Reflections on First lesson

The first lesson that I taught from the basal text was an introduction to the story, "The Unbreakable Code."  As a class, we read the introductory story the previous day, which spoke about the code talkers that served in Northern Africa.  The first couple pages of the story introduce our main character, John, who is upset about leaving the Navajo reservation for Minnesota.  I focused the discussion of the story on the author's perspective.  What did the author want to emphasize to the reader?

The story told about John's Grandfather who spent his childhood in boarding schools specifically for Native Americans.  My class is very diverse and I wanted to allow these students to relay their personal experiences to the class.  They really opened up about their home languages and customs that have been kept in their homes.  I made sure to speak about this as a class because the class is very interested in the diverse backgrounds of each student. Earlier in the year, a student vocalized how interested he was in someone else's culture but my MT said "We don't have time to talk about it," and never returned to it.  I certainly wanted to get back to the topic to enrich the student's cultural literacy by using their peers to do the teaching.  From this cultural literacy point of view, the lesson went very well as students started to comprehend more of the story as well as started to empathize with the main character.

One thing that I would go back to focus on in the lesson if I could go back in time to plan it is changing the way I approached the topic of author's perspective.  Most students didn't know what perspective was, which came as a surprise to me.  It just proves that I needed to informally assess my students prior knowledge, something which I normally associate with math (I obviously know that that is now incorrect!).  I did not have a good way to explain the concept and was not prepared to do so.  I also need to prepare students if I expect them to contribute.  Especially for my ELLs who would provide much of the cultural content I was looking for, I should have let them know a day or two earlier so they could ask their parents and be prepared to provide any information they felt comfortable sharing.

Poetry lesson

Overall, I think the lesson went well.  I could have changed a lot of things to make it better (which I will get to) but overall the students were paying attention and with only one exception, all did the work and paid attention to the lesson.  Although at first I wasn't sure about teaching poetry(especially after my conversation with Amy), it turned out to really work out and the kids enjoyed an opportunity to be creative.

What went well -

The fact that the class was paying attention (or were good at pretending) most of the time.  The students were excited about writing their own poetry and were calling myself and Mrs. Dickinson over constantly. 

I did what I planned to do and adjusted when the conversation/discussion led a different direction.  For example, when students didn't know what a haiku was or syllables or rhyming or symbolism or consonance, I adjusted each time, making sure that students were understanding and all students were included.  I did well to adjust to the fact that the three boys that go to the resource room were in the classroom.  I made sure to stop by them and help them with their poetry.  The fact that one of them was really angry at me for not letting him go to the Resource Room (she was in a meeting) and he got mad and yelled at me telling me I am not a 'real teacher'.  Once he went into the classroom, I did not have major problems with him other than having to redirect him at times and making sure he wasn't talking.

What I could have improved -

-The first thing I could have changed to improve my lesson is my little quip on symbolism and consonance.  The reasoning behing introducing it was to make sure that my students who are higher achieving would be challenged and I could have something tangible to tell them to work on.  Unfortunately, None of the students knew what symbolism, concrete or abstract meant so that was a dud.  While teaching this to the class, I realized I was wasting my time because these lessons would have to be individual lessons "what is symbolism? name a symbol.  Is this concrete or abstract?'  but I couldn't just abruptly go away from it and lose the flow of the lesson.  So I let it go as long as I thought was tolerable before moving on.

-Also, How have they not done Haiku poetry before?  That blows my mind.  I should have asked them and had a better idea of what I was about to teach them.  That was my mistake and I would have changed my whole intro if I had realized I was introducing something completely new to them.  But alas, I am human.

-I did not handle some funny answers or bad attitudes from students well.  I kinda just ignored them to keep the flow of the lesson.  This was calculated on my part to make sure that I taught my lesson, not disciplined students the entire time.  I did not feel the need to use the name/check method because the students, despite imperfections, were more or less on their best behavior.dud.  While teaching this to the class, I realized I was wasting my time because these lessons would have to be individual lessons "what is symbolism? name a symbol.  Is this concrete or abstract?'  but I couldn't just abruptly go away from it and lose the flow of the lesson.  So I let it go as long as I thought was tolerable before moving on.this concrete or abstract?'  but I couldn't just abruptly go away from it and lose the flow of the lesson.  So I let it go as long as I thought was tolerable before moving on.

