Reflection Post 2

·         What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson. 

Students were able to spend more time today thinking about their topic list for informational writing. We learned how to generate a good amount of detail about a topic by creating a web. In the middle was their main idea/topic and then branching from that were all of the details put into single words and/or word phrases. Students learned that if not much detail could be generated then perhaps that topic was not a good one for them to use during their informational unit. Students who had not yet determined a topic struggled with this lesson; however, with prompting from me they were able to catch up and produce a least a semi decent web. 

·         What are alternate reads of your students’ performance or products?

Alternately, if my students were able to verbalize to me or others about their topics and details surrounding it; then, I concluded that although these students may not have it written down as quickly as their classmates they still understood what they were to be doing and thinking about. It will be expected later that the thoughts and details be translated onto paper and that may take some scaffolding between my MT and I.  

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

I was taken back by how much detail my students were able to generate about their topics in such a short time. Their motivation was still there today and they were eager to begin writing a draft! I have to constantly remind them that we are learning important steps along the way that will help us in our final write up in this unit. 

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

Students who need additional support I will make sure to check in on during individual work time. I will make sure that they have the necessary writing down that has been expected and if not I will scaffold them until they are at that point. I like to ask my struggling students questions rather than telling them what to do. By asking questions I am setting my students up for them to problem solve independently in the future instead of waiting for direction from others. 

·         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?

Something I thought of after teaching this lesson was doing a partner share out. I did allow some students to share with the class topics they are working on or the list of topics they have generated. I think I can, however, implement this into tomorrow's lesson. While students are sharing their web with partners, I want the partner listening to the details and point out any that they think could be missing. Writers need to remember that they are informing the reader and it is easy to miss out on details on topics that you already know so much about. 

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

Mini-lessons continue to work great during writing. I found today that involving the class more and having them participate and contribute helps to solidify main points that I want them to understand before working independently. I need to continue to ask my students what they are still confused about along the way of this unit so that I am sure to cover all important aspects. 

Day 6 - 11/11

11/11/13

·         What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson

Today, we had an abbreviated class due to Veteran’s Day activities. This allowed me to focus solely on vocabulary. Students learned the shared characteristics of our weekly vocabulary words (similar ending syllables) and used images to help make connections to these new words.

Students initially struggled finding the commonality between the words as there were several different endings (-al, -el, -le, -il).

·         What are alternate reads of your students’ performance or products?

Because we had limited time, we jumped right into the vocabulary without much discussion. I think they were caught slightly off guard, but the high achieving students found the connection easier than other students.

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

We have not focused on such a nuanced aspect of vocabulary before and it was exciting to see that students could find patterns in words without proper prompting.

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

The next lesson will involve more exploration of vocabulary words through matching pictures/scenarios to our list. I will focus on collecting answers from students who generally participate less by choosing name sticks, but calling on the students I need to hear from.

·         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?

I would spend more time introducing our weekly topic and how it relates to the vocabulary words. When students see how the words connect to our topic, they will understand why we are studying these specific vocabulary words.

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

Vocabulary acquisition can benefit greatly from having the students make conjectures about the relationships between words. Allowing them time to think about the words as more than just letters attached to a definition presents them with an opportunity to understand the English language in a new way.

Reflection Post 1

·         What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson. 

      My students were informed of what Informational Writing is and examples of it. I had them share out ideas of what they thought informational writing could be; and some struggled with specifically coming up with examples. Instead they were giving me definitions such as, "informational writing informs the reader....it can be a how to...it can be step by step." I then had to prompt them by asking questions such as, "Is a newspaper an informational text? Are magazines? What about the Magic School Bus books? And WHY?" This, then helped my students dive a little more in depth about informational writing and that it first, must inform the reader and second, must be nonfiction. 

      I noticed that when my students had individual work time, some of my students who are lower in writing were struggling generating a list of topics they could write about. I had to prompt them and ask questions about things they like to do, sports they do, animals, pets, cooking, ect.. it was hard for these struggling students to think of topics they could inform a reader about. 

·         What are alternate reads of your students’ performance or products?

             After my launch, students were expected to write independently in their writing journals on               possible topics that they could inform other readers on. I do not think that their writing journals on this prompt are a good indicator of their understanding of informational writing because we are just getting into this unit. It is when I had some of the class share out their self made list to the class that they could demonstrate their thinking out loud and I could revoice that I believe students then caught on more and had a better understanding. 

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

Some students were able to create a list of expert topics than I anticipated. These students seemed to know exactly what they wanted to write about and get to work on just that! I had to slow them down however and remind them that we are new writers and that it is good to practice with various of topics. 

