Reflection 2

My second lesson seemed to go much better than my first thanks to the reflection I put into that lesson and the time I had to adjust. I had to skip the part I had planned for them to share their work from the previous session because that session went so long that we didn’t get to it. This did give me the time though to revisit the purpose of the draft and clarify the problems we had before. The main purpose of this lesson became to brainstorm ideas of things that might be appropriate for a new student to read about. I noticed that after I clarified the lesson the students mentioned fewer rules ideas that had to do with how we did something and they had more ideas about why we did things in the school or what the things in the classroom were. They also had some great ideas about places they could write about. The only confusion I noticed on the brainstorming part was that some students wanted to write about their favorite places to go. These included Tim Horton’s and McDonalds. I had to make a specific rule that their location be something you could only find in East Lansing. The problem was that for some of the students their entire schema was East Lansing. They didn’t realize there is a bigger world out there and you can go to Tim Horton’s and McDonalds in lots and lots of places. This was problematic in the brainstorming process for them and my mentor teacher and I actually had to sit and conference with those few students to help them come up with appropriate ideas.

I think there is another possibility that the product we brainstormed as a class tripped some students up. There is the possibility that those students had the schema of McDonalds being a world-wide restaurant. I mentioned this in the previous reflection. I think that it is also possible that these students were, once again, not able to put them in someone else’s shoes. It is possible that even though they realize the location they like the most exists in other places, they don’t think about the fact that the new student probably went there too. This ability to think of things from another’s point of view is an upper level task that may be more difficult for third graders.

What I learned about my students beyond the objectives was easy for this lesson. It was my objective to get them to learn how to brainstorm for appropriate ideas. However, I learned a great deal about my students’ interests inside and beyond the classroom. I discovered how much they liked some of the management systems that we use in class, how much they think about the procedures intended to keep us safe in the school, and most importantly about the things they like to do outside of school. This is information that will help me relate to them on a more personal level in the future.

At this time I don’t see students needing additional support on picking a topic. The place I do anticipate the need for support is when my students decide that they don’t like the topic that they picked. My plan was to get ever student to have something written down that they are going to write about. I don’t want to hear in this lesson “I don’t know what to write.” My plan that I will use will be to tell students that they must stick with their original plan unless they can convince me that they will do a better job with another idea. I also will evaluate as time goes along when it is too late to make this switch. Students that do get stuck with a topic they don’t like will be given additional support in the future with lessons that ask specific questions for them to write about. This will help them get details down that they can expand on in their final publication.

I think the only thing I might change in the future of this lesson is the number of choices I give the students to write about. I am starting to think that it might be difficult in the future to explain to students how they will write about rules in the same way that they will write about places. My worry at first was that there weren’t going to be enough places around East Lansing to write about, but I think this might have led me down a path where I am about to teach two different groups of students two different things.

As far as my core practice goes, I think the thoughts I had about yesterday’s lesson have just been reinforced. The students are excited about writing for an audience, but that audience isn’t concrete enough for my students to put themselves in the audience’s shoes. I have learned about myself that I need to spend even more time planning and teaching writing. I am still not seeing enough of the connections students might make to lead them as a group down one cohesive and well thought out path. Experience is going to be a big help to me, but I must also be able and willing to find resources that will help me with this planning.