ELA G2:M4:U2:L11

Collaborative Conversations: Unit 2 Guiding Questions

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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

SL.2.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
SL.2.1a: Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
SL.2.1b: Build on others' talk in conversations by linking their comments to the remarks of others.
SL.2.1c: Ask for clarification and further explanation as needed about the topics and texts under discussion.

Daily Learning Targets

I can discuss the dangers that pollinators face and why we should protect/help them with my classmates. (SL.2.1, SL.2.1a, SL.2.1b, SL.2.1c)

Ongoing Assessment

As students participate in the Collaborative Conversations protocol, circulate and use the Speaking and Listening Checklist to gather data toward SL.2.1, SL.2.1.a, SL.2.1b, and SL.2.1.c.

Agenda

Agenda	Teaching Notes
1. Opening A. Poem and Movement: "The Butterfly Garden" (5 minutes) 2. Work Time A. Preparing for a Collaborative Conversation: Rereading Student Notes (20 minutes) B. Collaborative Conversations Protocol: Unit 2 Guiding Questions (20 minutes) C. Think-Pair-Share: Reflecting on the Collaborative Conversations Protocol (5 minutes) 3. Closing and Assessment A. Reflecting on Learning (10 minutes)	Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards: This is the final lesson of Unit 2. Throughout this unit, students have read opinion texts, created class notes and student notes from those texts, and used the notes to write opinion pieces. As a synthesis of their learning, students prepare for and participate in the familiar Collaborative Conversations protocol to discuss both Unit 2 guiding questions: "What dangers do pollinators face?" and "Why should people protect pollinators?" This protocol encourages students to share what they have learned about the content of protecting pollinators while continuing to strengthen their speaking and listening skills. How this lesson builds on previous work: Throughout Unit 2, students read, took notes, and wrote about the dangers that pollinators face and why people should protect pollinators. In this lesson, students share what they have learned. Areas in which students may need additional support: For some students, preparing for the Collaborative Conversations protocol may be a challenge. Consider providing additional modeling of how to locate and mark important information in the Protecting Pollinators research notebook and My Opinion writing booklet if needed. (Example: "On this page, I see a note about why it is important to protect bats. I think this note is important because it helps me answer the second Unit 2 guiding question, so I will put my sticky note on it.") Down the road: In Unit 3, students will apply their learning about plants and pollinators from across Modules 3-4 by taking action to help butterflies.

Teaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Poem and Movement: "The Butterfly Garden" (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Preparing for a Collaborative Conversation: Rereading Student Notes (20 minutes)

B. Collaborative Conversations Protocol: Unit 2 Guiding Questions (20 minutes)

C. Think-Pair-Share: Reflecting on the Collaborative Conversations Protocol (5 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Reflecting on Learning (10 minutes)

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

This is the final lesson of Unit 2. Throughout this unit, students have read opinion texts, created class notes and student notes from those texts, and used the notes to write opinion pieces. As a synthesis of their learning, students prepare for and participate in the familiar Collaborative Conversations protocol to discuss both Unit 2 guiding questions: "What dangers do pollinators face?" and "Why should people protect pollinators?" This protocol encourages students to share what they have learned about the content of protecting pollinators while continuing to strengthen their speaking and listening skills.

How this lesson builds on previous work:

Throughout Unit 2, students read, took notes, and wrote about the dangers that pollinators face and why people should protect pollinators. In this lesson, students share what they have learned.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

For some students, preparing for the Collaborative Conversations protocol may be a challenge. Consider providing additional modeling of how to locate and mark important information in the Protecting Pollinators research notebook and My Opinion writing booklet if needed. (Example: "On this page, I see a note about why it is important to protect bats. I think this note is important because it helps me answer the second Unit 2 guiding question, so I will put my sticky note on it.")

Down the road:

In Unit 3, students will apply their learning about plants and pollinators from across Modules 3-4 by taking action to help butterflies.

In Advance

Pre-distribute materials for Work Time A at student workspaces.
Pre-determine groups of five or six students for the Collaborative Conversations protocol in Work Time B.
Post: Learning targets and all applicable anchor charts (see materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

Consider using an interactive white board or document camera to display lesson materials.

Continue to use the technology tools recommended throughout Modules 1-3 to create anchor charts to share with families; to record students as they participate in discussions and protocols to review with students later and to share with families; and for students to listen to and annotate text, record ideas on note-catchers, and word-process writing.
Work Time B: Record students as they participate in the Collaborative Conversations protocol to listen to later to discuss strengths and what they could improve on, or to use as models for the group. Most devices (cellphones, tablets, laptop computers) come equipped with free video and audio recording apps or software.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided by in part by CA ELD Standards 2.I.A.1, 2.I.A.3, and 2.I.B.5

Important points in the lesson itself

The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs with opportunities to participate in a Collaborative Conversation. This will foster content knowledge and English language development through peer interaction.
ELLs may find it challenging to participate in the Collaborative Conversations protocol because it may take longer for some students to process language. Encourage students to speak up when they would like to hear something repeated. Empower them with questions they can ask to regulate the pace of the conversation. (Examples: "Can you please repeat what you said?" "Can you please speak more slowly?")

