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.

Joel's Reading Lesson Plan #1

Reading Lesson Plan # 1

Your Name: Joel Cross Grade Level: 5th

Date lesson was taught: 3/16/11 Number of Students: 2

1) Rationale: My classroom uses the Reading Street basal series for Language Arts. My CT has been told that she needs to use is ‘with fidelity’. The topic of the lesson wasn’t up to me because of this. She identified two students who are struggling with pulling a main idea out of a paragraph and asked me to work with them.

2) List which reading skill/strategy is the main focus of your lesson: This is a comprehension strategy. Specifically it is summarizing.

3) Objective for this lesson: When read a sentence from the book Westlandia, students will be able to find the sentence and use the passage it is in to write down the topic sentence of that passage.

4) Materials & supplies needed: Textbook with Westlandia story, pencil, paper, selection of sentences.

5) OUTLINE OF LESSON PLAN:

• Introduction to the lesson I will remind the students that they are working on summarizing the main ideas of a short passage. The author often does this by including a topic sentence in the paragraph and then expanding on it. We are going to try to find the topic sentences in the paragraphs. I will then use the first sentence to model how this works. The first sentence is “Wesley didn’t like pizza.” The rest of the passage goes on to detail other things that are a little weird about him. I will show him that this can be connected to the topic sentence in the paragraph that reads “Wesley was different from other boys.” (5 minutes)

• OUTLINE of key events during the lesson There are only 20 minutes that are to be set aside for this lesson. I want to give the students as many times to practice this skill as possible. After modeling the first one for them I will gradually withdraw my scaffolding as we work through the sentences. In the next sentence I give them I will ask one of the students to read the paragraph out loud to me when he has found the sentence. I will then pose the question “Does anyone see a sentence that tells about everything in the passage?” If I get no response I will work through sentences in the paragraph one by one and ask “Does this summarize the paragraph?” We will then discuss why it does or does not meet that criteria. Hopefully after working through a few in this manner I can have the students do a few sentences on their own. After we work through each sentence I will have the students write down the topic sentence. (15 minutes)

• Closing summary for the lesson When we run out of time for the activity I will remind the students that the purpose of the lesson is to see how an author writes a topic sentence and then expands on that sentence to create a story. We can usually find the main idea of this story and use it to help us summarize it if we can find the topic sentence. (1 minute)

6) Ongoing-Assessment: I will know if students are progressing toward my objective if they are able to identify the topic sentences more accurately, with more speed, and with less help. I will be looking for the time it takes the students to find a sentence that they think is the topic sentence, how accurate they are in their attempts, and how much they looked to me for clues. I will know they can accomplish this task if they can identify three topic sentences in a row without help from me.

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

I know that “R” has a problem with stuttering at times and he doesn’t always like to read aloud. I will encourage him by asking him to read the paragraph, but if he seems uncomfortable I will read it for him. The point of the lesson is not to increase fluency or prosody right now so this won’t matter. These students are also struggling with their comprehension so I know I will have to provide more scaffolding for them. If I don’t reach the end point of my lesson where the students are working through on their own that is okay. If I were really teaching in the classroom I would continue to work on this skill with them.

Joel's Reading Lesson Overview

Reading Lesson Overview

I have asked my CT if I could work with students that needed a little extra help. She identified “R” and “C” as students that could benefit from extra instruction. The units that the basal reader we are working with right now are focusing on a couple of different comprehension tasks.

I have two main ways of knowing that these two students are struggling with comprehension. The first was mentioned above. My CT has much more intimate knowledge of these students than I do and she identified them for me. She has mentioned that she has a hard time getting them to share ideas about passages with her. The second tool that she has used throughout the year is a DIBELS assessment that she has to use with them that is called a progress monitoring booklet. She is to ask them to read a short item of varying genres for her. The students are timed for one minute. The test then scores how many words they read and how many facts they can recall from the item read. She let me administer two of these tests to the students so I could get a feel for how they worked.

“C” read the stories to me at an appropriate rate (121 words and 118 words respectively) and even though it is not scored I noted that his prosody was pretty good throughout the reading. However the scoring rubric asks that they recall at least five facts from the reading. “C” mentioned five, but he really struggled with getting them and the first was just the title of the article. For example in the first reading he said “This is about pulleys.” and in the second he said “This is about plants.” This didn’t show great depth of understanding to me because the reading was really about how plants obtain their food.

