Reading Lesson Reflection

Reading Lesson Reflection

                                                                                                                                                                                                Jamie Gougarty

Date Taught:

Monday, July 27^th, 2015 from 8:45 to 10:05 am

Lesson Topic:  S.T.O.R.Y Elements

Students will learn about the five story elements based on their instruction level.  As readers, the students will learn to improve their comprehension by identifying and understanding the story elements within a text.  They will also learn that being able to retell a story based on these elements helps them with their comprehension skills.  

What went well:

               My goal for the lesson was to have the students learn and retain the five story elements using the “Picture it” method.  They students really enjoyed being able to learn about the elements as if they were mixing all the ingredients to make delicious soup or story.   They also enjoyed being able to draw the story elements as opposed to writing about them.  My lesson was written using a multi-sensory approach.  This lesson included song, read aloud story, props, and visual aides. 

               My greatest success for this lesson was in my execution of teaching the lesson.  I was able to remain calm and collected and follow the lead of my students.  They controlled the instructional pace which allowed them the ability to process the content and made their learning more meaningful.

What did not go as planned:

Last week, I feel the amount of activities diluted the lesson as well as my anxiety made me rush through my lesson.  This week I learned to allow my lesson to marinate within the students.  This meant my students had time to process information and learn the material at their pace.  Despite my improvements from last week, I still need to work on using appropriate vocabulary and being deliberate and purposeful in my selection of lesson activities.  I always want to create the best lesson, but I learned that is not what is important, as it is all about student learning.

How to change for subsequent lessons:

I want to work on deepening my students comprehension skills within and beyond the text.  However, this lesson helped set the foundation for subsequent lessons in which students made text to text connections and text to self connections.

Comments from university supervisor:

Room for improvement:

·      Still need to work on using developmentally appropriate language and vocabulary to ensure it is not over the students’ head. 

·      My instructional pace made improvements from last week, but this is still an area that needs more refinement.