Math lesson

Last Wednesday, I gave my mini-math lesson to my third grade class at W.A. Young Elementary. This was the last lesson that we were required to teach. We had planned to teach our measurement and estimation lesson to the average math class as soon as we arrived. However, due to the car accident on the way to school that morning, we did not arrive at W.A. Young Elementary until the very end of the average math class. Since this did not leave us any time to teach our lesson to the average math class, we had to make arrangements to teach it in another class. We had already taught a lesson to the high math class, so we decided to teach the lower ability math class.

One of the first things that Mr. Rader told us when we first arrived in his classroom was that he did not advise us to teach to the lower math class. From speaking with Mr. Rader and observing this class, we have learned that this class contains a wide variety of learning disabilities. Most of the class had been diagnosed with severe A.D.D. This causes problems for Mr. Rader because their medicine has usually worn off be the end of the day, creating stress in classroom management. Katherine and I were a little apprehensive as to whether we should teach this class or not. However, we felt that the worksheet and the amount of manipulatives we were going to use would be very beneficial for them. I also looked at this as a challenge. When I become a teacher, I know that there will be students like the ones in the low math class that I will teach. Teaching these students can be stressful a lot of the time. However, when these students begin understanding what is being taught, a teachable moment occurs. I was not expecting to teach this lesson, and for it to go perfectly. There is always room for improvement.

We split the class into two groups. I took one group, and Kathryn took the other group. We each had between five and six students, which was enough considering their learning disabilities and behavioral problems. Students used different objects as measuring tools to measure the length of the objects/manipulatives that were provided. Students used paperclips to measure the length of their desk, pencils to measure the height of their desk, string to measure the length of their smile, and their shoes to measure the length of the room from one side to the other. While one student read the directions to a problem, other students were cutting up, and talking with one another. I had to stop what I was doing to deal with these individual students, which took away from valuable learning time. Mr. Rader warned me before my lesson that I had two students that had the worst behavioral problems in the class. Throughout the lesson, he kept a close eye to make sure they were behaving. As they worked on the individual problems, I noticed that the students worked better together in partners. The two boys with the behavioral problems worked in partners and with Mr. Rader. Both boys were very respectable towards me throughout the activity. I could really tell that they were eager to solve the problems, and eager to impress me. Another boy worked by himself, and tended to be the last person to finish the problem each time. Rather than answering the problem right away, he played with the manipulatives at his desk. I spent a lot of time with this student since he did not have a partner, which took away from help I could have been giving other students. When we did the problem where they had to count the number of steps it took to cross the room, I had them go one at a time. I felt that if they were to tall walk across the room at the same time, I could not effectively asses each student. Before I let them walk across the room, I modeled the proper way to walk with one foot in front of another (the heel of one foot touching the toe of the other foot). I felt that this was very beneficial rather than explaining what they were supposed to do verbally. To maintain class management, I had them stand on the back wall shoulder width apart, to ensure that they would not be touching eachother. While one student walked across the room, we counted how many steps he/she was taking together as a class. This also helped maintain classroom management because they did not have the opportunity to talk with one another. Although most of the group counted together, the two boys with the extreme behavioral problems were messing with manipulatives on the side. From observing this, I now understand how much attention these students need. If you are not talking to them directly, or giving them one task after another, they will act out inappropriately. After I took notice of that, I pulled them aside and made them aware of what they were supposed to be doing. With each boy, I walked across the room with them to make sure they were performing the task correctly. With one boy, he performed the task correctly at first, but the closer he got to the other end of the class, the farther his strides became. I reminded him of the correct way to walk, and we tried one more time. Again, he formed larger strides the closer we got to the other end of the room. I could tell that he was trying hard. He was counting softly to himself, and staring at his feet as he walked across the room, but he just could not do it. I did not want to push him any more and congratulated, and sent him back to his seat to record his result.

The outcome of this activity was successful in my mind. This lesson ended with a smile on my student’s faces and my own. I learned a lot from these students, and I believe that they learned a lot about measurement and estimation based on the assessment that I gained from observing. It is so important to incorporate a lot of manipulatives in math activities, especially for younger elementary students, and students with disabilities and behavioral problems such as A.D.D. Students are more likely to stay on task, and interested in an activity with manipulatives rather than a worksheet that only requires your pencil. Using manipulatives also helped me teach a more effective lesson. I found it a lot easier to use these manipulatives to explain a concept, rather than just verbally explaining it. Prior to teaching our two math lessons, I was pretty intimidated. I understood math, but I did not feel confident in myself to teach math to students. However, after teaching these lessons, I am eager to continue with math lessons, and get gratifying results from my class.