-Also, How have they not done Haiku poetry before?  That blows my mind.  I should have asked them and had a better idea of what I was about to teach them.  That was my mistake and I would have changed my whole intro if I had realized I was introducing something completely new to them.  But alas, I am human.

-I did not handle some funny answers or bad attitudes from students well.  I kinda just ignored them to keep the flow of the lesson.  This was calculated on my part to make sure that I taught my lesson, not disciplined students the entire time.  I did not feel the need to use the name/check method because the students, despite imperfections, were more or less on their best behavior.

-I was wary of doing one as a group or showign too many examples as I was afraid they may have just copied what they read and not showed their creative spark (which they all have!).

-I had my hands in my pockets.  That was weird, I think it is somewhat a nervous habit.  I generally don't do that.  Not the best posture to have.

You know I am more critical with myself than I am with anyone else.  Overall, I think it went absolutely fine, I just needed to think things out a bit better and (heard this one before?) have a better classroom management plan to be able to deal with those little comments, side conversations, and bad attitudes more smoothly.

Day 3- First Attempt with the KWL Chart!

During my lesson, we read a non-fiction article as a class about why frogs are going extinct. Before we read the article, I had students point out the non-fiction text features that they saw before they read the article. We talked about the title, sub title, map and bold words. We discussed how these are important to notice as they help us activate our background knowledge before we even read the article. I passed out the KWL charts, and the students filled out the “what I think I know” and “what I want to know”. We talked about how we should fill the “what I want to know,” while keeping in mind the header and sub header we read while looking at the non fiction text features. We talked about how we think this article might be about pollution and how it affects frogs (the title was “Frogs and Risk” and the sub title read, “South America’s frog population is on the decline. That spells trouble for the environment.”) Since this was our first KWL chart, I tried to do a lot of guiding and modeling. I had the students try to write two things they would like to know or find out, BASED around what they think they might find in the article. I said that if they wonder something, such as “how long do frogs live?” that they may write that, but I tried to have a little discussion around the idea that we might not find that specific answer in this article and we might have to look elsewhere because the article is very specific (as are most articles). After I collected the KWL charts, I was pleasantly surprised with that the kids wrote down- a lot of the “what I want to know” questions were based around what students think they WOULD actually find in the article. I wonder how well they will do with this idea as I pull away my direct support/instruction. Something I will definitely have to pay attention to as I look at more KWL charts my students create for me during non-fiction features.

My students learned about KWL charts and how to apply them to a non-fiction text article. They also had more practice using non-fiction text features, which was the main idea my teacher really wanted me to cover during my guided lead teaching. My students learned about frogs and why pollution affects them. A lot of their responses were so cute- a lot of students expressed sadness is their, “what did I learn” section- one student even said “WE MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. FROGS ARE SO CUTE.” Some students who have a hard time expressing their thoughts in writing had a difficult time with this assignment- they didn’t write very much in the boxes, but I actually noticed a few of these students participating and sharing their ideas, even though they didn’t have it written down, which was a good thing. I learned that students like to talk about what they know- I really don’t think I have ever seen that many of my kids get excited about sharing what they know (I don’t really think I have seen that many activities with background knowledge, so it was a interesting to see their interactions).

I will continue giving students closer support with their KWL charts and reminding them to utilize text features to activate background knowledge as well as help them read non-fiction. I don’t think I need to “re-teach” any thing specifically, but I will just make sure my students have more practice with the KWL charts as well as reading non-ficiton.

If I was to teach this lesson again, I think I might be more explicit or explain the W part of the KWL chart. I was happy with how my students performed, but there were times when I felt shaky explaining HOW to know what to put in the W box. I just think this will come with more practice as I get more comfortable teaching and getting up in front of the class.

So far, implementing my core practice is going really well! I would like to try some different activating background knowledge activities, but I haven’t really found any that I like as much as the KWL chart. 

Also, just with the time aspect of this guided lead teaching, I think I would rather really get my students comfortable with using a KWL chart rather than make them do a lot of activities where they activate background knowledge but never really get super comfortable with a specific one. What do you think about this? Should I stick to KWL charts or try to venture out and do something different?

