. Childrens developmentWhat do you know about their

social and emotional development

cognitive and physical development
language development for communication
[ ]
b. Personal, cultural, and community assetsWhat do you know about your childrens
everyday experiences, cultural and language backgrounds and practices, and
interests?
[ ]
c. Prior learning and prerequisite skills related to language and literacy development
What can they do and what are they learning to do related to language and literacy
development? Cite evidence from your knowledge of this class/group of children.
[ ]
3. Supporting Childrens Development and Learning
Respond to prompts 3ac below. To support your justifications, refer to the plans and
materials you included as part of Planning Task 1. In addition, use principles from
research and/or developmental theory to support your justifications.
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Early Childhood
Task 1: Planning Commentary

a. Justify how your planned learning experiences and materials align with your
understanding of the childrens development, prior learning, and personal, cultural, and
community assets (from prompts 2ac above). Be explicit about these connections and
support your justification with research/developmental theory.
[ ]
b. Describe and justify how you plan to support the varied learning needs of all the
children in your class/group, including individuals with specific learning needs.
Consider the variety of learners in your class/group who may require different
strategies/support (e.g., children with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners,
children at different points in the developmental continuum, struggling readers, and/or
gifted children).
[ ]
c. Describe common developmental approximations1 or misunderstandings that pertain to
the learning experiences you are planning for the children and how you plan to address
them.
[ ]
4. Supporting Childrens Vocabulary Development
Respond to prompts 4ac below by referring to childrens range of vocabulary development
related to the learning segmentWhat do they know, what are they struggling with,
and/or what is new to them?
a. Identify the key vocabulary2 (i.e., developmentally appropriate sounds, words,
phrases, sentences, and paragraphs) essential for children to use during the learning
segment.
[ ]
b. Identify the learning experience that provides children with opportunities to develop,
practice, and/or use the key vocabulary identified in prompt 4a. (Identify the plan
day/number.)
[ ]
c. Describe how you plan to support the children (during and/or prior to the learning
experience) to develop and use the key vocabulary identified in prompt 4a.
[ ]
5. Monitoring Childrens Learning
In response to the prompts below, refer to the assessments you will submit as part of the
materials for Planning Task 1.
a. Describe how your planned formal and informal assessments provide direct evidence to
monitor childrens multimodal learning throughout the learning segment.
[ ]
1

For example, common beginning or transitional language errors or other attempts to use skills or processes just beyond a

childs current level/capability.

2

Developmentally appropriate sounds, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that you want children to use or create to

engage in the learning experience.

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Early Childhood
Task 1: Planning Commentary

b. Explain how your design or adaptation of planned assessments allows children with
specific needs to demonstrate their learning.
Consider the variety of learners in your class/group who may require different
strategies/support (e.g., all children along the continuum of development, including
children with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, struggling readers, and/or
gifted children).
[ ]

Copyright 2015 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.

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All rights reserved.
V4_0915
The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Use of the edTPA trademarks is
permitted only pursuant to the terms of a written license agreement.