Kristina Parin
Second Transcription
RE 5730
A. For my second transcription I chose the following students:

Four Second graders

Two male and two female

Three low SES and one mid SES

Two African Americans (one male and female), one Caucasian (male), and one Latina female
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One high ability, two mid ability and one low ability
B. The text I read was Animals That Live In The Sea by: Joan Ann Straker for National Geographic
Books for Young Explorers.
C. Learning Goals

Instead of the students reading aloud, I read to them to check their listening comprehension.

To pause in the text to check their understanding of the text.

To show important elements in non-fiction text such as captions and bold print.

To make connections to real life situations

To understand the author’s purpose to writing non-fiction text. (Inform)
D. This text was very well written and had a 3rd grade readability level. The students were able to
understand and keep up at a great pace.
Table 1: Kinds of talk Teacher and Student Talk
Teacher Talk: Number of lines/Percentage
56 lines of talk/ 50.4% of total talk
Student Talk: Number of lines/Percentage
55 lines of talk/ 49.5% of total talk
Table 2: Kinds of teacher questions
Kind of question
Retrieve 7/22 questions
Number of times/Percentage
7 questions/ 32% of total questions
Relate 6/22 questions
6 questions/ 27% of total questions
Think/Explain 7/22 questions
7 questions/ 32% of total questions
Think/Infer 4/22 questions
4 questions/ 18% of total questions
Think/Predict 2/22 questions
2/ 9% of total questions
Think/Connect
Think/Evaluate
Think/Frame
Table 3: Kinds of teacher responses
Kind of response
Collect 11/20 total responses
Number of times/Percentage
11 responses/ 55% of responses
Probe 1/20 total responses
1 response/ 5% of responses
Connect 7/20 total responses
7 responses/ 35% of responses
Redirect 1/20 total responses
1 response/ 5% of responses
Transcription for Animals That Live In The Sea
By: Joan Ann Straker for National Geographic
Second Graders
Types of Questions
Types of Responses
T= Teacher
S= Student
Predict T – Today we are going to be reading a book titled Animals That Live in the Sea. With this title,
what do you think this book is going to be about?
S – Animals that live under the sea
S – Animals that are mammals
S – It might be about the miracles that people don’t know fish can do
Predict/Connect T – Excellent. While I am reading this I want you to answer some questions to yourself
about this story such as: Why am I reading this? Why does the author think I should read this? and What
do I expect to learn from reading this? Let’s begin.
Explain T – This book has photographs and there are italics under the picture. Does anyone know what
these are called or what they do?
S – It tells us what it is
Explain/Connect T – Very good. While reading it is very important to make sure you look at the captions
under the picture so you will understand what the author is talking about. Now look at the bold print, what
does that do in a book?
S – It tells us what it’s about
S – It is telling us that I am important on the page
Collect T – That’s right it tells you I’m important you need to read me. Now I will start.
Infer T – Now why does the author say “Yellow and black stripes make this fish as bright as a butterfly?”
S – Because it is a butterfly fish
S – Oh, I know what that is, that is a simile
Retrieve T – Where did you see a simile?
S – As bright as a butterfly
Collect T – Now the author says, “a goosefish lies flat as a pancake on the bottom of the ocean”
S – I hear another simile!
T – very good
S – the goosefish looks like dirt
Explain T – What is it called when an animal blends into it’s surroundings?
S – oh, camouflage
T – That’s right!
Collect T – More bold print remember this is important! Sharks and rays are fishes too.
Retrieve T – The mighty whale is a large and heavy mammal. Mammal, do any of you know what a
mammal is?
S – That is the only sea creature mammals
Retrieve T – What is a mammal?
S – It is a creature that has babies, and drinks milk from the mother, has a backbone and has hair.
Connect T – very good, those are all characteristics of a mammal
Relate T – These animals float in the sea. When the starfish is grown, it loses it’s tail and lives on the
bottom of the sea. Did any of you know that a starfish had a tail?
S – No
Collect T – I didn’t either, wow I love to learn new things!
T – Some animals hardly move at all. The yellow sea pen is an animal that looks like ___.
S – a feather
S – the opened sea anemone looks different that a closed sea anemone
T – yes it does
Retrieve/Collect T – There are many kinds of coral. Did you know that coral is an animal?
S – No
Retrieve T – can you guess why the purple coral is called a sea fan?
S – because it looks like a torn up China fan
Retrieve T – What re all these white things on the bright coral?
S – food for the fish to eat?
S – they might be babies
S – they might be plankton
Connect T – You know I really don’t know and maybe you can check out this book to find out.
T – Many fishes live among the corals. Now the parrotfish has large sharp teeth that show all the time and
always seem to be smiling.
S – Even when they are sleeping?
Explain/Collect T – yes, all the time. Now the Hawkfish matches the colors of the coral where it lives.
What is it called when an animal matches it’s surroundings?
S – pauses
Redirect T – Do you want some help? You can choose someone to help you out.
S – camouflage
Collect T – very good, there is that word again, oh look more bold print, must be important.
Relate T – These animals are defending their homes. What do you think defending means?
S – giving up
S – defending means that if an enemy comes near your territory he fights him off because he is defending
his territory and doesn’t want them to trespass.
T – that is a very good description
