Harris Reflection 2

I would say that students P, D, and A equally participated. They found singing fun and caught on quickly to the rhyming words.  This activity kept them engaged while also learning and participating so I thought it was really useful to use when it comes to rhyming.  The students were not hesitant to answer which words rhymed in the sentence, so I could tell they have mastered this ability but needed practice with using the word "rhyme." I explained rhyming to them before the activity and wanted them to become more familiar with the term.

The strengths in the lesson were the amount of engagement involved on the students end. The singing made them want to participate without even realized that they were learning a lesson on rhyming. After doing a quick overview of what rhyming was the students were able to name the words that rhymed and tell me that they rhymed, using the term.

The limitations of this lesson were that I had to probe to get some of the animals and rhyming words. I don't believe that they were having trouble with understanding what rhymed, but I think they just couldn't think of anything. After I said, what could we do with a snake? They seemed to fumble with a few words, and I said, "It could go swimming in a ..." and they all yelled "lake!" This showed me that they understood the rhyming, they just needed a little help.

I noticed that I really like engaging activities to work with students. I tried to give more wait time and not jump in like I did with my last one. I noticed that I would like to plan more activities like this in the future. I also noticed that I need some better management. Sometimes I just say, "Alright, it needs to quiet down" or something along those lines, but in reality I should say, "I like the way P is sitting quietly." I just react faster than I think, and I need to work on that.
 Are there any really effective ways to handle classroom management? In small and large groups?

Harris Final Notebook Action Plan

What are at least three steps you will take in the fall to get to know my students as learners and as people?

I have not yet found out which grade I will be placed in starting the fall, but I have a few general ideas that I hope will work for every grade.

1.     Students can create a concept map about their previous learning experiences as well as what they hope to learn and what they like/dislike learning about

2.     Students can create an autobiography about their lives, their favorite things, their family, etc. This will help me to understand who they are as people outside of school.

3.     I will hold student-teacher conferences. This way the students can tell me about themselves one-on-one and we can form a relationship so that the student (and myself) is more comfortable in the classroom. I can do this during recess or any time where there is extra time as to not take away from their learning experiences in the classroom.

What are at least steps you will take in the fall to learn about your school and its surrounding community?

1.     I will get involved in my schools after school or extra curricular programs. This will help me build connections/relationships with the community and find out more about what the students like to do in the area or what types of things they are involved in. I have already looked up my school and I know that there are different African dance/music classes. This could be really cool to watch and see what it’s all about!

2.     I will get to know other staff members by volunteering to work school events and attending staff meetings. This way I can build relationships with people other than my CT, students, and families of my students.

3.     I will research different things in the area. I have already started to do this! I have looked at my schools website and figured out where it is and what the school is known for. It is called the “school of technology at the arts” and it seems like it will be very interesting and a good experience. By researching the area I can find out about community events that I can attend outside of school to learn more about the community, the people, and different things that go on outside of school.

What are at least three steps you will take in the fall to learn about your literacy curriculum?

1.     I will contact my CT and ask her for the literacy curriculum and possibly make copies for myself so I can familiarize myself with the curriculum.

2.     I will spend some time observing my CT as she teaches the literacy curriculum in the classroom to make me more comfortable with it and to help me better understand the curriculum itself as well as how to implement it in the classroom.

3.     I will interview my CT with questions about the curriculum, her personal thoughts on the literacy curriculum, and the expectations the school has for the literacy curriculum of that specific grade as well as school wide expectations.  I know that teachers can have different feelings about expectations than the school/district, so I think it is important to ask both questions.

If you were writing a letter to introduce yourself to your students' parents and families (which you should all do), what are three things you would want them to know about you as a person and/or a teacher?

1.     I love teaching. This is what I have always wanted to do and it is my passion. I want my students families to know that I want to be here and to learn from them and I want to build relationships with each and very student as well as families.  I will tell them what I believe in when it comes to teaching (that every student can learn!) and look forward to working together.

2.     I am a people person and love to get to know others. I want them to know they can come to me with any problems, questions, concerns they have and we will work together to figure out a solution.

3.     I love to travel. I’ll let them know that I have spent time in Australia working in classrooms and (soon) will have traveled to Israel as well. I love to learn about different cultures and I think that everyone has something special to bring/teach.

Once you get to know your students as people and as learners, what are three concrete strategies you will use to differentiate instruction?

1.     Differentiation the content: This consists of providing more instruction for certain learners as well as less for others. This can be done through modifying instructional activities to meet the necessary needs of different students. When students need more of a challenge I will have prepared a more challenging question, task, or assignment for them to complete to make sure they’re getting the most out of their learning. If students are falling behind or confused, I will be prepared to try to help the student make a connection to what they’re learning or to teach it in a different way (visual, kinesthetic) to accommodate to that specific student.

2.     Differentiate the process: This consists of using different materials, strategies, and skills to help diverse learners connect to what is being taught and ultimately help them learn.  A few ways to do this are to have flexible grouping, meaning to have students work individually, with others in small groups, or as a whole class.  I will use this by having different groups for different projects as well as assigning individual work and whole class work. I will use different manipulatives when teaching and different ways to scaffold lessons and using things like centers for different reading and writing activities during literacy time.

3.     Differentiate the product: This consists of what students know and how they can apply what they have learned.  This can consist of projects, theatre presentations, writing or creating something to show what the student has learned. Teachers can vary the end product of a lesson/unit by creating different options and different levels of complexity to the assignment to challenge students thinking.

Revisit your work in this class (blogs, logs, New Literacies, etc.) and the topics covered in this class (leading discussions, comprehension, writing, emergent literacy, and so on).  What is the one area that we have talked about this semester that you feel you need to grow in the most?  What are three specific steps you will take to foster that growth?

