Lesson 3 Reflection
My objectives for this lesson were: 1. Practice and apply understanding of reading comprehension strategies such as: main idea and details, monitor and clarify, visualizing and compare and contrast by participating in class discussion and 2. Develop oral vocabulary by defining and giving examples for words such as: hatch, pecks, cuddles, snuggles, preen, flippers, frozen.
The vocabulary words seemed to be easy for the students. This time I tried something different with the vocabulary words. Instead of just asking them to tell me the definitions, I had students volunteer to act out the vocabulary words and other students would raise their hands to guess what one they were acting out. The words this week were easy to act out in comparison to other week’s vocabulary words so this was a good way to switch up the vocabulary portion of my lesson. They seemed to really like it and all of the students who acted out and who guessed were able to do so with success so that tells me that they actually understand the vocabulary words instead of just being able to spit out the exact definition they have heard me say before. I would like to try other vocabulary activities in the following weeks as well. The comprehension strategies of visualizing and comparing and contrasting are the ones I think my students understand the most. These have been taught before (spiral curriculum) this year and going over them again during this lesson confirmed my idea that they do understand these concepts. We also added to them when we were building background knowledge for the text of the week (Penguin Chick). The other two comprehension strategies were new this week and they are having some difficulty with them. This is only the second day I have taught these and so far we haven’t had much practice. Much of the practice will come in tomorrow’s lesson when we read the story with comprehension questions.
I learned that my students are awesome at having class discussions! I feel so lucky to have this class because they are awesome at responding to my questions, responding to each others questions, and asking questions of me and other students. It flows so nicely and they have so much to say that I often had to stop to let them share with a partner in order to get all of their ideas out. There was a lot of chatter during the lesson, but the talking was on-task so at least I know they were interested in the conversation and were excited to share their ideas.
I will continue teaching main idea and detail and I will try a few different explanations and activities and hopefully they will understand it by the end of the week- at least a basic understanding. I will do center work with kid-friendly news articles (Time Magazine) and have them work with a partner to find the main idea and three details. I will also have them do some practice worksheets as a whole group and individually.
If I were to teach this lesson again I would have more scheduled time for partner sharing and I would also add in a short activity at the end where they can write one thing they learned from the story, one thing they liked about the story, or one thing that relates to the story and themselves that they would like to share with me. This way they will feel like I want to hear their ideas even if I can’t let them all share aloud during the lesson.
11.16.2011
Hawes Lesson 2 Reflection
Lesson 2 Reflection
My objectives for this lesson were: 1. Introduce comprehension skill (Main Idea and Detail and Monitor and Clarify) and 2. Introduce the vocabulary words.
The comprehension skill this week was tough for many of my students. I think that a little more than half of them didn’t understand it completely. My MT said that this is probably the toughest comprehension skill that they will learn this year. They could pick out the topic and were kind of close with the main idea, but the details weren’t exactly right. I think they weren’t sure what a detail was. They could pick out parts from the story, but they weren’t really related to their main idea. Monitor and clarify wasn’t as stressed, but it seems that they did understand this skill. It is just about making sure you understand what you read and we have done lessons on this before. The vocabulary words are usually pretty easy for the students. They aren’t sure of the definitions at first, but after go over them the first time, they can recall them and remember them throughout the week and in the weeks after.
I learned that the students like the vocabulary part because we usually have fun conversations around the words and they get to talk with each other. I think that they are learning a lot during this time even though they are having fun with it. I think that one way I could change up this portion of the lesson each day would be to act out the words or to have them come up with definitions in groups. This would be another way to have fun and to be learning at the same time.
I will be re-teaching main idea and details in my centers the week following this one and in future units with Reading Street. It always comes back to skills that have been previously taught so I think after next time I will see if they can understand it better.
I learned that my students would benefit from writing. We have only been doing writing for a week and I think this would help them in other areas of literacy such as main idea and detail. If they could practice writing stories and finding their own main idea and details, this could transfer to finding them in other stories.
If I were to teach this lesson again I would spice up vocabulary a little bit with a new type of activity. I think this would enhance their learning because they would be able to come up with the definitions on their own or in a different way.
My objectives for this lesson were: 1. Introduce comprehension skill (Main Idea and Detail and Monitor and Clarify) and 2. Introduce the vocabulary words.
The comprehension skill this week was tough for many of my students. I think that a little more than half of them didn’t understand it completely. My MT said that this is probably the toughest comprehension skill that they will learn this year. They could pick out the topic and were kind of close with the main idea, but the details weren’t exactly right. I think they weren’t sure what a detail was. They could pick out parts from the story, but they weren’t really related to their main idea. Monitor and clarify wasn’t as stressed, but it seems that they did understand this skill. It is just about making sure you understand what you read and we have done lessons on this before. The vocabulary words are usually pretty easy for the students. They aren’t sure of the definitions at first, but after go over them the first time, they can recall them and remember them throughout the week and in the weeks after.
I learned that the students like the vocabulary part because we usually have fun conversations around the words and they get to talk with each other. I think that they are learning a lot during this time even though they are having fun with it. I think that one way I could change up this portion of the lesson each day would be to act out the words or to have them come up with definitions in groups. This would be another way to have fun and to be learning at the same time.
I will be re-teaching main idea and details in my centers the week following this one and in future units with Reading Street. It always comes back to skills that have been previously taught so I think after next time I will see if they can understand it better.
I learned that my students would benefit from writing. We have only been doing writing for a week and I think this would help them in other areas of literacy such as main idea and detail. If they could practice writing stories and finding their own main idea and details, this could transfer to finding them in other stories.
If I were to teach this lesson again I would spice up vocabulary a little bit with a new type of activity. I think this would enhance their learning because they would be able to come up with the definitions on their own or in a different way.
