Preston Lesson 2 Reflection

                I felt very prepared for this mini-lesson.   During this lesson I only worked with Kenny, Javier, and Joseph because Omar was out of the classroom at the time working with reading specialists.  Overall, I think it went really well and was a positive experience for both me and the students.   I think having new materials for the students to work with (the train sound blending mat and sound cards) instantly engaged the students. 

                My lesson objection was that students will create and read words using various phonemes and their blending sound mat.   Specifically my goal was for each student was to successfully read at least three words and create at least one word on their own.   All three of the boys I was working with successfully met this objective.  I taught this mini-lesson Friday morning during literacy centers when my teacher was also working with guided reading groups.  One thing that I noticed during this lesson was that the students wanted to finish the activity quickly so that they could get back to their literacy centers.  Because of this I modified the lesson slightly.  I didn't go over all of the words I had originally planned because I didn't want the lesson to take up too much time.  I made sure that the students all still meet the lesson’s objectives without it take too much time away from their center time.  This brought to my attention the difficulty as a teacher to find time to work with small groups of children.  It is important to remember to not make students feel like they are missing out on what the rest of the class is doing but rather are at the advantage.  

                I think that the materials were a major strength to my lesson.   The materials I created supported the students in blend sounds together by visually breaking up each sound for them.  A limitation to this lesson was that the students were limited to the words that they could create own their own.  I specifically provided the students only with the sound cards that they would need to create certain words.   When the students were asked to create their own words they were stuck and ended up trying to create words that we had already worked with.   I had to redirect that students to create new words and then they were able to come up with “and”, “the” & “hat”.

                Overall, I think that my lesson was successful because the each student met my learning goal. The more practice that the students have with this activity the better they will get at blending sounds.  After the lesson I left the materials will my mentor teacher so she can continue to work with these three students. 

Chamberlain_Reflection 2

             My two focus students for this lesson were a lot of fun to work with – they both had a lot of energy and were so willing to work with me.  They also made me feel really good because they were actually interested in the activity, and were very eager to talk with each other and work together to figure out the meaning of the mystery word.  This – the students’ attitude and enthusiasm – was the strength of this lesson.  It made everything just seem to come together and made the lesson so much more fun.

            The limitation of this lesson was our lack of a quiet place to work.  We were in the hallway, which is usually a fairly calm place, but with our timing today, we just happened to be in the hall when the first graders were leaving for recess and the second graders were leaving for lunch.  Because of this, there were a couple of times when our work place got very noisy, and the students were extremely distracted, as can be imagined.  I have to give them credit though – as soon as the first and second graders were gone, my focus students got right back to work and paid attention to what I was saying.

            My students did an excellent job with this lesson, and I am so proud of them for working so well together and staying on task.  They were able to identify the meanings of each word, either exactly correct, or very close, and they saw that their discoveries allowed them to better understand the text.  One thing I could have done though to create a more well-rounded lesson, is find a greater variety of examples, so that the students are able to get more practice with a great number of different strategies.  This is something that I will have to pay more attention to as I go into my internship year.  The better and more inclusive my examples, the more my students will get out of the lesson and my teaching.

Chamberlain_Reflection 1

Going into this lesson, my focus students did not know what a prediction was – or at least they did not know what the term prediction meant.  After I explained what it meant however, they realized that they make predictions every single day, starting with the example I had them start out with: predicting whether they would have indoor or outdoor recess.  This leads into the strength of the lesson because it is so applicable to everyday life, and the students saw that predicting is something that they can easily and sometimes subconsciously do while they are reading any given text. 

The biggest limitation of this lesson was time.  My mentor teacher ran a bit over on his writing activity, so I did not have much time at all to complete this small group lesson before it was time for the kids to go to lunch.  To help compensate for my lack of time, I adjusted the plan a little bit so that we could still get through what was necessary to get the point across, and still send the students to lunch on time. 

It was from this limitation however, that I learned about myself as a teacher.  I had to make adjustments to my lesson plan on the spot to ensure that I was able to get through everything that needed to be covered and budget my time in order to complete the lesson.  As I watched the time tick away during my teacher’s writing lesson, I began to get a little worried, but once I had the kids with me in our small group, I stayed calm and just did what needed to be done.  I think this is a good lesson for the future.  As a teacher, we have to be ready to think on our feet and make last minute alterations to plans.  This can be a scary thing, through this lesson and this year, I learned that I can do it.

