Lesson Plan, Resources, and Assessment

Adapted from:

http://publications.gov.sk.ca/documents/11/40207-Reading-Difficulties-Disabilities.pdf

This table is created as per the multiple intelligences strength of Maha and according to this,
the teacher can create a specific Individualised Education Program plan and intervention
strategies to help Maha overcome her struggles in reading and writing.

Multiple Intelligences used to create Maha’s Lesson Plan and an IEP Plan

Intelligence Teaching Activities Teaching Materials Students Learn by

(Examples) (Examples) (Examples)

Verbal/ Linguistic large and small- books, tape reading, writing,

(using and group discussion, recorders, journals, telling, listening,
responding to choral reading, word games, books speech making,
written and spoken storytelling, poetry on tape, word following directions,
words) reading, lectures, processors, talking journal writing,
writing, word books, manuals taping own and
games, others’ thoughts and
brainstorming, ideas
reader’s theatre
Logical/ science experiments, calculators, science analytical thinking,
Mathematical (using mental calculation, games, science categorizing,
scientific thinking number games, equipment, classifying,
and problem solving pattern mathematics games, quantifying, critical
solving) problems, using logic puzzles, thinking,
formulas, critical mathematics conceptualizing,
thinking, logical manipulatives logical sequential
problem solving presentation of
exercises, analytical material
thinking
Visual/Spatial (using visual presentations, films, videos, art mind mapping,
the sense of sight mind mapping, using materials, pictures, colouring, seeing,
and the ability to graphic organizers, slides, graphs, maps, drawing, visualizing,
make mental visualization, charts, collages, diagramming,
images) imagination games, posters, models, seeking visual
making connections optical illusions, patterns, creating,
and patterns, overhead projector, designing, imagining
painting word computer graphics
pictures, creating and design software,
metaphors, field CD-ROMs, cameras,
trips telescopes,
microscopes
Body/Kinesthetic all types of hands-on mathematics interacting through
(learning and learning, science and manipulatives, real- space and with
expressing by doing) mathematics life materials, virtual objects, tactile
experiments, drama, reality software, experiences-
dance, sports that science labs touching, building,
teach, role-playing, fixing, manipulation
charades, field trips, materials, learning
mime, games, body by doing
language
communication,
cooking, gardening,
real-life activities
Musical/ Rhythmic playing music, using musical instruments, hearing music in the
(using and reacting live music, group tapes, music environment,
to rhythmic and rapping, chanting, software responding to and
tonal patterns) using tonal patterns, associating sounds,
singing, humming, creating music and
sound appreciation rhythmic patterns,
activities, using singing
rhythms, listening to
and identifying
environmental
sounds
Interpersonal peer tutoring, board games, interacting with and
(interacting with and collaborative simulation games, learning about
learning about learning, conflict interactive software others, interviewing,
others) mediation, group sharing, observing
brainstorming, others, teaching,
community debating, discussing
involvement, club
activities, social
construction of
knowledge
Intrapersonal individualized journals, reflecting, making
(understanding self) instruction, individualized work connections to
independent study, materials personal life and
providing options in feelings, having own
course study space
This table below expresses the written expressions and within each are the associated areas of
difficulties. This would help teachers to informally diagnose the disability of the learning
difficulty associated with each learner and ways to help them overcome their issues. In the
highlighted area below, this is Maha’s case in writing skills, we were able to diagnose the
symptoms of her literacy disability in writing specifically.

Written Expression and Associated Difficulties

Written Expression Associated Areas of Difficulty

Handwriting • forming letters;

• writing legibly;
• interspersing upper and lower-case letters
throughout writing;
• gripping a pencil or pen and applying
correct pressure; and
• spacing letters and sentences.

Pre-Writing Stage • discussing topics;

• thinking of ideas to write about;
• planning and organizing ideas;
• brainstorming;
• considering the audience or purpose;
• researching information; and
• completing written assignments on time.

