Activity #5 Teaching: Small Group Work /Social Studies Vocabulary

Development

Work with one/two student(s). Describe student in terms of gender, ethnicity, and general academic
performance. Select a chapter from the social studies text that the students have previously studied.
Describe how the students interact with the text. Answers the questions below in complete and accurate
descriptive terms. Keep in mind that although this is a table it expands for your content.
Questions: Your Answers- Explain in detail that fully describes your activity.

Who were your students? Students – Brief Description

1. EL Student with emergent reading abilities, but low in math. This student is eager to
read, but struggles with subject specific vocabulary. He can read most narratives;
however, he struggles with academic terms in Social Studies and Math.
2. Student with low reading ability. This student attends RSP and speech classes. When
I tried to have a casual conversation with this student, I can tell that he is thinking of the
correct words to use in order to respond appropriately.

Did the students understand the
vocabulary/key terms?
Were they able to read the passage
fluently? If not, what kind of
modifications did they need in order to
understand?
What were the students’ attitudes
toward the reading activity and the
social studies content? Were they
interested in the topic?
Students were unable to understand a majority of the vocabulary when I initially asked
questions. After reviewing the words contextually, one of the students was able to
remember a majority of the vocabulary words; however, the student with low reading
ability was still unable to retain the information taught.
Students were able to read passage fluently with exception of a few words that were
mispronounced. These students needed a little more time to sound out the words;
however, they were able to self-correct themselves when they recognized their mistakes.
When they could not pronounce a word, they would wait until the teacher gave them the
answer.
The EL student with emergent reading abilities was excited to read the Social Studies
material and volunteered himself freely while the student with low reading ability had a
hard time paying attention. The student with low reading did not want to read out loud
when asked.

Did the students seem familiar with the The students seemed somewhat familiar with the text; however, they needed to refer
ideas and information in the text? back to the text a lot of the time in order to remember specific details about the orange
What evidence do you have for your groves in Riverside. Students were able to remember more from their background
answer? information than from the text that was read during class.

Given this experience with these
students, what have you learned that
will change the way you write your
Social Studies and Language Arts
Unit?
How were English language learners
and native English language speakers
alike? How were they different?
I learned that students with lower reading skills need more time to process and
comprehend the material that is discussed during class time. Even though the high
achieving students and general ed students were able to retain the information after a bit
of prompting, the EL students needed to review the material and have more focused
attention in order to remember what was discussed.
When I was working with the student with lower reading ability, I needed to repeat the
same information multiple times in order for him to be able to recite the information
back to me.
English language learners needed more comprehension questions to ensure
understanding of the passage. EL students were treated in the same way as the general
ed class during guided reading time; however, they needed more directed
comprehension questions and help to complete their assignments.

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What links apply to this activity
concerning Universal Access?
(Universal Access: Review Ch. 7 in the
LA Frameworks and the UA section for
the grade level of your observation.)
Struggling readers need to be given extra support to complete reading and
comprehension assignments. When a teacher has varied learning strategies, students
may respond better to different styles taught. A teacher must be responsive to the
different needs of the students in the classroom.
For the Social Studies lesson that I had reviewed with my students, I noticed that they
methods used to assess their knowledge was limiting their abilities to show their
comprehension. If I had been given more time with this student, I would have tried
different strategies that would allow the student to express himself.

Activity #6: Additional Teacher Aiding /Fieldwork Activities

Please use the chart below and list and provide a brief explanation/description of any additional Teacher
Aiding types of activities that you may have engaged in during your fieldwork experience for this course.
Activities that provide support for the Field Supervisor Teacher as well as those activities dealing directly
with students should be included.
Examples:
• Teach all/part of a lesson prepared/supervised by Field Supervisor
• Prepare materials for a lesson taught by Field Supervisor
• Grade student work
• Monitor seatwork and provide assistance when needed
• Review the Field Supervisor’s lesson plan book

Activity #6: Additional Teacher Aiding /Fieldwork Activities Recording Sheet

Teacher Grade level Description of Activity
Aiding Teacher/School
Activity Type
Teaching- Small 4th Grade/ Worked with struggling students to complete math worksheet. I read through the
group Jennifer Brayard/ questions with the students to help them understand the problems.
Mark Twain
Elementary
Grading 4th Grade/ I corrected spelling tests, reading assessments, grammar worksheets (words in future
Jennifer Brayard/ tense), and narrative essays.
Mark Twain
Elementary
Monitor Seatwork 4th Grade/ Walking around classroom while students work independently on narrative essays about
Jennifer Brayard/ camels.
Mark Twain
Elementary

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Prepare Materials 4th Grade/ During one of the class sessions, I created the wheels that were used for the John W
Jennifer Brayard/ North and Riverside History project. I also made copies while the teacher maintained the
Mark Twain classroom.
Elementary

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