Peck Reflection 2

               For the second mini lesson, I believe this lesson went a bit better than the other mini lesson. The students were fully engaged and on task the entire time. My higher level learner student helped aid in the lower level students learning by modeling the task for him. Both students were able to create visual diagrams or thought maps about key words within the text. The students then engaged in a conversation about all the ideas and after an example by me, were able to draw lines and connect ideas realize the main ideas from the supporting ones. When asked if the students thought the activity was beneficial, the students agreed that it really helped them figure out what was most important, and if they were to write a summary what to include in it. Overall I would say in this mini lesson the objective was achieved.
            A limitation of this mini lesson had to do with poor planning on my part. I felt as if I was verbally explaining all of the instructions, and there was a heavy reliance on showing examples of how to do the task. If this would have been a whole class lesson, I realize that a guided note sheet, or a whole class demonstration of the task would have provided a clearer understanding of what I expected. However on a positive side I do think the students enjoyed "walking through" the task and seeing it come together as a whole. At the end when we were connecting ideas together and it all began to make sense to why we were doing this, it became more enjoyable for the students as they began to debate whether topics were main ideas.
            Something that I noticed about myself as a teacher, similar to my other reflection, is my desire for these students to succeed and my over scaffolding to make sure success happens. I guess my question lies in where and how do you know that students are performing at an instructional level? If any of the time spent in the classroom has shown me anything is that the students either "get it" or "don't get it". How do we make sure the students that "don't get it" are coming to "get it" by their own learning, rather than seeing someone else's work or having a teacher talk them through it. How do we scaffold without over scaffolding?

Peck Reflection 1

Overall the lesson went somewhat as planned. I was surprised the students weren't too engaged in the task I created for them to do, and one of the students started copying the other students drawing. I noticed there were good conversation about the passage being expressed so while we were drawing our pictures I began asking questions related to what my two focus students thought the setting took place. Even though the passage is set in a forested area, not really a jungle, the students were convinced it was a jungle. I began asking questions attempting to get them to relate to the text, asking if they thought they would be able to live in the wilderness as this kid did. I noticed that the students began taking their time, and talking more than coloring so I decided to cut the activity where it was and discuss our pictures. I was surprised to see the students miss some literal cues, such as it talking about a bird, and the sun, but they did capture the water, trees lily pads and fish.

 I realized for this activity, even though I believed the passage was at a comprehend-able level for the two focus students, it may have been better to introduce this idea with an easier, poem-like text. This was one of the limitations of the lesson, and I think if there would have been a lower level passage the students would have been able to create these mental pictures easier. I think a strength of the lesson was the students ability to connect to the text and relate it to themselves, even though it wasn't a planned objective. This is just another way of making meaning out of the text, which relates to my objective. So although some areas fell short of the lesson and what I anticipated, other areas flourished, and still maintained my direction or goal of the lesson. 

Something I noticed about myself as a teacher is that desire that teachers have for their students to learn. I found myself getting frustrated when the students would trail off, and at the end of the mini lesson when I was asking feedback of the students I truely cared about if they felt as it was effective. I've found that sometimes as a teacher you have to take a step back and let learning happen the way its going to happen. There is a balance to keep as a teacher of self exploration and guidance, and when lessons are too heavily guided, it cuts the self exploration aspect out of it. I found myself guiding too much but was able to step back and let the students explore. Another thing,  not only with this lesson but as a culminating idea I've learned, is that lessons will not always go as planned, but there are ways to manipulate the direction the lesson is headed to still ensure successful learning. If I were to do this lesson again, I would start out with a more straightforward passage, and create prompts for the students to talk about with each other while they are working. 

