Yassick_Reflection1

            For my retelling lesson I thought both Jay and Pete were really engaged. They were extra hyper because baby chicks were born in their classroom the night earlier, but amiss the excitement and distractions in the hallway I thought this lesson went very well. To help them learn the elements of retelling I had the boys practice with a glove. Each finger had a picture that represented the setting, characters, problem, events, and solution. After the story, both students were very good about filling in the chart I printed. The chart was a way for them to organize their thoughts and see all of the elements of retelling in another way. I was happy when both of them were able to recall the important information from the story and fill in the chart without much guidance.

            One problem I ran into was when Jay would look over at Pete’s worksheet and try to write down exactly what he was writing. It was good that I placed myself in the middle because it gave me the opportunity to talk with each child individually if need be. When I noticed he wanted to copy I made sure I blocked Pete’s answers so Jay and I could talk out his thoughts together.

            After they wrote down their retelling I had each boy state their retell by themselves. Jay went first. When he first went he was having a bit of difficulty. He really didn’t say what was on his sheet and he skipped over saying who the characters were until the very end. To help him I put the glove back on and together we talked through what the retell might be like. I think the visual of the glove and the worksheet with the prerecorded notes helped Jay verbalize his thoughts. Pete also did a good job on his retell. He included all of the information from his worksheets, which were facts that came directly from the book.

            I noticed that throughout the lesson I was a lot calmer than previous lessons. I think it helped that I was only working with two students! I really like working with small groups because one can really understand their thoughts. I also noticed that I scaffold pretty well. For the most part I let the students do the work on their own, but there were times when I stepped in when I should have let them figure it out on their own. I think finding that balance of not doing too much for students and helping is important. Scaffolding is something that I will continue to work on! Overall I really enjoyed these mini lessons. The only question I have about mini lessons in general is how teachers structure their classroom so they are able to work with kids one on one. If I was the only one in the room I feel as if I would not be able to have that one on one time with twenty other kids who need management. I guess that comes with practice as well.