Jessalyn Rowlee

ENGED 465
Teaching Reflection #2
Due October 22, 2014
Provide specific examples of learning and instruction to clearly and specifically illustrate your
reflections. You may find that your lesson plans are helpful sources to these specific examples.
Focus on the instructional practices you can engage in to support your students content area
literacy through academic conversations. Explain, with examples; you may wish to focus on one
particular lesson scenario for clarity:
1. How will you prepare students to be effective listeners? (Consider specific support
strategies you might use.) What is the value of your chosen methods in supporting students content area literacy in your discipline?
In order for students to be effective listeners, they need to see the importance of what
they are learning, have something to look at or watch, or simply have a reason to listen. In a
high school classroom, lecture should be no more than 20 minutes because students will become uninterested and stop listening. Even 20 minutes is a long time to be lectured at. In order
to prepare students to be effective listeners we may want to consider giving them a study guide
while listening to point out important pieces, or help students take notes during the lecture by
providing notes on the board to copy. With any of these strategies, it is important that the students are engaged. It is good to include them in class discussion or even questioning them during lecture. While they need to be sure that they are listening to the teacher, it is also important
that they are listening to their classmates.
Often in math, lecture is basically required in some way or form in order to teach students new material. This is what I would do to prepare students to be effective listeners. First, I
would always encourage students to take notes during class. Some students may not want to,
but even giving participation points for taking notes may be helpful. I would provide them with
definitions, theorems, equations, applications, examples, and any other necessary material for
understanding of that topic. Throughout the lecture/note-taking, I would be sure that students
are staying engaged by maybe asking them questions, asking for help or ideas when solving
problems, or maybe asking them to do some kind of Think-Pair-Share activity to get some class
discussion going. I have also noticed math teachers who give a worksheet for note taking during
lecture. An article I read stated, the majority of students are visual learners; thus, this method
will help them make associations from existing to new concepts (Ming, 218). This worksheet
follows the notes exactly, and gives the students certain places where they need to insert the
correct phrase, answer, or actually work out a problem. This keeps them engaged in the lesson
and also gives them something to look back on when they need help doing homework or studying. It also helps them to make connections to previously covered material. The National Council of Teachers of English stated No matter what the subject, the people who read it, write it,
and talk it are the ones who learn it best (Carter, 128). Whenever discussion is part of the lesson, students will be provided with specific questions or examples in order to give them a guideline to keep discussion going and keep the students on task. The value of these methods is that
by participating and collaborating with one another, they will learn to listen to others opinions
and explain what they do or do not believe to be true. It is also said that we learn best by teaching something to a peer, so it is important that as peers we learn to listen and give feedback to
one another.

2. How will you prepare students for meaningful, content-appropriate oral participation?
(Consider specific strategies you might use.) What is the value of your chosen methods
in supporting students content area literacy in your discipline?
For students to have meaningful, content-appropriate oral participation I think its important that they know the vocabulary well enough that they use that given vocabulary while participating in any content-area conversation. A simple example of this would be using the terms
numerator and denominator rather than saying the top/bottom of a fraction. When giving
students something to discuss or present to the class, it is important that you make it clear as to
what they are to talk about. For example, if you do a Think-Pair-Share activity, be sure to give
the students a short list of questions or examples that they are supposed to be talking about.
Also, be sure that everyone has a chance to talk, ask questions, or share opinions. Another important consideration during oral participation is for students to be aware of whether their answer was correct. An incorrect answer should not be scolded, but rather corrected and pushed
toward the correct answer.
In math, we really learn by doing and practice. I would definitely encourage students to
take chances and answer questions during class. I would also be sure to put students in pairs
somewhat regularly so that they can see the problems and examples from the perspective of
another student. Sometimes, the teacher does not approach problems in a way that students
will understand. In this case, it is better to have it explained to them by their peers. I would want
my students to feel comfortable talking in class and with their peers. Its important that they have
the chance to collaborate and talk with their peers. One article I read suggested jigsaw groups.
This would allow students to collaborate with one another and also help them to use contentappropriate oral participation. Jigsaw groups can be used to learn an assigned step of a procedure need to solve a problem, and then explain the designated step to group mates (Ming,
216). To expand on that a bit, students take the time to participate in discussions with a small
group to learn a specific step or idea, they then take their understanding to a different group
(that group has been learning about other steps or ideas) and the members share and discuss
what they have learned. I have used this in some of my classes and its really a great way for
students to learn in a manner where they are responsible for their learning, but also responsible
for teaching. I think that gives the students a sense of responsibility that they do not want to let
down group members. They want to be knowledgable and share what they have learned.

3. How will you ensure students are engaged in learning the content while participating
in authentic academic conversations? (Consider specific support strategies you might
use.) What is the value of your chosen methods in supporting students content area literacy in your discipline?
In my teacher education classes, it has always been made clear that when students are
participating in academic conversations they need a specific set of questions or discussion
points to follow. This set of questions or discussion points is to help keep students on task, but
also to help keep them engaged in the discussion. The points should not include strictly lower
level questions, but should contain a lot of higher level questions. The higher level questions
should be prepared to engage students and keep them interested in the conversation. In math,
students are often curious as to how they will ever use it in the future, or why they need to do
something. When students are engaged in academic conversation, why not allow them to think
about the ways that it may apply in the future. They may need guidance with this, but through
good discussion questions students are likely to find their way to the point.
A great way to ensure students are engaged in learning math through academic conversations is to give them the chance to use Think Alouds. This strategy would give students the
chance to verbalize each step for solving a word problem. When solving algebraic problems,
for example, emphasize the importune of maintaining balance, which means that what is done
on one side of the equation must be done on the other side as well (Ming, 218). Think Alouds
would require students to be engaged in learning math. Teaching is the best test to determine
whether or not you have learned a subject/topic/idea. If students use Think Alouds to teach other students, it will help them to understand the materials necessary to share it with others in
academic conversation.

4. How will you extend students expressed understandings to deepen content area literacy? (Consider specific tasks you might introduce or feedback you might provide.) What
is the value of your chosen methods in supporting students content area literacy in your
discipline?
Often times, we learn from our mistakes. I think this is something that, as teachers, we
should keep in mind. As students express their understanding of materials or content, it is important that we provide them with feedback. As I was reading an article (that Im currently unable to find - it was just something I read a couple weeks ago for a different class) about homework, it pointed out that we need to be sure to provide students with feedback on what they
have done. This gives the students the feeling that what they are doing is important, and helps
them to correct what they are doing wrong. The feedback that we provide should not be broad,
for example, good job or this could use a little work, but should be specific as to what has
been done right or wrong. An example of this may be: So close, but next time remember to
multiply or divide before you add or subtract. By taking the students understandings and repeating what they have said back to them and being clear with WHAT needs to be adjusted and
HOW it should be adjusted, we can help students to deepen content area literacy. This does not
need to be done in a way that the students would feel hurt by it, but could be done through
questioning to get to the correct understanding of the material.
In math I think another way to learn from mistakes is to go over homework questions. I
think that I have always learned best in math by going over homework that has been returned. It
gives students a chance to understand what they have done wrong and to possibly see new
ways of coming to answers though what other students have done. I think it is crucial to take
time to go over material that has been learned, such as homework that was assigned or review
materials for a test.

Works Cited
Carter, T. and Dean, E. Mathematics intervention for grades 5-11: teaching mathematics, reading, or both? Reading Psychology, 27(2-3), 127-146.
Ming, K. 10 content-area literacy strategies for art, mathematics, music, and physical education.
Clearing House, 85(6), 213-220.