Private: Teaching Reading: 3-5 Workshop

Professional Development > Private: Teaching Reading: 3-5 Workshop > 9. Featured Classrooms > 9.6 Looking at Cause and Effect

English Language Arts

3-5

Looking at Cause and Effect

Holly Concannon and her fifth-grade class discuss cause and effect in a passage from Gary Paulsen's book, Wood Song. The lesson models grouping students for independent reading, as well as guided reading. (Optional classroom program)

“I want to help my students develop a sense of wonder when they’re reading. That’s what good readers do. They wonder, they form questions, and they pay attention to what’s going on in the text. They identify the cause and effect, and then take it one step further–they respond. “

–Holly Concannon

Holly Concannon teaches fifth grade at the Richard J. Murphy School in Dorchester, Massachusetts, an urban community on the outskirts of Boston. The Murphy School reflects Dorchester’s African American and Asian American communities: the student population is 72 percent minority. As in any school, many students have special needs. In Mrs. Concannon’s class, there are six students with special needs.

In the lesson featured in the video, Mrs. Concannon’s students were discussing two books that they have recently read. Woodsong, by Gary Paulsen, is a nonfiction text that chronicles the author’s experience in nature. Mississippi Bridge, by Mildred Taylor, presents historical fiction in the story of one African American family’s experience during the Depression.

In the featured lesson, the instructional focus was on helping students identify and understand cause and effect. Throughout the year, Mrs. Concannon scaffolds instruction across the curriculum by accessing students’ prior knowledge, and then building on what they know. She regularly uses questions to encourage students to think about, anticipate, and interpret events. She encourages them to think about cause and effect in all subject areas. For example, in a science lesson, she might ask what would happen to ice if it were left in the sun. In social studies, she might ask why people emigrate to America.

As students read and discussed Woodsong and Mississippi Bridge, Mrs. Concannon used questions not only to gauge students’ understanding, but also to model questioning and discussion as a way of understanding literature in more depth. In both whole-class settings and guided reading groups, Mrs. Concannon asked students to find their answers in the text, and to explain how they interpreted the text and what they thought the author meant. In this lesson and throughout the year, Mrs. Concannon creates anchor charts (PDF) from student discussion and answers.

In discussions, Mrs. Concannon asks questions that connect to students’ lives and gives students opportunities to discuss their answers with partners. “Stop and share” is another strategy she uses to give shy or intimidated students a chance to share their ideas and be heard in a whole-class setting. Mrs. Concannon finds that fifth-grade students are eager to share their opinions and make connections to their own lives.

Series Directory

Private: Teaching Reading: 3-5 Workshop

Credits

Produced by WGBH Educational Foundation. 2006.

Closed Captioning
ISBN: 1-57680-815-7

Related Materials

Anchor Charts

Sections

9.1 Investigating Word Meaning

Using a passage from Charlotte's Web by E. B. White, Angie Zapata teaches her third graders how to use context clues to discover the meaning of unfamiliar words. Ms. Zapata's mini-lesson also models individual and small group work, as well book groups. (Optional classroom program)

9.2 Fostering Book Discussions

Third-grade teacher Maria Ruiz-Blanco is piloting the use of book club in her bilingual classroom. The class is starting a new book, My Name Is Maria Isabel, in their year-long unit on immigration. Working in groups, students discuss what they read, ask questions, and make connections to their own lives. (Optional classroom program)

9.3 Choosing Words Strategically

Caroline Cockman's third grade class is learning how to revise biographies using transitions and more descriptive nouns. A whole-group exercise models the revision process, and small group instruction focuses on students who need extra help in writing. (Optional classroom program)

9.4 Revising for Clarity

Through a whole class mini-lesson and small group work, Tatiana With and her fourth-grade class explore the difference between editing and revising, with a focus on revision. In this lesson, Ms. With uses IN-Focus technology to model revision of an Indian folk tale. (Optional classroom program)

9.5 Reading Across the Curriculum

Gage Reeve's class is learning new vocabulary in a lesson on global warming. Students also use an idea tree to record main ideas and supporting details and write their own questions to be answered after reading the nonfiction text. (Optional classroom program)

9.6 Looking at Cause and Effect

Holly Concannon and her fifth-grade class discuss cause and effect in a passage from Gary Paulsen's book, Wood Song. The lesson models grouping students for independent reading, as well as guided reading. (Optional classroom program)

9.7 Close Reading for Understanding

Fifth-grade teacher Dana Robertson models strategic reading, and teaches his students the strategies readers use to comprehend the text. He then continues with small group instruction while other students work independently. (Optional classroom program)

9.8 Summarizing Nonfiction

Eleanor Demont's fifth-grade class completes a mini-lesson using summarization as a comprehension strategy for reading nonfiction texts. Students examine the importance of differentiating what is interesting from what is important in a social studies unit on Ancient Egypt. (Optional classroom program)

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Workshop 6 Teaching English Language Learners

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Workshop 7 Teaching Diverse Learners

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Workshop 8 Assessment and Accountability

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