Literacy Lesson Post Reflection

            Upon reflecting on my lesson that I taught in my clinical classroom, I felt as thought it was strong and went very well with the students. The students were to be able to identify the location of definitions, number of definitions for an entry, and most common use. This lesson was important for the students to be aware of the dictionary as a resource because it can be beneficial for the students understanding of terms in the future.

            I did this lesson with rotating small groups throughout the day. I personally thought that doing the lesson like this really helped me to ensure that the students were understanding and grasping the content I was teaching. I cannot image how this lesson would have worked out if it were done through whole class instruction. Earlier in the day I had the opportunity to see my CT incorporate the use of dictionaries into a lesson, so I was able to connect to the students prior knowledge by saying, “I know that you are familiar with dictionaries because I saw you use them this morning.” To hook the students, I showed the students two different dictionaries. I then asked the students what they are and what they can be used for, which led to a discussion about dictionaries. I am very glad that I was able to see them use the dictionaries because I feel as though this helped my understanding of the students prior knowledge and helped with the flow of the lesson as well as its outcomes by having them connect to what they have used dictionaries for in the past.

            I then asked the students what a dictionary tells us and what a definition is. I had visuals made up of information regarding a dictionary and definition to reference when explicitly teaching the students. Next, I had the students open the dictionary in front of them to any page and look at an entry of their choice. I asked the students what they saw for each entry, what each part tells us, and how many definitions they saw listed. I was very pleased with what the students were able to tell me.

            After I regained the student’s attention and focus, I started to do more explicit teaching through the use of an enlarged sheet with dictionary entries. I should have transitioned the students a lot better than I did; I could have told the students why we were moving on and what we were going to do next. While modeling the students through this sheet, I was very please with the way that I asked questions to the students to push them in answering questions and understanding the content.

            When it came time to do shared practice, the student’s that I had previously done the mini-lesson with, because I was doing rotating small groups, had no problem working together to complete the model sheet together. This group, however, seemed to work more independently during the shared practice and I should have prompted more interactions and provided guidelines. The students also had many questions during this. Looking back, I definitely should have readdressed my teaching points and expectations for the sheet before moving on to ensure the students success in this lesson.

            While reflecting on my chosen assessment strategies I planned to use during the lesson, I was proud of myself with using the checklist. However, using assessments during lesson implementation is fairly difficult for me and it definitely something that I will need more experience working with. I am glad that I did use the checklist because it did help me have a better understanding of the students as well as how well the lesson was working. It also provided me with great feedback for myself in how well or not so well my lesson went for the students.

            If I were to do this lesson again, I would change a couple of things. Instead of having worksheets for the students to use during independent practice, I would come up with a list of words that the students are learning about and using in the curriculum. This could also be done during shared practice with the students. The students would be presented with kid-friendly dictionaries to look up the words themselves rather than them already being shown and printed for them. Doing this would really make my lesson stronger and the rationale for the lesson more successful.

            Overall, I am very pleased with my lesson implementations. I am glad that I took Kira’s advice of adding visuals to the lesson because they helped not only me but also the students during the lesson. I am glad I provided dictionaries for the students to physically see and look through/at, but in the future I will have more kid-friendly dictionaries available and point out to the students parts of the dictionary. I am also glad that I took Kira’s advice and created my own worksheets using definitions that the children had been learning about in there literacy readings to help connect the content; however, as I mentioned earlier, I will just give the students a list a words connecting to the curriculum and have them search for the words themselves. Using a word list instead will also help to differentiate the lesson a little more because I could create different difficulty levels of words to meet the students individual needs. I also need to work on my transitioning of students during lessons. It is important to have these transitions to help aid the students during the lesson and to help with the flow.

Bringing it Altogether

• Review the course goals you wrote about in your first post at the beginning of the semester.
• What progress have you made on them?
• What does this do to inform your practice next semester in student teaching?
• What goals do you still have moving forward?
• Include overall reflections on what you have learned in this clinical course and on-site this semester.

For those of you who have been following my blog about my clinical experience this semester, it is now coming to an end. Upon reflecting on the goals I had set for myself for the semester, I am satisfied with my accomplishments of them. The first goal I had set was to boost my confidence. In previous semesters I had struggled with this; I needed to have confidence in myself when I was teaching lessons and not be afraid of messing up. This semester I really noticed an improvement in my confidence level. I realize that it is okay to mess up and that I can’t be perfect in teaching. Even though I improved my confidence level, I still need to work on boosting it.

            Another goal I had set for myself was to work on my classroom management. This is something that I, as well as my CT, noticed improve as the semester went on; even within implementation of lessons. I feel as though it really helped seeing the numerous classroom management strategies being implemented constantly throughout the day really helped me become comfortable using them as well as getting the students attention. In the past, I struggled a little with addressing the classroom rules and expectations during my lessons and this is something that I really improved on this semester. It is so important to reinforce the rules and expectations throughout the lesson to help it run smoothly and also make it an effective lesson. At the beginning of the semester, I asked my CT about her expectations for me during my clinical experience and she was very resourceful in this.

