Dylan Brooks-TWS 8-10 November 2013 Showcase Mini-Unit November 4th-6th I taught my showcase mini-unit during my 429 clinical

experience. These lessons covered three of the story elements they studied in 3rd grade; conflict, character, and theme. These ELA lessons were integrated with social studies by utilizing Native American legends and were designed to be a cooperative learning activity. At the beginning of each lesson I modeled each story element graphic organizer with the text The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie dePaola. After the text was read or reintroduced during each lesson, the organizer was clearly displayed and completed on chart paper so that every student could see. This was done to help eliminate confusion about how they were to complete their graphic organizers. After they had guided practice in identifying and explaining each element with the whole-group text, the students were broken into partners to read a short Native American legend and identify the story element in their text. There were four different legends and each was on different reading levels. These legends were handed out accordingly. The students would work together to fill out a graphic organizer, but each student was given an organizer so that they are each held accountable for their own learning. The students returned to the same groups and legend each day, but with a different story element focus. The students were strongly encouraged to find explicit evidence from the text to support their answers. This was also modeled during the modeling phase of the lessons. I believe these lessons were developmentally appropriate because the students were given explicit modeling with the whole-group text and they have had experience in interacting with the teacher about a given text. Furthermore, the students in this class have the skills necessary to work cooperatively with their peers in a positive and constructive manner. In addition, during the first lesson the SSCA was incorporated by reminding the students how to work in a group and that to remain respectful they need to let the other people in the group share their own ideas. During each of these lessons, I tried to create a positive learning environment so that every

Dylan Brooks-TWS 8-10 November 2013 student felt comfortable when sharing their ideas whole-group. I was respectful each time a student gave their ideas and if they were incorrect I would try to ask them a question differently to try to guide them back to where I wanted them to be. For instance, I would restate a question differently or get them to reword what they were asking. I always try to never tell a student that they are wrong but rather encourage their efforts. I feel that this negatively affects their willingness to share whole-group. Whole Group Performance Overall, I believe that the format of these lessons was successful and that every student made progress with this content. The students in this class typically enjoy a more active learning environment and seem to be able to work together efficiently. I believe giving each group a different legend based on reading level was a good choice because it gave the lower-performing students in ELA a chance to display what they know and not be inhibited by a text they do not fully understand. The students overall performance showed growth from the beginning of the unit toward the end of the unit. This assessment is based on their graphic organizers and teacher facilitation during group work. There are two instructional decisions that I would have made based on my reflection of these lessons. First, the students were encouraged to find evidence in the text to support their responses in their charts. If I were to do this lesson again, I would have the students underline their evidence in the text and then share out whole group why those chose that part of the text. I believe this would have reinforced that skill they have been practicing. Furthermore, they could have made the connection that finding evidence in text is important in other subjects as well; i.e. social studies. The second instructional decision would be to narrow the focus of the third lesson. During the third lesson they are to find the main lesson or theme of their legends. I believe it would have been more beneficial for them to find the one word theme of the stories. For example, the overall theme for the whole group text could have

Dylan Brooks-TWS 8-10 November 2013 been sacrifice. This would have allowed them to think more critically about their stories to find one word to fit their theme. Individual Student Performance The student that was most successful in result of these lessons showed that they had deep understanding of each story element. This student explained his/her thoughts completely in the graphic organizer and as observed by teacher observation. The student went as far as to use quotations to cite her evidence from the text and it clearly supported her responses. This student was also actively engaged during the modeling phase of the lessons and gave relevant comments to help complete the whole-group chart. I believe that this explicit modeling phase of the lesson and offering students appropriate questions to guide their thinking. Furthermore, using the students responses and phrasing to use on the graphic organizer reinforced their ownership in the content. The student that was the least successful in result of these lessons showed that they had little understanding of each story element. This student could not give sufficient or relevant information in their graphic organizers. This student is typically a low-performing student in ELA, but does put forth effort in completing his/her work. Based on teacher facilitation during group work, I concluded that this student needs more intensive instruction on comprehension skills. The student was not able to pick out the appropriate pieces from the text to form the correct reasoning. I believe that I could have made two instructional decisions based on this students lack of success. First, the student could have been placed with a higher performing student during group work. I believe that this would have given him more support when reading the legend and working out an appropriate answer for the different story element graphic organizers. Secondly, the student could have been given the legend early to ensure that they would have sufficient time to further analyze the text with his/her partner. I believe that this would have

