(Reflection: Part 1)
(What Happened When I Taught?)
My literacy lesson was the third lesson in my set of four Term III lessons. When I finished this lesson, I was able to jot down some of my initial thoughts about how it went. I wrote:
Niall did not interrupt anyone, but he did not follow the "Raise your hand" rule under "Be respectful". I reminded him that we raise our hands to talk, but I told him that I valued his prediction. (4:49) Rachel said, "Sometimes I think it's okay not to tell kids you're grateful for their response. If they call out, you shouldn't be grateful. Isn't that a type of positive reinforcement? I think it's okay just to ignore him or say 'I'm going to wait for your hand to respond to you.'" (4:49) I understand her point about positive reinforcement, but I am conflicted because I also believe that student discussion and participation are very important. I think the bigger issue in this moment is that I outlined my expectations, a student engaged in an action that did not meet those expectations, and I did not give the pre-established consequence. I think the way that Rachel intentionally assigned seats in all of her lessons was beneficial and effective. If I had assigned seats, I would not have let Niall and Sam sit next to each other and I think there would have been fewer distractions.
The hook part of my lesson was a read aloud of a memoir called A Chair for My Mother. In my lesson plan, I anticipated that it would take about 5 minutes to read. I practiced reading the book prior to teaching my lesson and it took approximately 6 minutes to read. What I did not take into account was the time that I spent posing questions to the students while I was reading. It ended up taking us 12 minutes to get through the hook and introduction to the body of my lesson, even though I only allotted 6 minutes for those two sections. On the positive side, the students seemed to be interested in the story and they asked and answered questions throughout the story.
After I read A Chair for My Mother, I read a one sentence "Story 2" that had the same idea as Story 1, but without any key details. I think the students were surprised by Story 2, because it looked like a full-sized book like the previous book. (I taped the single sentence into a full-sized book.) Rachel noted, "I liked how you covered up the books and just wrote Story 1 and Story 2 - added a little mystery and took away some bias from the kids liking one cover more than the other (even though the second book was fake!)" (2:32). When I finished reading Story 2 and said, "The End", one student said, "Really?" The students had some interesting insight into the differences between the two stories. One student said, "Story 1 had more pages, so that's like a real story." (10:26) Another student said, "I think that one had a lot of stories than that one." (10:51) Five out of the six student had something to say about the differences between the two stories. As I expected, Dana saw the point that I was trying to make. She said, "Story 1 was more interesting because that one had a lot of details and the other one didn't." (10:42)
I was surprised that my students were able to identify the key details from the beginning, middle, and end so easily and quickly. I was very confident in their ability to identify the key details because they have spent a lot of time doing this with Ms. Anita, but I thought that it would take more time or that they would offer some irrelevant details since there was so much going on in this story. I also had originally planned on reading the story with my small group prior to this lesson so that they would be very familiar with the text. Due to time constraints and the students' and my schedules, I was unable to pull them prior to this lesson. I thought that reading the story multiple times might make it easier for them to identify the key details. It turns out that they were able to easily identify the key details from just one read!
I recorded the role that I thought each student might be interested in so that I could compare it to the role that they chose. I was surprised to see that none of the students wanted to be a storyteller. I had originally intended for this lesson to be an opportunity for two of my students who are great storytellers to showcase their talents. It had not really occurred to me that my students might enjoy other avenues of expression better even though I thought they were gifted in that area.
I am so glad that I was able to set aside time to have the students share their memoirs with the whole group. I think this time for sharing was very important because it was linked to the "Why?" part of my lesson design. "I hope that facilitating a session about writing memoirs will help my students realize their own lives and experiences are important, interesting, and worth writing about." One of the students was reluctant to share her illustration with the group. She eventually showed it to her classmates who said her pictures was "awesome" (42:42). I was very happy to see them encourage her and possibly boost her confidence. Although I do not think outside validation is necessary, I do think this interaction supports the idea that her personal experience is interesting to others.
Ultimately, I think that my students enjoyed this lesson, although there were definitely various levels of understanding of what I expected of them. One student wanted to write about what happened to one of his classmates, while another student told a detailed story that may or may not have been true, and another student separated his story into parts with multiple details in each part.
- FORGOT to give out key detail papers!
- Kids didn't want the illustrator papers
- I should have introduced the unfamiliar worksheet formats
- Got the key details from the book very easily --> I was surprised because I thought that'd be harder
- No one wanted to be a storyteller --> Would more people have picked it if I modeled during the lesson and/or it was practiced in the classroom? Was it too difficult?
- Worried about Billy. Trouble picking experience
- Didn't clearly tell them what I expected in terms of their individual work
- Niall totally got it --> "Part one... part two... part three..."