Miller Lesson 2 Reflection

Lesson 2

Lesson 2 did not go as I had expected. I thought the students would be much more engaged and enjoy drawing pictures of the beginning, middle, and end of the text, but they seemed bored. However, all of the learning objectives were met. Both students included the main points that I included in my lesson plan as evidence of meeting the objectives. However, Dalton said that in the end, the main character’s friend had a toy he wanted, so I needed to probe further and ask, “So what did they do?” He answered, “They traded.” Both students included the detail about the mom not having enough money to buy the boy a new toy, which I thought was interesting. I thought they would have just said that the mom said no, because the detail about not having enough money seems so small in relation to the amount of other details, although it is a big idea of the story. Eliza did not include the boys trading in her drawing of the end of the story, but she drew the main character holding a toy and smiling, as if to indicate that he has a new toy. In her retelling of the story however, she said that they boys traded toys in the end. The students were definitely able to identify the big ideas of the story and summarize it without skipping any important details, and they did not include mainly minor details either. All the objectives were met, and I would say the next step would be having the students practice clearly translating their ideas onto paper and draw more descriptive drawings.

I think a weakness may have been that I was not clear enough in my expectations. I could have told the students to draw very detailed pictures of the beginning, middle, and end but then it might have became more of a visualization task. However, the focus still would have been on the big ideas. I think I could have asked the students several times in different contexts what the big ideas were. I touched on it in the beginning when I told them that this way a way of focusing on the important parts of the story, but it would have been a good idea to talk about that concept throughout the lesson to have them focus on the purpose of the activity. For example, I could have asked them what the big ideas were in the beginning, the middle, and the end instead of asking them to tell me what happened in the beginning, middle, and end. Asking for the big ideas may have been useful for them in the future whenever they are asked to think about big ideas of a text. I thought this activity would be just right for the students, but like I said, it seemed too easy for them. It would have been better for me to look at other assessment data from my MT. Looking back, there may be other reasons why these students did not perform well during my language arts lesson in terms of finding the big ideas. They may not have felt very involved in the discussion or may have been distracted by others. Maybe they did not understand the post-reading assignment as well as the other students or did not know how to put their thoughts onto paper. It probably takes more data than what I used to determine where a student stands. Maybe if I were their teacher and I worked with them every day, I would have known whether or not this task was the best one for them to practice. Also, I think I talked a little too much during this lesson that it almost sounded like a discussion rather than an individual activity. I think I should work on writing better scripts for myself and stick more to them. I also need to relax and let the students have think time rather than moving on to question after question if they do not respond right away.

Miller Lesson 1 Reflection

Lesson 1

Overall, I was somewhat disappointed in how the students performed. I took them out into the hallway for the lesson so  they would not be distracted by what was going on in the classroom, but they found ways to distract themselves anyway (flicking their pencils to the other side of the hallway, flopping around, making jokes about Barbies). Jackson especially was very distracted and caused John to lose focus as well. Jackson has the lowest motivation of the class, which is unfortunate because it causes him not to show how smart he really is on assessments and worksheets and whatnot. I was impressed with John however for trying to stay on-task even with Jackson being distracting. He kept reminding himself that he was supposed to be thinking about connections (he kept saying things like “So how is it the same as my family’s vacation?”) I had a really hard time getting Jackson to focus on the task, but I was able to have him make a few connections. He compared his family’s trip to the one in the story by remembering what their hotel was like and what he played with in the car. He made connections to important ideas of the story that we talked about in the pre-reading comprehension questions. It took a lot of scaffolding; I had to ask him explicitly if there was a pool at the hotel his family went to or if he took his Nintendo in the car. He did not write anything on his paper but his name, but after debriefing with my MT I realized that a writing exercise was probably not a good thing for him. I had seen him write before in class, but it is something he struggles with and it probably caused him to lose all motivation during my mini-lesson. Fortunately, I was able to see him make some connections in our conversation, so even though he did not do the activity as I had planned, he worked towards the learning objectives by discussing similarities and differences between himself and the character in the text. However, I do not think Jackson really grasped the activity as a comprehension strategy and I do not think he will use it on his own in the future. Since I had to explicitly ask him to make certain connections, I think it will take more scaffolding before he can/will do it on his own. John wrote something in his journal entry and drew a picture to go with it (an airplane). However, all he wrote was, “I went on a trip with my family. I dru—“ He was not able to finish what he was writing even though he had about 10-15 minutes in the hallway and an additional 5 minutes in the classroom. He was getting distracted by talking with Jackson about Barbies. He and I did have a conversation though just like Jackson and I. We sort of had a group discussion with making connections. John made connections himself without needing to be asked explicit questions like Jackson. I asked him a couple whenever he got off track, like, “Did your family drive?” He talked about how they took a plane. The lesson ended up feeling like an introduction to text-to-self connections and I think they will both still need more scaffolding before doing it on their own successfully.

