A reading success!

I'm running a reading group in my kindergarten this spring.  I have four kiddos, all reading at the D level (F&P score).  Two are very motivated to read, but the other two try to race each other through the books, paying little attention to the actual process of learning.  They race because they are competitive, but also in part because the books are boring to them.  One of my racers is a boy and I've been trying to find something that would appeal to him as our books about puppies don't seem to do it.  I selected a non-fiction book about tadpoles and frogs with him in mind, but he wasn't interested and the girls squealed in disgust, much to my amusement!  We started a unit this week on "day and night" so I introduced a new book to the group called "Night Workers," about people who work at night.  He loved it!  The cover picture is a road construction vehicle in a tunnel at night and he was hooked before even opening the book!

Yesterday I asked my mentor teacher if it would be ok to let him read the book in front of the class.  It's not something we normally do, but I knew it would make him feel motivated and it was relevant to our day/night unit.  In How People Learn, John Bransford notes that social opportunities have an effect on a learner’s motivation, saying “young learners are highly motivated to write stories and draw pictures that they can share with others.”  He was excited about the idea, practiced his reading with diligence, and read the entire book to the class with pride.  I was equally proud of him!

In my classroom I would take the opportunity to let all students read to the class, if they wanted too.   There are A level readers in class who run over to me after reading group time to read their new book to me.  They are working with the para in the room and are so proud when they learn a new book.  I know they would be equally excited to read to the class.  I think it would also give the class a chance to practice understanding differences between students and a chance to encourage and support their fellow classmates, whatever their learning levels are.  Perhaps each day or each week there could be time for a couple of students to read to the class.  I think it would be a win-win for everyone!

What did people do before the Internet?!?

Obviously they didn't do much blogging, of course! 

I finished my lesson plan for my solo day this week.  I was feeling a bit apprehensive about the whole thing, but now that the lesson plan is done (off to my mentor teacher for review), I'm feeling much more confident.  I have no doubt I can get through the day, a year of subbing has shown me that, but I want to be sure the students have fun and learn something as well.

I was feeling a bit lost as to where to begin, so I turned to the the trusty Google machine and did some exploring.  Did you know there are TONS of great resources out there?!  Of course you knew.  The Internet is a wonderful place.  I discovered WritingFix and Responsive Classroom and ReadWriteThink and so many other invaluable resources.

I decided to do a writing lesson on chronological narration and a reading lesson on using paraphrasing to better understand what you've read.  I think both should be fun.  I also found a few other activities for throughout the day, including Human Bingo (get to know your classmates!) and an experiment on left/right side dominance.

I have the lesson plan written and the necessary supporting materials created, and now I feel more eager than anxious.  A little preparation goes a long way!

On lesson planning

I've been thinking a lot about lesson planning lately.  I planned my first lesson last week.  I've taught several before, as a student teacher and as a substitute, but this is the first time I've planned a lesson.  The lesson went well enough, but I don't feel like I planned it properly.  I'm not sure if that's because I didn't (probably) or because I felt like it should have been something "more" or "more complex" than what it was.

My mentor sent me his lesson plan template, but it didn't work properly on my computer.  He has a template that has all of the Common Core elements listed in a drop-down box and many essential questions to choose from.  It looked easy-peasy on his computer, but didn't work on my Linux machine.   So instead I turned to the UVEI lesson template, but that didn't make a lot of sense to me either.

I ended up using my mentor's outline, without linking Common Core and just taking a guess at other elements.  My focus was on the step-by-step outline of the lesson because that is the part that made the most sense to me.  That was what I could wrap my head around and felt confident moving forward.

I drafted two versions, each going in slightly different directions, and sent them to my mentor.  He wrote back suggesting version A with a select few elements from version B as well.  We discussed and I moved forward to a "final draft."  I say that with quotes because I don't know if you ever have a truly final draft.  Does it count as final if the lesson changes a bit in progress?

My lesson was on a maps and was to be taught to one of the reading groups.  The lesson, as I had written it and as I had it in my head, was an introduction to maps and a discussion of the common elements found on a map.  When I discussed it with my mentor one final time, on the morning of the lesson, he made a comment about how the EQ should be along the lines of "How do maps help you to better understand what you're reading?"  That made sense, of course, since this is a reading group.  However, the EQ I had settled on, after working through my step-by-step lesson plan, was "What are the four key elements on a map?"  Not quite the same thing!

I taught the lesson, including the topics and activities I had planned, but modifying it on the fly to address how maps help you understand what you're reading, and then forgot the EQ at the end of the lesson anyway!  Oops!  My mentor jumped in at the end to wrap it up and bring it back to the essential question, "How to maps help you better understand what you're reading."

Overall I think the lesson was ok.  My mentor did a brief check-in at the next day's lesson, tying a map into his plan and asking the students how it helped them understand the text.  They seemed to get it.

However, a big lesson learned here is that it's important to start with that essential question!  It's important to keep in mind who you are teaching to and what you are teaching.  This was a reading lesson, after all, not a social studies lesson. 

Despite the hard work I put into this lesson plan, I still very much feel like I stumbled through it.  I'm looking forward to our upcoming UVEI session on lesson planning.  I have a few solo teaching days coming up and I'll need to do the lesson planning for them.  I hope to be a little more comfortable and confident in my planning abilities before then!