“R” had a slightly different experience. His reading rate was a little slow (91 and 100 words respectively.) I noticed in his reading one of the things the CT mentioned to me earlier in the year. “R” is in speech class to help with a stuttering problem. He definitely took his time in reading the passage and sometimes had to start over. I sensed that this was probably compensation for the stuttering. “R” had even more trouble recalling what he read after. He mentioned three facts from each reading, but couldn’t give more. The test instructs that the teacher ask if they remember anything else, but says to stop and not give clues if they say they can’t.

There is one final thing I have noticed with “R” that will be important to my understanding of him. I have noticed and talked with my CT several times over the course of the year that some students don’t seem to see value in the work they are doing. They don’t seem to want to put effort into it as a result. “R” is probably the student that exemplifies this most in my classroom. My CT has been teaching for a long time and I have gained great respect for her, but she doesn’t seem to have a good answer to this problem. She has tried connecting with him and he doesn’t seem to take any more interest. I find it interesting that he told me his plans are to attend MSU when he graduates. When I asked why he said he wants to play football. I wonder how we encourage students to follow their dreams and yet crush them with realistic expectations at the same time. I have seen “R” in gym class and as a trained professional coach I think it would be a stretch for him to make a career out of sports. As a teacher I would probably try to build on that love, but I’ve seen evidence of that in my class and he doesn’t seem to want to explore other subjects any more because of it.

week 14

My focus students literacy learning has improved over the semester.  She is better at listening comprehension, writing, and reading.  She has a hard time focusing but has been making strong improvements. Some of the differentiated instruction outlined in Tompkins, Chapter 11 are holding a grand conversation, a word wall, a mini-lesson, reading logs, guided reading, charts, and some other small activities. A grand conversation is when the students ask questions and the teacher helps to develop the background knowledge for the students that they need to help comprehend the story.  This is done after a book read aloud and can help different leveled learners. A word wall is a wall with words for the students to practice using. The students can add new words to the word wall as the class is having a book talk. I have seen a slightly different version of a word wall in my classroom. My CT will pick a word to put on the word wall and the students will copy it down. I guess it is more like a word of the day, but it is to help the students practice their spelling and writing skills, and probably less emphasis on definitions. Do you guys see more definition based assignments/activities in higher grades?  The mini-lesson consists of of teaching comprehension strategies, literary analysis, and other grade-level standards. This is done following an independent reading period and a literature study. The mini lesson is usually tied in to the novel that is being read at the current time.  Reading logs are also used in the classroom.  The Language Experience Approach is used with struggling readers to dictate quickly as they develop their summarize skills.  Another approach used with struggling readers is the guided reading approach. This is another approach I have seen in my placement. This consists of working with small groups and reading short books at the students reading levels and afterwards discuss what they read and re-read independently to themselves.  Some other helpful idea is using charts to go along with what is in a novel or making posters.

I felt that a great idea in the chapter 11 reading was the after school intervention for struggling readers. This helps struggling readers and they get to read self-selected books independently.

The suggested characteristics of differentiating instruction are having high standards, using assessment-instruction link, have flexible grouping, use a collection of reading materials, vary the instructional activities in the classroom, make instructional modifications, respect the students, and focus on individuals academic achievement. It is important to differentiate the content, differentiate the process, and the product. If you guys want to take a closer look at the info it is on page 363!

Dear ______

Student A has a hard time focusing in literacy. She has made great improvements throughout this semester, but I wanted to keep you updated on her learning process and my current ideas to make even more improvements. First, I want to start by saying that she struggles in staying on task during independent reading, and I believe this takes away from her comprehension due to the fact that she does not get very far in the book she is reading because she is distracted.  The instruction I plan to impliment for student A in order to accommodate to her needs are to use dramatic play with each book she reads. I feel that since she is outgoing and loves to talk, that she may be interested in having fun while also retelling a story. I believe that this will be a positive outlet of her energy as well as encouraging her to focus on her book during independent reading so that she knows how to retell the story during dramatic play. We could start with puppets and see how it works!  Also, I would like to have her use the computer for reading activities so that I can see if she reacts any better to reading from a larger screen and maybe doesn't like the format of the book or is not interested. If I feel that she is uninterested, I will let her choose her own book at her raeding level to gain her interest and maybe she will be more willing to read. When i do hear her read, she reads well, so I am not worried that there are any problems with decoding words, she just struggles to stay focus and may be uninterested. I hope we can work together to help improve student A's literacy learning!