S – Instead of a territory you could say it was defending it’s habitat. That is a synonym for home.
Collect T – that is a very good synonym for home
Predict T – One animal becomes food for another. More bold print again, what did the author want us to
learn on this page?
S – Animals that blend into where they live might be food for another animal
T – very good
S – smaller fish become food for larger fishes
Collect T – The starfish has caught a scallop and pulls and pulls to get the animal inside
S – what’s inside?
Relate T – a scallop, have any of you had a scallop before?
S – a scallop is a little piece of meat
S – it looks like a clam
Infer T – These fish swim together for safety. Why is that important?
S – because if they loose each other they might be eaten
S – So they can keep their children safe by having the grown ups on the outside and the kids on the inside
Infer T – these fishes are hiding in safe places. Why is that important?
S – because if somebody is trying to eat them they can hide somewhere that will cover them up
T – That’s right it will keep them safe.
S – if they are laying eggs they can keep their eggs safe inside something
Relate T – does that remind you any movie you may have seen?
S – oh, Finding Nemo
Connect T – I think that too. When I am reading a book sometimes I am reminded of things that I have
seen or read about before,
T – This Blenny Fish pokes it’s head out of a hole made from a Sea Worm
S – Sea Worm, I didn’t know there were Sea Worms!
T – See we are learning all kinds of new things in this book. I though there were only earthworms.
Explain T – A few sea animals use poison for protection. Why did the author write this in bold print?
S – because that really can happen in real life
S – if something tries to hurt the fish it can use poison to get the animal.
Retrieve T – But, what is poison?
S – Poison is a type of disease that can hurt another animal.
Probe T – you’re on the right track, it can hurt other animals
S – Poison in something that can hurt you if you bother a poisonous animal and you can get sick.
Collect T – Now, a poison is something that some animals have inside to defend itself when it is being
attacked. There are also different types of poisons, there are some in your home like bleach or laundry
detergent and there are poisons found in nature like with plants and animals.
S – I thought some snakes used there poison to make medicines?
Collect T – You know, you are right, to make people feel better from some snake bites doctors make
medicines from the poison of the snake.
Explain T – Some sea animals help each other . More bold print, what makes this important?
S – because if another sea animal is in trouble like the clownfish on the page, the sea anemone will help it
S – what is that?
T – Let’s look at the _____
S – captions!
Connect T – to find out what the picture is, right! That is a hermit crab.
Infer T – so, now tell me what this book was about?
S – it is about the different types of homes and types of fishes that live in the sea
Explain T – Why did the author write this story, what was the author’s purpose?
S – the author wrote this story to give us lots of information about fish and creatures that live in the sea
T – great answer!
Relate T – Did you learn new things in this book?
S – There are sea worms that live in the sea
S – I never knew there was a crab named a hermit crab down in the sea
S – I didn’t know that a starfish eats scallops
Connect T – What I learned was the starfish have tails when they are younger and lose them when they
are older, I thought that was really interesting.
Relate T – What did this book make you think about?
S – This made me think about the hermit crab I saw at the beach
S – it made me think about the time I got bit from my own crab
S – it made me think about the time I went fishing with my cousin and we saw a sea turtle
T – Wow, you all did a great job, thank you so much!
Transcription Analysis
Name: Kristina Parin
Grade Level: 2nd grade
Topic: Sea Life
1. What were the goals for the discussion? What specific information or ideas did you hope
students would understand from the text they were reading and talking about? Make a list.
My goals for this discussion were:
 To read to the students to check for their listening comprehension skills
 Stopping during reading and gage comprehension up to that point
 State important elements in non-fiction text such as captions and bold print to and
affirm their importance.
 To make connections to personal experiences
 Understand the author’s purpose for writing non-fiction text (to inform)
 To have students work more on their listening comprehension as opposed to reading
individually.
 To have students look forward to reading more non-fiction text so the transition will
become easier for them in the future.
2. How did your students relate to those understandings? How did your questions help students
make sense of the ideas. Provide specific examples.
The students I had did fairly well understanding what they had heard read and when I asked
Relating questions they made great connections to their personal experiences. Such as one student telling
all about his crab at home and how he didn’t know crabs could also live in water.
3. What did student responses reveal about the understanding or misunderstanding of text ideas
that they had constructed? Provide specific examples.
When the students started talking about similes such as, “the goosefish is as flat as a pancake” the
students were able to connect to their prior experiences with language arts skills. Also when the students
didn’t know what something was, they went straight to the captions to find out what it was. They also
showed great understanding when they were able to tell me what the author’s purpose was, when they
would read bold print, and they were also great at predicting what will come next in the story.