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.