Sheree: Lesson One

Lesson Plan One:

The Objective for today’s lesson: Students will individually make connections by using personal experience to enhance understanding. Individually students will make self connections to Something Beautiful and identify situations in their own lives that relate to situations within Something Beautiful; writings must be a full page.

Background: Something Beautiful-- “Everyday a young girl is disheartened by the things in her neighborhood; the trash on the streets, the graffiti on the walls, and the homeless woman that sleeps in a box. When she learns the word “beautiful”at school, she sets out to find “something beautiful” in her surroundings. She learns to see beyond the barren ugliness of her environment to find beauty in her friendships, her family, and herself.”

In this unit the primary focus will be making connections. In my opinion, the best way to teach children comprehension is to relate the text to their own lives. According to Strategies that work, when children understand how to connect the texts they read to their lives, they begin to make connections between what they read and the larger world.

What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson?

Students learned how to make self-to-text connections with the text “Something Beautiful.” The story opened their eyes and informed them that they can find “something beautiful” anywhere, no matter what kind of background/community they come from. There were just a few students that struggled with this lesson; students that are mainly not succeeding within their writing. We have two students that are in our Tier 3 program (reading at a low-level; comprehension level low). These two students have had trouble with writing since the beginning of the year. How do you help students with writing, when they are performing exceptionally low within literacy instruction?

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

Some of my students were making text-to-world connections which really surprised me. They brought up how the story relates to current events that are occurring around the world (mainly events related to homelessness). Other students were making text-to-text connections; relating “Something Beautiful” to stories they've read over the summer or in second grade. As a prospective teacher, you know students are succeeding when they are going beyond your set expectations or objectives.

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

Perhaps, I could read “Something Beautiful” within a small group for students who need additional support. Other students may need their own personal copy of the text; so they can refer back to important details/events.

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 could teach this lesson again, I would hold the group discussion a little longer. Pacing can be a very difficult strategy to obtain. It's important that you never go too slow or fast during a lesson. However, I believe my class enjoyed cleaning up the trashed room and the reading of Something Beautiful. They all are aware that it is important to keep your community clean and everyone can find “something beautiful” no matter where they are.