Listening to Gather Evidence in a Reading Selection

Designed by: Ashley Norton,  Rosewood Elementary

Grade Level: Fourth grade    Subject: Language Arts

1) Core Curriculum Objective:   Listen effectively to obtain evidence to support decisions when making judgements.   (4-LS-5)

2) Overview:  Fire on the Mountain is an Ethiopian folktale where the impoverished  main character struggles for justice against a wealthy member of his community. The teacher will read the folktale to the students, stopping at critical points to ask a question.  The students will work with a partner to evaluate and record the evidence presented and make  judgements about what they think will happen and why it will happen that way.  The students will discuss their choices after the story has been read and present evidence to support their decisions. At the end of the lesson, student groups will evaluate other groups work, cite evidence of the responses to the questions on a rubric, and assign relevant points according to the scale provided.

3) Focus Question:  How do you evaluate clues and gather evidence from a folktale to support your decision in a written response?

4) Resources:

Copies of Culminating Assessment for each student

Pencils

Book: Call Number J 398 Cou (Available in the Richland County Public Library Children's Room)

Courlander, H. (ed.) (1955).  "  The Fire on the Mountain" Ride With the Sun: Folk Tales and Stories from all Countries of the United Nations, pp.106-111

Index cards (5 per student pair)

One rubber band for each student pair

5) Culminating Assessment:

The assessment will involve students evaluating clues and making decisions in a written response to a listening selection.  Responses to the 5 questions outlined below will be recorded on index cards.  The checklist below will guide students in completing this assignment. At the end of the lesson, student groups will evaluate other groups work, cite evidence of the responses to the questions on the rubric, and assign relevant points according to the scale below. 

Group Members:

#1_____________________________________   

#2_____________________________________  

Total Points ________________

Questions 

#1 Will Arha take the bet?  Why or why not?

#2 Will Arha survive the night?  Why or why not?

#3 Will Haptom keep his end of the bargain? Why or why not?

#4 With whom will the judge side? Why?

#5 Why is Hailu keeping them waiting?

Comments:

6) Instructional Activities:

Note:  This lesson assumes that the teacher has taught students how to evaluate clues to make a judgement.  This lesson offers students an opportunity to practice this skill.  Ahead of time, the teacher should determine vocabulary words the students may not know and go over the words with them.  The teacher may want to assign some background research on Ethiopia in preparation for this assignment.  Before this lesson, the students should share any information they have learned. 

Lesson 1 (50 minute period)

The teacher will divide the students into pairs according to ability levels.  Then, the teacher should hand out a copy of the culminating assessment and 5 index cards to each pair of students.  The teacher should go over the culminating assessment with the students and make sure that the students understand the assignment and grading expectations. Students should understand that when the teacher stops reading and asks a question, they are to discuss their thoughts with their partner and record their response on their index cards.  The goal is not to guess a correct response, instead the goal of this assignment is to evaluate the information presented and give a logical response based on the evidence presented. (During Lesson 1, the teacher will read the story, "Fire on the Mountain," to the students, stopping at critical points in the story to ask a question.  The students will work in pairs to decide how they will respond to the questions and record each response on an index card.  During Lesson 2, students will present their responses to the class and the student groups will peer evaluate their responses and cite evidence of their decisions according to a rubric.)   Each student pair should write their names on the back of each index card and should number them 1 to 5.  The students should now be ready to listen to the story.  The following outline will tell the teacher where to start and stop reading the story and will give the critical questions to ask the students. (It may be helpful to write the stopping points and the questions to ask on sticky notes and place them at the appropriate place on the pages.)

* Start reading on page 106 and stop on page 107 after reading, "I am a man of my word," Haptom replied.

* Ask, "Will Arha take the bet?  Why or why not?"

* Continue reading on page 107 and stop on page 108 after reading, "He sneezed and coughed and shivered and began to feel ill."

* Ask, "Will Arha survive the night?  Why or why not?"

* Continue reading on page 108 and stop on page 108 after reading, "Yes," his servants said.  "He did all of these things."

* Ask, "Will Haptom keep his end of the bargain? Why or why not?"

* Continue reading on page 108 and stop on page 109 after reading, "When Haptom told his story, and the servants said that Arha had watched a distant fire across the valley, the judge said."  (The teacher will be stopping this sentence short so she will not give away the judge's decision.)

* Ask, "With whom will the judge side? Why?"

* Continue reading on page 109 and stop on page 110 after reading, "Still the smells came from the kitchen."

* Ask, "Why is Hailu keeping them waiting?"

The student pairs should have discussed and recorded their responses on their index cards.  At this time, the students should place a rubber band around each set of cards and hand them to the teacher to be kept until Lesson 2.

Lesson 2 (60 minute period) --This may need to be extended depending on the number of groups in the class.)

The teacher should pass out each groups index cards and enough copies of the culminating assessment for each group to peer evaluate the other groups. The teacher should keep enough copies of the assessment to also evaluate each group. (For example, if there are 10 groups, each group should receive 9 copies of the assessment.  The teacher may want to give 10 copies of the assessment if the groups are to self-evaluate.)  The teacher should explain the rubric and how students are to evaluate the evidence presented and write this evidence in the appropriate column of the rubric.  For example,  a student group answers the first question by stating they thought Arha would not take the bet because he is betting against a wealthy person and in their experience wealthy people cannot be trusted.  The peer group would discuss this response and decide that they have presented evidence to support their decision.  They would write the evidence in the column under 20 points to show that they students received full credit for their response.   Students should write their names on the top of the rubric and the names of the pair they are evaluating.  In an orderly manner, student groups should take turns presenting their responses to the class.  Each peer group and the teacher should evaluate their responses and cite evidence on the rubric. The points received should be tallied and written on the top line of the rubric.  Any comments should be written at the bottom of the rubric.   After all of the groups have presented, the evaluations should be given to the appropriate groups for review.  After the groups have seen and discussed their evaluations, they should be turned into the teacher.  The teacher should determine if a student group needs further instruction or given the opportunity to revise their assignment.