Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Week 1 Reflections- Chelsea Gose
My first week of GLT went pretty well. My students are really excited for the "how to" genre and are looking forward to writing and publishing their own books. They were really interested in the mentor texts that we read and were able to relate to them in many different ways. The things we focused on this week were: steps of a story (numbering them and using ordinal words), title page, materials page, and a "snappy" introduction. The students had a lot of fun brainstorming ideas for their books and planning their steps with a partner. They seem to be struggling a little bit with the steps. Some of them chose topics that are hard to think of several steps for. I've worked with and conferenced with the struggling students, but some of them are still struggling. I am going to try and pull out small groups and work with them in future lessons. This will help me meet their needs so they are able to write a book that they will be proud of. Overall, everything is going really well and I'm using the feedback my MT and FI are giving me to keep improving my lessons!
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What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson.
ReplyDelete-My first lessons were just an exposure to this new type of books and they were all really engaged and were able to relate to the books that I read them. There were only a few students that struggled with the lesson because they had a hard time sitting still while I read the books. These are the same students that struggle during other lessons because they have a hard time sitting quietly at the rug.
What are alternate reads of your students’ performance or products?
-The anchor chart my students helped me write is a product of their performance because they were able to point out the things that they noticed in the "how to" books. This will help me when planning future lessons because I know what my students understood immediately and I also know the things they didn't notice initially.
What did you learn about your students’ literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?
-It is still early in the unit, so I haven't been able to notice a lot about their literacy practices. I predict that some of my students will be able to write independently, while others will need a lot of guidance from me when writing their books.
When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?
-Like I mentioned above, I will try and pull small groups of students that are struggling with the components of their books. I will try and compile a list of students that struggle in each area, so I can work on these specific things in small groups. If needed, I will have my MT work with small groups as well.
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 were to do this lesson again, I would definitely do more turn and talks with my students. They were so excited about the genre and they all wanted to share their connections to the books that I read. It would have been helpful to let them talk with a friend for a minute so they could share their ideas. After talking with my MT, we realized that would have been helpful in getting them back on track and focused on the lesson.
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've learned that my minilessons need to be more differentiated to reach all of my students. They are all at different levels, so I need to consider this when planning lessons. Some of my students understand these types of books immediately, while some students took a while to understand the purpose of these books and why they are important.
Good reflections on your teaching! Thank you for adding to your post in order to address the assignment.
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