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Elementary Education

Task 1: Planning Commentary

TASK 1: PLANNING COMMENTARY


Respond to the prompts below (no more than 9 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 the essential literacy strategy for comprehending OR
composing text you will teach in the learning segment.
[ The central focus of the literacy learning segment is writing a narrative using proper
technique, details, and clear sequencing. Students will read a poem and then write a
narrative for what happens after the poem, based on what they read from the poem. They
will include key features that are needed in a narrative. They will go through the entire
writing process. ]
b. Given the central focus, describe how the standards and learning objectives within
your learning segment address
the essential literacy strategy
related skills that support use of the strategy
reading/writing connections
[ The central focus for the learning segment is aligned with the English standard
ELAGSE4W3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using
effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. Writing a narrative
using proper technique, details, and a clear sequence is the essential literacy strategy for
my five day learning segment. The first learning segment will connect reading and writing.
Students will read a poem and pick out details to help them write their narrative. Students
will need to understand the poem and work out any confusions about the poem before they
write. Once they gather all the details, they will be able to see an example of a narrative
written based off of the poem. Students will then start writing their narrative. They will have
three full days to write their narratives and go through the whole writing process. Students
will have time to plan, write a rough draft, revise, edit, and then publish their final draft.
Students will use Rainbow Editing to make sure they have details, proper grammar, good
spelling, and good writing structure. ]
c. Explain how your plans build on each other to help students make connections
between the essential literacy strategy to comprehend OR compose text and related
skills that support use of the strategy in meaningful contexts.
[ The first lesson starts with the students reading a poem and pulling out details. This will
give students a good start for prewriting their narrative. The second lesson includes students
reading an example of a narrative written based on the same poem. This gives the students
more of an idea of what they need to write. Students will then be able to pre write. The third
lesson will go one step farther and get students to write a rough draft. The student will look
at what they did during the first and second lesson. The fourth lesson will have students
continue to write their narrative and then revise and edit their work. Students will look at their
writing to see if they have enough details, have a clear sequence and structure, and use
proper grammar in heir writing. I will use RAINBOW EDITING to get the students to edit
their work. This will get students to look deeper into their work Once they have finished the
final day for the learning segment will be for the students to write a final draft and publish it.
Student will be able to share their work with the class and then students will be able to give
good feedback. Not only will student have to work on their own narrative and work on their

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Elementary Education
Task 1: Planning Commentary

own support skills, but they will need to look at other students writing and recognize their
good support skills.]
2. Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching
For each of the prompts below (2ab), describe what you know about your students with
respect to the central focus of the learning segment.

Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/support
(e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, struggling readers,
underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted
students).
a. Prior academic learning and prerequisite skills related to the central focusCite
evidence of what students know, what they can do, and what they are still learning
to do.
[ add milestones knowledge and why the team decided to focus on it. Add reassessment
results. Students know what a narrative is. Prior to my lessons they spent two weeks writing
their own personal narratives. Students know what needs to be included in a narrative, such
as characters, dialogue, and details. They can tell me what needs to be in a narrative but
are still working on applying what they know and including it in their own writing. Students
can edit their own work. They have used RAINBOW EDITING before but are still learning
how to look at their own work and analyze it. Students are still working on the whole writing
process in general and making sure their writing has what it needs. Students think that
writing a narrative is easier than it actually is. I have observed these students in class and
looked at their writing. Some students have a very hard time with writing and need extra
help. They need motivation to keep them going. Students have trouble writing the minimum
page amount. They are working on adding more details and more content in their writing.
These students are very smart, but many of them struggle when it comes to the basics while
others are moving at a faster pace.]
b. Personal, cultural, and community assets related to the central focusWhat do you
know about your students everyday experiences, cultural and language
backgrounds and practices, and interests?
[ After being in the classroom for almost two months, I have been able to get to know these
students very well. Many of these students have parents in the military. Their parents get
deported and then come back home. For those students specific, they will have an easier
time writing a narrative based not he poem about when the uncle comes home. Other
students have family that live in different states, so they will be able to think about seeing
their real family members and write about the fictional character seeing their family member.
Many students in the class play sports, sing, or dance. A lot of students play soccer
together, dance together, and play baseball together. These students could include their
hobbies in their writing. There are different cultures in the classroom as well. Some students
have visited other countries just to see family members. These students with different
cultures may have different ways of welcoming family members or greeting people. This will
affect their writing. Most of the students also enjoy coloring, crafting, and getting around and
doing thing. I will incorporate those things in my lessons. I know many of these students do
not like to write, and they have a hard time putting their thoughts into words.
I chose to create a portrait of my classroom by giving them a true colors test, and learning
style test, and I created a sociogram for the class. From the learning style test, I learned that
the class is almost evenly split between kinesthetic, visual, and auditory learners. This