Days 1 and 2- My First Experience!

        This reflection is about Day 1 (and day 2) of my literacy unit plan. On the first day, I had students tell me what a non-fiction text was and had them brainstorm various text features they had heard of, seen or used while reading a non-fiction text. I had students use the think-pair-share model so all students would have an opportunity to have an idea in case I pulled their popsicle stick out in order to ask them to participate. In this lesson, student’s reviewed/ learned various non-fiction text features. As I showed them various non-fiction text features, they were able to fill out a fill in the blank worksheet as we went through the lesson so that they could have these notes as something to refer back to when they were doing the activity for day 2. Some students who had a hard time paying attention to lessons had a difficult time filling in the blanks on the worksheet but I made sure that everyone had it filled in by the end of the lesson and allowed students to look off my copy if they had a hard time filling it in and listening to the lesson because I wanted to make sure that they had the information. From this lesson I realized that students need more practice with non-fiction text features so they know how to use them to aid in their reading of a non fiction text. I think they did good during my lesson but they definitely need to explore non fiction texts and have a real opportunity to use text features while they are doing real reading. During day 2 of my lesson, students were able to look at their textbooks and other non-fiction books in the classroom and discover various text features and point them out (by putting what they found on a worksheet). Some students struggled with this because they were off task and had a hard time locating text features if they weren’t actually reading the text (I hope that makes sense). Like I started to discuss above, I think that my students need more REAL interaction with non-fiction text features, which is something I hope to explore during the rest of my lessons. I will re-teach and re-explore what non-fiction text features are throughout the remainder of my lessons, as we will start to use KWL charts to build our knowledge off of non-fiction text features. Students will have many more opportunities to interact with non-fiction text features as I move through my lessons because we will be using non-fiction texts. I will continue to point out text features and allow students to explore their uses and functions throughout my unit. If I was to do these two lessons again, I might just have students use only one text book during their search rather than having unlimited books at their disposal. I think this would keep them on task and they wouldn’t be so overwhelmed with the opportunity to look through many different books (which some students were distracted by, I think). So far, I haven’t done a ton of work with my core practice because this was just an intro to text features, but I did realize that having students brainstorm what they already knew about non-fiction texts as well as non-fiction text features helped them get ready for the lesson and reminded them of what they already knew. It also helped me with my instruction for the lesson because it helped me gauge what I needed to spend less time on (glossary, bold print) and more time on (index, how to use a table of contents, and graphs on pages).

Guided Reading Lesson Reflection #2

• What did students learn and which students struggled with the lesson?

Students learned that they could make connections to not only themselves, but also to texts as well as the world. Students were able to summarize many ways that texts could be related to the world. Some of the students' examples were: the internet, history, movies, magazines, textbooks, etc. 

Not many of my students struggled with this lesson. All students were able to find the required three connections, however, some students had difficulties distinguishing between text-to-text connections and text-to-world connections. Both high and low achieving students struggled alike with deciding which type of connection they were making.

• What are alternate reads (interpretations) of your students’ performance or products?

For this type of connection, I believe that students are able to display their worldly knowledge. The other two types of connection (T-S and T-T) require students to reflect on themselves and what they have read. Text-to-world knowledge allows students who accelerate with facts and students who obtain the majority of their knowledge from television and magazines to have an opportunity to make more connections. 

• What did you learn about your students’ literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?

I learned about my students' knowledge regarding the world. Different students referred to different types of knowledge. For example, one of my students is from Lebanon. Many of her "world" references regard her home country and how their lifestyle is similar/different to the Native Americans were are reading about in Ta-Ne-E-Ku. I also learned about what students do in their free time. Students made connections to whatever they spent a lot of their time doing: video games, television, social media, other countries, etc.

• When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?

To re-teach the material to struggling students, I would watch or read a few news articles that I know can relate to our reading. I would then work with students in small groups and talk about the news articles. Afterwards, we would work together to find connections between texts we have read and the news articles. This would ensure that every student understands which connections we are reading, since we have worked on the text-to-world connections together.

• If you were to teach this same lesson again, what would you do differently and how do you think the changes would improve students’ learning?

