Inquiry 3

       Because the school i'm at uses the reading street program i was expected to use it. I would have liked to create my own lessons. i have found that the reading street program is not very successful in teaching students because there is no application to what they are learning.
       Planing a unit based off of reading street is very easy. The whole program is scripted so all i had to do was arrange my unit in the sequence that the reading teacher wanted. As we talked about in class though, just because someone has lesson plans it doesn't make them a teacher. You don't need to be a teacher to read from the reading street book.
       the obstacles that i faced were time. everyday i wanted to do more with the kids because it is a lot of information thrown at them/ i wanted to do an application of something they learned but there was no time. To overcome this i started a class book in the homeroom so as we read we can go over some of the things they learned.
    The dilemmas i faced were short classes and a weird schedule. It was around Halloween so my lessons were broken up and ultimately less effective.
     I think the most successful thing i did was connect some of the material from reading class back into the homeroom. before my lessons there was a huge disconnect between the two. with students that means missing work and bad grades. i helped bridge the gap.

Inq 3: A3

Teaching in the Lansing School District can have its advantages. One of them being the freedom to teach not based on a restrictive or really any required curriculum. Because of this, I was able to create my unit from scratch. This was a challenge, but overall it was effective resulting in an almost 80% average on the final assessment. The challenge for me was learning how to expand a student’s vocabulary and deciding what aspects of that to focus on. To do this I talked to several experienced teachers, then did research on how to teach the concepts they suggested.

I did not have many dilemmas besides just getting to know the 24 of the 25 students, whom are not in my homeroom class. I have gotten to know most of the students in the class well quickly; some of them have been absent several times so I do not know those students as well. I enjoy my reading group very much, they have generally well behaved. I give them much of the credit to the success of my unit because they worked hard. Success was also due to the amount of modeling I did in throughout the unit of the strategies they can use. I felt it was also important to let students know that it is ok to not know what a word is, everybody experiences that. So then they would be comfortable admitting when they do not know what a word means.

The unit did proceed generally as expected, we did postpone a few days. Once we pushed back my lesson to do a fun activity with affixes for Halloween and another time to have a day where the novel they were to begin to read was introduced. I was surprised during the review session of the unit, the students did very well, better than I expected them to do based on what they had shown me thus far. I would like to learn how to continue to expand their vocabularies besides adding to their vocabulary lists. Some difficulties I had during the unit were students not being engaged when I would be talking to one student when it was their “turn” to answer. I need to learn to incorporate all the students as much as possible to maximize their learning.

Step 3- Notes

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Step 3: What might these events mean?

My unit was based on my curriculum provided by the district, Reading Street. Reading Street is set up in a 5-day program, the main sections of the daily lessons are: Get Ready to Read (Question of the week, amazing words, word analysis, literary terms, story structure/text features), Read and Comprehend (Comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency), and Language Arts (Writing, conventions, speaking/listening, and research skills). Every unit begins with a two-page overview of the main selection, paired selection (small books) and the concepts and skills to be taught in each of the main sections. Each day is packed with lessons from each of the categories, but in my classroom it was just not realistic to be able to tackle everything every day. I was able to pick and choose what sections I felt would be beneficial for my class, and interchange the “days”. 

There are some obstacles that I encountered, because in some instances I felt like I was just teaching to the test. There are lessons that I did not like, but yet they are tested on it on Friday, therefore I started creating my own lessons that teach the topics Reading Street wanted. There are benefits to Reading Street, such as the technology aspect. Many days when I am teaching Spelling and Grammar, there are “Grammar Jammer” videos with interactive videos presenting what we are learning that day, such as verbs, sentences (exclamatory, imperative, declarative), along with vocabulary games for the week, there are also videos for the question of the week. I find using technology in the lessons is very engaging for the students.

I still want to learn more strategies to teach my students surrounding comprehension. Comprehension is such a vital skill for students, and many other skills lead into comprehension, therefore I would like to explore the aspects of improving student’s fluency as well. It brings me back to our huge literacy project we created in 301, how everything in literacy is connected and they all impact each other in different aspects.

