Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Self-Reflection
To be used by the teacher candidate after observation by the Field Experience instructor and post conference
Date: 4/19/13
My lesson plan was for a group of 3 fifth grade boys. All the boys have an intellectual or speech/language disability. I taught them a strategy to help them self-monitor their focus and engagement in classroom lessons and independent work periods. The strategy was called STOP: S See if youre off task, T Touch the circle, O Organize your thoughts, P Proceed again. I made a poster with each step highlighted a different color and gave the students their own small card that looked just like the poster. I also wrote the strategy on the whiteboard in different colors. I explained each step of the strategy to the students and asked them if they had any questions. Then we practiced the strategy by role-playing. I gave each student the opportunity to be the teacher while I modeled the strategy. After the role-playing I gave the students a chance to practice the strategy by themselves. I gave them some independent work and asked them to use the STOP strategy if they found themselves day-dreaming or off task. After 10 minutes of independent work time we came back together as a group and we discussed how they used the strategy. I then asked the students to fill out a goal sheet associated with the strategy. The students and I will check these goal sheets daily to progress monitor their use of the strategy. The students appeared to be engaged throughout the lesson. They really liked the individual color-coded cards with the strategy written out. They requested that I make the cards a little smaller to fit inside a lanyard holder so it would be easier for them to take it to their classes when they get to middle school. When I started talking about how this strategy could help them in middle school, JH got a little off task and starting asking me about how lunch and recess would work in middle school. I answered a couple of his questions and then I used his being off-task to point back to the lesson of the strategy. I asked him if we were on task with our conversation and he said, Ooops, no. He loo ked at his circle (part of the strategy where you make a tally mark in the circle when you are off task) and I asked him if he thought he should make a tally mark in the circle. He said yes and made a mark. When he realized he was off task, he immediately looked at the circle. That tells me that he was starting to understand the
strategy. With a little prompting, he was able to complete the strategy. CH and JH were asking a lot of questions, and answering a lot of mine. JT gave me a few answers, but never really asked any questions. I found myself talking more to JH and CH because they were talking more. I did not direct as many questions to JT as I did the other two students. I feel like the students really understood how to use the strategy. I feel like they understood it better than I thought they would. I was happy with the lesson and I think the students will benefit from using the strategy. With future lessons I need to be more aware of how Im directing my attention towards the students. Because JT is quiet and not as talkative as the other students in this lesson, I did not engage him as much as I did the others. I need make sure I am devoting an equal amount of time to all the students involved in my lesson. I also did not point out the poster as clearly as I should have. I was referring to the board and the little cards. The students didnt realize that there was a big poster also on the wall. The big poster will be a great visual reminder for them during the school day and I need to make sure they are aware of the poster. The goal planning portion of my lesson was a little confusing for the students. If I were to teach this lesson again, I would explain the goal sheet in more detail. I feel that the students picked random numbers for their goals without actually understanding why they chose those numbers. Overall I feel that the lesson went smoothly and I am happy with the outcome.