Jessi Towne

EDUG 550
November 27, 2015
RICA Reflection
Competency 14 and 15: Comprehension: Instruction and AssessmentUnderstanding and
Analyzing Narrative/Literary Texts; Comprehension: Instruction and Assessment
Expository/Informational Texts and Study Skills
TPE Connection 3.4: Candidates know when and how to use specialized assessments based on
students needs.
TPE Connection 9.10: Candidates develop relevant, differentiated instructional plans by
connecting the content to be learned with students linguistic and cultural backgrounds,
experiences, interests, and developmental learning needs.
A. Definition In your own words state your understanding of this competency.
Competency 14 is talking about narrative/literary texts. The purpose of this competency
is for students to be able to understand narrative and literary texts in order to be assessed
and understand aligned instruction. According to the RICA textbook on page 105, there
are eight types of literature. The eight types of literature are traditional literature or
folktales, modern fantasy, high fantasy, science fiction, contemporary realistic fiction,
historical fiction, biography, and poetry. Not all reading is just reading a fiction story
from a literature book. There are many different genres and I want students to know how
to comprehend the various types of literature so they are able to comprehend instruction
and assessments. Competency 15 is talking about instruction and assessment in the forms
of informational texts. Informational texts are grade-level textbooks, reference texts and
other forms of informational texts.
B. Personal Connection/Evidence Describe ways that you have engaged with this
competency which illustrate you know how to implement it.
In my shared reading lesson that I did with the 2nd grade class, I read them a book called
Cows Cant Fly, which is a modern fantasy book. It talks about cows that are flying
throughout the book. We all know that cows cant really fly, which is the prime reason
why it is fiction. I read the book aloud to the students twice. During the story, I asked the
students questions to clarify whether they comprehended the details in the story. Many of
the students were able to make connections to the story, like text-to-world, text-to-text,
and text-to-self. According to the RICA book on page 106, The literary elements are
character, plot, setting, mood, theme, and stylethe literary elements are at the center of
instruction related to the analysis of the literature. Before I read the story to the students,
I told them to be paying attention to the characters in the story and the settings. Those are
the elements of the story that I was focusing on, because my activity was making a flip
book with the characters, setting, and their favorite part in the book.

In my 5th grade classroom, I used informational text about Native American totem poles
in a history lesson I was teaching the students. I had the students close read the passages
in order for them to be able to better comprehend the text. Reading the informational text
was difficult for the students, since they do not get a lot of exposure reading historical
text. I modeled close reading and annotation for the students on the document camera so
that they could understand how to read the informational text and comprehend what the
text is saying. In my tutoring lessons, I read my students an e-book aloud about sharks.
While I was reading the informational text, I reviewed the vocabulary words with the
students. It was helpful, because the vocabulary was underlined in the text so I was able
to click on the word for the definition. One of the activities that I had my tutees do after
we read the expository text was to create a bubble map with details they learned from
reading the text. This activity was to ensure my students were able to comprehend the
informational text.
C. Differentiation
a. Describe at least three examples of when and why to use particular strategies
with a student need.
i. With my 5th graders, I used the in-depth reading method to help them with
comprehending the informational history text. It helped them to
understand what we were reading and they were more interested in
reading the selection because it was just a short passage of text instead of
attempting to read an entire chapter.
ii. In my shared reading lesson, I had my second graders share connections
they made with the story I was reading aloud. This is an assessment
strategy that shows whether the students comprehended the story by the
connections they contribute to the group discussion.
iii. In my second grade class, I have also utilized the think-pair-share strategy
while teaching lessons. When reading a book aloud to the students, I asked
a question that related to the story. Then I had them think about their
answer, pair up with an elbow partner to talk about their answers, and then
share aloud what each group talked about. This enables the students to be
actively thinking about the story and be able to summarize and retell their
thoughts to another student and aloud to the rest of the class.
D. Text-To-Text
One of the TPEs that I saw was most prevalent and fitting was TPE 1.5, which states,
Candidates select appropriate teaching strategies to develop students' abilities to read
and comprehend narrative and informational texts and to cite specific evidence when
offering an oral or written interpretation of a text. This would require me to know my
students well enough that I am able to pick the strategies that work for certain students to
be able to learn and comprehend what they are reading. According to the RICA textbook
on page 104, it really describes the difference between expository/informational texts and
narrative/literary texts when it says, Narrative texts are storieswritten accounts of
actual or fictional events. Short stories and novels are narrative texts. Expository texts are
those that provide information about a topic. A social studies textbook, an information
book on lions, and a set of instructions on assembling a barbeque are all expository

texts. Now that we know the difference between expository and narrative texts, we are
better able to prepare our students to face the world of various texts. During my tutoring
sessions, I read a myriad of different texts, like Harry Potter, Green Eggs and Ham,
Sharks, Georges Dragon, and Where the Sidewalk Ends. It is always good to introduce
your students to various texts, so they are well-rounded and are able to read and
comprehend all different types of texts for a more developed and sophisticated English
fluency.