I really thought these students would be okay with writing their responses because I have seen them write before at my reading center. However, my MT said that was probably why they struggled. I should have used more assessment data in determining an appropriate task. I learned that I need to be stricter with class management and keeping students focused on the task.  I also learned that asking them certain questions can direct them towards the learning goal and it is important to think of those questions beforehand, but you really cannot anticipate exactly what the students will say or ask, and what kinds of questions will come up for you as the teacher to ask. It all depends on where the lesson goes. I think it is also really important to stress to the students the helpfulness of the task to their learning. It was hard for me not to become discouraged as this lesson went on, but I think keeping the energy up and/or expressing the importance of the lesson and the behavior expectations you have for the students is very important. I honestly felt discouraged in my teaching abilities after this lesson because I felt like it was my job to keep them focused and that did not really happen. I think it is going to take a while and more experience for me to develop my teaching style.

Miller Lesson Plan 2

TE 402 READING LESSON PLAN

Reading Lesson Plan # _2_

Your Name:  _Taylor Miller__________   Grade Level:  ____1_____  

Date lesson was taught:  ___16 April 2013______  Number of Students: __2____

1) Rationale (What evidence do you have that your focus students need to learn this skill/strategy?): For my language arts discussion lesson, these students did not use “big ideas” from the book to do the post-reading assessment in comparison with their classmates. Instead of using the most important details in identifying and describing the characters, they used minor details. Eliza wrote on her assessment, “Smudge is funny. She is friends with a boy.” Dalton wrote, “I am Victoria. I am happy.” During the post-reading discussion, I asked, “What is something that is the same about the boy and the girl?” Eliza answered, “They both have feet.” Dalton was silent and did not contribute to the bid ideas discussion portion. He talked with other students around him and fidgeted most of the time.

2) List the reading skill/strategy that is the main focus of your lesson (select ONE area): Identifying big ideas

3) Objective for this lesson: Students will make predictions during a pre-reading exercise, and then haidentify big ideas in the text and use them to complete a graphic organizer of the beginning, middle, and end of the text.

4) Materials & supplies needed: QRI-5, page 200: “What Can I Get for My Toy?”, paper (folded into 3 sections) and pencils, whiteboard and marker

5) OUTLINE OF LESSON PLAN (Provide a bulleted list of ideas):

PRE-READING: make participation norms explicit, elicit background knowledge, develop interest, set purpose (_3_minutes)

• Make participation norms explicit

I’m going to read you a short story, and while I’m reading I want you to think about the plot (what the story is about), who the characters are, and the setting (where it takes place).

•  Introduce the text 

I’m going to read you a short story, but first let’s think about some ideas and make a prediction.

(Concept questions from QRI-5, page 211) What does “new toys” mean to you? What does “toys you’ve had for a long time” mean to you? What are reasons for trading toys?

What do you think this story is going to be about?

DURING READING: Model how to engage with the text (e.g., use of reading strategies and analytic thinking process, inserting vocabulary support, comments and questions to support and extend comprehension and interpretation) (_2_ minutes)

• Voice inflections for dialogue

POST-READING ACTIVITIES AND DISCUSSION: Provide scaffolding for guided practice and/or application activity (_7_ minutes)

• Now we’re going to make a graphic organizer for the story.
• When we make these, we focus on the main parts of the story. So think about the plot, characters, and setting.
• This helps us organize the story and understand the important parts.
• Start by drawing pictures of the beginning, middle, and end of the story in the three sections (model on whiteboard)
• (Ask each student) What happened in the beginning? The middle? The end?
• (After they have finished drawing) Can you retell me the story using your drawings?

