Reflection
My lesson was about finding the theme of a story. The group was of about 20 students who were everything from ELL's, to having behavioral issues, to being autistic. It was a very diverse group.
To begin the lesson, we used the books "Fly Away Home" by Eve Bunting and "Stone Soup" by Ann McGovern. The focus/review went well, and the teacher input went well, but the guided practice is the area which happened a little different than I had expected. After I read the book "Fly Away Home", I asked the students for possible themes of the book. Some answers were great, while others were a little off topic. I found myself being excited that the students were answering questions, but at the same time, I didn't know how to handle the incorrect answers. I wanted to encourage the students to answer questions, and to praise them for attempting, but I found myself having trouble knowing exactly how to accomplish that. This was actually something my clinical teacher commented on in her review of the lesson. This was one of my weaknesses during my reading lesson. Another weakness occurred while I was explaining a few definitions. For example, I accidentally confused the definitions of 'inferencing' and 'predicting'. This was an honest mistake that can be worked on by slowing down and thinking clearly before speaking.
One of my strengths was the way I read the story slowly and clearly, and how I asked questions to check for understanding. It is important to make sure the students are following along with the story and understand everything that has happened all throughout. Also, asking questions throughout the story helps to see which students are paying attention.
With this lesson, something I would do differently is to first, study up on my vocabulary so that I don't accidentally make simple mistakes as I did, and secondly, I would give the students more opportunities to find the theme of a story. Perhaps by using excerpts from different stories, or from books they already know of. They seemed like they got the point of my lesson because they all turned in beautiful endings with themes attached to them. At the same time, I still am not sure if I asked them next week to find the theme of something, if they would be able to do it. This is something that needs to be practiced a lot to be able to do it with ease. I did have an anchor chart for them to refer back to, so that did help a lot more than I expected.
Overall, this was a great teaching and learning experience. I was able to get in front of a classroom and share my knowledge with the students and see them absorb it and use it. I learned that it was okay at this age (4th grade) for me to read the story without showing them the photo at every page. Also, I learned that I can have confidence to go up in front of all the students, teacher and teacher's assistant to deliver my lesson. They will still love me if I mess up minor details or stumble over my words, so there is no reason to stress or feel embarrassed. I am even more excited to become a teacher myself because of not only this lesson on this one day, but because of the entire two weeks of time spent at the school.
To begin the lesson, we used the books "Fly Away Home" by Eve Bunting and "Stone Soup" by Ann McGovern. The focus/review went well, and the teacher input went well, but the guided practice is the area which happened a little different than I had expected. After I read the book "Fly Away Home", I asked the students for possible themes of the book. Some answers were great, while others were a little off topic. I found myself being excited that the students were answering questions, but at the same time, I didn't know how to handle the incorrect answers. I wanted to encourage the students to answer questions, and to praise them for attempting, but I found myself having trouble knowing exactly how to accomplish that. This was actually something my clinical teacher commented on in her review of the lesson. This was one of my weaknesses during my reading lesson. Another weakness occurred while I was explaining a few definitions. For example, I accidentally confused the definitions of 'inferencing' and 'predicting'. This was an honest mistake that can be worked on by slowing down and thinking clearly before speaking.
One of my strengths was the way I read the story slowly and clearly, and how I asked questions to check for understanding. It is important to make sure the students are following along with the story and understand everything that has happened all throughout. Also, asking questions throughout the story helps to see which students are paying attention.
With this lesson, something I would do differently is to first, study up on my vocabulary so that I don't accidentally make simple mistakes as I did, and secondly, I would give the students more opportunities to find the theme of a story. Perhaps by using excerpts from different stories, or from books they already know of. They seemed like they got the point of my lesson because they all turned in beautiful endings with themes attached to them. At the same time, I still am not sure if I asked them next week to find the theme of something, if they would be able to do it. This is something that needs to be practiced a lot to be able to do it with ease. I did have an anchor chart for them to refer back to, so that did help a lot more than I expected.
Overall, this was a great teaching and learning experience. I was able to get in front of a classroom and share my knowledge with the students and see them absorb it and use it. I learned that it was okay at this age (4th grade) for me to read the story without showing them the photo at every page. Also, I learned that I can have confidence to go up in front of all the students, teacher and teacher's assistant to deliver my lesson. They will still love me if I mess up minor details or stumble over my words, so there is no reason to stress or feel embarrassed. I am even more excited to become a teacher myself because of not only this lesson on this one day, but because of the entire two weeks of time spent at the school.
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