Week 13: Writing

I found there were a couple of sections of the text that stood out for me because I have seen them happen in my classroom. The funny thing is that I often think writing is missing in my classroom because my CT doesn’t seem to focus on it. However, the first thing that struck me was exactly what she does. We have talked in class about reading should be integrated across the entire curriculum. These chapters suggest that reading and writing are very similar processes. With this in mind, writing should also be spread across the entire curriculum. This year my CT hardly ever sets aside time that I hear or notice her refer to as writing time. The class has notebooks for every subject though and they use them frequently. The way she almost always begins a lesson is with some form of: “Get out your __________ notebook.” This encourages the students to write about what they are learning and gives them a source to refer to later on in the project.

I also was very interested in the New Literacies entry on page 403 of Tompkins. I had never heard of webquests before, but I have seen them used at least twice in my field placement. I found myself wondering why when we went to the computer lab the sites for the students to research from were bookmarked. I assumed that the school’s filtering software made it very hard for students to search. This seems to be the case from many teachers I have talked to and this seemed like a good way to still let them get the information needed. The textbook seems to make a good argument for this as a form of scaffolding that helps students with new technology.

I also noticed that my field placement contrasts with my field placement from last year in 301. I was in a fifth grade classroom at that time too, but that CT seemed to put a greater emphasis on writing as a subject to be learned. Students created many different genres of writing and the purpose was clearly not linked with any other subject. I helped them create poems about what was in their desk as one example. Another example was that they created a comic strip about anything they wanted. While I can see how these activities would be fun, I wonder if they could have also been fun while integrating them into their areas of study. I think they probably could have.

This year I have had a few chances to help the students in my class with writing projects. I mentioned before the webquests that my CT had the students work on. One was related to her unit on the solar system. Students were asked to create a travel brochure for another planet based on their webquest. I helped them take the data they gather from their on-line resources and transfer it to a template the CT had created. This activity was more about teaching them how to use a new technology to write than it was about the writing process. I still think that in today’s society this is a valuable lesson that they are going to need and a new genre that needs to be explored. I am also in the process of writing up one of my mini lessons that I taught last week to a small group. In that lesson I worked on both the reading and writing process. The students are learning about introduction, ascending action, climax, descending action, and resolution in a story line. The students used their weekly reading selection from their text and as we read through it we created a ^ shaped chart to plot the sequence of actions from the story. This activity helped these students so that they could see where these elements came from. The next step that is planned by the CT is to use this information and apply it to a story that they create themselves.

Week 12

In this week's readings, Tompkins describes tier one words as words that would be used in a typical conversation. Tier two words are more academic words that you would use in writing or oral language. Finally, tier three words are more technical words. I had some trouble distinguishing between some of these tiers because to me, a lot of the words I would consider Tier I, but my students might not. I felt that the language in my book, "The Watson's Go to Birmingham", didn't have a whole lot of outlandish words, but here is what I came up with:

Tier I: king, kindergarten, elementary, flunked, easier, look, dirty, tied, punched, school, jacked, alive, pockets, smart, eye, lazy, messed-up, people, morning, skip, bunch, bus, mile, jerked, apple

Tier II: Bible, passages, recognition, humorous, melting, perhaps, appearance, mistake, clapped, important, disappeared, nervous, strange, accent, thanked, laughing

Tier III: god, demonstration, numerous, miraculous, introduction, intimidate, emulate, incapable, cockeyed, regards, Poindexter, thugs, protection, raggedy

Like I said, it was kind of hard for me to distinguish the different Tiers looking at it from my fifth-graders' point of view. I feel like they should have a lot of those words in their working vocabulary, so they could be used in normal converstation, making them tier I. I think it would definitely be easier to do this activity for a younger grade, or with a more advanced book for my grade. I guess I will see how good my estimates were for this activity in a couple weeks because my class is going to start reading this book. Did anyone else have trouble deciding how to categorize their words?