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Elementary Education
Task 1: Planning Commentary

means I will have to differentiate my lessons in all those ways so I can reach my students
the best way. I also learned ]
3. Supporting Students Literacy Learning
Respond to prompts 3ac below. To support your justifications, refer to the instructional
materials and lesson plans you have included as part of Literacy Planning Task 1. In
addition, use principles from research and/or theory to support your justifications.
a. Justify how your understanding of your students prior academic learning and personal,
cultural, and community assets (from prompts 2ab above) guided your choice or
adaptation of learning tasks and materials. Be explicit about the connections between
the learning tasks and students prior academic learning, their assets, and
research/theory.
[ For the literacy learning segment, I will focus on writing a narrative. The students already
know what a narrative is and have practiced writing one. They are still working on writing a
good narrative with good details. I chose to continue with writing a narrative so they could
practice more and master writing a narrative. I chose to get the students to write a narrative
that is not a personal so they will have to write from a different point of view. Writing another
narrative will give students a chance to work on their technique, how much detail they need,
and having a clear sequence in their writing. The poem I chose to use is one that most
students can connect with on a personal level. The poem talks about a beloved family
member that has moved away. The speaker writing this poem describes this family member
with great detail and expresses how he misses the family member. The prompt for writing
the narrative asks students to write about the speaker seeing the family member again. I
believe many students can relate to this because they have parents in the military. These
students have had to deal with deployments so they will understand missing their parent and
then seeing them once they get home. They also have had to move around and leave other
family members behind. There are students that have different cultures and family members
in different countries. These students may have a different way of greeting their loved ones,
and that will show in their writing.
After they have written their rough draft I will get students to edit their work. They have
edited their work once and used RAINBOW EDIT to help them. Students have practiced
editing one in fourth grade, and they ave used this method. I chose to use this method with
them again because they are familiar with it and it helps the visual learners. Even the
learners who arent visual will have a fun time with this. Every student in the class enjoys
doing crafting and coloring, so being able to use different colors to edit their work will be
enjoyable. The students use different colored crayons to circle different things in their writing
such as, punctuation, capital letters, details, spelling, and a few other things that students
need to look at when editing. ]
b. Describe and justify why your instructional strategies and planned supports are
appropriate for the whole class, individuals, and/or groups of students with specific
learning needs.

Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different
strategies/support (e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners,
struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic
knowledge, and/or gifted students).
[ I chose to do this lesson whole class because everyone in the class is at a level high
enough to where they do not need small group or individual instruction in writing. The
students have developed enough in writing to write independently and take in information