Dylan Brooks-TWS 8-10 November 2013 increased his comprehension by allowing him more time to focus on comprehension during group work without having the extra burden of decoding the text. The student that performed consistently average over each lesson showed that they had sufficient understanding of the element he/she was exploring that day and was able to have appropriate discussions with his/her partner during group work. The graphic organizers showed that they had a basic understanding of the text and were able to show reasonable responses. The student was also able to orally communicate to the teacher their reasoning with a few more critical thinking questions. I believe that this student benefited from the teacher-modeled text and explicitly filling out the organizer beforehand. Using student responses and phrases gave the student further ownership of the content. This student was also actively involved during the whole-group phase of the lesson. To better improve this students performance would have been to allow him/her to share what they found with another group that had the same legend. I believe that this would have allowed for further cooperative learning and allowed both groups to expand or explain their reasoning orally to their peers. Professional Development Goals My first goal is to feel more comfortable in taking control of the classroom. I do not want to be afraid to call students down during class time and should feel more confident in being in front of the classroom. During my mini-unit lessons, I noticed that I felt uncomfortable gaining their attention back to me. I want to be able to give whole-group instructions when they are not completely focused on me. For instance, reminding them how to work in a group when I notice some working uncooperatively. My second goal is to be able to handle difficult situations better; i.e. a student crying or being inappropriate in class. I would like to be able to handle it better and more efficiently during class time. Being able to quickly correct these situations would be very beneficial to creating a more safe learning environment.

Dylan Brooks-TWS 8-10 November 2013 Lesson 1 Reflection On October 1, 2013 I taught my first lesson of my 429 clinical experience. The lessons objective was as follows; When given a grade level text, students will ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of the text. This aligned with Common Core Standard RL.3.1; Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. I wanted this lesson to be interactive as possible, so I tried to give the students opportunities to talk to me and each other. I also wanted to create an environment where every student was expected to participate. For this lesson the students were expected to fill out their charts during the modeling phase of the lesson as I was filling in the whole-group chart at the front of the room. During the independent portion of the lesson, students were expected to fill in the chart as they came across questions and/or answers they heard as I was reading the text. However during the lesson I had to monitor a few students so that they would stay on task. I believe that I presented the material in a logical order because I introduced the text and modeled what I wanted them to do. I gave them an opportunity to try the strategy with me before I released them to complete the chart on their own. After the text was read they were able to share with a partner what questions and answers that they found before they shared them with the class. We completed the class chart and then I summed up what strategy they learned. I then connected it to how they could use it when theyre reading independently and how it was important to constantly question and think about the text. I tried to pick a more enjoyable book to read whole-group so that the students might be more motivated to work and participate. I tried to choose a book that the students could easily relate to. The text I chose was, Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst. This book was about a boy who struggled when it came to saving money and it followed him through his week of poor spending choices. The students were able to relate because they have had similar experiences where they just were not able to save money efficiently. The interest level and general mood of the class seemed relatively high. I had a large amount of student participation during whole-group instruction and the think-pair-share portion of the lesson. The charts that I provided during this lesson were designed to be simplistic and logical. It had only two columns labeled question and answers in which the students would write their answers. Some of the classroom management techniques I used during this lesson were mainly to gain their attention again. The cooperating teacher had already set a base for some of these techniques