My students made some great predictions, and they seemed to actually really enjoy the activity, as well as the story.  However, I am not so sure that they really made the connection to how making predictions can help us when reading, and I think that if I had had more time I definitely would have developed this idea in further depth.  

Chamberlain_Lesson Plan 2

Reading Lesson Plan # __2__ Rationale (What evidence do you have that your focus students need to learn this skill/strategy?): Many of my students struggle with this, but these students in particular tend to sacrifice comprehension in order to simply get through a text.  I rarely see my fourth graders to check on a meaning of a word while they are reading, and these particular students have never been one of them.  In fact, I chose these students because I feel they would be able to benefit and learn the most through extra practice with vocabulary and word-learning strategies.  One strategy that will help them with comprehension and is applicable not only now, but in the future as well, is using context clues to help decipher the meaning of a particular word.  Whether they are looking at grammar, root words, definitions, examples, or contrasting examples as clues, these are all things that are very important to one’s understanding of particular words, and as a result, their comprehension of a certain sentence or the text as a whole.  After having practice with the context clues strategy, these focus students will have the tools to puzzle through many unknown words that they encounter on a daily basis. Objective for this lesson: Throughout examining and interpreting Chapter VII of Stuart Little, students will become familiar with using context clues as a basis for finding unknown words through practice with specific examples from the book. Materials & supplies needed: Stuart Little by E.B. White, pages 36-46 (Chapter VII)

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event  • Introduction to the lesson  (What will you say to help children understand the purpose of the lesson?  How will you help them make connections to prior lessons or experiences?  How will you motivate them to become engaged in the lesson?) (3 minutes)  Have either of you ever been reading something when you come across a word that you don’t know?  What do you do when this happens?  It is impossible to know every single word that we will ever come across when reading, and so it is important that we have strategies to help us figure out the meanings of those words so that we are still able to understand the text that we are reading.  When we use surrounding words and sentences to help us figure out the meanings of words we don’t know, we are using context clues. • OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (Include specific details about how you will begin and end activities; how you will teach students what the strategy is, how to use the strategy, and when to use it; what questions you will use; how you will help children understand behavior expectations during the lesson; when/how you will distribute supplies and materials) (20 minutes) I am going to read you a chapter from the book Stuart Little, by E. B. White.  In this chapter, we are going to read about a toy sailboat race, in which one of the boats is controlled by a mouse named Stuart.  Now, every so often I am going to stop and ask you to look at an unfamiliar word.  We are going to see if we can use context clues to help us figure out what these mystery words mean.  Now, you are going to get to work together to figure out the meanings, so make sure that you are listening to each other’s ideas and building off of each other’s strategies. Questions: Stopping points for using context clues to figure out the meanings of the chosen words. 1)     “The people were pushing each other harder and harder in their eagerness to see the sport, and although they really didn’t mean to, they pushed the policeman so hard they pushed him right off the concrete wall and into the pond.” pg. 38-39 2)     “…and the wave he made went curling outward, cresting and billowing, upsetting all manner of small craft and causing every owner of a boat on the pond to scream with delight and consternation.” pg. 39 3)     “He kicked hard with his feet, and thrashed hard with his tail, and in a minute or two he climbed back aboard the schooner, cold and wet  but quite unharmed.” pg. 40 4)     “He looked over and saw that the wave had capsized the Lillian B. Womrath but that she had righted herself and was sailing on her course…” pg. 41 5)     “…He saw an enormous paper bag looming up on the surface of the pond.” pg. 43 • Closing summary for the lesson (How will you bring closure to the lesson and involve children in reflecting on their experiences?  How will you involve them making connections to prior lessons or prepare for future experiences?  What kind of feedback do you want from them at this time?) (5 minutes) In closing, I will ask the students to think back to one of the “mystery words” that once they figured out the meaning of, really helped them to understand the story and what was going on in the text.  How might the meaning of the story have changed if they had not stopped to solve the mystery word? Ongoing-Assessment: (How will you know the students are progressing toward your identified objective?  What will you observe for and/or take notes on to help you plan follow-up instruction?) As a follow-up assessment, I will have the students use context clues to figure out the meaning of one last word, only this time by themselves.  This will help me to see whether or not they have picked up strategies for discovering meaning using context clues, and if they are able to apply those on their own.  They will then be able to come together and share their results.