Topic: Leading discussions

1.     Create an open environment- Since I have not had my own class, I have not been able to create any type of environment. I hope that for my internship year, since I will be their right at the beginning of the school year, I will have some input as to what the environment of the classroom is. Having an open environment will help students to feel more comfortable with sharing their ideas and opinions as well as respecting one another’s ideas and opinions.

2.     Let the students share their ideas without correcting them or informing them of my own opinion. I have a hard time with this. I don’t ever want to make a student feel wrong or stupid, but sometimes I say, “I don’t think so,” or “I’m not positive that that is correct.” Instead of doing this, it is important to redirect the students to where the discussion should be instead of the direction they may be wandering in.

3.     Have set questions that you want to ask to relate to prior/background knowledge, to redirect, and interpretative questions to make sure the students are on task the whole time. Being prepared to step in when needed, and to start the lesson discussion will be necessary to ensure that the students understand what to be discussing.

Reflect on your learning in the course.  What are three pieces of knowledge, insights or beliefs that you have gained from this course specifically that you would want to pass on to future TE 402 students?

1.     It is important to accommodate to all of your students needs. We explored accommodation through reading and discussions in TE class and it is a concept that is beneficial to understand and explore to implement in your future classroom.

2.     The New Literacies Exploration Plan was a fun assignment. I learned a lot about different technologies and ways to include literacy through technology, and I hope to explore this idea more throughout my internship year as well as beyond that. I encourage future TE 402ers to get to know many different technologies to make literacy fun and engaging for students.

3.     Try to hold book discussions over book recitations. When reading the difference between the two, I was amazed at how few times I had ever seen a book discussion. Most of the time, I just observe teachers reading a book, telling the students a few key points and maybe asking a few questions, but rarely do I see the students facilitating their own discussions and asking one another questions and building off of each others thoughts and ideas. I think this is a great thing that teachers should do in a classroom, and although I’m still figuring out how to master this, I hope that one day I will be able to hold book discussions in my classroom.

Harris Reading Lesson 2

TE 402 READING LESSON PLAN

Reading Lesson Plan # 2

Your Name:  Taylor Harris   Grade Level:  1st 

Date lesson was taught:  4/26/11   Number of Students: 3

1) Rationale (What evidence do you have that your focus students need to learn this skill/strategy?):

Students have worked on some rhyming strategies/words already. This will be a fun activity for them to create their own sentences that rhyme together to fully understand what words rhyme. Certain students that I have worked with have no fully gotten the concept of rhyming because I have seen them guess about which words that rhyme incorrectly. I will use these students for this activity to better their understanding of rhyming words.

2) List which reading skill/strategy is the main focus of your lesson (select ONE area):

Rhyming words

3) Objective for this lesson (performance, condition, criteria):

·       Students will repeat the song back to the teacher while offering ideas about the rhyming words in the song. Students will make attempt to make a prediction during the pauses at a word that will rhyme in the sentence. By the end of the lesson, students should be able to identify the words that rhymed throughout the lesson as well as created or predicted the rhyming words throughout the song.

4) Materials & supplies needed:

“A Hunting We Will Go” song

Chart, marker

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/hunting-will-teaching-rhyming-264.html?tab=4#tabs

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

• Introduction to the (5 minutes) 

Reading and writing are very important things that we do in school. Part of reading and writing is dealing with rhyming words. Can anyone tell me what a rhyming word is (or give me an example)?

-If students struggle, ask (Do fish and dish rhyme? Do dog and cat rhyme?)

Have you used rhyming before? Can you give me an example of how you have used rhyming in the past, in school or at home?

-Tell them to think about stories they’ve read, song’s they’ve heard (if they’re struggling for ideas).

Great job, I can tell you’re reading to do an activity about rhyming. Who wants to learn a song?

• OUTLINE of key events during the lesson) (10 minutes)

Teach/Repeat: “Oh, a-hunting we will go, a-hunting we will go.
We'll take a little fox and put it in a box
and then will let it go.” (Possibly write this out for students to read as we sing)

Who can identify the words that rhymed?

Rhyming words are words that have the same sound; can you find which words those were?

Continue:

We'll take a little whale and put it in a (Pause-see what students think) pail
We'll take a little frog and put it on a (“Pause….”) log
We'll take a little fish and put it on a (“Pause….”) dish

What other animals could we add into the song? Can you think of words that rhyme with each of these animal names?

If struggling suggest, snake/lake, bear/hair

Model how to create a new verse: Ex: We’ll take a little snake and put it in a lake

Write this on chart paper: Oh, a hunting we will go, a hunting we will go. We’ll take a little _____ and put it in a _____ and then we’ll let it go.

Let students pick their favorite animal name from the list and fill in the blanks.

• Closing summary for the lesson  (5 minutes)

Who wants to tell me what we learned today?

-If struggling, ask what box and fox have in common.

We learned about rhyming words. You will come across rhyming words often when you’re reading, and you can use them when you’re writing, or singing!  Next time you read a book, think about the words that rhyme and what other words could rhyme as well.

6) Ongoing-Assessment: I will listen to them when they are doing daily five reading activities and if there are rhyming words I will ask them to identify what they are.

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

I will help students to create rhyming words if they struggle. Hopefully by singing this will keep them engaged but if they get out of hand I’ll explain to them that we can only complete the activity if they participate and stay focused and listen.

Harris Reflection 1

Student D was eager to participate and wanted to go first, and last (he wanted to keep going). He was really good at describing his object using descriptive words and when the students were stumped he felt his object again and came up with more descriptive language. Student P was excited to participate but it took her a while to figure out what words to use with her object. She looked to me for help so I gave her a few ideas to get her going in the right direction. Student A picked an object similar to student P’s (I forgot that I had left it in the bag, I meant to take it out so their was no confusion) and the students kept guessing the same thing as the object that student P chose, so I think student A was a little frustrated.