Dylan Brooks-TWS 8-10 November 2013 before I used them. The most effective technique was to say, Class, class , class. The students would then answer with, Yes, yes, yes. They would know that this meant to stop what theyre doing and to listen to the teacher. I was afraid that the students wouldnt respond when I used this technique because I was not the cooperating teacher, but surprisingly they did respond well to this technique. The interaction between the students and I was positive. I kept a positive tone and encouraged the students when they were giving their ideas for the whole-class chart. My cooperating teacher commented that I was respectful when disciplining a student during a lesson. I had to remind one student several times what was expected of them while they were on the carpet. Based on student performance, I believe that this lesson was successful. About 80% of the students filled out their charts with the whole-class questions and were able to add relevant questions of their own. However, during the next reading lesson I will take the time to review the strategy learned during this lesson to help the students who did poorly with the charts. The students in the 20% are mainly either ESOL or typically low-performing students in reading. A review of this lesson would be beneficial to every student because the next lesson directly builds upon this one. During the next lesson, students will take the same text and find explicit proof to support their answers. With the students performance on this lesson, I feel confident that they will do well during the next reading lesson. When finding their answers with supporting proof the students will be working cooperatively. I hope this will benefit my lower-performing and ESOL students. Lesson 2 Reflection On October 3, 2013 I taught my second lesson of my 429 clinical experience. The lessons objective was as follows; When given a grade level text, student will ask and answer questions and explicitly cite information from the text to demonstrate understanding of the text. This aligned with Common Core standard RL.3.1; Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. I planned this lesson so that it directly built upon the previous reading lesson. We used the same text and the questions that were used were based on the questions the students formulated during the last lesson. This lesson was intended for students to take one step further and for them to find evidence in the text to support their answers. This was a new strategy that they have not practiced before. The main activity involved students working cooperatively to find the answers and proof. However, each student was to fill out an individual chart so that every student was accountable for learning. I allowed the students to pick their own partners as a way of motivation. The

Dylan Brooks-TWS 8-10 November 2013 students were given the expectation that they had to work hard and stay on task if they wanted to be able to continue working with that partner in future lessons. At the beginning of the lesson, I modeled what the students were expected to do. I projected the chart using the iPad and completed the first question in the chart together. I modeled how I went into the text and found the appropriate evidence to support our answer. During the modeling phase I related the strategy more personally to explain the importance of finding evidence or proof. I started by asking them the first question and they readily knew the answer because we previously worked with this text. I then told them, What if you told someone the answer and they did not believe you? How could you prove your answer to them? During the group work portion of the lesson, I walked around the room and facilitated the students progress and cleared up any confusion of the students. I had to correct some students behavior and remind them that they need to be on track. This was usually done whole-class, without calling out specific students. The student that is ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder) was removed from the classroom by his shadow because he was highly uncooperative. However, this is not a rare occurrence with this student. For early finishers during the group work time, I instructed them to travel to another group that was still working to see what answers they have come up with and see if they need to take a second look at their own answers. I hoped for this addition in the lesson to help promote peer-help, but in hindsight it was mainly a distraction for the students who were not finished working. This strategy did not prove to be effective with this class. I believe they needed more explicit expectations of how they are to behave and work together with other groups. During the final conclusion of the lesson, I called the students back to the carpet to discuss what they found. I asked students to share their answers and the page where they found this information. I asked the student to explain why they chose this page and how they think it supports the answer. After the student gave his/her reasoning, I asked the class if they agreed/disagreed or if they have a different answer. If a student gave a different answer but was able to support their reasoning logically. This brought another point that I wanted discuss. The students should know that sometimes there are multiple sources of proof that can be found within a text to support your answer. I related this strategy back to their independent reading and how they can use this strategy during their own reading. I told them that good, critical readers should be looking for proof from the text to support the answers they find to questions.

Dylan Brooks-TWS 8-10 November 2013 The interest level and general mood of the class was seemed relatively high. This class really enjoys working cooperatively and the cooperating teacher has set appropriate expectations for how to behave and work together. The participation during whole-group instruction was decent but another motivational strategy that I wished I had used was to let the students write in the page number where they found their proof on the paper under the iPad that was projecting the whole-group chart I used to model at the beginning of the lesson. Based on student performance that I witnessed during group work, class discussion and their completed charts, I believe the students were successful. About 74% of students completed their charts with appropriate page numbers to prove their answers. I was also surprised by two of my ESOL students by their understanding of the material.