The one on one help that Ms. Doyle observed today was regarding an ELL student who joined the classroom in December. This student (Omar), comes from a migrant family situation, and knows very few words in English. In fact, he reads at a Kindergarten/1st grade level. I know his reading level because of the levels marked on the AR books he takes tests on weekly. I happened to help Omar re-read the story "I'm having a great time!" five times over so that he would gain the most comprehension out of the lesson and have the most practice. I started out the lesson by telling him in clear English that we were going to read the book together and he was going to take a test on it, a process he was already familiar with based on his online AR records. I read it through first, pointing at the words. Ms. Doyle pointed out in her observation that Omar did a great job staying focused on reading despite all of the auditory distractions happening in the room. His level of focus and caring for what he was doing led him to cooperate through the lesson, and take his AR test solo, scoring a 100%.
Ms. Chu observed a different lesson earlier in the day that dealt with phonics instruction tailored from Words Their way. A custom spin on a classic educational game Roll-Spell-Cover was what students participated in. My collaborating teacher asked that I could do a fun activity based on a group that I could target analyzed and compared through Spelling Inventory Data. I liked what Ms. Chu said about her hope for spelling in 5th grade being restored. She also mentioned how she enjoyed seeing the need for phonics instruction be fulfilled for students in 5th grade. I planned on going through the lesson with my focus students, but out of the four who participated, only one was able to do the activity with me due to testing season.
Ms. Chu observed a different lesson earlier in the day that dealt with phonics instruction tailored from Words Their way. A custom spin on a classic educational game Roll-Spell-Cover was what students participated in. My collaborating teacher asked that I could do a fun activity based on a group that I could target analyzed and compared through Spelling Inventory Data. I liked what Ms. Chu said about her hope for spelling in 5th grade being restored. She also mentioned how she enjoyed seeing the need for phonics instruction be fulfilled for students in 5th grade. I planned on going through the lesson with my focus students, but out of the four who participated, only one was able to do the activity with me due to testing season.