2nd-Grade ELA Assignment
Overview
Second-grade students read an engaging adaptation of a Native American folk tale, then sequence the events in the story and respond to a question about the author’s craft. The text is worthwhile and adequately complex, but the associated task is weak, and does not reflect the demands of the grade-level reading standards. Students are only asked to recall the details of the story and do not have to demonstrate understanding of the overall structure or the central message.
About the Text
Title and Author
"Bear and Turtle and the Great Lake Race" by Andrew Fusek Peters
What is the Lexile Level of this text?
Based on Lexile, which grades is this text intended for?
Is the text qualitatively complex enough for the grade?
Is this text fiction or non-fiction?
Is this text authentic or was it written for educational purposes?
Does the text provide sufficient detail to build knowledge of a worthwhile topic and/or is it worth reading closely and re-reading?
Why is this assignment partially aligned?
This assignment is partially aligned because the text is strong, but the task is not:
The assignment allows students to read a worthwhile and adequately complex text. While this text is not an exemplar, fables, folk tales, and classic stories allow students to build their vocabulary and reading comprehension skills, become familiar with the key elements and parts of a story, and acquire cultural literacy.
It does not require students to demonstrate comprehension of the key ideas in the text. Instead, it focuses on the isolated skill of sequencing events.
The assignment could be stronger if it required students to describe the structure of the story orally or in writing. Students could be asked to include a description of how the beginning introduces the story and how the end concludes the action. Alternatively, the assignment could have focused students on the central message of the story.