The strengths of the lesson were that the students understand it well and knew exactly what they needed to do. They used specific language that worked for the object the student had at the time. I tried to choose objects that would be easy for the students to figure out which words to use to describe it as well as easy for other students to guess the object.   

The limitations to the lesson were that they didn’t actually practice writing the words after and may not remember everything about descriptive language. Also, the objects were small and diverse, but there were so many other things that I could have had the students to describe to practice their descriptive language. 

I noticed that I need to be careful with my wait time while students are thinking of what they want to say. I wanted to jump in and assist them when they were trying to guess the objects but I need to let the students think and get their thoughts out and wait until they are really stuck to jump in. One question I had was when do I start talking about parts of speech, like adjectives for this activity? I did not want to confuse the students so I didn’t mention this.

Harris Reading Lesson 1

TE 402 READING LESSON PLAN

Reading Lesson Plan # 1

Your Name:  Taylor Harris                                                   Grade Level:  1  

Date lesson was taught:  4/13/11                                      Number of Students: 3

1) Rationale (What evidence do you have that your focus students need to learn this skill/strategy?):

When I taught my language arts lesson plan on bullying, I modeled a story for the students with important aspects to include (place, time, characters, etc). After I modeled this, my CT said to the class, “remember, good writers use details. They re-read what they wrote and they add more details. Details are very important.” The students did include details, but I feel that the next step is using descriptive words to make their details even better. This will help the students to bring their story writing process to the next level.

2) List which reading skill/strategy is the main focus of your lesson (select ONE area):

Descriptive words

3) Objective for this lesson (performance, condition, criteria):

·       : States what a learner is expected to be able to do to demonstrate learning

·       Students should use descriptive words when giving hints about the object when it is their turn to grab an object in the bag by using more than just bland words but descriptive words and detailed observations they can make just by touching the object.

4) Materials & supplies needed:

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/guess-what-language-based-124.html

paper bag

small objects

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

• Introduction to the lesson   (5 minutes) 

When we write we want to use details so that the person who is reading it can really understand what we’re talking about. When using details, we are using something called descriptive language.  The more details we give, the better a reader/listener can understand what we’re talking about.  Can you describe to me what you are wearing right now?

-Listen to descriptions then add useful details such as: colors, material, length, etc.

Good job! Let’s move on to the activity.

• OUTLINE of key events during the lesson  (10 minutes)

We are going to take turns pulling objects out of the bag and describing them to one another. You can pull the object out and look at it, but you can’t let anyone else see it. You need to try and get the other people to guess the object from your descriptive clues. Remember, these are things that add more details to what we are talking about to make something more specific. I will start so that you both can see exactly how we will do this activity.

Model the first round of guessing by pulling out an object, looking at it and feeling it while having my back turned to the children, then holding it behind my back as I speak.

Ex: If talking about a stuffed animal: This object is fuzzy, it can take the shape of an animal, it has two circular objects with one triangular shaped object below (eyes and nose).

• Closing summary for the lesson (5 minutes)

That was fun and you guys did great using your descriptive language. Remember, the details we used (give examples that they used) are great for when we write or tell stories. The more details we use, the better!  Can anyone tell me what descriptive language we used in the activity today?

-If students struggled with creating details, give examples of details they could have given while showing each object from the bag.

6) Ongoing-Assessment: When completing writing tasks in class I will observe if they are using more details than previously used in writing assignments. When talking about things that could be described in depth I will listen for specific details.

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

The students will most likely want to play with the objects. I will have to keep them focused by reminding them that they are participating in a lesson. If they correctly guess an object they can hold that object for the rest of the activity if they are still participating.

Harris Reading Lesson Overview

Student P has a hard time understanding/using the English language. She is very bright in all subjects but struggles with writing. She needs help to understand how to make her writing more detailed and understandable to a reader.  Student D is good at putting stories together, but lacks great detail and has the ability to improve his writing if he understood how to improve it and gained the skills necessary to improve his writing.

The target area in the first lesson is to help students understand how to use details in writing and improve their stories and writing skills. In student P's case, my CT believes that she may have a language barrier at home and is having a hard time understanding how to write any differently than she already is because she has not improved in a great while. However, to my understanding she is not a part of an ESL class at the school. My CT believes that student D is ready to move on to more detailed writing.  

For my second lesson, the target area is recognizing and producing rhyming words.  This target area is appropriate for the students because they have both shown trouble recognizing words that rhyme with one another during daily five reading.   

In Tompkins chapter 7 there is a section that talks about word consciousness. This section was what led me to teach about descriptive language, because being aware of language and vocabulary in general is necessary for students at a young age.  This lesson helped students to use certain words skillfully and to gain an appreciation and better understand of these words to help them in their future writing and story telling assignments throughout school. In Tompkins chapter 5 there are sound-matching activities.  This is what led me to find the second literacy activity about rhyming words. It sounded like a fun way to work with rhyming words and to keep kids engaged.

Cross Reading Lesson Reflection #2

Reading Lesson Reflection:

I noticed an improvement this time over the last lesson I taught that was similar to this one. For starters my CT switched things up for me a little and formed groups of three to work on the activity. This was done by student’s choice. Luckily “C” and “R” were sitting next to each other and worked together. “J” joined them in the task. I think the dynamic of the group is what changed the lesson. “J” has been identified as being at grade level to me by my CT. I have noticed that he reads books that are appropriate for this grade at silent reading time. He also turns in work in other subjects than isn’t outstanding, but also isn’t terrible. This is probably where he gets this classification. He was more studious than the other two and more outgoing in class. This was noticeable right from the beginning of the lesson. I mentioned that I was going to read the story and he groaned. Since I wasn’t planning on having him in the group and I knew that my CT considered him a pretty good reader I changed my lesson a little bit and we took turns reading.

