The Iditarod

Procedure

Objectives

  • The students will be able to write specific facts about the Iditarod and mushers, and explain the text explicitly while also referring to details and examples from the text with 95% accuracy.
  •  Independently the students will be able to accurately answer questions about the history of the Iditarod while drawing inferences from text and referring to details and examples from the text with 90% accuracy.
  • Independently the students will be able to write a paragraph and explicitly explain, using details, if they think the dogs are being mistreated with 90% accuracy.

Activate and Assess Prior Knowledge

  • At the start of this Learning Experience the students complete the preassessment questions (appendix E) while at their desks.
  • This lesson is completed with two small reading groups, a higher and lower level. Once the students are divided into their groups briefly review what the students know about the Iditarod race, if they have heard anything, or what they may know about Alaska.

Anticipatory Set

  • State the objective: Today we are going to be reading two articles about sled dog racing, highlighting important information found in each article.
  • Before beginning the lesson with the students in their small groups, briefly review the answers to the preassessment and inform them that the answers to the questions are the main focus for the remainder of the lesson.
  • Once the answers are discussed students read several passages about the Iditarod, and then write an opinion piece about whether they feel sled dog racing is too dangerous for the dogs.
  • Once the objective has been stated, explain the procedure to the students: Once we have finished reading and highlighting important information in each article, you will use this information to write an opinion piece about whether you feel sled dog racing is too dangerous for the dogs.
  • Briefly introduce each article to the students before reading.

Modeling

  • Distribute each article that students read together in small groups.
  • Provide the students with a brief summary of each article. State that it is important for them to pay attention to details about sled dog racing throughout the reading because they will use this information for their writing piece.

Guided Practice

  • The teacher reads the first article with the students and stops to highlight the important information being read. The students highlight what the teacher is highlighting in order to understand the process of locating important information from the articles.
  • After the teacher has read the first paragraph with the students and modeled locating important information, ask the students to volunteer to read out loud and locate information they feel is important to highlight and use in their opinion pieces.
  •  Allow several students to read aloud and locate information to highlight, as this allows the students to fully understand the concept of understanding how to find and use information from an article to implement and use in a writing piece.
  • After reading the first article with the students and completing the step-by-step process of reading and highlighting, the teacher reads the second article with the students and then has them complete the reading independently. The teacher has the students read paragraph by paragraph and highlight as they go along, and then has the students share what they learned in the different paragraphs. This allows students to be more independent, and keeps the students from losing focus and becoming easily distracted or bored.
  • After reading and discussing each article, assign and discuss the writing piece the students will be completing for the independent practice portion of the lesson.

Independent Practice

  • The students use the information they have found from the two different articles, along with their own opinion, to create an opinion-writing piece about whether they feel sled dog racing is too dangerous for the dogs.
  • The students are given several work periods over a couple of days to complete this writing piece to the best of their ability.

Closure

  • Ask the students to provide one detail about sled dog racing they learned from one of the articles read in small group.
  • Use guiding questions to provide closure such as: Where is Alaska? What is the Iditarod? What is sled dog racing?

*Technology*

  • Aside from using an Elmo and computer clips about the Iditarod, technology is used for this lesson as the students are given an Iditarod musher to track throughout the race using the online website: http://iditarod.com/. The students can check the standing of their musher periodically throughout the day, and then record where their individual musher stands in the race.