            The last goal I set for myself this semester was to really get to know the students in my classroom. I feel as though this is something that still really needs improvement. I feel as though I did not get to know the students well enough this semester and it definitely disappoints me. It is so very important to understand the students individual strengths and weaknesses so that I can meet their individual needs when implementing lessons to ensure that they are being provided with the optimal learning experience to promote their growth. The past couple weeks I have gotten a little bit of a better understanding of some students, so I was able to provide them with additional support in certain areas.

            Next semester for student teaching I would still like to work on meeting these goals I had set for myself. In addition, I would also like to work on my time management on planning as well as implementation of lesson. The thought of staying on track still makes me fairly nervous while teaching. I need to use a calm down strategy that my 3^rd grade students are learning about right now. “Stop. Name your feeling. Calm down.” This can be done by taking belly breaths or just talking to yourself to calm down and ease my nerves.

Here is a link to the “Calm it Down” song lyrics from Second Step that Oakland elementary uses.

Gumdrop Domes

Recently I implemented my science lesson in my clinical 3rd grade classroom. The students were engineers and working on building gumdrop domes to test out their strength and durability against the weight of books. Here are some pictures I took of the students working and testing out their domes!

These two boys wanted to create their own structure to test out! After testing its structure with the weight of the books, it ended up becoming completely flattened. :(

This group had a great idea of connecting all of the domes together with toothpicks to make it stronger!

Science in 3rd Grade

What have you noticed about science instruction and assessment in your setting?

• When does it take place? Does it take place? Think critically.
• What does it encompass?
• During science instruction, what does your CT do/ say?
• What do students do/ say? How do they respond?
• What are your opinions/ feelings about this?
• How does what you observe about science at this site connect with past clinical experiences/ early childhood theories/ and or science practices you have been learning about at ISU?
• How does knowing this inform what you will do when teaching and assessing science (either this semester, next semester in student teaching, and/or next year)?

Having been at my clinical placement for six weeks now, I still have not really had the opportunity to see science instruction. I am in a 3^rd grade classroom where my CT teaches social studies and the other 3^rd grade teacher does science. I like the idea of switch of the students switching classrooms and having a different teacher for subjects because I have had that experience in every grade. I felt that it was beneficial to me as a learner because I was able to receive different forms of instruction and it was nice to have a change of scenery.

Like stated in my “Social Studies in 3^rd Grade” post, at 1:30 my class goes over to the other 3^rd grade classroom for science wile the other comes in for social studies. At 2:00, the classes switch back to their homeroom for the other subject. The lessons are scheduled to last 30 minutes. One day I did ask my CT if I would be able to go over to Mrs. Foley’s class to observe her doing a science lesson with the kids. I was unable to because it was just a review/catch-up day and so the students were just watching a movie. The other days I was there, my CT was absent so there was a sub in the room and it was a “crazy day”, then there were ISAT prep days, ISAT testing so they didn’t switch, then I taught my social studies lesson to both classes, and then last week I was unable to make it to see science. I am hoping that in weeks to come I will be given the chance to see science instruction in a 3^rd grade class.

Even though I am not familiar with my clinical placement’s science instruction or assessment, I was able to see their curriculum map for science. They start out the year with life science (plants, animals, ecosystems, and food chains), then earth science (rocks and soil, changes on Earth, and natural resources), next is physical science (energy and sound), and then space and technology (patterns in the sky, solar system, and science in our lives).

I wish I had the opportunity to see science being taught so that I have an idea of what to do in my own classroom as well as see what works with kids and what doesn’t.

When talking with my CT about my science lesson planning, she recommended that I maybe do a review because the other teacher may not like it if I interfered with what she is going to be teaching the students. Since I am not sure what exactly the students have done and I don’t want the students to repeat a lesson, I found an engineering activity to do with the students using gumdrops and toothpicks to build a dome. The students will then build as many domes as they think they will need in order for the domes to support the weight of books. I am excited to teach this lesson to the students on Wednesday!

Here is a link to the activity I found courtesy of PBS Kids sent in by Tunisia of MO.

In my future classroom, I want to be sure to crosscut content. Crosscutting is something that we are continuously learning about at ISU. I want to be sure to incorporate science throughout the day and integrate it into other subjects as well. I was able to look through the teacher’s manual for literacy and was excited to see a science activity incorporated into the lessons. Science is something that I always enjoyed when I was younger because it was hands on and a lot of experiments were used. I want to be sure to provide my students with active activities for them to take part in to help their learning and understanding of the content being taught rather than just direct instruction.