On this page you will find my observed lesson plan, supervisor feedback, cooperating teacher feedback , and overall feedback from my seventh grade field in a middle school classroom at New Berlin West Middle/High school. You will also find my connections with the Wisconsin Teaching Standards 3, 6, the Alverno Education Ability, Communication, and Coordination.
Field Placement Information/Lesson Analysis: My third field was at New Berlin West Middle/High school in a seventh grade classroom. It was a large class of twenty five students and followed the traditional expectations of a suburban school environment. Although students economic status and racial identities were similar their learning abilities in the English classroom were diverse. The students had a range of reading levels and seven students had identified disabilities and followed individual education plans with aid from special education teachers. I really enjoyed my time in this classroom, especially since it was my first experience working with middle school students. I learned many strategies from this field placement for monitoring behavior, specifically with keeping students interested, engaged, and on task. I also learned how to gain and maintain a repore with middle school students which is important when interacting with middle school students. For my seventh graders I created an English Language Arts lesson that focused on developing purposeful annotations while reading in order to draw inferences based on their reading. This was an important skill for these middle school students because it aligned with their curriculum goals in relation to informational text that was closely knit to the Common Core State Standards. My lesson focused on the seventh grade Common Core standard for informational reading, "Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text." To address the diverse reading levels of these students I used leveled current event articles from "newsela", as a result students were able to annotate and share their findings within a small group and the whole class. I assessed student learned through their annotations completed with the tool of the "RAP" checklist, and their complied annotations charts created in small groups. Through this evidence of informal assessment I was able to visually see the type of annotations and connections students made while reading. Students also were asked to reflect on connections they saw between their own annotations and those of their peers which were shared through effective communication.
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WTS 3: The teacher understands how students are diverse in how they learn and creates opportunities that allow them to be successful.
My classroom was in a suburban school district with varied reading levels. Having this in mind I knew I would have to adapt my lesson to the needs of the diverse readers in the classroom. I know I wanted the middle school students to have an opportunity to work in groups, share their findings, and make connections to their peers learning. In order to do this students would need to collaborate and communicate about their reading and the annotations they made. To allow large group student participation and connected student learning focused on the same reading I used the website "newsela" which provided the same the current event article but constructed at developmental reading levels. This way all students could engage in the same topic and communicate their findings equally. I also provided multiple learning opportunities, first I explicitly modeled my expectations for students for their annotations. I clearly modeled a think aloud for students when making their inferences. I also encouraged student participation by formulating an inference together first. Next, students were given the opportunity to practice their learning. I was prepared for student learning to be diverse, I addressed this by providing an annotation checklist for students who need visual expectations, they used colored highlighters and post its to identify and record annotations if they needed tactile learning tools. Students were then given the opportunity to collaborate, allowing students who demonstrate their learning orally. Again, the visual support of an annotations chart were also provided to keep student learning focused. Throughout the lesson I was sensitive to each student and provided multiple opportunities to demonstrate learning. Students were able to hear my thinking through think alouds, participate through creating an inference together, visually see clear expectations and annotation requirements. They had an opportunity to demonstrate their annotations through recorded post its, if uncomfortable sharing in groups, highlighted sections for visual purposes, and oral communication during small and large group work.
Coordination: The teacher confidently shows how to manage resources such as time, space, other educators, and materials to create attainable learning goals for the students.
My instructional objectives were met, but were met through adjustments made for students diverse needs seen in reading levels. Prior to this lesson, I was able to discussed with my cooperating teacher about the best way for students to achieve these learning objectives. My cooperating teacher suggested the use of newsela which served as a great resource to encourage student learning and allow learning goals to be met for all students. During the lesson I made sure students had multiple ways to demonstrate learning. I also planned time allotments that students were aware of so all parts of the lesson could take place. Through my use of my cooperating teacher suggestions, use of her resources, and planned timelines students were provided with time for connected learning and goals were attainable.
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Communication: The teacher effectively uses nonverbal and verbal communication skills to meet the needs of diverse learners. WTS 6: The teacher can use both verbal and nonverbal approaches to encourage and support learning.
In this annotations to form inferences lesson I demonstrated my ability to be an effective verbal and nonverbal communicator. This lesson included the students effectively annotating current event articles in order to draw inferences from the text. I planned to model my thinking and use large visuals to ensure student learning goals were met. I also used my observations of the classroom structure to facilitate my lesson. The students were accustomed to learning from their desks, visuals through power points, and previously worked through annotating with the use of a "RAP" checklist, all of which I incorporated into my lesson. Since my lesson had multiple steps I had to make my expectations very clear. For example I visually provided my expectations on the smart board and verbally stated the expectations also. The seventh graders also had a range a varying reading levels. To accommodate this need I provided current event articles from the site, "newsela", which provides the same article but adjusts the length and vocabulary according to levels. My cooperating teacher had informed of her success with this tool and knew each students reading level so I made use of this information. Through the leveled newsela articles students were able to communicate their finding on the same current event topics when it came time to participate in group work, and share out findings to their peers. For example, once students had completed their annotations of the article they formed small groups with their surrounding peers to compile their annotation (which were recorded on post its) on to large chart paper according to the "RAP" checklist categories. Again I used non verbal communication of visually listing the expectations as well as verbal stating them for students. I also had an example of the chart with the attached annotations we created as class during the beginning demonstration or modeled portion of the lesson. Through meeting the diverse needs and accommodating student reading levels all students were able to communicate their findings based on the same content current event articles to their peers. Students also had to take their communication skills one step further when they shared their annotation charts with the whole class. For the closure of the lesson students recorded any similarities they noticed between their own annotations and those of their peers. These connections among student learning could not have been made with out verbal and non verbal expectations, and communicating student learning among peers.