Kirstyn Howard EDU 420 Seminar Dr.

Susan Seidenstricker March 3, 2014 Teaching Video and Reflective Paper I completed my video on February 26, 2014 in my third grade classroom at Wyomissing Hills Elementary School. During this time, the students completed afternoon work and participate in a reading meeting. Afternoon works allows the students to re-adjust to the classroom setting after lunch and recess and set the expectations for learning in the afternoon. This consists of completing independent practice on a previously learned skill, and in this case, the skill was prefixes and suffixes. I was pleasantly surprised that the students were able to complete the practice with no problems, and many of the students participated when reviewing the answers. The classroom uses a koosh ball to encourage participation, but I have found this very distracting. The students throw the ball up and catch it whenever the teachers back is turned. Also, they have a tendency to not even aim the ball when throwing it back to the teacher. This is apparent in my teaching video towards the beginning. I will definitely have to set the expectations when using the koosh ball. I have noticed that the students even play with the ball inappropriately with the classroom teacher so it will take time to correct this. The transition from indoor recess due to cold weather went smoothly. I completed a countdown from 10 to 0, and I wrote the workbook page number on the board to eliminate unnecessary chatter. I have found that the counting is needed to transition the students or they will push off cleaning up and not ever get to it. Moreover, the students often have difficulty completing the workbook pages after recess because the directions provided in the workbook are not very helpful. Therefore, I usually have to review the directions and give an example for how

the activity should be completed first. After reviewing the answers, I asked the students to put away their workbooks, and explained that we would be switching gears and moving into reading meeting. This segment is missing from the video because my cooperating teacher had difficulty with the video recording longer than a few minutes, and it would just stop in the middle of recording. However, I began by activating prior knowledge and asking what students remember from the story I read aloud to the class the previous day, Brave Measuring Worm. The students also discussed what a myth was since the story was a myth. I proceeded to explain that the students will be completing a Readers Theatre on the same story with a different title and different adaptions from the original myth called Two Bear Cubs. I gave the expectations right from the beginning, which is something I have been working on with the students. I think it is important for the students to be responsible for their learning and explain their job for the lesson right from the beginning. The students were expected to get into three pre-assigned small groups. I am really glad that I prepared the three groups ahead of time to eliminate stress. Also, this made the lesson flow a lot better. Each group had a teacher and the students picked a part to read from a cup. I made sure to have the students repeat the directions back to me to eliminate the number of questions. The students job was to complete the Readers Theatre, return to their desk, add information to their written response from the previous day, and then compare and contrast the play versus the story in their reading journal. Unfortunately, I was not able to discuss the plan with the third teacher since she did not arrive until midway through the explaining of the lesson. Therefore, I had to take time during the transition to explain the Readers Theatre. During this time, my cooperating teacher focused on taping one of the groups, which was really chatty.

I read the Readers Theatre with group two and during this time I focused on inflection, using expression, and adding emotions when reading. I should have explained this while on the back rug with all the students since this is an important part of completing a Readers Theatre. I realized that I did not do so at the end of the lesson during the discussion, I went back and reviewed the importance of expression and emotion when reading. As the students completed their small group work and returned to their desk, I reminded the students what quiet work time should consist of, and wrote the directions on the board for the students to refer to if necessary. I also made sure to post the written response question on the board from the previous day. I have found that problems are reduced if students are provided visual cues for reminders, and I have done this by writing directions on the board or creating posters to hang on the board. Unfortunately, I did not plan the learning tasks for the three learning support students. Therefore, my cooperating teacher had to help and give the learning support students something to work on with their aide. I was so focused on students completing the activities, that I did not take into consideration the fact that the learning support students do not complete written responses in the classroom. I discussed possible learning tasks for the students with the teacher and decided that they were capable to completing the comparing and contrasting the story versus the play with the aide. Then, the aide took the students to the back rug to complete the activity. I really need to make sure I differentiate for these students and understand what is completed in the inclusive classroom environment and what is not completed. After most of the students appeared to be finished, the students met on the back rug where we created a compare and contrast chart together. I prompted the students to think outside

of the box and make connections rather than just stating the obvious similarities and differences. I need to continue to work on prompting students and encouraging critical thinking. Unfortunately, this last part of the lesson is missing from the video because the memory on the camera was full. Overall, I believe this was a successful lesson. The students were engaged and really seemed to enjoy reading the play. My standards consisted of: CC.1.1.3.E: Read with accuracy and fluency to support comprehension, and anchor descriptors: E03.B-K.1.1.1: Answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers, and E03.B-C.3.1.2: Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic, in which all the students completed the activities to meet the PA Third Grade Common Core Standards. Also, student met the objectives: compare and contrast the two stories using a chart, participate in a reading discussion for comprehension, refer back to the text to support ideas in written responses, and make connections between similar texts. I probably should have stated the objectives during my lesson rather than just stating my expectations so the students knew the actual learning goals for the lesson. I really have been focusing on using positive reinforcement in the classroom and encouraging students to make connections with other subjects. This supports the idea of integration. Lastly, I need to work on eliminating the use of certain words when teaching a lesson such as okay and alright. I should be using statements such as I need you to. After viewing the video several times, I find that I get sidetracked often and need to focus on finishing one thought before moving onto the next to eliminate confusion for the students. I have definitely found that one of my strengths is responding positively to the students answers. I want to make the students feel good about themselves and encourage participation. My facial

expressions and intonation in my voice definitely show my excitement. Also, I really try to make connections and provide the support for the students to get to the correct answer rather than just replying with no, that is incorrect. My classroom management has definitely improved because there is not as many side comments now. To conclude, I think setting the expectations has really helped with my classroom management and eliminating chatter because students have learned not to push my buttons because they understand that I am learning too. It is obvious that the students are very supportive of this, and enjoy participating in my lessons. My instruction followed a logical sequence that the students followed well. However, I really wish I was able to videotape the lesson all together rather than in chunks and have the last part of the lesson with the compare and contrast chart because the students were really engaged and participating in the discussion.