Guided Reading Lesson :)

Last week, I was finally given the opportunity to teach my guided reading lesson to my third grade students. Out of all the lessons we were required to teach, I was the most excited about teaching my guided reading lesson. I taught my lesson during homeroom, close to the end of the day. At first, I was worried that my group of students would be tired and drained from all of their classes. However, when they came into the room excitedly, and sat down in front of me, all of my worries had disappeared.

I began my lesson by asking my group of students to raise their hands and tell me what they think of when they hear the word “trust”. Immediately, hands shot up to the sky, and they all shared their answers with me and their peers. While some students gave their own personal definition of trust, others told personal stories that reminded them of the word. We discussed who we trust, who we don’t trust, and why.

I then introduced the two characters in our book, Never Trust a Squirrel. I drew a chart on the board, and in one column I wrote “squirrel” and in the other column I wrote “guinea pig”. I asked my students what they knew about these animals. We first made a list of what we knew about the squirrel, and then the guinea pig. I asked my group leading questions to help motivate their critical thinking skills. For example, I asked them, “what living environment do these animals live in?” “How are they similar?” “How are they different?” “What sounds do these animals make?” “How do they travel?” We discussed how there are different types of squirrels. One boy discussed the flying squirrel, and how even though they are called flying squirrels, they can’t really fly. He then continued to explain that flying squirrels have stretchy skin under their arms which helps them to jump farther than other squirrels. His knowledge in squirrels really impressed me for a third grader. I asked him where he learned about squirrels, and he explained to me that he read a book on squirrels for A.R. points. I later looked in the A.R. bin, where books are kept, and discovered that there were in fact a large amount of science books.

I then continued with my lesson and introduced new vocabulary that they would need to be familiar with when reading the book, Never Trust a Squirrel. I wanted to make sure that they would remember the vocabulary, so I wrote each word on a large note card: scampered, chitter/chatter, hutch, catch. One at a time, I introduced a word, asked them what they thought it meant, and gave my own definition. For each word, some of the kids repeated the word back to me, said it to themselves, or came up to the note card, put their finger on it, and said it out loud. I was surprised by some of their vocabulary skills. I did not expect them to know what the word “hutch” meant, but to my surprise, one of the children explained that it was an outdoor cage for an animal or pet. To make sure that they were listening while I was reading the book, I assigned actions to each vocabulary word. When my group would hear a vocabulary word, they would have to act out the appropriate action. For the word, “scattered” I instructed them to pat their hands on their legs. For the word, “chitter” or “chattered” I instructed them to giggle, make squirrel noises, or any other noise they think of when they hear this word. For the word, “hutch” I instructed them to put their arms above their head in the shape of a triangle. For the word, “catch” I asked them to create their own motion. As a group, they decided to pretend like they were opening up a door or pulling down a lever.

Before I began reading, I asked my group of students to read so that they could tell me why William the guinea pig should have never trusted Stella the squirrel.
While I read the book, I asked questions, had them predict what was going to happen, and watched to see if they were paying attention to the vocabulary. On one page, I overlooked a vocabulary word, and they quickly pointed it out to me, and did the appropriate motion. This was very reaffirming to know how close they were paying attention. I also could tell that they were paying attention by their positions. All the kids in my group were facing me, looking at the pages. Some of them sat Indian style with their hands in their laps, while others sat on their knees, leaning forward.

After reading, I asked them the same question I asked them prior to reading, “why should William the guinea pig never have trusted Stella the squirrel?” My group answered this question by referring to the different events that happened within the story. By asking this question, I was testing how well they were paying attention, and how well they understood the story, and the concept of trust.

I then asked them to think of someone that they trusted (mom, dad, teacher, friend, pet) and write about the environment that they share with this person or pet. The responses were delightful to read. Based on their responses, I was able to once again check for their level of understanding of the concept of trust, check their spelling and grammar skills, and even learn more about them. Most of the students in my group understood the directions. They told me who they trusted, why, and the environment they shared with them. Some of them even included a personal story which explained why they trusted this person. One boy, who has severe A.D.D., had a more difficult time. I could tell that he was motivated by the story, because he wrote about his own guinea pig. However, he could not explain why he trusted his guinea pig, or the environment he shares with his guinea pig. He was the last one to complete the assignment because it was so difficult keeping him in his seat. This was definitely a challenge for me. I tried to pay him a lot of attention, and help him work on his paper. I asked him questions that helped him think of what he could write about, and even encouraged him to draw a picture at the end.
I learned a lot from teaching my guided reading lesson. It was really neat to teach what I learned in class, and see how my kids responded to it. I learned how effective reading a book can be to children, if you read it in an effective way. Just from teaching my lesson, I was able to observe how much my group was learning about trust, animals, environments, new vocabulary, etc. When I become a teacher, I plan to use guided reading lessons for all the books that I read in my class. Through using visual images, audio, movement, and guided questions, my students will be more motivated and eager to read. I also think it is important to read books that interest them. At the beginning of the year, I think it is important for students to write down their interests. This way, teachers can take that into consideration when purchasing books for their classroom, and in their guided reading lessons. Before leaving W.A. Young Elementary, I hope to be able to teach one more guided reading lesson to my third graders, and hopefully learn more about its effectiveness on children.

