I met with groups 1 and 2 during guided reading today. Group 1 consists of students who scored between 61-68% on the survey and have a DRA of 40, 50, or 60. Group 2 consists of students who scored between 70-73% on the survey and have a DRA of 40, 50, or 60. Jackson from group 1 was in the office because he got in trouble, so I began with group 2 today.
The objective this week is: I will be able to evaluate accuracy of a website by verifying or refuting the information on other websites. Because it was the first time these groups are meeting, the lesson was the same for both groups. I posed the question for this week: Does http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus contain accurate information?
The purpose for day 1 was to find key details in a web based text. I provided each group member and myself with a graphic organizer with 3 columns- Key Details, Evidence to Verify Claims, and Evidence to Refute Claims.Today, we focused on column 1, key details. We reviewed what a key detail is and then read/ skimmed for key details on the website and recorded them on the graphic organizer.
In group 2, Grant was excited to read about tree octopuses because he didn’t know they could live out of the water. Fabian said the picture was either Photoshopped, or someone put a real octopus in a tree just long enough to take a picture before putting it back into the water. Fabian believes this information isn’t real. Caleb and Grant are convinced that it is real because the website looks real and contains what sounds like real information. Luka and Dante weren’t sure either way. I hadn’t planned on this conversation taking place today, so I didn’t confirm or deny their suspicions. We will discover the answer as a group next time we meet. In this group, we read the first two paragraphs together and recorded the same key details.
In group 1, Justin was absent. Jackson was distracted by the book he is reading (he had also just returned from the office) and was prompted twice to put it down to join the group and participate. After beginning late, the group was able to read and discuss less of the content of the website. No one questioned the accuracy of the content, but they asked questions about the tree octopus, such as what it eats. Jackson had a hard time keeping up as the group discussed and recorded key details. This group will need to make up some lost time during the next meeting. In this group, we read the first paragraph together and recorded key details together. Then students worked independently to find additional key details from anywhere on the page while Jackson caught up. Unfortunately, we ran out of time in this group.