Caroline Paredes
Lesson #1 Reflection

·         What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson.

After looking back on my students KWL chart it becomes quite clear that different students gathered different things from my lesson. However, there is still a general trend of what students seemed to catch on to most or were most interested by. For the K portion of my student’s KWL charts, the vast majority of the classroom (about 90% of those who responded) included the statement “Fantasy is fake” or a close variation of this statement which still included the word
fake”.  About 50% percent of responses failed to provide any further details about what they meant by this. After and during my lesson, when chances were given for the students to fill in the L segment of their charts, the majority of students wrote down a lot of the elements of fantasy that were discussed in our conversation on the topic of fantasy and were also in the fantasy clip we watched as a group. These included fantasy having a common theme of good vs. evil and heroes vs. villains, magical creatures and creatures that can talk, the use of weaponry in fantasy, and the fact that there have been several instances where fantasy texts have been made into various other forms of media (i.e. film). Students which struggled most were those who were unable to remain focused during our conversation and for the time they had to fill in their KWL. Of these students, 2 of the 3 are resource students who are either cognitively or emotionally impaired. The third is a student which we have been having a lot of difficulty with in terms of controlling her explosive behavior. These students failed to participate with the class and did not complete their KWL charts to my standards (which were not very high considering that this was mostly a pre-assessment). 

·         What are alternate reads of your students’ performance or products?

Alternate reads include assuming that the three children who did not participate actually did have knowledge about the fantasy genre or acquired some, but they simply failed at reporting it. There was also some suspicion from both my MT and I that students were filling in part of their K and W column when they were supposed to be leaving it alone or filling in the L column.

·         What did you learn about your students’ literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?

While this is still somewhat tied to my third objective, I learned that my students have A LOT of knowledge on texts which were adapted into films. I had originally thought that they would have a lot of trouble thinking of fantasy texts which had been made into films, even WITH my video clip which included several examples of these films. When I asked the students to provide me with examples, every single arm shot up, and I got correct examples every time with the exception of two books or book series which had been made from movies (i.e. Avatar the Last Air Bender and Avatar by James Cameron). This tells me that their mental library of fantasy titles is quite large (as is their knowledge of popular media!).

·         When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?

I planned, and have actually already conducted, a “post-assessment, formative assessment” on common elements of the fantasy genre. I had been re-teaching material for the entirety of their first week by re-iterating several of the common themes of fantasy to my students and then having the kids draw comparisons between these elements and their Coraline text; looking to see how Coraline fit several of these criteria and how. I gave a quick true/false assessment then a few days later on the characteristics of fantasy to my students. I graded them all while they were in library, and when they returned we went over their assessment and I discussed every question. Special emphasis was given to the two questions which tripped up the most students, which were “All fantasy books have a theme” and “All fantasy books have a conflict and a solution”. They seemed very interested and engaged when I went over this, and I imagine it is because it was still fresh in their minds and they were interested in knowing how they did.

·         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 would take extra measures to ensure students understood that they were not to fill in more of their “K” column after doing it on their own time. This could include anything from having students flip it over at their seats to collecting them if the temptation proved to be too strong. This would help me because it would allow me to get a more “pure” idea of what their knowledge was before starting our discussion on the fantasy genre. I would also have students re-iterate instruction and important points back to me, because that holds them more accountable for their attentiveness and they also often enjoy hearing one another speak instead of just hearing me speak all the time. I would make a clear decision to have students either add or not add to the L column of their KWL chart during this lesson. In future lessons, I imagine myself actually collecting their KWL chart after they complete the K and W, and then having them fill out the L at the very end of the unit to see what they were actually able to retain. This would help me see what I did a good job teaching (or perhaps focused too much on) and what I needed to move my focus on for future classes.

·         What did you learn so far about implementing your ‘core practice’ and what do you need to do to continue your professional learning?

       This lesson did not give me a lot of insight into my “core practice” because it was the first lesson taught and focused more on the development of genre knowledge. However, I have learned that my plan thus far is working quite well for what I want to accomplish in terms of reading comprehension. I have been learning along the way that since this lesson was given, I need to up the amount of time I spend explaining comprehension concepts to students, modeling, time that is used for students to share out with me and each other, and also time for them to discuss responses. Because of this I have been doing so accordingly and as time allows.