Adaptations: Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson? Although the students will have a copy of the book to follow along in, I will be reading the chapter out loud, so there will be no issues with them reading at different paces or getting tripped up on pronunciation, etc.; they will be able to solely focus on listening to the story and occasionally taking a closer look at specific words.  I am also allowing them to puzzle out the words together, so they do not feel as much pressure to get the meaning of a word exactly correct on their first try.

Chamberlain_Lesson Plan 1

Reading Lesson Plan # __1__ Rationale (What evidence do you have that your focus students need to learn this skill/strategy?): These students are both “good” readers, but because reading generally comes easy to them, they rarely take the time to stop and actually think about what they are reading. In the end, they will have read whole pieces of text fluently and correctly, but are unable to say what it was that happened in what they read.  Instead of simply “charging through” the text, I want them to practice pausing and asking themselves, What will happen next? Why? In what ways could this story go?  Tompkins labels predicting as one of the strategies used for comprehension (pg. 262), and I think that practicing this strategy would be beneficial for these students to help them practice reflecting on what they read and how certain information relates to others parts of a story or text. Objective for this lesson: Throughout examining and interpreting Chapter VII of Stuart Little, students will recognize the importance and relevance of making predictions by providing specific examples from the book, and in their own life. Materials & supplies needed: Stuart Little by E.B. White, pages 36-46 (Chapter VII), paper, pencil

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event  • Introduction to the lesson  (What will you say to help children understand the purpose of the lesson?  How will you help them make connections to prior lessons or experiences?  How will you motivate them to become engaged in the lesson?) (3 minutes)  To begin with, I will ask the students to predict whether recess will be indoors or outdoors that day, and then ask them why they made the prediction they did.  My purpose of asking them this is to get them thinking about predictions that they make in everyday life, and get them engaged in what we are about to do.  As Tompkins says, by making predictions, “readers become more engaged in the reading experience and want to continue reading” (pg. 262).  I also asked them why they made a particular prediction, with the intention of allowing them to make the connection that they make predictions based off of previous knowledge and prior experiences.  For example, if it was raining when they were walking into school that morning, they make take that knowledge, along with a previous experience of having recess inside the last time it was really wet out, to predict that they will probably have indoor recess today.  In a similar way, during this lesson, I will be asking the students to use previous knowledge from the excerpt of the story, along with their own personal experiences, to predict what will happen next in the chapter at designated stopping points. • OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (Include specific details about how you will begin and end activities; how you will teach students what the strategy is, how to use the strategy, and when to use it; what questions you will use; how you will help children understand behavior expectations during the lesson; when/how you will distribute supplies and materials) (20 minutes) I am going to read you a chapter from the book Stuart Little, by E. B. White.  In this chapter, we are going to read about a toy sailboat race, in which  one of the boats is controlled by a mouse named Stuart.  Now, every so often I am going to stop and ask you to make a prediction for me.  A prediction is like making a guess about what will happen next. We often make predictions at “pivotal points” (Tompkins, pg. 266) in a text, and can make them by thinking about what we already know or have experienced before.  Predicting is a strategy we can use when we read to help us understand the text better, because it makes us really pay attention and want to find out what happens next.  When we stop, I want you to write these predictions down on your paper so you can collect your own thoughts before we share.  That means no talking with other while we’re writing.  Deal? Questions: Stopping points for students to make predictions. 1)     “…This particular policeman was not only a big, heavy man, but he had just eaten a big, heavy meal…” page 39 2)     “…Towering above the Wasp like a mountain, the wave came crashing and piling along the deck, caught Stuart up and swept him over the side and into the water…” page 40 3)     “…In a jiffy the two boats were in a terrible tangle…” page 43 4)     “…The he looked back, and to his great joy he perceived that the Lillian had gone off into a wild direction and was yawing all over the pond…” page 45 After each prediction, I will have the two students share their predictions with one another before we continue to read on.  Once the chapter is over, we will talk about if our predictions were always the same, and how they wer different.  We will also talk about whether or not it is okay for our predictions to be off.  Does that mean we’re bad readers if we are not always accurate in our predictions?  Even if they are not correct (it is okay if they are incorrect!), predictions allow us to become engaged in the story – they allow us to use our prior information and experiences to almost become an active participant in what we are reading.  In a way, it is like solving a mystery and collecting clues to lead us to the correct conclusion.  The further we read and the more experiences we have, the closer we come to solving our mystery resolution.  • Closing summary for the lesson (How will you bring closure to the lesson and involve children in reflecting on their experiences?  How will you involve them making connections to prior lessons or prepare for future experiences?  What kind of feedback do you want from them at this time?) (5 minutes) In closing the lesson, I will ask the students to reflect back on the predictions they made during the lesson and chose one they felt really confident in.  Why did they feel confident in that prediction?  Did they use clues and information from the text to help them make those predictions?  Did they think about prior experiences?  For further reflection, I will ask them when they have made predictions before, and when they might need to use predictions again.  Is there any necessary information that they must have before they make predictions, and why that information is necessary.  I will also ask in what kinds of situations we can make predictions.  Some examples that I might hear are in real life, reading a book/poem/etc, watching a movie, and sports.  Can they use what they learned today to help them make predictions in the future?  Ongoing-Assessment: (How will you know the students are progressing toward your identified objective?  What will you observe for and/or take notes on to help you plan follow-up instruction?) Once I finish the reading the chapter and the students have made all of their predictions, I will ask them how making predictions can help us with our reading.  Their answers will be able to give me an indication as to whether or not they understood the point of the lesson, and their predictions themselves will provide me feedback as to whether or not they are able to take the information they learn in a text and apply it to further their understanding.