ONGOING-ASSESSMENT: what will you pay attention to in order to evaluate the extent to which your students met the stated objectives for the lesson (__ minutes)

I will be looking for a beginning, middle, and end. I will be looking for main ideas, such as: John told his mother he wanted a new toy because he did not think his were interesting anymore, his mom said they did not have enough money, John remembered his friend’s red truck and decided to trade with him, his friend said yes and said they could trade something else later as well. I will pay attention to whether students use small details in their organizers.

6) Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson?

Students may need to be directed to the word wall for certain words, or need guidance in “sounding out” words they cannot spell. They may also need guidance in blending word sounds. Eliza may need to be asked if she is stuck. Dalton may need to be reminded to focus on his work instead of talking with any friends who are around.

Miller Lesson Plan 1

TE 402 READING LESSON PLAN

Reading Lesson Plan # _1_

Your Name:  __Taylor Miller_________________   Grade Level:  ___1____  

Date lesson was taught:  __16 April 2013_____  Number of Students: __2____

1) Rationale (What evidence do you have that your focus students need to learn this skill/strategy?): During my language arts discussion lesson, these students stood out most as students who were struggling with using prior knowledge to make text-to-self connections. Both students did not participate in the text-to-self portion of the post-reading discussion. During the text-to-self discussion, John played with his shoes, cupped his face in his hands, looked sleepy, sat back from the circle up against the wall, and talked with other students nearby. Jackson did not answer any questions either and was distracted by his neighbors.

2) List the reading skill/strategy that is the main focus of your lesson (select ONE area): Connecting (text-to-self)

3) Objective for this lesson: Students will make text-to-self connections during and after a read-aloud of a short text about going on a trip by writing a short journal entry about similarities and differences between the family in the book and their own family on vacation.

4) Materials & supplies needed: QRI-5, page 201: “The Family’s First Trip”, paper and pencils, whiteboard and marker

5) OUTLINE OF LESSON PLAN (Provide a bulleted list of ideas):

PRE-READING: make participation norms explicit, elicit background knowledge, develop interest, set purpose (_3_minutes)

• Make participation norms explicit

I’m going to read you a short story about a family’s first vacation. While I’m reading, I want you guys to think about how this story is similar or different to you and your family.

•  Introduce the text    

(Concept questions from QRI-5, page 214): What does it mean to travel? What can children do to keep themselves busy on long rides in the car? What kinds of things should you pack if you are going on an overnight trip? How does the weather affect what you bring along on a trip?

Let’s see how this family’s first trip goes.

To go somewhere, watch tv, bring toys and play, ipod, underwear, clothes, game, ds, xbox, I have taken it on one, umbrella, bathing suit, jakets, boots

DURING READING: Model how to engage with the text (e.g., use of reading strategies and analytic thinking process, inserting vocabulary support, comments and questions to support and extend comprehension and interpretation) (_2_ minutes)

POST-READING ACTIVITIES AND DISCUSSION: Provide scaffolding for guided practice and/or application activity (_7_ minutes)

• Write a journal entry about the ways this family’s trip is the same or different from any trips your family has gone on.
• This is called making text-to-self connections.
• Journal entries like this help us link the ideas we read about with things that we have actually done, and that can make the story more fun.
• (On whiteboard) I’m going to say a couple things about my family’s vacations and how they are similar to this story. I’m also going to say something about how they are different. I used to take Barbies with me on road trips to play with, and I took books too but I never read them because it made me feel carsick like the boy in the story. I had a CD player too that I would take like the boy.
• What do you remember from your family’s vacation?

ONGOING-ASSESSMENT: what will you pay attention to in order to evaluate the extent to which your students met the stated objectives for the lesson (__ minutes)

I will be looking for meaningful connections between the students’ experiences and the text in their journal entries.

6) Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson?

Students may need to be directed to the word wall for certain words, or need guidance in “sounding out” words they cannot spell. They may also need guidance in blending word sounds. Students may need to be reminded to focus on their work instead of talking a lot to each other or to me.