Levels of support

For lighter support

During the Collaborative Conversation in Work Time B, encourage students to use Conversation Cues with other students to extend and deepen conversations, think with others, and enhance language development.

For heavier support

During Work Time A, allow students to work in heterogeneous partnerships or triads to plan for the Collaborative Conversations protocol. If necessary, prompt students who are more proficient in speaking and listening skills to help others plan verbatim responses to ease any nervousness about spontaneous speaking.

Universal Design for Learning

Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): Continue to reduce barriers to metacognition in this lesson by providing a visual reminder of the focus for each activity.
Multiple Means of Action and Expression (MMAE): Continue to support those who may need it with expressive language by providing sentence frames to help them organize their thoughts.
Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Continue to encourage self-regulatory skills by helping students anticipate and manage frustration by modeling what to do if they need help from their partners. Consider offering sentence frames to strategically selected peer models. Recall that offering these supports for engagement promotes a safe learning space for all students.

Vocabulary

Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T); Vocabulary Used in Writing (W)

Materials

"The Butterfly Garden" (from Lesson 4; one to display)
Unit 2 Guiding Questions anchor chart (begun in Lesson 1)
Protecting Pollinators research notebook (completed in Lesson 7; one per student)
My Opinion writing booklet (completed in Lesson 10)
Sticky notes (two or three per student and one for teacher modeling)
Collaborative Conversations Protocol anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
Sentence starter tracker (one per student and one to display)
Pencil (one per student)
Speaking and Listening Checklist (for teacher reference; see Assessment Overview and Resources)
Working to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart (begun in Lesson 2)
"We Do What We Can" (from Unit 1, Lesson 2; one to display)

Assessment

Each unit in the K-2 Language Arts Curriculum has one standards-based assessment built in. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize their understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

https://curriculum.eleducation.org/

Opening

Opening
A. Poem and Movement: "The Butterfly Garden" (5 minutes) Gather students whole group. Display "The Butterfly Garden." Remind students that this poem helps them to learn about using different strengths of adjectives and verbs, as well as irregular plural nouns. Also, remind them that they created motions to do while reading this poem in the previous lesson. Select several students to come to the front of the whole group area and lead the class in acting out motions to the poem. Invite the student leaders to lead the class in reciting the poem and doing the motions. As time permits, repeat this process with new student leaders.

A. Poem and Movement: "The Butterfly Garden" (5 minutes)

Gather students whole group.
Display "The Butterfly Garden."
Remind students that this poem helps them to learn about using different strengths of adjectives and verbs, as well as irregular plural nouns. Also, remind them that they created motions to do while reading this poem in the previous lesson.
Select several students to come to the front of the whole group area and lead the class in acting out motions to the poem.
Invite the student leaders to lead the class in reciting the poem and doing the motions.
As time permits, repeat this process with new student leaders.