Adaptations: Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson? Both of my focus students are a little more shy and reserved, so I will be sure to make them feel comfortable, and I think that the simple fact of only having two students in the small group will put them at greater ease automatically.  I will be reading the chapter to them while they listen, so this will take care of any differences in reading level and/or speed, and hopefully will help them to focus on the story, rather than about reading fast enough or pronouncing every word correctly.

Chamberlain_Reading Lesson Overview

The Stahl article discusses not only comprehension strategies that are beneficial for students, but also that often times, these strategies are not practiced with beginning readers.  Although I do have fourth graders, who in most cases are no longer “beginning readers”, I know they will still benefit from practice with comprehension strategies, because I find that they often view reading to be some sort of race.  Rather than read to be the first finished, I want to help them practice reading to develop meaning, and it is my hope that I am able to see them use them the strategies I teach in the classroom on their own. 

The first comprehension strategy I plan to focus on is predicting.  The students I have chosen for this lesson are both “good” readers, but because reading generally comes easy to them, they rarely take the time to stop and actually think about what they are reading. In the end, they will have read whole pieces of text fluently and correctly, but are unable to say what it was that happened in what they read.  Instead of simply “charging through” the text, I want them to practice pausing and asking themselves, What will happen next? Why? In what ways could this story go?  Tompkins labels predicting as one of the strategies used for comprehension, and I think that practicing this strategy would be beneficial for these students to help them practice reflecting on what they read and how certain information relates to others parts of a story or text.

The second strategy I plan to focus on is using context clues.  Many of my students struggle with this, but these students in particular tend to sacrifice comprehension in order to simply get through a text.  I rarely see my fourth graders to check on a meaning of a word while they are reading, and these particular students have never been one of them.  In fact, I chose these students because I feel they would be able to benefit and learn the most through extra practice with vocabulary and word-learning strategies.  One strategy that will help them with comprehension and is applicable not only now, but in the future as well, is using context clues to help decipher the meaning of a particular word.  Whether they are looking at grammar, root words, definitions, examples, or contrasting examples as clues, these are all things that are very important to one’s understanding of particular words, and as a result, their comprehension of a certain sentence or the text as a whole.  After having practice with the context clues strategy, these focus students will have the tools to puzzle through many unknown words that they encounter on a daily basis.

One student I would like to work with is Max.  Max is a very bright student, but has a rough time fitting in socially with the other students and sometimes struggles to express himself to others.  When working on assignments, Max takes his time and concentrates hard on everything he says and writes.  He is very wise for his age, and is very aware of his surroundings.  Max is a good reader and pays attention to detail in a text.  I think it would be very interesting to have him be a part of my predicting lesson.  Since he is so attentive to what he reads, I think he is definitely ready to go to the next step and get into the practice of applying what he reads to extend his knowledge and expand his skill set.

