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.
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