I was also impressed with some of the topics that my students had background knowledge on and the facts/information that they could remember when sharing with the class. They were ahead of what I wanted them to do; but, I was impressed with their motivation and engagement during this mini-lesson. 

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

Well tomorrow I plan on revisiting the list that students generated. I want students to share with one another how they came up with topics that they could inform the reader about; hopefully to motivate those slower writers. Then, together, we will choose one topic and write words/phrases that give more detail (for example: gym). Students will help share out ideas to help complete this. Individual work time will be left and my goal is that those students who needed additional help will have new and improved ideas and details about them that they can now write about. 

·         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 reteach this same lesson I would spend more time on strategies of coming up with topics to write about and really emphasize that they should be expert topics. Having background knowledge in the topics they choose is imperative to being successful in this informational writing unit. 

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

So far I have been successful in implementing my 'core practice.' I usually start with a mini-lesson and then move to individual work and then end with whole class or partner share out. I need to continue this because it sets the expectation for the class and gets us writers going in the right direction. I am constantly looking at other resources to implement in to my unit plan to make it better along the way. I want my students to have a clear vision of what they need to do and WHY. 

Day 5 11/8

11/8/13

·         What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson

Students learned how to properly write a thank you letter.

Students struggled with expressing how they benefited and why they were grateful to the person they were thanking.

·         What are alternate reads of your students’ performance or products?

I finally found time to fully address the letter writing and used an extended amount of time to have students review and rewrite their letters based on my input and teaching. Some students found this exercise to be very easy as they wrote with great detail and met all expectations. For the students who had been struggling, I believe they improved their abilities to write after being given more specific instruction. All students improved from their original draft to the final letter.

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

The students wanted to write a good letter worthy of sending to the people they were meant for. I learned that students can be very engaged in writing when they find the purpose meaningful and connected to their personal life.

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

This thank you letter exercise is completed. In our next class, I will ask the students how the recipients of their letters responded and will answer any questions during this time.

·         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?

I would devote much more time at the beginning of the exercise to explain exactly what I want to see and set very clear expectations for the students. I would also be sure to model the format in which the students were to write at the beginning. I think this modeling and setting of expectations would positively influence the students as they would not need to guess at what I want.

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

I found that students were capable of incorporating the vocabulary words rather easily with their thank you letters. However, they struggled when they were trying to fit a different form of the word. Several students who changed to a different form of our vocabulary words used them incorrectly. I think I need to allow the students to explore the words more and have them use the various forms so they can have a greater understanding of their vocabulary. 

Day 4 11/7/13

11/7/13

·         What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson

Today, we practiced determining subject and predicate in earnest. So, the students should have a better understanding of determining the subject and action in a sentence. Students should have also learned more about China as we read about the country and its history as a way to make more connections to the stories we have been reading.

Students struggled when we started with a difficult sample sentence to deconstruct.

·         What are alternate reads of your students’ performance or products?

The sentence was difficult to determine the exact subject and required a longer period of examination before a student came up with a method to test for a subject. This was a very ingenious technique that had not been formally taught. As the student explained their thinking to the class, more students were able to understand the method and helped immensely in their understanding of finding a subject that is not immediately observable.

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

My students enjoy creating sentences to be used as examples. After working through the difficult example, I had the students work as a whole class to create simpler sentences with obvious subjects and predicates. As this activity progressed, the students gained more confidence and created more complex sentences. The participation during this exercise was phenomenal.

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

This will continue to be a subject that will be revisited as the semester continues. Each morning begins with the students creating work based on predetermined requirements. I can use this time to have the students revisit creating sentences with subjects and predicates.

·         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?

My lesson was changed dramatically because our internet was down and I had based my lesson on a video I was going to share with the class. I had to make some decisions on how to fill the time and the material I chose was a last minute decision. This material proved to be only somewhat related to the content we had covered thus far during the week. If I were to have another chance at finding an alternative activity, I would have chosen an activity students were familiar with and tried to put a new spin on it.  

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

So far, I have found that focusing on vocabulary acquisition has been a relatively easy and beneficial practice for the students to develop. They enjoy learning new words and their properties. They enjoy using these vocabulary words as they create writing. I need to find new ways for the students to learn and incorporate vocabulary so they can develop a deeper understanding of words and truly own their new vocabulary.

Day 3 11/6/13

11/6/13

·         What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson

Students learned how to retell a story aloud. Students also learned how to compare and contrast characters within a story. Students learned how to find meaning of unknown vocabulary words.

Students that struggled during the lesson did so when asked to edit and revise their ‘Thank You’ letters.