A second student I would like to work with is Ethan. Although Ethan is a fairly good reader, he does not have a very wide vocabulary.  So even though he is able to read nearly any word that he comes across, there are quite a few in his daily reading that he does not know.  Because Ethan is also one of those students who like to get through their work as fast as they can, he rarely takes the time to look up a word, and instead simply pretends as though the word just does not exist.  It is because of this that Ethan’s comprehension takes a great hit.  I think my context clues lesson would be really beneficial for Ethan so that he can learn strategies for figuring out the meaning of words he doesn’t know while reading.  By practicing using context clues in his daily reading, it is my hope that Ethan begins to develop his vocabulary, and in turn, his comprehension.

Preston Reading Lesson 2

 The Blending Word Train 

Rationale: The four students I will be working with have a difficult time blending sounds together.  From my experience working with them one-on-one I noticed that they are able to segment the word into it's individual sounds but are not able to blend to sounds together on their own. Most of the time I have to support them by blending the sounds with them to create the word.  Even if the students blend the sounds to make a word they seem very unsure of themselves.  This activity will support children and build their confidence in their ability to read words. 

Objective for this lesson:

• Performance: Students will create and read words using various phonemes and their My Word Blending Mat. 
• Condition: Students will do this by identifying individual phonemes, recognizing the beginning sound, middle sound, and ending sound in the 3 syllabus words, and blending the three sounds together. 
• Criteria:   Each student will read at least 3 words (one containing a digraph) and create at least one word for a friend to read. 

Materials & supplies needed: Each student will get a zip lock bad with a set of letter cards (consonants colored blue, digraphs colored green, and vowels colored red) and a My Blending Word Mat. 

Each bag will include the follow letters or digraphs: 

Consonants: d, p, h, n, t, b, s

Digraphs: sh, th, ck, ch

Vowels: a, e, i, o, u, 

***Procedures***

 Introduction to the lesson (3 minutes): 

• I will introduce the lesson by saying, "Today we are going practice blending sounds together to make words.  Each of you has your own word blending mat.  What do you notice about your mat?" 
• Expected responses include, "there is train" or "there are three spots" 
• I will say, "That's right the train has three different cars,  a beginning, middle, and end.  The words that we are going to read today all have a beginning sound, middle sound, and end sound.  In your bags you have cards with letters on them.  Each card makes one sound. But some have only one letter, and some have two letters.  Can you think of two letters that make a single sound?" Remember sometimes two letters make a single sound, this is called a digraph.  Take out your letters and lets look at what you have" 

 OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (15 minuets) 

First I will have the students separate their letters in three piles by color (red, green, and blue). 

•  I will explain,  "All of the blue cards have a consonant on them. Remember that a constant is a letter that is not a vowel.  Can you give me an example of a consonant?"
•  "All of the green cards have digraphs on them. Digraphs are when to letters make a single sound. Can you give me an example of a digraph?"
• "All of the red cards have a vowel on them. Remember that all words need to have at least one vowel.  Can you give me an example of a vowel?"

I will model how to do the activity  

•  I will say "First I am going to use my mate to read a word.  I am going to but down three sound cards. Listen carefully to how I blend the sounds together   This time I will be the only one saying the sounds.  You will get a chance in a minute."
•   I will put the letters "b" "a" "t" on my mat in that order.  I will  have the students put it on their mat too.  I will say each individual sound and then repeat it faster and faster blending the sounds together to say the word "bat".  

For the main part of the activity I will give the student three sound cards to put on their mat (one at the

beginning, one in the middle, and one at the end).  I will go over each sound with them and then let them

practice blending the sounds.  

•  Words I will make include: hat, pan, hen, pin, that, chip, duck, sock, path, & wish
•  For the last couple words I will give less support, having the students identify the sounds and blend them together on their own. 

I will then let the children use their letters to create at least one word and then swap mats with a friend and have them sound out their word. 

•  I will let the students experiment for a little bit as to all the different words they can make. 

Closing summary for the lesson 

• To bring the lesson to a close I will have each student share one word that they created with the rest of the group. 
• I will have the students put their sounds cards back in the bags.  I will let them each take the activity home for further practice. "You can take home this activity to practice with your family.  Try working with someone in your family and show them how you can blend the sounds together to make different words." 

Ongoing-Assessment: I will make a record for each student.  I will record what words the students were able to read on their own and what words they needed support with.  I will also note the words that the students were able to create on their own.  I can use this information to make a follow-up activity.