Reflection: Detective

The objectives for this lesson were as follows:

define textual evidence and inferencing
explain why textual evidence is important in writing and discussions
cite directly stated evidence to support the analysis of fiction, poetry,
nonfiction, and photographs
use evidence to make logical inferences about texts
Student Learning:
The students were very successful with the learning goals of this lesson. All
19 students were able to read and comprehend the article, then cite textual
evidence to support inferences they made from the text. This was done with
100% accuracy. The students completed graphic organizers and were
assessed on the logical inferences they made. Overall, I do believe all of the
students demonstrated the ability to make an inference from an
informational text, and used textual evidence to support their conclusions.
This was the major anticipated outcome, because we have been working on
this skill the entire year.
Teacher Reflection:
I thought this lesson went very well, and the learning objectives were met
from each student with much success! The multimodal text I used was
Scholastic Action Magazine, which highlights adolescents around the country
doing positive things. The magazine consists of interesting articles, games,
and even comprehension questions that my kids love to experience! My
principal ordered a subscription for me, and my students are always happy
when our new magazines come in each month. This is why I decided to teach
an informational text skill using this multimodal text. I knew how much my
students enjoyed the magazine, and the articles had enough substance that
could make for a great lesson. Action Magazine even incorporates graphic
organizers that the end of some of the articles to help guide the students
comprehension. This made it very easy for me to assess my students quickly.
The first activity we did was developed the concept of making an inference. I
used direct instruction and a note taking activity to give my students
background knowledge of how to make inferences. Next, the students were
given an activity where they had to make logical conclusions based off of the
clues given on inferencing cards. I think this activity helped the students

fully understand the process of making and inference, and it made it easy for
them to make the connection as they were reading the article. As the
students were engaged in reading, I noticed that many of them were making
text-to-self, and text-to-world connections because the main character of the
article was lost in a snowstorm for 3 days. Many of my students walk home
and could recall freezing during this past winter as they walked to and from
school in the cold weather. This was yet another reason why they were so
successful with the text. When they made the connections, it was much
easier for them to understand what they read.
The final activity of this lesson was the students graphic organizers. It
required them to analyze a question about the text, make and inference,
then cite the textual evidence that supported their inferences. This is where I
saw the most success in the lesson. My students made logical inferences,
and had no trouble completing the graphic organizers. They worked well
together, and demonstrated understanding of how to use textual evidence to
draw conclusions. Overall, this lesson yielded the best results in the entire
project. I believe this is because my students had already been exposed to
the skill prior to the lesson, but they also had a high level of interest in the
reading task they were given. There is not anything that I would change
about this lesson.