The unit proceeded as I expected, I knew which student would struggle, form knowledge of previous lessons as well as looking in their CUM files before school.  I knew I might have to differentiate for my student with an IEP plan for reading and writing. He definitely stressed me out a few times, because he is the type of student that always wants you by his side and working one on one with him, and will say “this is too hard, I don’t get it” before I have even given the directions because he wants me to basically give him the answers. I did have an “aha moment” with this student because during one lesson I was getting frustrated and needed to just walk away from him. I had told him when he could act like a big 4^th grader and talk like one instead of whining I would come back and help him. When I would walk away and work with other students, he realized that he had to do it himself and I wasn’t going to help him. After a few minutes of pouting (yes he did pout), he opened his book and tried answering the questions alone, and was able to finish all the questions.

Inquiry 3 Part 1 Step 3

Overall, my unit fit well with my curriculum.  Student had an opportunity to look at different genres of books and work on their comprehension skills as they analyzed the book’s story elements.  I am very lucky to have such an amazing mentor teacher and school to work with, so I had a lot of freedom when it came to my unit planning.  I sat down with my MT and in no time we designed an idea and I was able to take it and mold it into my own.  I was able to choose all of the literature to use, and I designed the handouts the students would be using.  It was successful in that students had an in depth look for the first time at point of view and based off their presentation, they understand it.  I believe the structure of the lesson made it very easy to follow because of the repetitions the students saw day by day.  The challenges came with differentiating for my struggling readers who struggled to focus during out whole group discussion.  I was pleasantly surprised by some of these students’ work, seeing that they completely filled out their story maps most of the time.  It was amazing to see how successful my idea of the “Book Worms” worked in their small group presentation.  I also loved seeing how excited students were when I explained their Three Little Pigs project and presentation.  They loved the challenge and most worked extremely well to prepare and present.

This was a very group oriented lesson with only some individual work.  While this is a very important skill for the students to master, when they are tested on their comprehension, often times they are graded independently.  With this being said, I need to still find strategies that would call for more individual work in the near future.  I could easily continue this type of set up and keep the assignments individual, but I was focusing on guided discussion, so that this will need to be attempted another time.

I know that I need to continue to look at teaching writing because from what I have seen thus far, students often resist writing.  It is a very difficult skill to master, but the process of improving this skill takes a lot of time and effort.  Many students do not like practicing these skills and so I would like to continue to focus on teaching writing and see what kind of strategies and activities will help students to practice and be motivated to write.  

Reflections

My first lesson was about affixes. The students learned about what a root word, a prefix and a suffix are. The class also discussed examples of prefixes and suffixes and words containing them. The students generally have retained the information, the students who have struggled to grasp the material have been the students who are usually absent and perpetually do not pay attention. This lesson went well in general, so a change I could make would be to go deeper into how the affix changes the word.

My second lesson was about the various information about a word that can be found in the dictionary. The majority of the students are confident with the content of this lesson, however many students were absent the day of that lesson. So many students did not get the base information even though we reviewed frequently. If I were to teach this lesson again I would include a lesson on guide words in the dictionary because I assumed that all of the students would already have that knowledge. I would also shorten it and have students take notes. Those changes would have given the students more time to work with what they just learned and also been more effective in teaching students on how to use a dictionary.

Generally I learned that my students need to strengthen their knowledge of the alphabet. For the students who are still struggling with the material I have and will continue to give them extra one on one support during activities that involve the material. Review happens frequently in our class, so students can strengthen their memories of the information also. Throughout the unit students have worked individually, in partners, in groups and we have also done activities as a whole class, some students were able to excel in certain settings rather than others. The class is very diverse, I have had all students participate in most lessons and I also have had the students give me much of the information to build the unit on. I am hoping, that letting the students speak freely and contribute to how the unit develops has limited any biases. During the course of the unit, I have learned that vocabulary takes so long to be built, so it needs to be an ongoing process in class and hopefully outside of it as well. I will need to research vocabulary development and continue to work with my students on their vocabularies to continue my professional learning.

Aaron 2 reflections

Lesson 1

·      What did students learn and which students struggled with the lesson? 

Students learned about background knowledge and cause and effect. I started the lesson with the reading street amazing words. We had a class discussion about what we think those words mean. The students were engaged in this part of the lesson because it is a way for them to say what they think without being wrong. After the amazing words we learned the vocabulary for the week. These are words with pictures on the smart board, so the students express what they think the word means in relation to the picture. The participation of the students starts to taper off after this part because we started to get into the textbook. Although enthusiasm was down, comprehension was still good. As I had students read the paragraphs I was looking around to see blank faces. All of the kids seemed like they understood. Not all of them were following along, but that will happen.

