EDE 4942- Supervisor/CT Observation Reflection #1

For my small group instructional lesson, I choose four students to do a lesson on standard LAFS.K.RI.3.7 which states “with prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustration and the text in which they appear.” This lesson started with me asking the students what the name of the books was (0:25). One of the students called out instead of raising his hand and I reminded him of the class rules (0:28). I told the students that we would be doing a picture walk before we began reading and I modeled examples and non-examples of a successful picture walk (1:05-1:15). One of the students started to read the book instead of looking at the pictures but I got him back on track (1:42). After all the students were done, I had them all make predictions on the story based off the pictures they had just seen. We did this with the beginning, middle, and end of the story (2:02-2:43). Once the predictions were complete, I explained to the students that we would be doing a round-robin read (2:53). One of the students call out repeating the same rules I just did. I correct him and tell all the students to follow along with their finger (3:11). After the first two pages, I had to remind two of the students to turn the page (3:31). The student that read page four mispronounced a word wrong, so I stopped and asked her to sound out the word one more time (3:56). Once she got it correct, we moved on to the next page. The student who read the fifth page, stopped to acknowledge a sight word which was neat because you could tell he really cared about what he was reading (4:19). After we completed the book, I asked the students to close the book and we began recapping on our predictions (5:30). I had the students do the thumbs up/down approach when answering the questions that they were being asked (5:49). During one of the predictions, a student gave a side ways thumb but switched his idea after thinking about the questions more (6:00). Another student even gave me what happened at the end of the story instead of the middle but then when I asked her to tell me the end she said that she did not remember (6:53). One of the other students helped her remember the ending and then we moved on to the picture puzzle activity (7:00). After explaining the directions of the activity, we got started. I began showing the students the pictures and asking them where they belonged in the story: the beginning, middle, or end (8:29). The students did not struggle with this activity. One student got a picture wrong but changed his answer after thinking about it for a few seconds (8:55). Once the students completed the activity, we moved on to the formative assessment which was an exit slip. The students had to pick their favorite picture and write a sentence about it (10:10). I gave the students an example of an acceptable sentence and told them to get started (10:40). One of the students struggled with writing a word so I highlighted the word for him to trace (11:44). Two of the students could not complete the entire sentence to I told them to draw a supporting picture to help their words (12:09). Once the first student was done, I had him share what his sentence said as I model for the other struggling students (12:30). I allowed the next two students to share and then had them all put their head down waiting for the last student to be done (14:26). Once the last student was done, she shared her sentence with me (14:50). After this, the lesson was over, and I directed the students to move on to their next center (15:03).

The aspect of my lesson that was implemented differently was the assessment. I thought that all my students would be able to write a complete sentence on their favorite picture from the book but two of the four students had to write a few words with a supporting picture (14:44). I believe that this happened because the students became overwhelmed with what was being asked of them. Next time, I will make sure that the students do not feel rushed and have all the time to complete the given formative assessment. If I was going to teach this lesson again, I would have the students read the book to themselves after the round robin read (5:15). I noticed that I lost some of the student’s attention when the others were reading. This means that they were not paying attention to the story and did not grasp everything they needed too. Something I would keep the same would be the picture puzzle assessment (7:00). The students really seemed to understand the objective and relating the key details of the text to the pictures. The students really surprised my when reading. The level of the book was a level higher than they were all used to reading. They sounded out all the words that I thought would be too difficult for them and continued to help each other when reading.

I believe that the students learned what was intended of them. I know this because they were able to match up the pictures and explain the key details of the text to me verbally and in writing as well (7:00-10:10). My teaching actions were effective because the students were able to do what was expected of them, but I feel that I was most effective when keeping the students on task. This is something that I really struggled with during my level one experience. My instructional material was effective because it gave the students the ability to move the pieces around and see how the story played out, through the pictures and on their own (8:29). They also were able to work together. I had to take one of the students in my lesson into considerations because he has attention problems and loves to talk. Being able to keep his attention was the key to my lessons success.

During this lesson, I accomplished FEAPs 1a, 2h, 3a, 3b, 3e and 5a. I accomplished 1a by aligning my lesson with a state adopted standard. I also made sure to include what my student will and will not know. I accomplished 2h by accommodating the different needs of my students during the lesson (11:44). An example of this is when I explained the lesson a different way to the one student that was having a hard time understanding. I accomplished 3a by delivering an engaging and challenging lesson to the students (0:00-15:44). One thing I will continue to work on is making sure that my objective is completely clear. I accomplished 3b by having the students discuss their thoughts out loud to me and their peers (7:00-10:10). This can be seen during the picture puzzle piecing activity. I accomplished 3e by being responsive to the situations and understand the needs of my students (11:44). An example of this is when one of my students could not write a word so I helped him with a highlighter. Lastly, I accomplished 5a by meeting with the teacher after this lesson and coming up with a plan on how to be more effective with my purpose and objectives in the lesson.

The student with the attention issues was the only one that had difficulty with this lesson. I had to get him back on track multiple times, but he was still able to grasp what was expected of him by the end of the lesson (0:28, 3:31, 13:21). The learning environment played a role in the problem of not being able to focus. All fifteen other students in the class were doing their own daily five centers so there was a lot going on. It did not surprise me that I was having issues keeping this student’s attention. My gifted student did well with this lesson today. He even helped other students that were struggling when writing and reading (7:00). This student is definitely a big help in the classroom and giving him the opportunity to work with the students helps the others learn through watching him. The next steps that I will take with the students is having them do more exit tickets that involve writing sentences instead of drawing pictures. This will help them be able to prepare for first grade, which is only a few months away.

I differentiated instruction for two students by allowing them to use pictures on top of words for their exit ticket (11:47). I also wrote words for a student to trace that was having a hard time sounding on the word to spell (11:49). I assessed the lesson through an exit ticket and over all, I believe that it worked well. Like I mentioned early, there was one student that was struggling but through keeping his attention and help him write what he was thinking. I really enjoyed seeing the students work together and do their best on what was asked of them (7:00). I am going to continue to build upon this lesson during my daily five time with these students every week.