Drafting Stage • getting thoughts down on paper;

• developing sentences;
• writing compound/complex sentences;
• organizing their writing; and
• writing coherently.

Revising Stage • proofing their product;

• editing for content;
• rearranging information; and
• spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.

Sharing Stage • sharing or publishing final written product.

Below is a lesson plan that the teacher can use throughout the semester, to help Maha in with
her reading and writing literacy disability. This plan is tailored to target Maha’s strength to
cover or over come her weakness in certain areas of reading and writing skills.

Lesson Plan to be used Over the Semester

Reading Skills Areas of Assessment for Instructional Strategies

Concern Instruction

Language: Student has Create a student • Engage the student in imaginative play
Communication difficulty: language profile using language.
and Information expressing Listen to your • Teach songs, chants, rhymes, and poems.
Processing. him/herself students talk • Engage students in language experience
orally and/or and keep stories.
demonstrating anecdotal • Sharing time and daily news.
understanding records of how • Felt board stories.
of spoken the student
language and/or processes
written text. information
when engaged
in
communication.

Vocabulary Student cannot Create a student • Teach students to play with words–
(lexical and bring meaning profile with combine parts of words to form new words
semantic cues to words or text examples of • Multiple exposure to words and repeated
and he/she has read. “use of words” • reading experiences (messages, word walls,
conventions). Student has not Examine lists).
developed a student-made • Multiple exposure to words in a variety of
store of words maps and webs contexts.
that he/she for evidence of • Teach oral and written vocabulary and link
recognizes and understanding. • them to prior learnings.
understands Present • Teach strategies on how to approach new
automatically incomplete words.
graphic • Incorporate sensory modalities.
organizers and • Teach words in the context of a selection
have students or unit.
complete them • Draw relationships between new and
as evidence of known words.
word • Teach students how to use contextual clues
knowledge. • to gain meaning.
Examine and • Teach students how to use reference
record resources such as dictionaries.
vocabulary used
by students
during a
brainstorming
activity. •
 Miscue
analysis/running
records.
• Quick writing.
Writing Skills Areas of Assessment for Instructional Strategies
Concern Instruction

Composing Student has Create a profile • Integrate transcription and composition

Skills difficulty of student skills into instruction activities in:
expressing writing that • sentence structures • language
thoughts and includes: • development • stages of writing.
ideas in a student • Daily writing using journals, big books for
coherent, expressive and writing, magnetic letters, chalkboards,
meaningful, and receptive magic slates.
comprehensible language; • Use read, talk, act, and then draw
way. • student activities.
interviews; and • Interactive writing using whole class or
• sample small groups where students share the
writing. responsibility for writing.
• Use sentence frames to encourage writing
such as: I see…, I have….
• Provide story starters–keep a bank of
possible topics to help students get started.
• Use pocket charts and cut up sentences to
help beginning writers to understand
sentence structure.
• Use sentence imitation t
Below is a sample checklist that the teacher can use with Maha to assess her progress in reading.
This checklist targets specific areas of the reading skill that will indicate to the teacher if she is
doing well and progressing or still needs more help and assistance in certain areas.
Subsequently, this will give both the teacher and the students the ability to focus on targeted
skills and work on improving them.

Sample Checklist for Assessing Reading in the Emerging Phase 1

Student’s name: _____________________________________ Date: ________________

Title of story: ____________________________________________________________

Place a check mark next to each element the child includes in her or his retelling. Note the
extent to which the retelling was “Assisted”. Add anecdotal comments as soon as the child
returns to another activity.