I think the fact that “J” showed a willingness to do work rubbed off on the others. “R” who usually doesn’t like to work was much more interested in interacting with the group. He is outgoing so this helped. His comments weren’t always appropriate, but the other two members seemed to let him know this in a positive way. For example when we read the first page we were introduced to the granddaughter and great granddaughter of this woman who has lived in three different centuries. The great granddaughter turned on the car stereo and “R” said he thought this was part of the introduction. “C” replied by saying that he didn’t think so, but he thought that they fact that these two people being younger might be important to the story. “R” agreed and everybody wrote it down so we could move on and look for other clues.

One thing I did notice still was that “R” was very concerned with moving on. It was obvious that he just wanted to complete the work and have a finished product, not necessarily a complete one. During the ascending action he found two ideas and wrote them down and said that now we should find the climax. “J” said that he thought there were probably more parts to the ascending action and “C” agreed with him. “R” tried to push to move on, but I stepped in and said “Let’s see what “J” and “C” can find. Maybe there is more.” “R” reluctantly agreed.

I could also tell that that was another example of what I don’t like about basal readers. At the same time I’m torn. I saw evidence that none of the students really found this story very interesting. They didn’t try to make connections to their own lives and they didn’t show much interest when I told them about a connection with it in mine. My great grandmother is still alive at 103 so she came really close to living in three centuries. They only made a brief comment about whether their great grandmother was still alive or not. At their age most of them still have at least one living so it wasn’t too unusual for them. I should have pushed this farther by mentioning that my daughter is their age and has a great great grandmother that is alive. Maybe this would have sparked more interest. They also didn’t ask the questions that I have come to expect from this class. Usually a story about the Hindenburg would raise questions, but they just let it go. I stated before that I was torn. This task may have been easier if the students were working with a text that they found interesting. However, as teachers part of our job is to get them to explore different genres and subjects. I wonder about how to balance these two needs appropriately so that students gain the knowledge and insight that we are trying to instill.

In the end this lesson went well. The students completed their diagrams and seemed to be finding aspects of plot more easily toward the end. They were working more as a group than my previous lesson and that helped the lesson along. I think it was pretty successful.

Cross Reading Lesson Plan #2

Reading Lesson Plan # 2

Your Name: Joel Cross Grade Level: 5^th

Date lesson was taught: 3/30/11 Number of Students: 2

1) Rationale: I didn’t rewrite the overview section for this plan for two reasons. The first is that the guidelines for this activity wanted us to write about two focus students and I used the same ones again. The rationale for this lesson is also very similar to the one from before. My CT has identified these students as ones who need help.

2) List which reading skill/strategy is the main focus of your lesson: This is another comprehension objective. It is similar to the first, but deals more with determining importance.

3) Objective for this lesson: Students will create a diagram while reading through the story The Three Century Woman that shows they can identify the main plot patterns of the story.

4) Materials & supplies needed: Copy of text The Three Century Woman, blank paper, and pencils.

5) OUTLINE OF LESSON PLAN:

• Introduction to the lesson: My CT wants to introduce the main points of this lesson to the whole class. She will read the book The Three Little Pigs to the class to use a book that is familiar to them. She will point out as they move through the text the different parts of the plot. These include the introduction, the rising action, the climax, and the resolution. She will show them how she can use an inverted v, or mountain like shape to track these parts. When I start the lesson I will remind my two focus students that we are going to create our own version of Mrs. L’s chart while using our text from the week, The Three Century Woman. (5 minutes)

• OUTLINE of key events during the lesson: We will start by reading through The Three Century Woman one page at a time. At the end of each page we will stop and discuss whether any of the parts of the plot have been revealed. We will then add the parts that we find to our diagram as they are discovered. I will tell the students that I am reading the text. This will support comprehension for these students. I want them to concentrate on comprehension not on decoding. There are important concepts for them to understand that I will cover as we move on to each new part of the plot. During the introduction I will remind the students that we are looking for clues as to what is going to happen in the story and information about the characters. When we find this information I will tell them that we are moving on to find the elements of ascending action. These are the clues that tell us something exciting is about to happen. They build on that background knowledge we wrote down earlier. We will then look for what part of the story we think the climax is. This will be the part of the story where we can tell something different is happening. Finally, we will look for the resolution. This will be what happens to summarize the story. I think the main question that I will have to use with this lesson is “What is the main idea of this paragraph?” Hopefully this will help them make the connection about what the author is telling us. If they struggle with this I will pick out a part of the paragraph and ask them if that is what the paragraph is about. I will throw in some things that could be slightly off so I know if they are just agreeing with me or if they are really thinking about the text. (30 minutes)

• Closing summary for the lesson: I will close the lesson when we have gotten all of the elements of the plot on the paper. I will ask the students if they think they could do this on their own now. I don’t have the luxury of being able to assign another project for them, but if I saw them regularly I would plan a follow up mini lesson where they preformed this task on a short story. (1 minute)

6) Ongoing-Assessment: I will know that the students are meeting my objective if they are able to pick out elements of plot with less support from me. I will look for them to notice on their own that there was an element of the plot in the section we just read. I will look for them to know when the story has moved on to the next element of plot. I will also look to see if they are putting these elements on the right spots on their charts. This will show an understanding of how the plot of most stories moves.

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

I noticed in my last lesson that reading aloud may be a sticking point for these students. Comprehension was limited by decoding. I will read the story to them to help with this problem. I will also provide them with diminishing support as we move through the process. These students need more support at first than their classmates that will also be working on the same task so I will be there to guide their questions and help them find main ideas.

Cross Final Notebook Action Plan

Final Notebook Action Plan

What are at least three steps you will take in the fall to get to know your students as learners and as people?