·      What are alternate reads (interpretations) of your students’ performance or products?

      Most of the students seem to enjoy the discussion type reading lesson. While there was no product of today’s lesson I think that performance could be better. I think that the lesson seemed like it was going good to me but it could have been better. At the end of the lesson the MT gave me a note that said a few student were not paying attention for a chunk of the lesson. Because they were not talking loud enough to be a distraction I missed this. I think that it is great she was writing me things to keep an eye out for and tips on how things operate in her classroom.

·      What did you learn about your students’ literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?

I learned that the students already know a lot. I was surprised to hear all of the good thought regarding our vocab words and out amazing words. This is probably because all of the reading they do in their free time. After this lesson I really get a taste of how important reading for fun is, even if the kids don’t realize it, they are learning new vocabulary.

·      When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?

The benefit of going into another teacher’s room to teach reading is that she has an MSU senior and a CMU intern in the room at the same time. My ELL student really benefits from the one on one attention and is able to get the help she needs. My EI student is more manageable with more adults in the room so it is a benefit for him too.

·      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?

I think I could be more animated and enthusiastic. It was my first lesson and I haven’t seen much reading so I was pretty nervous. I think if I was more confident and flexible with the lesson, the students would respond better and participate more.

·      How did you limit the extent to which ethnic, linguistic, and/or gender biases occurred during your   lesson?

The first part of the lesson was discussion and the second part was reading from the text book. I picked kids at random for the discussion part and same think with the reading. I chose random kids to read from the book.  

·      What did you learn so far about implementing your ‘core practice’ and what do you need to do to continue your professional learning?

I learned that a teacher led discussion is something the students react well to. If I can manage to keep them interested in the topic I could have a discussion for the length of the class probably.

Lesson 2

·      What did students learn and which students struggled with the lesson?

Today the students learned about prefixes and suffixes. Like yesterday they performed well during a teacher led discussion. I would choose certain students to read and after they read I would recap. None of the students seemed confused as we went along so we breezed through. Usually this would be the end of the lesson and they would read a book but I wanted to put my own stamp on reading street. I had the students fill out a KWL chart before they read the story tomorrow. This way I can keep then and see how they comprehend the stories.

·      What are alternate reads (interpretations) of your students’ performance or products?

 I found that the KWL was new to these kids and I had to explain it a few times before they were comfortable enough to start. I think this could also be because I threw off the usual routine of reading street. I collected them with the K column filled in. This way I know they won’t get lost and I can re-explain the directions when I pass them back out.

·      What did you learn about your students’ literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?

I learned that they are creatures of habit already. I wanted to do something different and it blew their minds. It is usually their free reading time, but I know not all of them are on task, so I will continue this practice because I can get info from them and keep them from goofing off.

·      When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?

After the reading day tomorrow I will sit down with my ELL student and go over he worksheets with her. She will need help remembering what we covered. The information that is covered today is in the form of a worksheet that happens in two days.

·      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 had a say in how the reading street was handle din the room I would not go at the pace they are going. I would also have the worksheets go with the lessons as they were being taught. I don’t think it is effective to give the students worksheets two to three days after the information is presented to them. The program does a good job keeping everything together and going at a good pace, it’s the way the teacher has manipulated it that is the problem.  

·      How did you limit the extent to which ethnic, linguistic, and/or gender biases occurred during your   lesson?

Same as yesterday I call on random people and have them read. The readings are skill readings or about basketball so they are universal texts.

·      What did you learn so far about implementing your ‘core practice’ and what do you need to do to continue your professional learning?

I think my students need to learn respect for each other and for me. When I ask a question and a student answers I expect the rest of the room to be silent so they can hear the answer and I can hear the answer. That is no always the case. Tomorrow I will have a talk about respect and how it is a two way street. I respect you when you talk to me, do the same for me and your fellow classmates.

Reflections- Emily

Lesson 1

What did students learn and which students struggled with the lesson?
My students first opened the class with a discussion about "How can we learn to appreciate the talents of others?". They were great with coming up with ways that they appreciate the other talents of students in our classroom, as well as members of their family. They were even more enthusiastic with volunteering ideas of their special talents. My students learned the comprehension skill Cause and Effect. They were great with placing together the idea that an event might have more than one cause, and could possibly have more than one effect. One thing they struggled with was when we actually read the story, figuring out the cause and effect relationship if it was implicit or explicit and they relationship. Students understood the cause of the event but some had a hard time piecing together what directly or indirectly caused it if it wasn't in the same sentence. While they were able to breeze through the introduction because they were creating their own events of cause and effect, but putting it into a real story that they haven't read before presented to be more difficult for them.

