• What did students
learn and which students struggled with the lesson?
We are focusing on the sound that M makes. Students learned
that m says mmm. When we are reading, we are only looking at the letter M
independently. During this time, when we are tracking what we are reading, some
students say the letter name instead of the sound.
• What are alternate
reads (interpretations) of your students’ performance or products?
My students are really getting good at tracking what they
are reading. I emphasize how important it is that students point to what they
read, and that is what good readers do.
• What did you learn
about your students’ literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?
As we move on in the program, my students are really
enjoying reading independently out loud to show off all that they have learned.
Sometimes we do not have time for everyone in the group to read independently,
but when we do, I let them know how proud I am of them to instill the love of
reading in them.
• When and how will
you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?
During our reading groups, we can review what students have
missed when they were absent. A lot of my days have overlapping concepts so
that helps students catch up on what they have missed, or helps students who
need additional support. When concepts are still not understood, we have time
at the end of our reading groups some days, so I take advantage of that. I can
go over a page again, or we can really focus on a line. We also have note cards
with the key ideas on them, so students can read them independently to get more
practice.
• 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 would do the reading part a little differently.
Students were struggling getting the correct answer after I read it. For
example, we read that Farmer Jones went to town to buy a rooster. When I asked
where he went, my students replied that he went to the store. The read well
program was looking for the answer “to town”. I re-read the story to them after
I asked the question, and they came up with the answer “store” to have my
students get the correct answer. To me, Farmer Jones probably did go to a store
to buy a rooster. My students do not understand the word “town”, because they
are from a city. I should have explained what a town was before I read the
passage to help ensure comprehension.
• What did you learn
so far about implementing your ‘core practice’ and what do you need to do to continue
your professional learning?
My students are learning that we read from left to right,
and that we point to what we read. My students are learning about
letter-sounds. I am learning how else to incorporate this into the classroom
from my mentor teacher, such as adding a “phonics” part to our day. As a class,
we do many activities to learn letter-sounds, such as thinking of words that
start with specific letters, and play letter-sound games.
