Megan's Lesson Reflections

Reflection from Lesson 1

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

My first lesson went really well! I thought it was going to be a disaster starting my lead teaching during the week of Halloween but actually it went better than expected. However my students seemed really worked up when I gave the pre-assessment to see their prior knowledge of the vocabulary words. I handed them the worksheet and told them not to worry because this wasn’t going to be a grade. I emphasized over and over that this sheet was to show me how much they already knew about the vocabulary words and also to show them how they improved in their knowledge of these words during the week. When they found out I wasn’t going to be reading them the sentences like they were used to, a few of low level students gave up. They picked words at random and crossed them off on the boxes so it looked like they were actually doing something. My student with the IEP needs direct one on one help and because he wasn’t receiving that he didn’t even try to work on the sheet.

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

My students are low level so most of their material has to be read to them whether they need it or not. I have a few select students who are able to read the sentences on the board easily and would be able to make the correct selection. Instead of figuring out what the sentences said and then finding which word belonged with it, they got confused and put incorrect words in the blanks. I think this is from not reading the sentences very carefully. They sometimes become so dependent on hearing it read, that they forget they have the capability to figure it out for themselves.

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

I learned lots about my students. I can see the students who are able to think quickly when I draw sticks to answer a question. Some pay attention the entire time but when their name gets drawn I have to slowly coax an answer out of them. Some of my students barely listen but if they are called on can rattle of a correct answer in 3 seconds. I learned that sticks come in handy but they don’t count for everything and calling on students who have hands raised will also help. I also realized that my students like having extra support for the worksheet. Some might have known the correct answers to the fill in the blank sentences but because they had to read it on their own, might have missed the meaning therefore getting the answer incorrect.

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

Vocabulary is great because everyday I’ll go over what the words mean by having students answer me either with hands raised of if their name was drawn. They will have the pictures and words posted on the board all week so when we hear a word, or see one of their words in the text, I’ll draw their attention back to the word card and make sure they understand the meaning.

• 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?

If I were to teach this lesson again, I would make the sentences filling in the blank work sheet not seem so stressful. I would probably make it on a half sheet of paper that way it won’t seem as formal and I could even have the students work on it together in pairs. I wanted to see how they would work with the words without any support but I think not reading it out loud to them was a big shock. I would read the next assessment out loud to them to see if this helps more students.

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

Implementing my core practices turned out to be a little harder than expected. With a basal program everything is very rigid. Lessons are so timed out and we have lots to squeeze in teaching to all academic levels that sometimes things get lost in the shuffle. I wanted to make this my own but found it almost impossible to find a way to pre-assess my students individually without using a formal worksheet. I want to give each student an equal opportunity to show their knowledge of the words, but some students couldn’t read all of the sentences. It was hard for me to see them struggle through it, but I wanted to see what they knew, not what they knew with my help. As the lessons go on, I’ll implement more activities where the students can verbally tell me the definition to the word or draw a picture to show me, that way I am accommodating all different types of learners.

 Reflection from Lesson 2

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

This lesson went pretty well today. I introduced the idea that when we don’t know what a word means we can look for it’s synonyms. My higher-level students got this concept pretty easily. I could tell they had prior knowledge working with this idea. My lower level students hadn’t heard this term before but once I explained to them that synonyms are two words that mean the same thing, they got a better handle on it. I read for them different words and they had to come up with synonyms with their elbow partners then we all shared as a class. This was really helpful to see who really got the idea, and who needed a little more help. Our students got to pick their seats so if both of my students in the pair were lower level, their answers tended to be incorrect while another group had an easy time coming up with an answer.

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

 My students really got the idea that synonyms mean the same thing but had a little bit of trouble applying it as a strategy for vocabulary words. One student said if I don’t understand what a word is, how am I supposed to think of a word that means the same thing? This was great because I walked them through reading a passage and modeled how synonyms were often in separate sentences and if I knew one word, it could give me an idea of what the other word might be.

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

I was really excited to see my student stake so much joy in helping one another come up with a list of synonyms. Even though the words were given in the text, they felt like they had creative liberty in coming up with a synonym. They especially loved sharing with the entire group because they could be as creative as they want. I loved seeing the confused faces that turned into understanding after some explanation from their classmates. This was a great way for my students to take ownership of a literary device they will need to be comfortable with that will help strengthen their vocabulary.

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

I will review the vocabulary words everyday before we start Reading Street. We’ll go over the definitions, look at the pictures, find synonyms and then use the strategy multiple times during group work, think pair share, or independently. They will have a few different worksheets to help test these ideas and I will always be available to help and clarify as I float around the classroom.  

• 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?

If I were to do this lesson again, I would try to put more focus on the fact that if I’m unsure of a word looking in the sentences before and after it might really help me because they usually contain clue words (synonyms) that have the same meaning as the unknown vocabulary. I would lesson the focus on the fact that synonyms mean the same thing and do less practice with that and more practice with applying the strategy.

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

 The vocabulary lessons went much better than I thought. My students were excited to learn these new words and concepts on how to figure out a new vocabulary word. I always think of vocabulary as words and their definitions. My students are so low that I need to go more basic than that with them. I need to walk them through different strategies on how to figure out an unknown word. My focus should be on preparing them to use these strategies to help them master these concepts. Also my students would really benefit from activities that would get them up and moving. Anything I can do to make Reading Street more fun to them would help my class so much. I think if I can tie it into something they are interested in, then they won’t realize they are learning and won’t put up as much resistance.