Hannah Reflection 2

·         What did you notice about your students’ participation and learning in relation to your objectives?

I noticed that both of my students met my reading lesson objectives at different rates.  Chad was more successful throughout the activities than Jake.  Throughout every activity of the lesson Chad was able to demonstrate one-to-one correspondence.  No matter what form the sentences were presented in he was able to point to each word as we read them aloud together.  The only two words that Chad struggled with were “into” and “a.”  When these mistakes were made I went back over the sentences with Chad helping him point to these words as they were read aloud.  The second time these words occurred in the text Chad was able to correctly point to the words as they were read.  In contrast, Jake was only able to demonstrate one-to-one correspondence when they words were presented on different note cards or in different colors.  When we were reading the text from the book aloud together he was not able to point to each word.  Instead I worked with him, pointing to each word simultaneously.  If I was to work with Jake for more reading lessons I would print out copies of the pages and highlight each word with a different color.  Once he had experienced one-to-one correspondence in this presentation multiple times I would want to move on to highlighting every other word.  Hopefully this would give Jake experience pointing to each word in regular text font.  Then the teacher could work with him with text words that are all black.  Both students were able to use picture frames to find words within sentences on a page in the book.  Chad was able to meet my objective during every activity while Jake was only able to meet the lesson objective during curtain activities.

·         What were the strengths and limitations of your lesson for supporting your students’ learning?

My lesson had strengths and weaknesses.  One strength was that the students liked the book I had selected and were interested in reading it along with me.  Both Chad and Jake wanted to demonstrate one-to-one correspondence so that we could continue reading and find out what happened in the story.  Another strength of my lesson was the number of activities I was able to include that incorporated one-to-one word correspondence.  The students were able to practice this skill in multiple forms and see that it doesn’t matter what form the sentences are displayed in there are always made up of words.  The size of the reading group was also a strength.  I was able to focus on the learning needs of the two students.  There wasn’t a large group of students I was trying to monitor throughout the entire lesson.  Therefore, I was able to recognize that Chad missed the words “into” and “a.”  Then I was able to take the time to model how to point to these words as they were read.  In addition, I was still able to monitor Chad, who was very successful throughout the lesson, while providing more support to Jake.  If I had taught the lesson to a large group I would not have been able to address Jake’s learning needs and offer as much help as I did.  A weakness of my lesson was that I was able to not modify Jake’s book on the spot to meet his needs.  If I had used a printed out version of the book and had highlighters on hand I could have quickly highlighted each word in a different color.  This modification would have helped Jake demonstrate one-to-one word correspondence throughout the reading of the book.     

·         What did you notice about yourself as a teacher? What questions do you have? 

I noticed that I was able to successfully monitor both students throughout the lesson.  Even while I was helping Jake point to each word I still was aware enough of Chad to notice his mistake while point to each word.  Then I was able to see him point correctly to the words “into” and “a” after I modeled how to point to these words as they were read aloud.  If the mini reading lesson group had been larger this would have been more difficult to do successfully.  I would have missed many of the one-to-one correspondence each student exhibited.  I also noticed that if I was not able to monitor both students simultaneously I made sure that each student got a chance to demonstrate their activity to me.  I made sure that was able to see how each student completed the activities.  I also noticed that I was able to successfully choose a book that would allow students to meet my lesson objectives but also keep them interested.  Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is liked by many students but also had simple sentences on each page.  There weren’t lines and lines of text in which students could lose their place easily.

Hannah Reflection 1

·         What did you notice about your students’ participation and learning in relation to your objectives?

I noticed that my students had difficulty paying attention and participating during my lesson.  Part of the problem was where we were sitting in the school.  For my reading lesson I took the students out to a table in the hallway.  From the table the students were able to see other children on the playground and were often distracted by what was going on.  I did not anticipate that this would be a problem since students are use to working in the hallway with adults and have even worked at the table with me before.  In addition, the students have never listened to a story before where they were not able to see the pictures as the teacher was reading.  They could not handle listening to the story and waiting until the end of the lesson to take a picture walk.  To try and accommodate their learning needs I began showing them every other page of the story.  When I did not show them the illustration they shared their visualizations with the group.  They were able to create and describe their visualizations.  At the end of the lesson students were able to draw pictures of what they visualized during the reading.  Sarah drew a picture of the main character with stripes like an American flag.  While she was presenting her illustration she explained that the little girl’s stripes changed colors.  Isaac drew a picture of the main character as a pill, an event that occurred during the story.  Both students met my objectives, describing their visualizations and drawing pictures of one of their visualizations.

