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.