Hawes Lesson 1 Reflection
Lesson 1 Reflection
My objectives for this lesson were: 1. Introduction to the weekly concept and question 2. Discuss four new amazing words and 3. Introduce the weekly phonics focus (V/CV and VC/V) and practice breaking the words apart.
I think this lesson went really well. The students learned about the structures of some plants and animals and how they help them survive. They learned some new oral vocabulary words (what the words are and their definitions). They learned about two-syllable words and where they are split when you say the two syllables (V/CV, VC/V). I think that students reached all of my objectives from the lesson. The GLCEs are a little broader and so we didn’t complete the goal of the GLCEs within this lesson. By the end of the week, the students should be skilled in the objectives and should still be working towards the GLCEs. Most of the students struggled with the phonics portion of the lesson because this was a difficult concept and was new to most of them. In my lesson I put that I would explain what structures were in the weekly concept discussion and I think that was a wise decision because it took a few explanations before they understood what the word meant and then we were able to move forward with the conversation. They were contributing to the conversation in a way that was thoughtful and questioning. The Amazing Words portion went really well, as always. They are usually really engaged and are interested in talking about the new words. We have a routine that we do each time and it works really well because they know what to expect and they are ready and willing to participate.
The assessments that I did for the phonics portion went better than expected. We did a lot of practice words and went over the rule many times. I also tried to think of a little rhyme to remember which way to split the word. So when it came time for the assessment, they were ready. This also continued over to the end of the week reading assessment because they did well on the phonics portion. The weekly concept discussion requires me to take short notes on what they are saying and to listen to their responses to questions in order for it to be a form of assessment. I like doing this because later I can remember who responded, who didn’t, and some of the interesting things some of them said. I think if I want to assess a discussion again, I will tape it so I can get a better idea of what they said.
I learned that my students enjoy doing the Amazing Words. They get really into the conversations we have about the words and I give them a lot of opportunities to share their ideas with the whole class and with small groups/partners so they can get all of their ideas out. I know some of the classes don’t do the Amazing Words section, but I think my students learn a lot doing this part, and I also think they really enjoy it so it is a break from the monotony of some of the regular Reading Street activities.
I will not re-teach these concepts because I think the assessments say that they learned what I wanted them to learn. The weekly concept ties to the unit concept (6-weeks long) so it is somewhat brought back up throughout the rest of the unit. This is good so that the concept/ideas are reinforced. This is also true with the Amazing Words. They are used often throughout Reading Street texts and whenever a student sees one in something we are reading they are excited to point it out.
If I were to teach this lesson again I would think of a very straightforward way to teach the phonics portion. When I first started teaching it I started with one way to explain, then switched because it seemed like they weren’t getting it. But I think if I would have stuck to the same way the whole time, it would have been easier for them. I know you have to sometimes change the way you are explaining things if they aren’t understanding, but I think in this case it would have been better to stick to one way and to think of a rhyme or something for them to remember the rule with right from the beginning.
My objectives for this lesson were: 1. Introduction to the weekly concept and question 2. Discuss four new amazing words and 3. Introduce the weekly phonics focus (V/CV and VC/V) and practice breaking the words apart.
I think this lesson went really well. The students learned about the structures of some plants and animals and how they help them survive. They learned some new oral vocabulary words (what the words are and their definitions). They learned about two-syllable words and where they are split when you say the two syllables (V/CV, VC/V). I think that students reached all of my objectives from the lesson. The GLCEs are a little broader and so we didn’t complete the goal of the GLCEs within this lesson. By the end of the week, the students should be skilled in the objectives and should still be working towards the GLCEs. Most of the students struggled with the phonics portion of the lesson because this was a difficult concept and was new to most of them. In my lesson I put that I would explain what structures were in the weekly concept discussion and I think that was a wise decision because it took a few explanations before they understood what the word meant and then we were able to move forward with the conversation. They were contributing to the conversation in a way that was thoughtful and questioning. The Amazing Words portion went really well, as always. They are usually really engaged and are interested in talking about the new words. We have a routine that we do each time and it works really well because they know what to expect and they are ready and willing to participate.
The assessments that I did for the phonics portion went better than expected. We did a lot of practice words and went over the rule many times. I also tried to think of a little rhyme to remember which way to split the word. So when it came time for the assessment, they were ready. This also continued over to the end of the week reading assessment because they did well on the phonics portion. The weekly concept discussion requires me to take short notes on what they are saying and to listen to their responses to questions in order for it to be a form of assessment. I like doing this because later I can remember who responded, who didn’t, and some of the interesting things some of them said. I think if I want to assess a discussion again, I will tape it so I can get a better idea of what they said.
I learned that my students enjoy doing the Amazing Words. They get really into the conversations we have about the words and I give them a lot of opportunities to share their ideas with the whole class and with small groups/partners so they can get all of their ideas out. I know some of the classes don’t do the Amazing Words section, but I think my students learn a lot doing this part, and I also think they really enjoy it so it is a break from the monotony of some of the regular Reading Street activities.
I will not re-teach these concepts because I think the assessments say that they learned what I wanted them to learn. The weekly concept ties to the unit concept (6-weeks long) so it is somewhat brought back up throughout the rest of the unit. This is good so that the concept/ideas are reinforced. This is also true with the Amazing Words. They are used often throughout Reading Street texts and whenever a student sees one in something we are reading they are excited to point it out.
If I were to teach this lesson again I would think of a very straightforward way to teach the phonics portion. When I first started teaching it I started with one way to explain, then switched because it seemed like they weren’t getting it. But I think if I would have stuck to the same way the whole time, it would have been easier for them. I know you have to sometimes change the way you are explaining things if they aren’t understanding, but I think in this case it would have been better to stick to one way and to think of a rhyme or something for them to remember the rule with right from the beginning.
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