·         What were the strengths and limitations of your lesson for supporting your students’ learning?

My lesson had strengths and weaknesses.  One strength of my lesson is that my objectives were very open ended.  Visualizing allows students to picture whatever they think the story is saying.  There is no right and wrong visualizations, different students could see many different things with the same story.  In addition, once I began showing every other illustration both students found the story interesting, helping them to create vivid visualizations.  Although the students enjoyed the story it did have a disadvantage.  The story was very long and it became difficult for the students to create visualizations that were not very similar to previous visualizations.  If I was to teach this lesson again I would introduce the comprehension strategy with poems instead of a long story.  The teacher could model with one poem, have students practice visualizing with one or two poems, and then allow them to draw an illustration for a different poem.  Using different poems would also ensure that students were able to create different picture in their heads instead of describing a very similar visualization multiple times.  If I was to use poems I would consider using Shel Silverstein because students often enjoy these poems and they offer many interesting details to visualize.  Another strength of my reading lesson was the size of the group.  Working with only two students allowed me to give one-on-one attention and focus on the learning needs of these students.  I was able to tailor my lesson to what the students were having difficulty understanding to ensure that they learned how to use the comprehension strategy.

·         What did you notice about yourself as a teacher? What questions do you have? 

I noticed that I was able to change my lesson plan on the fly.  I was not fixed to what I had planned, but instead I was flexible.  It is an important skill as a teacher to improvise and change the lesson to meet the learning needs of the students and the learning environment.  If teachers are locked into what they had planned to do for their lesson they may not accomplish any of their learning objectives.  Instead students may become distracted, uninterested, or confused.  I was able to recognize that what I had planned for my reading lesson, not displaying the illustrations, was not working for my students.  I improvised and began displaying every other picture of the book to improve my mini-reading lesson.  By being aware of my lesson, lesson objectives and students while I was teaching my lesson I was able to rearrange my plan and meet my lesson objectives.  After teaching this lesson I have a few questions:  Would the lesson be more effective with poems?  How could I adapt this lesson to be a while class lesson?  Would I have to change anything in the lesson to teach it to lower achieving students?

Hannah Lesson Plan 2

Reading Lesson Plan # 2 Rationale: The focus students for this lesson have been assessed by my mentor teacher as not being able to demonstrate a one-to-one correspondence while reading.  Through monitoring other reading mini-lessons with the students my mentor teacher has seen that students cannot point to each word as the teacher reads aloud. Objective for this lesson: Students will demonstrate one-to-one correspondence throughout multiple activities.  Students will point at each word as the read sentences formed with note cards, different colored words, and text in Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Materials & supplies needed: Word Cards, Copies of Sentences, Multiple copies of Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event  Introduction to the lesson  (5 minutes)  “Today we are going to practice picking out words in a story.  Do you remember what you learned a word is?  Right a word is made up of letters and different words make sentences.  Words are separated by spaces.  Being able to recognize the words in a sentence helps us read stories.  We can practice finding words by using our two pointer fingers to make a small picture frame around the word.  Find a space on your page in the book and put your finger on it.  Then find the next space and put your other finger on it.  In between your fingers is a word.  Can you find another word and put it in a picture frame?  Good job finding another word.  We are going to play lots of different games to find words in the book Where the Wild Things Are.”  OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (10 minutes) “First we are going to find all of the words in the title of our book, Where the Wild Things Are.  The title is on the front cover of the book but I also wrote it out for you on these pieces of paper.  Each piece of paper has a word of our title on it.  Let’s put the words in order, we can look at the front cover for help.  What word comes first? Then which word?...What is the last word of our sentence?  Good job we put all five words of the title in order.  Now we are going to read our title.  As we say each word I want you to push the piece of paper with that word on it up with your finger, like this.  Next we are going to start to read our book.  I wrote the sentence on first page out for each of you.  Every word is in a different color.  As we read the sentence we are going to point at each word.  Lets read and point together.  Good job, lets practice that again.  Now we are going to read the rest of our book and point at each word as we read it.” Closing summary for the lesson (5 minutes) “We played a lot of different games to help us pick out words in our story Where the Wild Things Are.  What was your favorite game we played?  Can you show me a word by creating a picture frame with your fingers?  You can use a finger picture frame to find the different words in any book you read.  Remember letters make up words and words create sentences.  Being able to find words helps us learn to read and learn new words. Ongoing-Assessment:  I will observe students as they manipulate the word cards, point at the multiple color words, and the words in the text as we read.  I will use these three types of student products to know whether or not students are progressing toward my identified objective.

