Inquiry 3, Part A, Step 3 (Megan)

STEP 3:

o My literacy unit fit within teaching from Reading Street. Reading Street has a Read and Comprehend section, and in that section tested vocabulary words are taught.

o To what extent were you were expected to follow a scripted curriculum, or add your own

ideas to a curriculum that already exists, or create a unit that is entirely new?  I was expected to follow a pretty scripted curriculum. At my school they talk about using Reading Street with fidelity. I had more flexibility when it came to planning activities to practice these vocabulary words though. As long as I introduced them in the way Reading Street said to and used their definitions, I could plan more hands on ways to practice these words.

o What was unproblematic and/or challenging about planning a unit in this context?

Something that was problematic for me was the pacing of planning this unit. I wanted to focus on just a piece of the Read and Comprehend section which is vocabulary, but there is only a certain amount of time allotted for that section and I needed to fit everything in that one block of time, including the extra activities I had planned.

o What obstacles did you face? How did you overcome them?

One of my biggest obstacles was trying to teach my lesson effectively to the entire class but somehow still keeping my student with an IEP motivated and on task. This student is always talking, fiddling, not paying attention, ripping up something and pretty much just distracting everyone from learning. He needs one on one attention at all times in order for him to accomplish anything. Unfortunately he is not able to have one on one attention at all times, so it was new for me to see how to keep him under control while providing the class with a beneficial learning environment. I overcame this by staying near him at all times. As much as I wanted to move around and float around I knew that I needed to stay close to him in order to help him focus. When the class broke up into working on the activity I made sure to pull him aside and I helped him with the activity that way the other students were free to concentrate.

o How did working on developing your ‘core practice’ influence the types of learning

opportunities you were able to offer your students?

Developing my core practice directly influenced the type of learning opportunities I was able to offer my students. I had noticed that they have been really into making paper cootie catchers or fortune tellers during their free time, so instead of doing the boring practice worksheet for the vocabulary during reading street, I made up an activity where they had to practice their vocabulary using cootie catchers. I was able to hybridize what Reading Street wanted them to know and what they were already interested in into this great lesson that they loved.

o What dilemmas (if any) did you face and how did you manage them?

My biggest dilemma was making sure I could give each student attention and an opportunity to ask for help if they needed it. Most of the time after giving instruction I was tied up with my student with the IEP either giving help or trying to coral his behavior. In the end I had a few students who were really understanding helping the other strugglers. It was neat to see them want to help out their peers.

o What enabled you to be successful? 

I think I was able to be successful because I had a very well thought out lesson. I took my time, remained calm, and was willing to try something different with my students. I knew that everything wouldn’t go perfectly and it was ok to change things around to make it work as long as they got it in the end, which they did.

o Did the unit proceed as you expected?

The unit did pretty much go as expected. I think this was due to the fact that I had so many different ideas and activities. If something worked for me one day, I would change it a little but keep the same principal and if something didn’t work, I didn’t stress about it I just figured out something else to try. Why or why not? 

o What surprises or “aha moments” did you experience?

My aha moment came from one of my boys who is pretty shy and doesn’t really like school a lot. He doesn’t try very hard but he came up to me after my cootie catcher activity and told me how much he really loved it and thought it made learning fun. His test score went up that week and he got a 100% and I was so proud! It was so nice to see that coming up with things outside of the box can really influence how my students understand something even if Reading Street doesn’t want you to stray away from the curriculum.

o What do you still need to learn about teaching in this target area, about your developing

your ‘core practice’ and about teaching literacy in general?

I think I would just like to learn more activities and resources I could use when teaching literacy. Having a lot of different ideas that I can try out and see which one will work for me seems to be something I always want more of. I think that learning happen in so many different ways and seeing a bunch of ways other teachers do things will only help me as a teacher.