Teaching Reflection

What did students learn and which students struggled with the lesson (s)?

The students seemed to grasp the idea of good paragraphs and bad paragraphs. They seemed to understand my train model and what the parts of them were and their functions. I was very wrong when I thought they would be able to make a topic sentence. They struggled hard with this concept. They didn't understand that they couldn't have topic sentences with the describing words "fun", "awesome", "cool", and a lot of them wanted to write the paragraph like they were talking to an audience. This is something I definitely should have pointed out and reiterated during my lesson.

The other lesson with the supporting details was far too crammed into a short amount of time that the children didn't get to have the time I wanted for them to work in class and with me. They all understood why the parts of the paragraphs were important but they didn't know how to apply that to their own writing.

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

The students haven't finished the lesson completely yet since I made the unit out of 10 lessons and we had two days off during the two weeks. They will be editing and revising on Monday and turning in their paragraphs to me on Tuesday.

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

The children are able to do activities that, for example, they have to point something out but are given the material. Creating their own material on the other hand? That was difficult. They could easily show me what paragraphs had but when it came to them writing ones, they had a really hard time applying what they knew.

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

During the editing and revising as well as the publishing is a great time for me to help the students who need more help. Some children are more independent then others so these children can work on their paragraphs with no aid. This leaves time for me to walk around and observe if anyone needs extra help.

· If you were to teach this same set of lessons again, what would you do differently and how do you think the changes would improve students’ learning?

I would probably try to make it much more interesting. At this point, I was making sure I had the right objectives met but I would like to become more comfortable being creative with these lessons.