Self-Reflection: InTASC Standards 1, 2 & 3

standard 1

I collaborated with the classroom teacher about lesson topics and he suggested I focus on preparing the students for their reading summative, which is graded on their ability to analyze. Checking their prior knowledge via bellwork, I was surprised when only one student knew what the word “analyze” meant. This is why I asked the students to think about their other subjects and then discussed their ‘Brenda Star’ I&S activity, to jog their memory about looking at the details and making a logical guess; reading between the lines. By making connections between their subjects I hope for them to see that “analyzing” is achievable, since they have already been practicing it. It also gave me information about what they still need to learn. (Standard 1 Meeting Students’ Needs and Developmentally Appropriate Instruction in Understanding Learning) 

During the instruction, I included real-life relatable examples as a way for them to start thinking about analyzing, to normalize the act and not make it something to dread. It is the same reason I planned for a discussion about the purpose of analyzing. Yes, we want to get stronger and better at analyzing but it also makes reading more engaging and fun. While I think this element of the lesson went well, I need to be more patient with the wait time I provide students to respond. Uncomfortable with the silence, I provide the answers too quickly after asking a question. Also, I feel pressure to cover content and the silence feels really long. Next time, I would extend the wait time to allow them the time to sit with their thoughts and give them a chance to volunteer answers, respond correctly, and/or take risks with their responses. This way, my voice is not the major one in the room. (Standard 1 Meeting Students’ Needs and Developmentally Appropriate Instruction in Understanding Learning and Standard  2 Valuing Students) 

While it took more time than I expected, I think taking notes is a good skill for them to practice. It rarely happens in their other classes which is unfortunate. Note-taking, which helps with attention and retention, prepares them for the rigor of and independence of the higher grades. During this lesson a couple of the students were not able to finish taking notes from the “explicit and implicit” slide so I shared the slides with them to review at their leisure, including for the two students that missed the lesson. In regards to the presentation slides, it allowed students to follow along  and I included images for further engagement. (Standard 1 Meeting Student Needs and Standard 2 Students with Learning Differences or Needs)

During the practice activity, I modeled how to fill in the organizer and used sentence frames. I think using the tree analogy was a good visual strategy to have them understand the concepts of explicit and implicit meaning. I differentiated the passages based on the students’ phases as well as learning needs. I think this think-pair-share activity could have been better structured as I noticed that some students skipped the thinking independently stage and went straight to talking with their partner, despite having the instructions displayed on the whiteboard. Time management would have helped me here; perhaps putting a timer up on the board so they could visually see how much time they had for each section of the activity. I actively walked around to support via praising and providing prompting questions. (Standard 1 Meeting Students’ Needs and Developmentally Appropriate  Instruction in Understanding Learning and Standard 2 Valuing Students and Students with Learning  Differences or Needs)

standard 2

The lesson activities I think were sequenced effectively however the pacing was too fast towards the end with the last activity. We had less time than I planned for the production activity hence why I decided to have them highlight the explicit information instead of writing it out. In retrospect, this would have been a good idea to incorporate from the beginning for those students that take longer to complete tasks. I worked with each table separately, providing praise and prompting questions as necessary. With the Charlotte’s Web passage, none of the students knew it and once I explained that Charlotte was a spider, the passage made more sense. This was an error on my part, making the assumption that just because Charlotte’s Web is a must-read in North America, it is not the case in other countries. Next time, I would ensure to ask them if they are familiar with a passage as I did with the earlier Snow White example. I also differentiated the passages based on students’ phase and learning habits and included guiding questions. (Standard 1 Meeting Students’ Needs and Developmentally Appropriate  Instruction in Understanding  Learning and Standard 2 Valuing Students and Students with  Learning  Differences or Needs)

For review, I assigned homework for the students to complete a Quizizz quiz. The link was sent to them after class to complete by Monday 4th. I intend to share the data I collect from the quizzes with the classroom teacher to inform him whether more practice is warranted before their summative assessment later that week. (Standard 1 Meeting Students’ Needs and Developmentally Appropriate Instruction in Understanding  Learning)

standard 3

I think the learning environment was respectful and positive - I offered praise and  encouragement. It was student-centred via differentiated activities in which the students were engaged. I offered pair/group work allowing for the sharing of ideas and learning from each other as they complete the organizer activities; the hum of discussion was reassuring. And, I think I managed the learning environment better than with the baseline video, reminding students to not speak out but I was not consistent which I need to work on so that others have an opportunity to speak up too. The end of the class is a work in progress but today was an improvement; having the students pack up and stand behind their chairs before leaving instead of rushing out. (Standard 3 Creating a Safe, Positive Learning Climate, Student-Centred Classroom and Managing the Learning Environment, Norms and Procedures).

images from here.