1. I’m not sure if this can happen in my internship, which will not be in the fall but next year. One of the things I remember most about my school days is when we made things in class. More specifically I remember the times we would learn about making food. I still remember the time we shook milk jugs in kindergarten to make butter. That was 30 years ago. I want to incorporate this as many ways as I can into my classroom. A simple way to do this in my internship is to invite students, individually or in pairs, to join me for lunch in the classroom. We can make different kinds of sandwiches together. Explore where the sandwiches came from and talk about our home lives while enjoying a break from the rest of the class. 2. I’m sure you think I’m trying for bonus points, but I have always loved books. I buy my children tons of them and enjoy reading children’s literature myself. I have read many of the books that my students will be reading and I think that a great way to get a conversation started with my new students is by talking to them about the books they read and then make connections between that and their experiences and home life. This will give me insight into what they know and what they have experienced in their lives. 3. I think the teachers at schools now spend less time doing fun things with their students than when I was in school. I remember times when the class would go out for a pick up kickball game or play heads up seven up just for the fun of it. These are fun things that allow you to talk and connect with your students. I might search for some games that are more about getting to know each other at the beginning of the year, but I still think it will be important to take time to play with my students.

What are at least three steps you will take in the fall to learn about your school and its surrounding community?

1. The same teacher that I had above also had a unique way of getting to know her student’s families. I plan to incorporate this if I manage to get a job in my hometown. If not it can also be done in the classroom with an electric griddle. My idea is to invite all of the families, parents and their kids, to a pancake dinner. This would still be done one or two families at a time over the course of many weeks. I’m a believer that conversation flows better over food and parents are much more unlikely to turn down an invitation to talk over dinner. 2. I expect that my field placement will be somewhere very close to where I have lived all of my life. I realize that individual communities have slight variations even in this part of Michigan, but I have lived in and travelled among many of them over the last 35 years. I’m trying to say that I think I will have a slight bias towards thinking I already know what I’m getting into before I do. I want to make sure I visit the school I’m placed in and talk to a variety of the teachers about what they think the community is like. I also want them to tell me how they think the community has changed. I have noticed in some of my more recent travels that some communities have changed quite a bit since I was in school. For example Waverly was the place to be in Lansing when I was in high school, but doesn’t have that reputation as much now. 3. I would love to be able to start some kind of after school program in the community I am in. This program doesn’t need to be just for my students. It will help to give me insight into what the community likes. I have found that with my tennis program here in Portland I have a hard time going anywhere in town without running into someone I know. This is aggravating to my kids, but great for my involvement in the community. If I have the chance, I may start an after school tennis program wherever I go. I have the supplies to play anywhere so I just need the time to do it.

What are at least three steps you will take in the fall to learn about your literacy curriculum?

1. I have learned from this year that one of the most important steps is to find out if the school has a basal reading curriculum and which one it is. Most of them will so I also need to find out how strictly the teachers are expected to follow it. I will also have to take the time to thoroughly explore the teacher’s edition of this text and know what concepts I will be expected to cover. 2. I will also have an in depth conversation with my CT about how he/she handles the reading curriculum. Some teachers seem to want to follow it to the letter and hand out every worksheet. Others seem to like to use it as a guide. I will need to know which aspect is expected and try to convince my CT to let me explore more of the latter is he/she is inclined toward the former. 3. It feels like I should also check my curriculum against the GLCE’s. My current school’s textbook claims that it covers all of the GLCE’s for Michigan and even lists which one it covers at the beginning of each week’s lesson. Right now I am taking this at face value, but it seems important to me that my students should meet all of the standards set forth by the state. This means that I want to check and make sure the curriculum really covers all of these expectations to the degree I am comfortable with.

If you were writing a letter to introduce yourself to your students' parents and families (which you should all do), what are three things you would want them to know about you as a person and/or a teacher?

1. I think I have some personal connections at my age that will make families much more comfortable with me working with their children. These will be important for me to share with them. The first is that I have three children of my own that are about the same age as the ones in their classroom. I also want to let them know that I delayed my education to be a Stay at Home Dad. I hope that these two items will show that I have a deep commitment to children and take a great interest in what they do and love. It should also help them feel more comfortable that I have more experience with children than most beginning teachers do. 2. I also think that talking about my background as a professional tennis coach is important. Especially the fact that most of my work was with youth programs. This has given me much experience in creating lesson plans and working with groups of children. This is a valuable skill that I have found transfers to the realm of school teaching. 3. I also feel it’s important to tell them that I have a strong commitment to their child’s education. I believe that with the right connections every child can learn and wants to learn. I feel that it’s my job to try to find those connections. I want to let them know that open communication with them will help me achieve that goal and I hope to work together as partners for the rest of the year.

Once you get to know your students as people and as learners, what are three concrete strategies you will use to differentiate instruction?

1. I like the idea of using centers. By varying the difficulty of each of the centers and which ones I require each student to complete I will be able to meet a wide range of needs while not making a big deal about each student’s varying abilities. I would probably do this by creating mission cards for them to complete. I like making and creating games so I may even send them on different secret missions that involve completing each of the various tasks. 2. It seems to me a no brainer because most teacher I have seen do this, but I will definitely work with small groups of students with more individualized mini lesson plans. This can occur when the rest of the class is working at centers or when they are spending their time on silent reading. These lessons will give different children a chance to explore the topic we are working on at a level that is more suitable to their needs. 3. Something I don’t think is done enough is for teachers to modify their expectations in response to their student’s performance. I have noticed many times in my field placement that some students struggle to finish work they don’t understand while others breeze through it. I have wanted to tell individual students to concentrate on the easier parts, but not in those words, so that they can get the basics down. This is an adjustment I’d like to be able to make for my students in the future.