Work Time

Work Time	Meeting Students' Needs
A. Preparing for a Collaborative Conversation: Rereading Student Notes (20 minutes) Refocus students whole group. Share that now students will prepare for the Collaborative Conversations protocol, during which they will discuss answers to the Unit 2 guiding questions. Direct students' attention to the Unit 2 Guiding Questions anchor chart and read aloud the questions: "What dangers do pollinators face?" "Why should people protect pollinators?" Say: "You have worked hard for the past few weeks to learn about the dangers that pollinators face and why people should protect pollinators. Now you will prepare to participate in the Collaborative Conversation." Display a copy of the Protecting Pollinators research notebook, the My Opinion writing booklet, and sticky notes. Say: "To prepare, look through your Protecting Pollinators research notebook and My Opinion writing booklet for information that helps you answer the guiding questions. Use the sticky notes to mark important information you want to find easily during the conversation." Take 2-3 minutes to model marking a piece of information using a sticky note (Example: "Oh! I found a piece of information that answers the first guiding question. I will put my sticky note on top of it so I can find this easily when we have our Collaborative Conversation.") Transition students to workspaces and invite them to begin looking through their copy of the Protecting Pollinators research notebook and My Opinion writing booklet. Remind them to use the sticky notes as needed. Circulate to support students and consider asking questions such as: "Where do you think you might find information to answer the first guiding question?" "Which information on this page will help you to answer the guiding questions?" After 10-12 minutes, invite students back to the whole group area, bringing their copies of the Protecting Pollinators research notebook and My Opinion writing booklet with them. Refocus whole group, and allow 2-3 minutes for students to share with a partner. Turn and Talk: "Tell your partner one piece of information you are excited to share in the Collaborative Conversation." (Responses will vary, but should be related to content in the unit.)	For ELLs and students who may need additional support with persistence: (Focusing Response) Consider making the task more manageable by suggesting students prepare notes to respond to only one of the two guiding questions. (MME) For students who may need additional support with planning: Invite students to restate the directions for their work while jotting down a few key phrases for reference as they prepare their notes. (MMAE)
B. Collaborative Conversations Protocol: Unit 2 Guiding Questions (20 minutes) Tell students they are now going to use the Collaborative Conversations protocol to discuss the Unit 2 guiding questions. Remind them that they used this protocol in Module 1, and review as necessary using the Collaborative Conversations Protocol anchor chart. (Refer to the Classroom Protocols document for the full version of the protocol.) Display a sentence starter tracker. Read each sentence starter aloud, reminding students that they should use these sentence starters as they participate in the Collaborative Conversation. Reorient students to the directions by sharing that students should draw a check mark in the box next to each sentence starter after they use it in the conversation. If needed, model drawing a check mark in one of the boxes. Move students into pre-determined groups. Distribute copies of the sentence starter tracker and pencils and assign each group to a different area of the room. Guide students through two rounds of the protocol using the unit guiding questions: "What dangers do pollinators face?" "Why should people protect pollinators?" As students discuss, circulate and use the Speaking and Listening Checklist to gather data toward SL.2.1, SL.2.1.a, SL.2.1.b, and SL.2.1.c. As needed, remind students to use the sentence starter tracker as they participate in the conversation. Also, consider asking small groups the following questions: "What piece of information from your notes helped you answer this question? Why?" "Who could build off of what ___ just shared?" "Who has a question to ask in response to what ___ just shared?" For groups who finish the protocol before the allotted time, consider inviting those groups to share a piece of information they learned in this unit that surprised them.	For ELLs and students who may need additional support with expressive skills: (Fishbowl: Collaborative Conversation) Invite volunteers to fishbowl a Collaborative Conversation for the class using the protocol. Prompt and narrate the conversation step by step. This will better prepare students for participating in the conversation independently. (MMR, MMAE) For ELLs: (Recalling Language Dive) Invite students to use language structures drawn from the Language Dive in Lesson 7 to phrase their responses. (Example: "When people spray chemicals, _____.")
C. Think-Pair-Share: Reflecting on the Collaborative Conversations Protocol (5 minutes) After students have completed two rounds of the protocol, invite them to fly like bats or flutter like butterflies back to the whole group area. Share that now students will debrief on the protocol using their copy of the sentence starter tracker. Think-Pair-Share: "What went well for you today in the Collaborative Conversation?" (Responses will vary, but may include: I took turns speaking. I used the sentence starter tracker. I marked off the sentence starters as I used them. I used my notes when I shared.) "What could you improve for next time?" (Responses will vary, but may include: I will take turns speaking. I will use the sentence starters. I will remember to check the sentence starters off. I will remember to use my notes when sharing.) Conversation Cue: "How did your Collaborative Conversation add to your understanding of the unit guiding questions? I'll give you time to think and discuss with a partner." (Responses will vary.) Refocus students whole group and invite several to share out. Collect students' sentence starter trackers, Protecting Pollinators research notebooks, and My Opinion writing booklets.	For students who may need additional support with organizing their thinking for verbal expression: Consider meeting with students in advance so they can practice or rehearse what they would like to share during the discussion. (MMAE, MME)

Closing & Assessments

Closing	Meeting Students' Needs
A. Reflecting on Learning (10 minutes) Refocus students whole group. Direct their attention to the Working to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart and read the second bullet aloud: "I use my strengths to help others grow." Turn and Talk: "How did you use your strengths to learn?" (I reflected on what I have learned; I asked questions) "How did you use your strengths to help others learn?" (I was a good model of what to do; I helped a partner) Display "We Do What We Can" and invite students to chorally sing it. With excitement, share that in their final unit, students will get to use their strengths and learning about pollinators to take action ... to help real butterflies live and grow!	For students who may need additional support with working memory: Display a list of the activities in this lesson for students to reference as they think about how they used their strengths to help others grow today. (MMAE)

Closing

Meeting Students' Needs

A. Reflecting on Learning (10 minutes)

Refocus students whole group.
Direct their attention to the Working to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart and read the second bullet aloud:

"I use my strengths to help others grow."

Turn and Talk:

"How did you use your strengths to learn?" (I reflected on what I have learned; I asked questions)

"How did you use your strengths to help others learn?" (I was a good model of what to do; I helped a partner)

Display "We Do What We Can" and invite students to chorally sing it.
With excitement, share that in their final unit, students will get to use their strengths and learning about pollinators to take action ... to help real butterflies live and grow!

For students who may need additional support with working memory: Display a list of the activities in this lesson for students to reference as they think about how they used their strengths to help others grow today. (MMAE)

EL Education Curriculum