Setting
• Tells where the story begins, or makes a statement about time and place.
________________

Characters
• Names the characters at some point in the retelling. (Include one check mark for each
character that was included). ________________
• Describes some characteristic/s of the characters (e.g., personalities, appearance).
(Include one check mark for each characteristic mentioned). ________________

Episodes
• Describes the main events or episodes in the story. (Include one check mark for each
event). ________________

Ending (problem resolution)

• Describes how the story’s problem was solved or an important goal (desire, wish) was
attained. ________________

Sequence
• Retells the story in the correct order from beginning to end. (Include three check marks if
all episodes were told in order; two check marks if most were in order; one check mark if
some attention was paid to the order). ________________

Book Language
• Uses some of the author’s language in the retelling.
• begins with a story phrase like Once upon a time
• uses descriptive words the author used such as, enormous
• uses phrases or repetitions from the book (e.g., “Not I”, said the ____).
________________

Assistance (none, a little, a lot)

 Comments (Behaviours noted during retelling, asides the child made, etc.)
______________

Group work is a massive element in any learning environment and students feel more
comfortable to learn and share with one another than the interaction with the teacher. Hence,
we encourage Maha’s teacher to place her with one of her classmates to help her with the
reading activity. Below is a sample reading activity checklist that is designed to be in pairs or
groups. And other learners can help Maha, to focus on elements she does not usually focus on
due to her disability. We think this activity would be very useful and yet extremely effective in
Maha’s case.

Learning with a Peer

Understanding Reading Understanding information in social

studies, science, and other texts
Who were the characters? How did the author organize the
information?

What happened in the story? What picture or charts went with the
information in the text?

Why did these things happen? Reread the most important part.

How did things turn out? Did the author have an opinion about the
topic? If yes, what was his/her opinion?

How was this story similar or different to How could the text be arranged differently?
other stories you have read?
 Intervention Strategies to specific Reading and Writing Difficulties

English (Reading)

Introduction

Reading is a prerequisite for the acquisition of a great many declarative (knowledge: what,
who), procedural (skills: how) and conditional (attitudes: when and why) competencies. For
example, reading environmental print makes it possible to be informed about rules that are
pervasive in our society and indispensable for proper functioning in everyday life. This part,
the first one in the section on the remedial field, was produced to help teachers identify learning
problems related to reading in English, but also to suggest to them avenues for intervention. It
is also aimed at helping them develop a systematic, rigorous approach to the obstacles that arise
in learning situations.

Diagnosis

The adult does not understand the meaning of certain words.

Possible teaching strategies

✓ Explain the basic importance of vocabulary and concepts such as enriching one's thoughts
and understanding of experiences.
✓ Check, in the case of immigrant adults, if the problem is not the result of lack of English
vocabulary.
✓ Do exercises to enlarge vocabulary: discuss a movie, talk about current events, play word
games, do crossword puzzles or make a collection of new words. — Strongly encourage
dictionary use. Show that this tool can be fun as well as useful.
✓ Help the adult enrich his or her vocabulary around a certain theme: health, leisure,
learning, etc. — Repeat a new word several times by using it in different contexts.
✓ Ask the adult to imagine a landscape and describe it with as many details as possible. —
Ask the adult to imagine and recount how the beginning of a story would continue.
✓ Encourage the adult to make lists of synonyms, antonyms and homonyms.
✓ Ask if the adult knows similar words (in the same family).
✓ Ask the adult to read a whole paragraph and find the meaning.
✓ Ask the adult to identify the root of a word and look up what it means. Repeat the same
exercise with prefixes and suffixes.
Diagnosis

The adult has difficulties with certain sounds (confuses, adds, inverts, omits, substitutes or
repeats certain ones).