- Kids understood the difference between Story 1 and Story 2
- Should have defined "experience"
- Think talking to them beforehand helped
- Had time to think of experience and medium
- Surprised by Dana's experience (i.e. me being in her dream about school)
- Mia struggled --> trying to model illustrator paper?
- Forgot to do turn and talk on the carpet
- Expectations and consequences helped
- Funny that they were reminding each other to sit criss cross apple sauce
- Need to individual conference to assess illustrators
Niall did not interrupt anyone, but he did not follow the "Raise your hand" rule under "Be respectful". I reminded him that we raise our hands to talk, but I told him that I valued his prediction. (4:49) Rachel said, "Sometimes I think it's okay not to tell kids you're grateful for their response. If they call out, you shouldn't be grateful. Isn't that a type of positive reinforcement? I think it's okay just to ignore him or say 'I'm going to wait for your hand to respond to you.'" (4:49) I understand her point about positive reinforcement, but I am conflicted because I also believe that student discussion and participation are very important. I think the bigger issue in this moment is that I outlined my expectations, a student engaged in an action that did not meet those expectations, and I did not give the pre-established consequence. I think the way that Rachel intentionally assigned seats in all of her lessons was beneficial and effective. If I had assigned seats, I would not have let Niall and Sam sit next to each other and I think there would have been fewer distractions.
The hook part of my lesson was a read aloud of a memoir called A Chair for My Mother. In my lesson plan, I anticipated that it would take about 5 minutes to read. I practiced reading the book prior to teaching my lesson and it took approximately 6 minutes to read. What I did not take into account was the time that I spent posing questions to the students while I was reading. It ended up taking us 12 minutes to get through the hook and introduction to the body of my lesson, even though I only allotted 6 minutes for those two sections. On the positive side, the students seemed to be interested in the story and they asked and answered questions throughout the story.
After I read A Chair for My Mother, I read a one sentence "Story 2" that had the same idea as Story 1, but without any key details. I think the students were surprised by Story 2, because it looked like a full-sized book like the previous book. (I taped the single sentence into a full-sized book.) Rachel noted, "I liked how you covered up the books and just wrote Story 1 and Story 2 - added a little mystery and took away some bias from the kids liking one cover more than the other (even though the second book was fake!)" (2:32). When I finished reading Story 2 and said, "The End", one student said, "Really?" The students had some interesting insight into the differences between the two stories. One student said, "Story 1 had more pages, so that's like a real story." (10:26) Another student said, "I think that one had a lot of stories than that one." (10:51) Five out of the six student had something to say about the differences between the two stories. As I expected, Dana saw the point that I was trying to make. She said, "Story 1 was more interesting because that one had a lot of details and the other one didn't." (10:42)
I was surprised that my students were able to identify the key details from the beginning, middle, and end so easily and quickly. I was very confident in their ability to identify the key details because they have spent a lot of time doing this with Ms. Anita, but I thought that it would take more time or that they would offer some irrelevant details since there was so much going on in this story. I also had originally planned on reading the story with my small group prior to this lesson so that they would be very familiar with the text. Due to time constraints and the students' and my schedules, I was unable to pull them prior to this lesson. I thought that reading the story multiple times might make it easier for them to identify the key details. It turns out that they were able to easily identify the key details from just one read!
I recorded the role that I thought each student might be interested in so that I could compare it to the role that they chose. I was surprised to see that none of the students wanted to be a storyteller. I had originally intended for this lesson to be an opportunity for two of my students who are great storytellers to showcase their talents. It had not really occurred to me that my students might enjoy other avenues of expression better even though I thought they were gifted in that area.
I am so glad that I was able to set aside time to have the students share their memoirs with the whole group. I think this time for sharing was very important because it was linked to the "Why?" part of my lesson design. "I hope that facilitating a session about writing memoirs will help my students realize their own lives and experiences are important, interesting, and worth writing about." One of the students was reluctant to share her illustration with the group. She eventually showed it to her classmates who said her pictures was "awesome" (42:42). I was very happy to see them encourage her and possibly boost her confidence. Although I do not think outside validation is necessary, I do think this interaction supports the idea that her personal experience is interesting to others.
Ultimately, I think that my students enjoyed this lesson, although there were definitely various levels of understanding of what I expected of them. One student wanted to write about what happened to one of his classmates, while another student told a detailed story that may or may not have been true, and another student separated his story into parts with multiple details in each part.
(What KEY DECIsIONS Did I make as my Lesson Unfolded? What Informed These Decisions?)
Since I noticed that Sam and Niall were getting a bit antsy on the carpet, I tried to introduce their seat work activity fairly quickly. I think had I been sitting in the center during the read aloud (and therefore with a better view of all of my students), I would have noted Sam and Niall's behavior earlier on and asked them to change their seats. I did call attention to their behavior after the read aloud, but I felt like it was sort of understandable that they were starting to get antsy since we had been sitting on the carpet for 20 uninterrupted minutes since the read aloud hook took twice as long as I had anticipated.