Revisit your work in this class (blogs, logs, New Literacies, etc.) and the topics covered in this class (leading discussions, comprehension, writing, emergent literacy, and so on). What is the one area that we have talked about this semester that you feel you need to grow in the most? What are three specific steps you will take to foster that growth?

Topic: Emergent Literacy 1. All of my field placements have been in upper grades. I have not had much experience with emergent literacy except for my own children. My daughter learned to read with minimal help and was fluent by age 4. My son in still struggling at 7, but has a speech delay. I have some experience there, but haven’t figured out how to really help. My first step will be to just gain some more experience. I need to talk to more early learners and see talk about their thought processes. I need to understand what they think so I will have more tools available to help me. 2. If I am placed in a younger room I will talk to the CT more about this topic. I will ask what she uses to help struggling learners. I know we have talked about strategies, but I have found that some teachers have picked up tricks or key sentences that they tell children that seem to work better over the years. 3. I feel like our text from this year would be an asset to me in the future. This is a suggestion for below too. It is one of the few texts I will keep. Before beginning any teaching that involves emergent literacy I will reread the areas of the text that concern it. I will try to generate ideas from these sections that might benefit my students and I will try them so I can evaluate their usefulness and my understanding.

Reflect on your learning in the course. What are three pieces of knowledge, insights or beliefs that you have gained from this course specifically that you would want to pass on to future TE 402 students?

1. I am surprised by how powerful curriculum can be in schools today. I came in thinking I was going to have a lot of leeway in how I approach LA. Some schools do not give teachers the ability to do this because they are so worried about meeting state mandates. I would encourage students that want leeway to find a school that meets those needs for them. I would also encourage them to see if their CT will let them use the curriculum as a tool not a fact. Use a basal reader, but in new ways that weren’t intended by the authors. 2. I learned that technology can be exciting and fun in the classroom. I would encourage them to put effort into their technology project because it could be very useful in the future. I am looking forward to continuing my website in the future. I also found that writing wasn’t as much work when I was exploring a new way to do it. It was exciting and we all know time flies when we’re having fun. 3. I was interested in how book talks added to a deeper understanding of text. I think this is one suggestion that could improve my comments in part 1. Just by taking a basal reader and conducting a book talk about it the teacher can add to the curriculum and how students think about books. This doesn’t change the curriculum it just adds a short conversation every few days.

Thelen - Lesson Overview #2

Thelen – LESSON OVERVIEW #2
For this lesson, I had two focus students because it was a time intensive lesson. At this time, my class is in the process of writing their own mystery stories after they have read a couple mystery novels in class. After revising some of their story plans (required before they are allowed to begin a rough draft of their story), I found that many students were struggling with character development. This relates to reading because people have to read the stories they are creating and they have to make sense and have a good plot. Characterization is a key part of those plots.
I chose Student 1 because she is a good writer and I think she will have an easier time developing her characters through my scaffolding and the activity in the lesson. She will also help Student 2 in this way because she has a lot of good ideas for her classmates’ stories. The two students also work well together and can benefit from reading each others’ stories. They both also have similar main characters which will make the exercise flow better.
This lesson also relates to the articles of Stahl and Neufeld because it deals with comprehension, but in an opposite manner. The students have to make their stories more comprehendible for their peers who have to read them, and the main part that they need to work on is characterization in order to make their stories better. Some of their stories did not make sense as I read them because the plot and characters were not developed enough, making it tough to read and comprehend; thus, having the students focus on characterization will aid in the level of comprehension that can be attained by those reading their stories.

Thelen - Lesson #2

Thelen - Daily Lesson Plan #2

Your Name:__Kelsey Thelen_________ Grade Level: ____5th _______ Date:____4/15/11_____

CT: ____Mr. S___________ School: _____KMS_____________

Overall lesson topic/title:
• Creating Characterization to Strengthen A Story

Grade Level Content Expectation(s):
• R.NT.05.03 analyze how characters’ traits and setting define plot, climax, the role of dialogue, and how problems are resolved.

Objective:
• Student will expand upon a character’s traits that they have created in their story in order to make the character more relatable to the reader as well as to make a more defined role in their story while we revise their rough draft during the lesson.

Materials & supplies needed:
• Pencil
• Mystery Genre Rough Draft
• Mystery Genre Story Plan

Briefly describe your target student and the learning and/or participation challenges s/he faces:
• My student in particular does not have a learning or participation challenge in this area, this is just a general struggle for most of the students as their writing styles are still in practice.

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event


BEFORE LESSON:

• Introduction to the lesson
• To start out, we will discuss the importance of creating good characterization for the main character in the story that they are writing. Main points to go over are:
* Characterization leads to the reader connecting with the character. This is important because it creates an emotional tie between the reader and the character; that causes the reader to care what happens and to want to read on.
* Characterization strengthens your story by helping to creating a more clear and believable plot for the reader. This makes the story more interesting for the reader.

• I will ask the students about books that they have read and if they noticed the characterization the author used. I will ask them if that was important.




OUTLINE OF KEY EVENTS FOLLOWING YOUR INTRODUCTION:

• During Lesson:
• During the lesson, we will discuss ways in which they can create better characterization for the main characters in their stories.
• We will evaluate each student’s mystery story plan and create character webs for their main character.
• The character web will include the character and the main and important traits about them. Those traits will have a specific role in the story. Also included may be some of the relationships that the main character will encounter with other characters and important components with those.
• Since there are only two students, we will go over one story plan at a time and focus on one student’s story and main character at a time.
• The other student will give helpful suggestions and constructive criticism to the student who’s plan we are reviewing.