What are alternate reads (interpretations) of your students’ performance or products?
My students were seemed very engaged during the lesson during our concept talk. They sure love to talk, and definitely talk about themselves. I knew they were engaged because almost every hand was raised, and we also ran over my estimated time for our discussion. Each student also had to answer two questions after they read their small books, and I did receive a 100% of the students work. I was able to evaluate the written work and see the progress they made with understanding cause and effect. Some students that I thought were struggling were able to put it into works nicely while others couldn't get their thoughts to written words.

What did you learn about your students’ literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?
I learned that students that can read fluently have higher comprehension levels and were able to understand Cause and Effect more easily. The more fluently they read the higher level of understanding they had. Many students used strategies like having a piece of paper and moving it down each line they read, others used a finger. Students also had the opportunity to read with a  partner, some students struggled more with reading aloud than reading silently individually.

When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?
There were a few students that I could tell were really struggling with the concept of cause and effect, and I actually pulled them individually for a one-on-one conference during SSR time. I meant with each student to just go over one more time with 2 short stories I found with more obvious cause and effect relationships. The students seemed to be more focused when it was just them and myself. They were able to ask more questions and I was able to have attention on them and their needs with understanding.

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 teach this lesson again, I would chose a different story than the one that Reading street provided because It really wasn't a good starting story for introducing cause and effect. The relationships were more implicit rather than explicit. The small books were great with the questions they provided for text-text connections and text-self as well as text-world for the cause and effect strategy but it would be helpful to have a better starting point before.

What did you learn so far about implementing your ‘core practice’ and what do you need to do to continue your professional learning?
I learned that there are so many ways to implement strategies for comprehension. Even little tools as working on fluency and different ways of understanding what you are reading. I would like to learn more strategies and learn more about how the 'core practices' intertwine.

Lesson 2

What did students learn and which students struggled with the lesson?
In this lesson students first learned vocabulary words that are used throughout the story for the week. This is helpful for their comprehension because most of the words they do not know, but then using context clues can figure it out (we show them a picture of the word, have them give their own personal definition, then someone reads the book definition). Then we discussed the genre of the story which the students excelled at and were able to have some text-to-text connections with other books we have read of the same genre. Then we started to read the first half of the story, pausing throughout to think about different things, questioning out loud, figuring out cause and effect. Many students were able to understand that it is good to have questions while reading, and it helps them understand more. The students that struggled the day before seemed to understand Cause and Effect better, and this story also did a great job of allowing time for higher level thinking and critical questions throughout about cause and effect.

What are alternate reads (interpretations) of your students’ performance or products?
For the vocabulary I was able to see how the students understood the words, because we did an interactive vocabulary game on the "smart board" after introducing and defining the words. The students did well with the words and with the game, constantly raising their hands to participate. During the story I was able to see which students were following along and which ones were day dreaming, because I was circulating the room and first drawing sticks for students to read (and keep them accountable to be reading with the group), then switched to volunteers.

What did you learn about your students’ literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?
Again with the comprehension I was able to see how they read their books and how they followed along. Some students used their fingers, others had their books propped up. We also did a lot of questioning during the story, we paused and would question the author. There were a few moments I had planned for students to pick up on possible text-to-text connections from different stories, and they picked up on 2 out of 3. 

When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?

At the end of the class I asked if there was any questions over the story or the vocabulary words. Students were given the opportunity to stay inside during recess to receive additional support. There is always time during SSR as well. In this lesson, there wasn't any students that stayed in for help. 

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 teach this lesson again, I think I would just read the entire story in one day. Reading street called for us to break it up into two days, but the story was fairly short and would have been beneficial to cover in just one day. The flow of the lesson and story would have been smoother and easier for the students.

What did you learn so far about implementing your ‘core practice’ and what do you need to do to continue your professional learning?
My 'Core Practice' was comprehension and the skills around it. Again I learned about how broad comprehension truly is, with so many different aspects going into the deep understanding of stories and the reading of anything. There are also a variety of different ways that students learn best, from audio to visual to even hands on and these are all things to take into account when planning lessons. Some students may need more hands on activities to really understand "Cause and Effect" while others just need definitions written in text.