Shaler Reflection 2

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

 

During my lesson, my students worked towards my objective by making a guess about what each covered up word was, as well as giving a reason as to why they selected that word.  I provided each student with this opportunity because I asked all 3 students individually for their guess and reasons as we got to each covered up word.  To make this fair, I took turns with who I asked first, so each student got a turn being the first person asked.  This way, they each got a chance to think and make a guess on their own, instead of just agreeing with what the previous child said before them.  All 3 of my students were able to meet this objective because all of them guessed at least one word choice and explained that choice using the surrounding words, pictures, or both.  For example, on the word “mittens,” Maggie guessed “gloves.”  Then, she changed her mind and said, “I mean mittens.  At first I thought gloves because it said hat in the words, but then I saw the ‘m’ and knew it had to be mittens.  Also, I looked at the picture and saw it was mittens on the dog’s paws.”

 

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

 

My lesson had both strengths and weaknesses.  One strength was I selected a book that I thought the students would find interesting.  I chose to use Zoomer’s Summer Snowstorm because I thought the students would find it funny (a dog makes it snow outside with a snow cone machine) and, therefore, enjoy the book.  Another strength of my lesson was I purposefully selected words to cover up that could be figured out using word and picture context clues.  The purpose of my lesson was to get the students to use context clues while reading, so I had to ensure the words I selected to cover up could be found with context clues.  I chose words that could be found by looking at the picture and the surrounding words, so the students could use either context or both contexts to help them make their word choice.  A final strength was I left the first sound, in each covered word, uncovered.  I did this to try to simulate what these focus students experience when they come across an unfamiliar word while reading.  They can all identify the first sound in the word, but after that they get stuck.  Therefore, if I had covered up the entire word, the lesson would not be authentic as to how the students struggle when reading unfamiliar words.  However, my lesson did have a weakness.  The weakness of this lesson was the student who guessed first gave an idea to the other two students, who may have had a different idea or no idea at all.  Usually, after the first student guessed, the other two students said they agreed with the first person for the same reasons as that person.  I helped overcome this during my lesson by switching who I had guess first, so each student had a turn to be the first person to guess.  While this worked, the students did not have as many opportunities to use their own thinking as I would have liked.  On the other hand, they most likely went through this thinking process in their head as we came upon the word.  If I were to teach this lesson again, I would have each student whisper their guess and reasons to me before sharing their ideas aloud.  This way, they all get a chance to guess for every word that is covered up.

 

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

 

After teaching this lesson, I noticed that I am able to plan intentionally for my lessons.  For example, I intentionally picked Zoomer’s Summer Snowstorm because I knew the students would enjoy reading it.  I wanted to select a book the students would like so they would be interested in participating in the lesson.  Also, I intentionally picked the words I covered up in the text.  I purposefully selected words that could all be found using pictures and surrounding words as clues.  This way, my students could use whichever context (pictures, words, or both) they were more comfortable with to determine the covered up word.  Therefore, I planned purposefully for this lesson so my students could achieve the objective of my lesson.  After teaching this lesson, I have a couple of questions: Would this lesson work if I taught it to my entire class?  If so, what changes would I have to make to it to accommodate the whole-class setting?  This lesson was so successful with my small group of students, that I would be curious to try this in the whole-class setting (maybe next year!).