CLOSING SUMMARY FOR THE LESSON:

• Bringing Closure:
• Once we are done with the lesson, we will once again review why characterization is important.
• Key main points for that include: creating a bond for the reader and main character, gets emotions involved, makes the plot more clear and believable, and also makes the story more relatable.
• I will ask if there are any further questions and if they understood the lesson.

* Post-Assessment: To assess my students’ understanding of the lesson, I will read their finished (or revised drafts) of their mystery stories. If they created an age level appropriate characterization of their main character, they will have succeeded in the lesson’s main objective. If not, further work may have to be done to get the point across.

Thelen - Lesson Reflection #2

Thelen – LESSON REFLECTION #2
This lesson was a lot harder to implement than expected, but the outcomes were even greater. It took awhile for my students to see why characterization was so important to their stories. I had to tweak my plans a little in the end in order to make the lesson more meaningful to them; I showed them a copy of their draft before they added in the extra characterization and had them compare it to their draft after they added the characterization. They both agreed that their second draft was a lot easier to comprehend and that the plots were much better as a result of the lesson.
Both of my students responded well to the lesson and they interacted well with each other. I had to be involved more than I had expected and help them think of ways to develop their characters, but for the most part, my students participated and learned a lot from this lesson. Afterwards, their stories were much better and made a lot more sense (easier to comprehend!) and it made a big difference for them to be able to see it.
This was a very helpful activity, and I will definitely use this in my classroom in the future. It was easy to do once the idea of a concept web for a character was introduced and they saw an example. Having before and after copies of their stories really shows the student the differences and also drives home the main point of the lesson: developing your characters is a key part of having a good plot in your story. Having students work together also worked out well and gave each student twice the amount of practice with characterization. This activity could easily be done with an entire class as well.

Thelen - Lesson Overview #1

Thelen - READING LESSON OVERVIEW #1
I have three focus students who are at a range of ability when it comes to Language Arts. They each have their own strong points and weaknesses and I chose each of them to see how they would do while completing my two lessons because they cover aspects that are very different from each other. My first lesson focuses on vocabulary words and I chose that topic because one of my focus students struggles to use the vocabulary words in a manner that portrays its meaning. My second and third focus students are usually pretty good at vocabulary words and do not have a problem using them correctly in a sentence; however, they sometimes have a little trouble when it comes to discussing them and formulating their own definitions of the word.
This lesson does not directly relate to any of the readings, but can relate to the two comprehension articles by Stahl and Neufeld. How well a child learns the vocabulary word and its meaning will affect how well they are able to comprehend the word and meaning and then use the word in their own sentence. Similarly, the student will have to take what they know of the vocabulary word to formulate and discuss the word’s meaning in their own words. In order to accomplish all of the these tasks, the student will have had to take the word, process its meaning, and be able to relate it to their prior knowledge and schema to form their own definition of the word as well as use it in a sentence they thought of. Even though the articles stress the importance of comprehension through reading texts, a lot of the same main ideas of comprehension apply to this lesson. Their understanding of these words will increase their reading comprehension later on.

Thelen - Lesson #1

Thelen - Daily Lesson Plan #1

Your Name:__Kelsey Thelen_________ Grade Level: ____5th _______ Date:____4/11/11_____

CT: ____Mr. S___________ School: _____KMS_____________

Overall lesson topic/title:
• Expanding Vocabulary

Grade Level Content Expectation(s):
• R.WS.05.07 in context, determine the meaning of words and phrases including symbols, idioms, recently coined words, content vocabulary, and literary terms using strategies and resources including analogies, content glossaries, and electronic resources.

Objective:
o Student will be able to define vocabulary words during the lesson as each word is given by correctly using them in a sentence they have generated themselves.

Materials & supplies needed:
• Pencil
• Spelling Journal
• Vocabulary List

Briefly describe your target student and the learning and/or participation challenges s/he faces:
• My student sometimes overthinks vocabulary and spelling assignments and then gets the word wrong even though I know she knows the words and their meanings.


Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event


BEFORE LESSON:

• Introduction to the lesson
• The students do these exercises almost every week, so there is not much introduction that needs to be done prior to the lesson.
• Before starting the lesson, however, I will read the list of vocabulary words to refresh their memory.
(3 minutes)

OUTLINE OF KEY EVENTS FOLLOWING YOUR INTRODUCTION:

• During Lesson:
• I will read each vocabulary word one at a time, giving ample time in between for each student to have enough time to generate a meaningful and appropriate sentence.
• I will say each word multiple times, saying a clear pronunciation of each word.





• After Lesson:
• After the each student has written their sentence containing the correct usage of the vocabulary word, we will review each of the words and discuss their meanings.
• We will go through the vocabulary list and discuss the meaning of each word, one by one.
• As we define each word, each student will read the sentence they made that shows the meaning of each vocabulary word.
• I will simply read each word and let the students control the discussion about each word. I will only intervene if the students are struggling on generating a definition or meaning for a word. If that happens, I will scaffold their ideas until they are able to reach the correct meaning.
• If a student has a sentence that reflects an incorrect meaning of the vocabulary word, they will rewrite a sentence that correctly uses the word underneath the incorrect sentence. They will also write the definition of the word along with the sentence so that they can reflect back on the definition for later use.

CLOSING SUMMARY FOR THE LESSON:

• Bringing Closure:
• To bring closure to the lesson, I will tell them that they did a good job discussing and using the words, thank them for their participation, and have them hand me their spelling journals for me to review as a post-assessment (see below). Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support during each event for one target student















• I will say the words slowly and repeat them as the student works on the sentence for each vocabulary word.