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Elementary Education
Task 1: Planning Commentary

when I teach whole class. The students are used to whole class teaching. I also believe that
since this is their second time dealing with narrative writing, they do not need much support.
The whole process of reading the poem, interpreting the poem, planning, writing, and
publishing a narrative is not new to the students. They all have the ability to do this learning
segment without one on one support.
There are two students in the class I will keep an eye on though. These two students do not
have any specific learning needs, they just do not like to write. During my whole group
teaching, I will go around the room to assess how students are doing on their own, and I will
pay close attention to the two students mentioned above. I will need to encourage them and
prompt them to write more than they actually want to. Everything will be on these students
levels, they just need motivation. I will give them motivation to write. ]
c. Describe common developmental approximations or common misconceptions within
your literacy central focus and how you will address them.
[ Even though this is a gifted class, not all students are gifted. Another thing to think about is
that not all students are gifted in everything. This gifted class is full of students that are high
achievers, gifted in math or science, or just gifted by being creative. Some students will write
much better than others because they are gifted in that area. Other students will not write as
well as others. There are also two students in the class who hate to write. They have the
ability to write, but it is not good because they do not like to practice writing. Because every
student is at a different level, I will monitor them while they are writing and figure out which
ones need some extra help. I know I will have to pay attention to the two students who
struggle with writing.
A misconception that students will face is that they think writing a narrative is easy. This will
be a struggle for them because they think they do not have to try as hard. I will have to
remind the students of everything that needs to be in a narrative so they do not forget.
Students also forget what needs to be included in a narrative. I will provide the students with
multiple opportunities to make sure they have what is needed. I will provide a checklist in the
beginning and students will have a chance to go over what is needed in a narrative when
they revise and edit. Another misconception with students is that they do not include detail.
Students tend to tell a story quickly with little details. Because of this I will emphasize how
they need to have a lot of detail in their write to have a good descriptive narrative.]
4. Supporting Literacy Development Through Language

As you respond to prompts 4ad, consider the range of students language assets and
needswhat do students already know, what are they struggling with, and/or what is new to
them?
a. Language Function. Using information about your students language assets and
needs, identify one language function essential for students to develop and practice the
literacy strategy within your central focus. Listed below are some sample language
functions. You may choose one of these or another more appropriate for your learning
segment.

Analyze Argue Categorize Compare/contras Describe Explain


t

Interpret Predict Question Retell Summarize

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Elementary Education
Task 1: Planning Commentary

[ The language function essential for the learning segment of writing a narrative is
describe. ]
b. Identify a key learning task from your plans that provides students with opportunities to
practice using the language function in ways that support the essential literacy strategy.
Identify the lesson in which the learning task occurs. (Give lesson day/number.)
[ Students will have more than one opportunity to practice the learning function. Students
will start describing how the speaker of the poem in He Played Guitar feels and describe he
details that that they feel are important in the first lesson. The main learning task that will
provide students an opportunity to practice the language function will be the narrative they
write. This will take place in lessons 2-3. Students will start describing what happens to the
speaker after the poem by brainstorming for their narrative in lesson 2. In lesson 3, students
will begin writing their narrative to describe what happens with the speaker when they see
their uncle after a long time. Students will continue to write their narrative in lesson 4. They
will revise and edit their narrative. During this time they will be able to make sure they have
everything they need in their writing to be descriptive. Students will publish their narrative
and have another chance to describe what happens to the speaker by reading their
narrative aloud to a small group of students. Students will have multiple opportunities to
work on their narratives and use the language function. The whole learning segments is
centered around the students describing an event by writing a narrative. ]
c. Additional Language Demands. Given the language function and learning task
identified above, describe the following associated language demands (written or oral)
students need to understand and/or use:
Vocabulary or key phrases
Plus at least one of the following:
Syntax
Discourse
[ For this learning segment the students will already know, but still need work on some key
VOCABULARY. In the first lesson students will need to know what the speaker of a poem
is. They will also need to know what imagery is. When we read the poem as a class and talk
about the speaker and images in the poem, I will ask students if they understand what the
speaker is and what imagery or images in a poem are. At the end of the first lesson I will
read a narrative to the class. Narrative is another vocabulary word that students will know
and work with. During the second lesson students will need to think about point of view and
third person writing. Two vocabulary words we will talk about how we will use during writing
a narrative. The third lesson will include more vocabulary. Students will give key
characteristics of a narrative that will be key vocabulary for them. The vocabulary will include
main idea, plot, characters, dialogue, lead, conclusion, sequence, and details. These
vocabulary words and phrases will be on a One Note slide for students to see throughout
their writing process. During the fourth lesson students will revise and edit their document.
Students know what these vocabulary words are and they will do them. A key phrase that
students will use when they are writing dialogue will be said is dead, meaning they are not
supposed to use the word said when they write dialogue. None of these words are new to
them, but I will go over them and have them visible so there will be no misconception and so
students can use them in their writing.