Adaptations: Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson? I will give clear expectations and directions and repeat them if necessary.  I will read the book along with the students as they demonstrate one-to-one correspondence.  I will model the strategy and provide multiple representations of sentences, through separate word cards that form a sentence, different colored words that form a sentence, and a text sentence directly from the book.  I will stop students and go over the words that cause confusion.

Hannah Lesson Plan 1

Reading Lesson Plan # 1 Rationale: All of the focus students for this lesson are working with my mentor teacher to develop skills that will improve their comprehension.  The students have been working on activating background knowledge, connecting, predicting, and summarizing.  My mentor teacher has not introduced visualizing during reading mini-lessons yet.  Visualizing is another skill students can use to improve their comprehension. Objective for this lesson: The learner will describe what they visualized when the teacher pauses during the reading of A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon.  Students will also create an illustration of their visualizations when the teacher has finished reading. Materials & supplies needed: Paper, Crayons, Pencils, A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon, Anchor Chart

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event  Introduction to the lesson  (5 minutes)  “Today we are going to be artists in reading class!  Artists are responsible for making a picture to go along with the words of the story.  Good readers make pictures in their heads to go with the words in a book and to help them remember and understand the story. They make pictures of the people and places described in books.  We are going to practice making pictures in our head as we read our story.  Visualizing helps us understand the story, make predictions about what will happen next in the story, and get us excited to read more.” OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (10minutes) “We can visualize anytime we read a book or someone else reads a story to us.  To visualize we create a picture in your mind using the clues and words from the story as you read.  It’s like making a movie in your brain.  I am going to read our story in three parts without showing you the pictures, then, after we are done with all of our activities we will go back and take a picture walk through the book.  First, I am going to show you how to visualize. I am going to read a little bit of our book and then explain to you what I pictured in my head.  While I was reading I pictured.  Now it’s your turn to try.  I’m going to read a little more of our story and then I want to hear what you visualized in your head.  What did you picture in your head while I was reading?  That was great visualizing! We are going to keep practicing with the rest of the story. I am going to finish reading the story and then I want you guys to draw a picture of what you pictured in your head.”   Closing summary for the lesson (5 minutes) “Each drawing is different because we each make different "connections" to the story which creates different pictures in our head. But what is important is that we used what we know to help us make a picture of the story in our head. Remember you can use visualizing with any story you read or hear to create pictures in your head of what was happening in the story.  The pictures we see in our head help us remember what happened in the story.” Ongoing-Assessment: I will observe what the students described that they visualized while they listened to the story. I will also look at the pictures that they drew based on what they visualized while I read the rest of the story.  I will use these two types of student products to know whether or not students are progressing toward my identified objective.

Adaptations: Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson? I will give clear expectations and directions and repeat them if necessary.  I will read the book aloud so that students can focus on visualizing instead of decoding unknown words.  I will model the strategy and provide a sentence starter that the students will have the option of using.  I will remind students what it means to visualize if students have difficulty describing what they picture in their head.  I will re-model and provide an opportunity for students to practice visualizing more than once if necessary.