If I taught this lesson again, I would make sure to spend more time distinguishing between text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections. Many students had questions regarding which type of connection they had made. There were a few scenarios in which I was confused as to which type of connection the student found, and whether they found a connection that could apply to two different type of text-____ connections. I believe if I could make the text connections more specific, students would be able to focus on which type of connection they formed in more depth.  

• What did you learn so far about implementing your ‘core practice’ and what do you need to do to continue your professional learning?

I learned that students really enjoy making text connections as long as they understand which type of and how to make connections. Even the students who initially disliked making connections (the ones who could not find connections) have begun to like using sticky notes and finding connections. As a result, I believe that I need to continue improving on how I display the three different text connections. I need to make my own Reading Journal that will serve as an example for students in the beginning stages of learning these techniques. I will also save student examples that were exceptional. These examples could be viewed by students at their own leisure.

Guided Reading Lesson Reflection #1

After teaching each of the 2 lessons you handed in for instructor feedback, post a reflection on the lesson

based on the following questions. It is recommended that you complete these as soon as possible after

teaching each lesson while events are still fresh in your mind. These reflections are due no later than

November 14.

• What did students learn and which students struggled with the lesson?



For this lesson, we learned how to create text-to-text connections. Students learned that there were three requirements for each text connection: 1) students had to list which book they were connecting with, 2) list off which type of connection is this (setting, plot, character, etc.), and 3) describe the part of each story that students connected to. By presenting text connections this way, I provided students with clear requirements that they could accomplish for each of the three text connections that students needed. There were two students who struggled with creating connections. Both of the students said they did not know any stories that related the story. Previously, on text-to-self connections, the same two students had difficulties relating to the story. To remedy this, I worked one on one with each student and they managed to find their three daily connections.



• What are alternate reads (interpretations) of your students’ performance or products?

I could also judge students performance by observing their progress from the beginning to the end. Some students progress a lot by making more meaningful connections, while another student may find more connections. There were several students who already made meaningful and in depth connections from the beginning of my lessons. Perhaps for these students, I could have them find more connections rather than seek to increase the depth of their connections. For students who struggled with finding connections, perhaps finding more connections is more important than depth of the connections until students get used to discovering similarities between texts, themselves, and the world.

• What did you learn about your students’ literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?

My original intention was to get students to comprehend and enjoy texts more. I learned which students read a lot in their spare time. Students who did not read often connected with common texts such as Jack and the Beanstalk. The students who read a lot referenced various books and texts at higher reading levels. Also, I was able to witness a wide range of connection depth. Some students made surface level connections (same names, etc.) while other students connected intricate plot sequences.

• When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?

I will re-teach and assist struggling students by working with them one on one. I will help students by scaffolding their text connections by referencing texts that the entire class has read. This ensures that these students will understand and remember the text that I am referencing. I will encourage students to make connections by mentioning details from both stories and seeing whether they can find a connection from given information.

• If you were to teach this same lesson again, what would you do differently and how do you think the changes would improve students’ learning?

If I was to teach this lesson again, I would make sure that I have created my own Reading Journal that includes at least 5 different examples of text-to-text connections. Some of my text connections would use books or stories we have read in our class, while others connections would be from books that I have personally read. I would also like to include examples of connections that include my three requirements that were listed above.

• What did you learn so far about implementing your ‘core practice’ and what do you need to do to
continue your professional learning?

I learned that students need a fair amount of time with each type of connection before they are able to understand the requirements and how to make meaningful connections. Some students picked up on "how" to make connections quickly, while others students took several days before they could make in depth connections. I will make sure to model each connection type each day and explain "why" these connections are meaningful. Next time I teach this lesson, I will make sure that I have a completed Reading Journal so that students know I am willing to make a journal and make the connections myself, as well as give students an example of what the journal should look like before they make theirs.

Chapter 10

I read Chapter 10 which is titled "Determining Importance in Text." This chapter talks about finding important information in nonfiction text. To get students to discover meaningful from non-meaningful information, the author says to model several different techniques to students in the form of lessons. You want to direct students attention to particular details, since it is impossible to remember everything that is read. The author says to seek out a "big idea" and try to connect all important information. Important information can often be found at the beginning and end sentences in a paragraph.

Matt