Possible teaching strategies

✓ Check the adult learner for a number of parameters: knowledge of letter-sound

correspondence, quality of hearing, quality of vision, attention and concentration.
✓ Encourage the adult to consult one or more specialists if necessary.
✓ Using exercises, teach the adult about auditory perception and auditory memory: for
example, distinguish familiar sounds or noises in an audio recording.
✓ Play the telephone game: the first person says two words to a second person. That
person repeats the words and adds another. That person passes on the three words to a
third person and so on and so forth. The exercise can also involve lengthening a
sentence from one person to the next. Example: “I'm moving and I buy tables, a sofa, a
refrigerator, etc."
✓ Ask the adult to repeat certain sounds and check the pronunciation. Draw attention to
what is happening physically (lips, neck, tongue, etc.) when the adult pronounces them.
✓ Help the adult make cards for the sounds he or she confuses. Have the adult choose key
words that are meaningful to him or her. For the confusion of "p-b," the words "peach"
and "pear" could be used for a learner who loves fruit. Another list could be made of
words starting with "b" and the two sets of cards could then be compared.
✓ Record the selected words, then ask the adult to listen to the recording and repeat the
words out loud.
✓ Draw the adult's attention to the meanings of observation and visual discrimination.
Give the adult references to help him or her find certain shapes or series.
✓ If necessary, mark the problem sounds with a specific colour.
English (Writing)

Introduction

Writing gives access to a key form of expression. Making it easier to learn how to write is
therefore an extremely laudable goal. It was with this intention that this part was produced,
especially since mastery of writing often poses a difficult challenge for those registered in
literacy programs, as well as for others. In light of the foregoing, this part offers teachers
strategies that will help them increase awareness among adult learners with regard to writing,
familiarizing them with writing, and encouraging them to write.

Diagnosis

The adult cannot write a text of a few sentences when writing freely or from dictation.

Possible teaching strategies

✓ Check whether the adult knows what a text is.

✓ Drill this concept with various exercises. For example, ask the adult:
• to place sentences to assemble a text logically and chronologically
• to complete a text respecting the logic and the chronology
• to place illustrations in their logical order and compose a text related to
them • to develop a detailed plan
✓ Familiarize the adult with the different stages in the development of a text by providing
a model, doing this several times. Write a text on the chalkboard using the following
procedure:
• write down a list of ideas to use on the chosen subject
• verbally express the adult's questions on choices of words, rules of
grammar and syntax and the semantic organization of the text
• cross out words or make cross references
• whenever necessary, look things up using the available reference tools
• polish the text
• Ask the adult learners to experiment with writing a text in groups of two
or three.
✓ Correct the text, pointing out the mistakes made and what tools can be used to correct
them (the learner could be asked to find the mistakes him- or herself, correct them, and
explain the new version).
 ✓ Explain how to develop and produce a text:
• make a list of all the ideas that could be used without self-censorship or
analysis of their relevance, logic, etc.
• choose ideas, classify them and construct a plan
• write a first draft 19 • review the logical structure and the connection of
ideas
• correct the style (repetitions, inversions, connecting words, etc.)
• correct spelling and apply grammar rules using the tools available (if the
adult has basic problems with grammar, ask him or her to underline noun
phrases and connect the subject and verb with an arrow)
• suggest the adult learners reread their texts the next day before
producing the finished versions
• emphasize the importance of reworking texts (by asking the adult
learners, for example, to say how many times they think a book was
revised and corrected before being published).

Diagnosis

When writing freely, the adult has grammar problems.

Possible teaching strategies

✓ Work on grammatical analysis, making sure that the rules of grammar are understood.
✓ Encourage the adult learner to discover grammar rules on his or her own. For example,
ask the adult to explain the differences between "an apple" and "the apple," "she goes"
and "they go," "she goes" and "she went" and "she is going."
✓ Present the grammatical concepts in concrete ways. Associate them with everyday
situations.
✓ Teach the adult learners to ask themselves questions about the relationships among
words as they are writing. If necessary, ask the adults to indicate these relationships on
the sheet, for example, with arrows. They can also ask themselves the questions in the
self-correction grid constructed in accordance with their individual difficulties.
✓ As with for all other difficulties, encourage the adult to use the reference tools available.
✓ Suggest that the adults read out loud.
✓ Ask the adult learners to summarize the rules that cause them problems, to write them
down in their notebooks and illustrate them with examples.