Big Word Lesson

Last Wednesday, I was given the oppurtunity to teach my big word lesson to Mrs. Weathers third grade, average language arts class. My big word lesson was on alliteration, which defined by Webster is the "repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables" (www.webster.com). I thought that a great way to introduce alliteration to my third graders would be a tounge twister lesson. Mrs. Weathers picked out five students to join me at the table in the back of the room. All of them looked thrilled to be able to do a learning activity with me. I introduced myself to my third graders, and then asked them to say "toy boat, toy boat, toy boat" slowly. I clapped my hands to show the rhythm, and we said it together on my count. I asked them if that was easy, and they replied "yes". I then asked them if they thought they could say it even faster. Again, we repeated the tongue twister, but at a faster pace. This time, they giggled with one another. I told them that "toy boat, toy boat, toy boat" was a tonuge twister. I then asked them if they knew what a tonuge twister was, and most of them responded "yes" excitedly. The girl to my left continued to explain what a tonuge twister was. I then asked if any of them knew a tonuge twister. We shared a few with one another, and then I introduced my book, Timid Timothy's Tongue Twisters. Prior to reading I asked my students to look for rhyming words, and homphones (I explained to them what homophones were). Every few pages, I would ask questions to keep their interest. After reading the book, we talked about the different rhyming words and the homophones that were in the book, and looked back on the pages they were found in. I asked them if Mrs. Weathers had ever talked to them about alliteration. There was no reply, so I explained to them that alliteration is the repeated sound at the beginning of two or more words in a sentence. I provided examples and asked them what the alliteration was in each of them. We then produced our own tonuge twisters. This is when the lesson took a slight turn. I asked them to make five columns. Some of them has no problem making five columns, where others drew lines that were too close together, overlapping, or they didn't draw enough lines. I had to take a step back in my lesson and help out those individual students. I then told them to label the columns appropriatly (adj1, noun1, verbs, adj2, noun2). Before I let them create their own, we did one together. They seemed to have a good idea of what was required of them. When they began working on their own, I began to notice a little struggle with some of the students. One girl created six tongue twisters, while others struggled on one. Prior to letting them create their own tongue twisters, we went over what an adjective, noun, and verb was. they all seemed very familiar with each of them. However, when they were working on their own tongue twisters, some of them were getting verbs and adjectives confused, and nouns and verbs confused. another girl was writing non-sense words. My lesson was not supposed to take as long as it did, but I did not want to give up. I then decided to take a step back, and work with each student individually. We worked on coming up with adjectives, nouns, and verbs that all started with the same letter, and spelling the words correctly. Rather than telling them how to spell the word, I helped them sound it out, and then even shortened the word to a smaller word that they were familiar with (stair and air). Finally, each student had created a tongue twister sucessfully. We went over the repeated sound in each of their tongue twisters, and went over the definition of allitleration again. Since we were out of time, I suggested that they take their favorite tongue twister and draw a picture to go along with it.

Looking back on my lesson, I know that there were ceratin parts that went really well, and other parts that did not go as planned. Regardless, this was a great learning experience for me. After the lesson, I approached Mrs. Weathers and discussed what went really well with the lesson, andwhat did not go so well. I told her that the lesson probably should've been taught to her advanced class rather than her average reading class. I wonder how the students would react differently to the lesson in my average class. Would they struggle the same way the average class did with coming up with adjectives, verbs, and nouns. Would their tongue twisters make sense. I hope that if I have time in practicum, I will be able to teach my big word lesson again in the upper level reading class. This would be a great way to analyze how students of different abililties would react to my lesson.

I'm really excited about the rest of block I, and continuing into Block II, and student teaching. I've realized that not all of my lessons are going to go as planned, or as smooth as I would like. I think that is the purpose of Block I, II, and Student Teaching. It is all about gaining experience. The more experience I get in teaching lessons, the more effective my teaching will be.