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Elementary Education
Task 1: Planning Commentary

SYNTAX will be developed throughout the entire lesson. Students will begin the first lesson
by prewriting and write to the very last lesson. Students will write down ideas, details, and a
plan to describe what happened to a character in their narrative. Students need to be able to
write down a plan in their prewriting. Students will then do the main activity and write their
narrative. They need to know the proper techniques for writing it, what elements go into a
narrative, how to write dialogue, and how to write a sequence. As a class we will go over all
of those things then the students will write. ]
d. Language Supports. Refer to your lesson plans and instructional materials as needed
in your response to the prompt.
Identify and describe the planned instructional supports (during and/or prior to the
learning task) to help students understand, develop, and use the identified language
demands (function, vocabulary or key phrases, discourse, or syntax).
[ In the first lesson we will talk about imagery and what a speaker is. I will act as the learning
support for the class and we will have a conversation about the first two vocabulary words.
To aid students with syntax, students will have an example of what they are being asked to
do read to them. I will have this example of a narrative written from the prompt and read it to
the students. During the second lesson I will also act as the learning support for point of
view and third person. I will write those words down on the dry erase board for students to
refer to and see. During the third lesson there will be a language support for the class that
will be done during the lesson. I will make a One Note document that describes the
characteristics of a narrative. Students will be able to refer to this while they are writing their
narrative. In the fourth lesson when student will work with revising and editing, students will
have their own print out of Rainbow Edit already and there will be a big print out of it on the
board. Students have these so they can properly revise their writing.
checklist for what is needed in narrative, rainbow edit, example of narrative ]
5. Monitoring Student Learning
In response to the prompts below, refer to the assessments you will submit as part of the
materials for Literacy Planning Task 1.

a. Describe how your planned formal and informal assessments will provide direct
evidence that students can use the essential literacy strategy to comprehend OR
compose text AND related skills throughout the learning segment.
[ The first assess meant I will use is checking the notes that students have when they pick
out details they want to use and their prewriting. I will assess it informally by going around
and checking them off when they are working on it to make sure they are on the right track.
Students will be able to show they are using proper technique, have details, and are using a
sequence through their prewriting. Another informal assessment will be their rough draft that
has been edited with Rainbow Edit. Students will need to show they have enough details
and they have good structure to their writing. The final and formal assessment will be the
final draft of their narrative. I will be able to see if students can properly write a narrative with
a sufficient amount of details, proper sequence, and proper technique. Students have had
multiple opportunities to work on this narrative and prove that thy can use the essential
literacy strategy.]
b. Explain how the design or adaptation of your planned assessments allows students with
specific needs to demonstrate their learning.

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The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Use of the edTPA trademarks is
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Elementary Education
Task 1: Planning Commentary

Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different
strategies/support (e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners,
struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic
knowledge, and/or gifted students).
[ I have no students with an IEP or 504 plans. I dont have and ELL learners either. I do
have 19 gifted students in the gifted class and the rest are high achievers. There are also
two struggling writers. The gifted students are not all gifted in writing, but some are.
Because there is not one correct answer for my final assessment, students are able to get
creative and show their knowledge of writing a narrative. When I grade the papers I will think
about whether or not the student is gifted or not and if they are gifted in writing or not. The
struggling writers will also be able to show their level of learning in their own way and I will
monitor them. I will be able to monitor and motivate these students throughout the lessons
so they can reach their full potential. ]

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