1st Lesson Book Club Blog Reflection - Louis Armbrecht

After teaching each lesson, write a Book Club Blog Posting discussing the following:

·          What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson. 

·          What are alternate reads of your students’ performance or products?

·          What did you learn about your students’ literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?

·          When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?

·          If you were to teach this same lesson again, what would you do differently and how do you think the changes would improve students’ learning?

What did you learn so far about implementing your ‘core practice’ and what do you need to do to continue your professional learning? 

The students today learned what reader's theater is.  They struggled with maintaining order, and were talking nearly throughout the whole time, so we did not finish a read through of the piece.  
The students that I am working with are in the lowest two reading groups.  When I told them that reader's theater was like a play where we read out loud, one girl said, "But I stink at reading, do I have to do this?"  This shows she does not have much confidence in her abilities, something that I am hoping to change by showing that she can do it.  
Tomorrow I am altering the original plan to focus more on comprehension rather than vocabulary.  The students did not finish the script, and read with so many breaks between parts I do not know if they understood the plot.  Tomorrow we will go over what happened already, finish the script, and then talk about characters, setting, genre, and what happened in the story.  
If I were to teach this lesson again I would be harsher with the discipline.  There were 3 students out of the 10 that I was working with that would not stop distracting the other students.  I have my MT's approval that if this happens tomorrow, they will be sent back to the classroom and will not be able to participate.  
So far I think it was a rough start, but I know that there is room for improvement, especially once the students get into doing reader's theater and enjoy the activity instead of trying to goof off to show off to their friends.