The tacher uses the story about Lewis and Clark to provide facts and background information about the expedition.  The students are asked to provide their opinion on what the author is saying and provide evidence to back up  their feeling of the text.  The students wrote down the facts and background knowledge they discussed earlier during their Text Talk and Brainstorming time.

The students cited evidence, talked about their evidence, and got their brain ready for writing the piece. 

The teacher also used several sentence starters that helped the students get started on the student analyzing the textl. Also, the teacher went to each table, chatted with the students, and helped them get started on their writing.  The teacher kept going around the room to help or push/prod the students in to talking or writing about their thoughts.

Finally, I noticed that the students felt comfortable in circle/group, reading, and reading/talking with the teacher. There seemed to be a great connection between students and the teacher.

What a great way to have students engaged. Having them lead discussion is an amazing way to build students confidence and help them challenge themselves. 

Analyzing text is not easy and they did a great job overall. 

I think the teachers involvement with the students is incredible. Her iContact and body language set the key kids at ease and fosters a great learning environment. I really like the way she has a question and if she does not get the response that she is after she circles back to them and helps guide them to find the desired outcome for the section. She makes a very comfortable place to learn. Sitting at the table with the group lens itself to this. She also has a collaborative effort with the students and she gets their input in the discussion. Her demeanor is as one of them. The students react so well to her passion and excitement.

Teacher uses small grouping with EL students to check their knowledge. Students use peer feedback. They collaborate as they recall their knowledge of the reading. Students are then seated in a circle with the class. Teacher creates a safe learning environment as she gives instructions on how to be a good listener and how to be respectful. She builds self esteem as she tells speaker that the listeners care about what they have to say. She continues to praise students thoughout the lesson.I really like when she calls them good reading detective. Students demonstrate their ability to research information by looking at the picture and throught the reading. Students give pages as a reference. Teacher allows other students to details and tell the story rom their memories. Teacher also ask questions and clarity from real life knowledge or experience. She asks leading open ended questions, has a break out to allow students to peer share then share out.  This learning activity allows students to collaborate and share thoughts when atudents struggled with the subject matter. This collaboration of learning and analyzing text is an classroom collaboration. Students' brainstorming with peers allows students to support their thinking before students begin a writing assignment and put their thoughts on paper.

The video of this class is a great example of analyzing text as a whole class. It is obvious that the instructor has expectations in place that her students follow. The students have learned how to collaborate during text discussions using hand signals and citing their evidence. This is all done in a very respectful way. The students also seemed very enthusiastic about sharing their ideas. This extensive discussion was a great way to begin a writing exercise using the same sentence stems as the discussion. For the students that may need a little more support, she did a small group exercise where she discussed some vocabulary and clarified concepts like viewpoint to ensure those students were successful.