• I will be sure that my focus student knows each of the vocab words by making sure that they participate in the conversation and that they have correctly used each word.
Post-Assessment:
• To make sure that my students have learned the definitions of the vocabulary words as well as to properly use them in a sentence, I will review their spelling journals and read their vocabulary sentences (what they did in the lesson) and verify that they are used correctly. I will also see what words were commonly misused (if any) and see if there is a possible need for a follow up lesson or activity on those words to make sure that they are clear to the students.
Academic, Social, and/or Linguistic Support during assessment for your target student

• I will be sure that my focus student knows each of the vocab words by making sure that they participate in the conversation and that they have correctly used each word.

Thelen - Reading Reflection #1

Thelen - READING LESSON REFLECTION #1
Overall, the lesson went as I had expected. Student 1 had trouble generating a sentence for a few of the words, but did better than I had previously thought. She was able to discuss the meanings of the words after the lesson, so I know she knows what the words mean, she just has trouble putting the word into a sentence that reflects the meaning. I am not sure if that is a comprehension issue, or if she just isn’t very creative, because I know she knows what the words mean well enough to do the task. When reviewing her journal for my post-assessment, Student 1 corrected her mistakes and was able to make better sentences after discussing the words and hearing the other two students repeat their sentences.
Student 2 did better than I assumed. He was able to put all of the words into sentences correctly and also actively participated in the definition discussion. While he was not spot on for a few of the definitions, he was very close and definitely benefitted from the discussion with the group after the lesson.
Student 3 performed like I had expected. He was also able to put all of the words in a sentence and show the correct meaning of the word, but was quiet during the discussion afterwards. Because of this, it was hard to tell if he could make his own definition of the word. I am not sure if he is just shy or intimidated by the vocab tests, but he clearly has a good enough idea of the word to be able to use it in a sentence; for some reason he just has trouble putting the word’s meaning into a clear definition.
Through this activity, I realized that I myself have trouble putting words into my own definitions. It is really easy for me to use a word in a sentence, but I struggle with putting some words into a definition that is easy for someone else to understand. As a result, I know that as a teacher, I need to be more prepared when it comes to explaining tougher words and that I need to prepare ahead of time for classes that will have tougher words involved in the lessons that I will teach. This lesson was helpful for the students and made learning the vocabulary a little more fun because we got to discuss the words. The students made funny sentences for a few of the words, so that was enjoyable and also made some of the words easier to remember for the students who struggled with that particular word. I also liked this activity because it was a lot like “Word Power Made Easy”, vocabulary exercises that I had to do in high school (I hated it at the time, but it was definitely useful in the long run). Having a large vocabulary is a good thing to have, so I really liked this lesson. The only problem with it is that is works out perfectly for a small group, but it would be difficult to do with the entire class.

Joel's Reading Lesson Reflection #1

Reading Lesson Reflection:

I had two different and unique experiences with my lesson. I taught it in a little backroom that adjoins our regular classroom. This room has glass on three sides looking outdoors and into the two classrooms that it connects. The first thing that I noticed was that neither of the students wanted to write. This is something I can relate deeply to right now. There was a little moaning about having to bring their notebooks with them to write the sentences. This probably wasn’t essential to the exercise, but my CT asked me to have them do it so I did. This would probably be the first modification I would make to my lesson. I wasted more time getting the students to write down their answers than I needed to. I also don’t see how writing down the idea added to the main goal of the lesson. It may have reinforced a specific topic sentence, but it didn’t reinforce the idea.

“R” was okay with reading the passages out loud in such a small group setting, but I wonder if this may be a contributing factor to why his comprehension is low on his DIBELS assessments. He made so many starts and stops during the reading that I found it hard to follow along. However, he didn’t do much better with picking out topic sentences when “C” was reading. He may have given up at that point though. Throughout the entire lesson he constantly found something to play with. He would kick a ball that was under the desk or pick at his pencil. I know that some kids need extra stimulation to concentrate, but “R” seems like he uses these objects as a way to pass time. He doesn’t have better answers if you let him play with them.

“C” did much better with the task. He was able to pick out the topic sentences on his own by the end of the allotted time. He didn’t have that much difficulty with the task in the beginning either though. I noticed that with him the task varied in difficulty with where the topic sentence was placed. His original instinct was to always pick the first sentence as the topic sentence because this seemed to be the most common placement. However not all paragraphs were built like this. He was able to tell me a main idea though and by the end he was looking at all parts to find the topic sentence.

“R” never really did catch on to the main idea of the lesson though. This is a weakness of the lesson I hadn’t considered before starting it, but is also the weakness of being given a set curriculum to use. “R” didn’t seem to have much interest in the topic. Would this lesson have gone better if I had been able to use a text about football? I think it may have. My experience for “R” was to have one of us read the paragraph and then I would ask “R” what the topic sentence was. He would say “I don’t know.” and the start to reread the paragraph while I waited for him. When he saw that I was going to wait him out he would pick a seemingly random section and guess. I tried to model how I figured out what the topic sentence was by going through my process out loud. This didn’t seem to help either.

My experience with “C” has left me hopeful. He just needed a little guidance to see that topic sentences could be found everywhere. My experience with “R” has left me frustrated however. We have talked in all of my TE classes about how to motivate students. But, that’s all it is. Talk. When I have had this experience of trying to motivate unmotivated students I have always been frustrated. This goes back to last year’s field placement too. I think that for me the key is going to be in trying some of the practices we have learned about in my own classroom. I don’t know if it’s possible to connect with a student at the right level in the amount of time we are given in our field placements. If I was working with “R” over the course of a whole school year I think I might have a slightly different experience. I would have more time to bring him materials that show I care about his learning. I would also have a little more freedom to do what I want. I wouldn’t be as constrained by the feeling of not wanting to create chaos in my CT’s classroom or seem like I’m undermining her authority.

On the whole the lesson went pretty much like I expected. The students reached the levels I had a feeling they might before I started. This is unfortunate, but true, even for “R”. I also gained insight on what I would do in my own classroom. I think it was a good learning experience.