Catie Watson - Lesson Reflection #2

Lesson Plan Reflection 10-31-12

• What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson.
• Many of my students did very well during this lesson. The majority of the class was able to identify cause-and-effect relationships throughout the text. I was very impressed with their sticky note responses. Several of my students struggled with cause-and-effect because they simply switched which event was the cause and which was the effect. Some students failed to complete the assignment and did not write down any cause-and-effect relationships. 
• Many of my students were able to use their background knowledge and jot down some notes on their sticky notes. Many referred to past experiences with basketball. Those that struggled made the mistake of "making connections" instead of identifying "background knowledge" (which could be easily confused). Some students wrote about how they would feel if they were the main character. Some students simply stated something that happened in the story, but they failed to explain their past experiences with the event.
• What are alternate reads of your students’ performance or products?
• I may have misread my students' performance because of how I interpreted their sticky note responses. Since I asked them to jot down a short phrase/sentence about what they were thinking in terms of background knowledge and/or cause-and-effect, they may have not been able to successfully express their thoughts. If I would have had an opportunity to ask them about what they were thinking, I may have realized that they were able to successfully identify background knowledge and/or cause-and-effect.
• What did you learn about your students’ literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?
• I learned that many of my students connected with this story and enjoyed the narrative text. I have found that my students seem to enjoy fictional stories better than informational text. Many of them also love sports and found this story to be very engaging. 
• When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?
• I will spend more time re-teaching the material during guided reading group for those that need additional support. I may direct questions about the concepts to students who need extra practice identifying examples.
• 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?
• If I were to teach this lesson again, I would try to shorten the amount of time I spend on teaching vocabulary and going over the Question of the Week prior to reading the main selection. I felt as though many of my students started to lose focus by the time we began reading and using the sticky notes. Thankfully I feel as though the sticky notes helped them to re-focus on the lesson and concepts. 
• 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 absolutely loved using the sticky notes during the reading. They were excited about taking notes and asked if they could keep the sticky notes to use again. I also believe this helped them stay focused and engaged in the reading. Since they were required to be responsible for identifying examples during the reading, they worked hard to pay attention and find examples to write on their sticky notes. I plan to use this method again! I also hope to incorporate other ways for my students to write about their reading.