The Iditarod
By: Kelcy Engl
Union East Elementary
 Cheektowaga school district
 I worked in Kristen Carlisle’s
classroom
 Grade Four
My Students
 23 students in my classroom
 Co-teaching environment
 Varied abilities
 Learning Disabilities
 Emotional Disturbance
 Auditory Processing
Time Frame
 Thirty-five minute English Language
Arts period
 Two small reading groups
 Met with each group for about fifteen
minutes
Peer Review Focus Question
How could I make this lesson
more engaging for the
students?
Lesson Objectives
1.0 The learner will be able to write and
opinion piece about sled dog racing with
90% accuracy.
2.0 The learner will be able to justify their
opinion using examples from two articles
with 90% accuracy.
Essential Question
 How can you use textual evidence to
form and support your opinion when
writing?
Enduring Understanding
 Opinion writing pieces can be
supported and strengthened,
through the use of details from
articles about the Iditarod and sled
dog racing.
Guiding Questions
 What do you know about Alaska?
 What is the Iditarod?
 What is sled dog racing?
Common Core Standard
 Standard: RI.4.1
 Refer to details and examples in a
text when explaining what the text
says explicitly and when drawing
inferences from the text
 CCR Anchor: Key Ideas and Details
 Strand: Reading for Informational Text
Assessment Tool
Name:
__________________________
Do you think the Iditarod is too
dangerous for sled dogs? Why or
why not? Support your opinion with
details from the articles, A Sled Dog
Life and Is the Iditarod for the Dogs.
(6-10 sentence paragraph)
Teacher Exemplar

Did you know some dogs that run
the Iditarod race, which takes place
in Alaska, die each year? Karen
Fanning, the author of the article, Is
the Iditarod for the Dogs, explains
sled dogs die from heart failure,
pneumonia, and even sled accidents
each year.
Teacher Exemplar Rubric
Attribute
4
Clear, well organized,
well developed ideas
(Weight: 1 point)
Your paragraph has at
least 4-5 details from the
passage Is the Iditarod for
the Dogs
4/4 points
Editing for grammar,
Before corrections you
usage and punctuation have less than 3 spelling,
(Weight: 1 point)
grammar, and punctuation
usage errors in your
4/4 points paragraph
Student Work Distinguished
Distinguished Student Rubric
Attributes
Attribute
Drawing inferences
and stating opinion
(Weight: 1 point)
4
4 sentences of your
own opinion about the
treatment of the dogs.
Sentence variation,
word choice, and
paragraph length
(Weight: 1 point)
You use sentence
variation (all of your
sentences start of
differently). You use
descriptive language.
Proficient Student Work
Proficient Student Work
Rubric Attributes
Attribute
Clear, well
organized, well
developed ideas
(Weight: 1 point)
2
Your paragraph has
2 details from the
passage Is the
Iditarod for the Dogs
Developing Student Work
Developing Student Work
Rubric
Attribute
Sentence variation, word
choice, and paragraph
length
(Weight: 1 point)
2
You use very little
descriptive language (you
use a lot of nice, bad,
sad) and your paragraph
has 3-4 detailed
sentences.
Pre and Post Assessment
Data
Pre and Post Assessment Data
16
15
14
13
12
Number of Students
11
10
9
Pre Assessment
8
Post Assessment
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Distinguished
Proficient
Developing
Modifications
Modification
Type
Instructional
Specific
Modification
Rationale
Benefits
Breaking the
students into two
small reading
groups
Since there is a
high and low level
reading group,
dividing each
group is more
effective for
providing
instruction
Higher and lower
reading group
benefit because
the higher group
can work at their
own pace and be
more
independent,
while the lower
level reading
group can be
guided
throughout the
lesson.
Reflection
 Many thanks to my peer review
group for your support throughout
this process!!
 There is always room for
improvement!