 

·         What are alternate reads of your students’ performance or products?

Again, I found that the lack of clear expectations for the letters caused students to struggle with their editing and revising because they had little guidance to help them in this process.

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

I have found that many students are fully capable of recalling the sequence of events in stories days after finishing the story. This means that students were focused and engaged in the text and could piece the story together.

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

I will provide clear feedback for the students on their letters that will highlight the expectations I should have made clear at the beginning.

·         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?

I would have the students peer edit the letters to help them revise. Their peers are honest and are fully capable of providing good advice to one another. I think this would improve their editing skills as it allows them to see work they are not involved in creating, thus making them impartial when determining what should be changed.  

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

There are many students who really enjoy trying to discover the meaning of an unknown word and they enjoy working through this process. There are also many students who are content with listening to other students contribute. I need to make sure I challenge these content students by specifically asking them to contribute.

Day 2 11.5.13

11/5/13

·         What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson

The students learned about the meaning and use of the Latin roots bene- and gratus-. They also learned about the use of symbolism as a writing technique.

The students who struggled during this lesson did so while writing the thank you letter. They again struggled as we revisited action and linking verbs.

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·         What are alternate reads of your students’ performance or products?

I have a very good idea of why the students struggled during the writing of the thank you letter. I provided very little framework and instruction other than telling the students to include two vocabulary words in their letter. I believe students struggled with creating this letter because they did not know who they wanted to write to or why. The amount of detail and structure of the letter was also unspecified leaving the students to make a large amount of decisions in their writing. Very few students were able to draft a meaningful letter within the time allotted.

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

The comfort and desire to read to the whole class was displayed again and I am learning that this could be the optimal choice for reading selections designed for the whole class. I also am learning about the students’ creative writing ability. As I introduced the thank you letter, I suggested the students write to their parents or a teacher, but many of the students wanted to choose famous or important people to write a thank you letter to.

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

Tomorrow, I will revisit the action and linking verb practice sheet students completed. We will go problem by problem, first attempting to discover the verb being used in the sentence and then whether it is an action or linking verb. To further the investigation into verbs, we will create sentences focusing first on very simple subjects and predicates. Then, students will develop more complex sentences again focusing on subject and predicate.

·         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?

I would explore the meaning of symbolism in writing more. This is a very interesting part of literature and deserves more time being examined. I feel if I included studying symbolism a few days or for a whole week, the students would understand what a character, plot, setting, and other features of a story symbolize. Devoting time to analyzing symbolism and then writing a short story using symbolism would be a great way to help improve the understanding of students.

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

I should devote time each day to allow students to research vocabulary and also to free write while trying to incorporate their new vocabulary in their personal writing. I need to learn how to fit in time for exploration and creation for the students during the day because they spend the majority of their day following strict instruction. 

Day 1 - 11/4/13

11/4/13

·         What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson. 

Students learned where the English Channel is as it was the setting of a short story we read. Students also learned how to compare and contrast between two short stories. Lastly, students learned what action and linking verbs are.

The specific point in this lesson when many students began to struggle came as we introduced and worked through action and linking verbs. Distinguishing the difference between the two and their uses in writing was hard because this was the first time students had been introduced to verbs being distinguished from another.

·         What are alternate reads of your students’ performance or products?

The amount of students who participated in the whole group discussion about comparing and contrasting was limited to roughly one-third of the class. Perhaps this third were the only students who truly had an understanding of comparing and contrasting.

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

I learned that the students who were unable to read out loud to the whole class were disappointed because they were not given this opportunity. We could not have all students read because of the length of the two stories. When we finished, I heard multiple students speak out with some dismay that they did not read. Knowing that the students are comfortable and wanting to read to the whole class is new information to me.

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

Tomorrow, I will be revisiting action and linking verbs with the students as we practice in class and continue with a homework assignment. I will reiterate the difference between the two for the whole class along with working through examples and fielding individual questions on the topic.

·         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?

I would have the students work more in-depth with the vocabulary after they finish the pre-assessment. I would like to use the computer lab so the students could use the internet to find definitions, synonyms, and pictures of the words they are studying. This time would be just for exploring the words with no reports on the words.

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

I have learned that students know a large amount of vocabulary before entering class. With the exception of ELL students who are still learning the basics of English, all students know or are familiar with the core words. The vocabulary that students are unfamiliar with is the challenge and premium words which are significantly more difficult to spell and whose meanings are unknown to the students. I need to continue monitoring students as they progress through the week to see if they are pushing themselves to obtain mastery of the more difficult words.