One of the consequences of trying to introduce the seat work earlier was that I did not have them turn and talk about the experience that they were going to write about on the carpet. Although, I do not think this ended up being too problematic since it's function was to ensure that the students had something to write about when they got to their table and I had them turn and talk briefly at the table. For the most part, the students were able to identify a personal experience easily.
I do feel that sensing this need to get the students to the table quickly explained why I introduced the task to the students and immediately went on to voting on which role they wanted to adopt (i.e. author, illustrator, or storyteller). In my lesson plan, I had intended to introduce the options, explain that I was looking for two key details in the beginning part, the middle part, and the end part, and introduce the key details organizer. I quickly introduced what it meant to be an author and then I had the students vote if they wanted to be an author. I now realize how important it is to introduce all of the options before having students vote. I do not know why I waited to explain storyteller last in both my initial and final lesson plan. Even though I wanted the students to transition to table work, I should have taken the time to model what it means to be a storyteller. I should not have been so surprised that none of the students wanted to be a storyteller.
I also realized that in my rush to get the students to the table, I completely forgot to introduce the key details organizer. I was so upset with myself for not doing this! I had planned on using the organizer to reinforce the main idea of my lesson and to give the students a way to structure their "final" product, whether it was a written story, an illustration, or a verbal re-telling. (I put "final" in quotation marks because I realized that the students might not finish their memoir in one lesson.) I also wanted to use the key detail organizer as a way to understand what details my students wanted to include in their memoir and also to assess whether they included them in their final product.
Unfortunately, I did not just forget to introduce and model the key details graphic organizer. I also did not explain the illustrator graphic organizer to the students prior to starting the independent section of my lesson. I structured the graphic organizer for the illustrators in a way that would make their memoir read more like a graphic novel. I had three rows of two boxes. Each row was supposed to represent the beginning, middle, or end of the memoir. There were two columns because I was looking for two key details from each part of the story. I offered the graphic organizer to one of the students when I was conferencing with him and saw that he was having difficulty selecting an experience and illustrating it. I realize now that I have to introduce and model new types of graphic organizers. I cannot expect students to use the worksheets the way that I intend them to be used without any direction.
Looking back, I notice that most of my key decisions were the result of one observation- some of my students being antsy on the carpet. If I had either found a way to cut down the amount of time spent on the carpet or found a more effective way to monitor carpet behavior, I think my lesson may have turned out differently.
One of the consequences of trying to introduce the seat work earlier was that I did not have them turn and talk about the experience that they were going to write about on the carpet. Although, I do not think this ended up being too problematic since it's function was to ensure that the students had something to write about when they got to their table and I had them turn and talk briefly at the table. For the most part, the students were able to identify a personal experience easily.
I do feel that sensing this need to get the students to the table quickly explained why I introduced the task to the students and immediately went on to voting on which role they wanted to adopt (i.e. author, illustrator, or storyteller). In my lesson plan, I had intended to introduce the options, explain that I was looking for two key details in the beginning part, the middle part, and the end part, and introduce the key details organizer. I quickly introduced what it meant to be an author and then I had the students vote if they wanted to be an author. I now realize how important it is to introduce all of the options before having students vote. I do not know why I waited to explain storyteller last in both my initial and final lesson plan. Even though I wanted the students to transition to table work, I should have taken the time to model what it means to be a storyteller. I should not have been so surprised that none of the students wanted to be a storyteller.
I also realized that in my rush to get the students to the table, I completely forgot to introduce the key details organizer. I was so upset with myself for not doing this! I had planned on using the organizer to reinforce the main idea of my lesson and to give the students a way to structure their "final" product, whether it was a written story, an illustration, or a verbal re-telling. (I put "final" in quotation marks because I realized that the students might not finish their memoir in one lesson.) I also wanted to use the key detail organizer as a way to understand what details my students wanted to include in their memoir and also to assess whether they included them in their final product.
Unfortunately, I did not just forget to introduce and model the key details graphic organizer. I also did not explain the illustrator graphic organizer to the students prior to starting the independent section of my lesson. I structured the graphic organizer for the illustrators in a way that would make their memoir read more like a graphic novel. I had three rows of two boxes. Each row was supposed to represent the beginning, middle, or end of the memoir. There were two columns because I was looking for two key details from each part of the story. I offered the graphic organizer to one of the students when I was conferencing with him and saw that he was having difficulty selecting an experience and illustrating it. I realize now that I have to introduce and model new types of graphic organizers. I cannot expect students to use the worksheets the way that I intend them to be used without any direction.
Looking back, I notice that most of my key decisions were the result of one observation- some of my students being antsy on the carpet. If I had either found a way to cut down the amount of time spent on the carpet or found a more effective way to monitor carpet behavior, I think my lesson may have turned out differently.