Danielle: Reflection Lesson 1

What did students learned and which students struggled with the lesson?

Students learned about different elements of informational text. They were particularly interested in graphs and diagrams. They struggled with the vocabulary a bit. I ended up writing all of the words on the board. Students said they noticed: headings, index, or glossary. I am happy that I received this response but I cannot assume that a couple of my struggling students know this vocabulary even if they have heard it before. We reviewed as a class and I asked some of the students to just revoice what their peer said the word means.

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

My mentor teacher felt that students understood. She noticed one of my students struggling to be attentive. He is very intelligent and he is well known for his ADHD. He doesn’t stop moving. I did not see an issue with his movement but my MT saw him moving and was not engaged. He may have needed more noticing and direction from me.

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

These students can noticed different informational text elements and they can tell my why they’d use it. One thing they weren’t sure of is ‘where to start.’ Part of my lesson involved looking at a book about an animal and determining where you’d start if you were trying to read for enjoyment or if you were reading to find out what they eat. Most of my students started saying they’d start from the beginning either way. The concepts of how to work with a book have been drilled so much that they had trouble stepping out of that box.

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

This was the first lesson. It introduced our topic. Everyday will build on it. We will review this at the beginning of the next lesson. Students who know the answers will share and the students who don’t will repeat. We will review, “What is informational text?, Why would you use it?, Where would you start?” Eventually part of this review will include the 4 structures of informational text but we haven’t gotten to that part yet.

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?

One management thing I would do is plan differently when students go to select their books. Our informational text selection is limited. There is more than enough for everyone to have one but they were all in one spot and I feel that time was wasted waiting for students to choose. I had one student crying because there were not any horse books left. I should have either moved the books to different places in the room or just let each student choose one of three books I point out to them. I don’t like selecting the books because I am asking them why they chose it, but at least if they pick one out of three it might save valuable instruction time. I would also send ask more from my ELL student. He seemed to volunteer but couldn’t use all of the words such as ‘heading’ or ‘glossary.’ I would most likely like to do a short vocabulary lesson with him.

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

I learned to think a little more about management. I also learned that the more students talk, the more engaged they are. They were very engaged in my lesson. Choral responses are helpful and having them do it twice- louder can even bring back students. I feel it was a successful lesson.