There is cause for celebration! This time around I was able to try out a new subject for observation, this time being English Language Arts. The standard LAFS.1.L.1.2 dealt with teaching students how to form commas in their writing through the form of dates and with words in a series. An example for commas in dates would be February 10, 2015. An example for commas in a series would that this sentence is informative, necessary, and quite concise. As far as the lesson went, here are some things that went well. When we were on the rug at the beginning of the lesson, I pulled sticks to see who would share what they or their partner shared about where they thought commas went in their writing. When one student had a great idea that connected well with where commas went in English writing, some other students were exasperated and said "Awww man, that's what I had!". To alleviate pressure of the student who had just shared and also boost self-esteem in the disgruntled students, I simply said "If that was your idea, celebrate your good thinking." I immediately watched some of their facial expressions change from upset to slightly interested. The lesson was presented by way of PowerPoint linked up to both projectors on either side of the room. Students were on the rug to view the PowerPoint slides while I talked and made the material exciting and understandable for them. Something that could be improved about this next time would be to ask them to return to their seats to view the screen (it would be closer and easier to see). Something that my CT wrote down also was that it needed to have more opportunity for cooperative learning time. A timed-Pair-Share would have added the structure between students sharing on the rug as aforementioned. It gives students 30 seconds a piece to share, the perfect time to give one or two ideas, and increases the fairness factor.
There were several things that my CT wrote down for improving on the next lesson. Since this lesson is connected to a lesson on 4/8, she really wanted for my to tighten up as many areas as I could so that the lesson would be the best that it could be for the students. In the last couple months of school, we are really pushing for all of the English standards that we still needed to touch on, one of which is commas. Here are the things I need to improve in my own words, after ciphering through the list. I need to provide better and more specific praise on student work. Students deserve meaningful feedback on their work, otherwise they think all their work amounts to them just receiving a star n their paper and being expected to just move onto the next thing. There needed to be a clean up piece at the end of the lesson, yet since there were extenuating circumstances of a science specialist arriving in the room 10 minutes early. This considerably cut down the time of the lesson that I anticipated to teach, and caused some confusion and extra hurrying near the end of the lesson. All in all the lesson was a great start at teaching Language Arts concepts to young children. You really have to slow down and measure out what you are going to instruct them on. Laying out plenty of opportunities for writing interaction is a must, and I feel like a writing journal would a be a good idea for next time as well. Students could interact with the PowerPoint presentation in their journals and it would give them a purpose for listening as well.
There were several things that my CT wrote down for improving on the next lesson. Since this lesson is connected to a lesson on 4/8, she really wanted for my to tighten up as many areas as I could so that the lesson would be the best that it could be for the students. In the last couple months of school, we are really pushing for all of the English standards that we still needed to touch on, one of which is commas. Here are the things I need to improve in my own words, after ciphering through the list. I need to provide better and more specific praise on student work. Students deserve meaningful feedback on their work, otherwise they think all their work amounts to them just receiving a star n their paper and being expected to just move onto the next thing. There needed to be a clean up piece at the end of the lesson, yet since there were extenuating circumstances of a science specialist arriving in the room 10 minutes early. This considerably cut down the time of the lesson that I anticipated to teach, and caused some confusion and extra hurrying near the end of the lesson. All in all the lesson was a great start at teaching Language Arts concepts to young children. You really have to slow down and measure out what you are going to instruct them on. Laying out plenty of opportunities for writing interaction is a must, and I feel like a writing journal would a be a good idea for next time as well. Students could interact with the PowerPoint presentation in their journals and it would give them a purpose for listening as well.