Breanna Cook

TWS 8: Reflection, Self-Evaluation, and Professional Development

I taught a three-lesson mini-unit on elements of informational texts such as
main idea, summarizing, text structure, and comparing and contrasting text
structure. For the mini-unit I created and used the same quiz as a pre-assessment
and post-assessment.
Section 1: Whole Class reflection:
A. Based on TWS 6, the lessons I planned resulted in a 13.3 percent increase in
assessment scores for my mini-unit of elements of informational texts. These
elements include main idea, summarizing, text structure, and compare and
contrasting. On my pre-assessment, the whole class average was a 67.6
percent. I planned lessons within the mini-unit that were engaging and
interactive. Students worked in groups for each lesson of the mini-unit. The
group activities allowed the students to explore and collaborate with their
peers to better grasp and retain lesson content. The reading instructional
strategy, a Somebody Wanted But So chart was used with one of the lessons
and a Venn diagram, which is as graphic organizer, was used in another
lesson. The use of visual aides helped the students remember information
from the lessons. As shown in TWS 6, the post-assessment mean for the
whole class was 80.9 percent. This data shows that I was able to effectively
communicate the lessons and that the students, as a whole class, reached the
learning objectives.
B. As I watched the students interact during the lessons, I noticed conflict
within the groups. The students had not worked in groups this year until my

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first lesson of the mini-unit. To resolve conflict I helped students practice
compromising. For succeeding lessons, I changed table groups and gave
closer attention to the groups with the most conflict in effort to keep those
groups on task. Some groups wanted to waste time, but they quickly got back
on task after I walked over to their desks and asked questions pertaining to
the lesson. As I listened to students collaborate in their groups, I heard
appropriate and high level thinking and reasoning. Thus, I knew students
understood the content being taught in each lesson. When I noticed that
students were quickly able to identify the text structure in the second lesson,
I knew I would need to challenge them during the third lesson. So, in the
third lesson the students compared the text structure of two passages. When
needed, I assisted by asking questions to scaffold them to the correct answer.
This scaffolding process showed me the level of comprehension the students
had for the passages as well as the content of the lesson. The use of table
groups helped students at a lower reading level because stronger readers
were able to explain and assist. During my third lesson, one of the groups
needed another piece of classroom chart paper. However, as a modification, I
provided them with a print out of a Venn diagram because I did not want that
group and other groups to waste the chart paper over small mistakes. The
exit slips for the second lesson where students identified text structures,
showed that students could easily identify a text structure they remembered
from the Pass the Bag game. The exit slips from the third lesson, which asked
students to write a sentence contrasting the text structure of the two

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passages showed that eleven students accurately completed the contrasting
text structures sentence starter, six students wrote a sentence contrasting
the details or topics of the two passages rather than the text structures, and
one student did not complete the sentence starter at all. This data shows me
that the students need to continue to work on comparing and contrasting
text structures of informational texts.
C. When teaching this lesson again, I would change the seating so that the
chance of student conflict would decrease. I would ask students who they
work well with and who they cannot work with in order to better plan the
groups. I would not change the content or strategies I used within the
lessons, because I believe they were strong assets to the progress made by
the students. The Somebody Wanted But So chart helped students summarize
informational texts, which was needed for a majority of the students. The
Venn diagrams allowed the students to create and internalize one of the text
structures they identified while comparing the text structures of two
passages. One modification I would make would be to have an extra day
where I could have further modeled how to compare and contrast text
structures. An extra day would also allow students to practice how to write
sentences comparing and contrasting text structures. Prior to the third
lesson, the students had only written their notes but had not fully discussed
the sentence starters, in their reading notebooks, for comparing and
contrasting text structures.
Section 2: Sub-group reflection

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A. For my male and female sub-group, the males displayed an increase of 9.3
percent in their mean scores and the female students mean increased 2.4
percent. The pre-assessment mean for males was 60.3 percent and their
post-assessment mean was 69.6 percent. The females pre-assessment mean
was 76.2 percent and their post-assessment mean was 78.6 percent. None of
the males scores decreased from the pre-assessment and only one male
scored the same on the pre-assessment and post-assessment. One student
was absent for the post-assessment. This student was absent because he
moved schools. The pre-assessment median and mode score for my male
students was a 5/7. The post-assessment median and mode score for my
male students is a 6/7. The female students pre-assessment median score
was a 0.93 and their mode was a score of 6/7. The post-assessment median
score for the female students was a 0.85. This score decreased because two
female students were absent for the postassessment. The female students
mode for the post-assessment was a score 5/7 and a score of 6/7. For the
race and ethnicity sub-group, the African-American students mean was 61.2
percent for the pre-assessment and 73.4 percent for the post-assessment,
which was a growth of 12.2 percent. The pre-assessment median score for
African-Americans was a score of 4/7. The pre-assessment mode for the
African-American students was a score of 3/7, 4/7 and 5/7. The AfricanAmerican students post-assessment median and mode score was a 6/7.
Furthermore, there were five African-American that were at standard or
above. My Caucasian students average scores for the pre-assessment was

Breanna Cook
61.8 percent and their post-assessment mean was 83.8 percent showing an
increase of 22 percent. The pre-assessment data reflects a score of 0.93 for
the Caucasian students median. A score of 5/7, 6/7, and 7/7 was displayed
for the Caucasian students pre-assessment data. The Caucasian students
post-assessment median score was 0.855 and their mode score was a 5/7
and 6/7. After the post-assessment, two Caucasian males were at standard
and five females were at standard or exceeding standard. The Hispanic
students mean score on the pre-assessment was 78.5 percent. One of my
Hispanic students was absent for the post-assessment, but she scored a 6/7
on her pre-assessment. My other Hispanic student scored a 5/7 on the preassessment and a 7/7 on the post-assessment. Thus, the Hispanic students
mean for the post-assessment was 100 percent. The pre-assessment median
score for the Hispanic students is 0.785 and the mode for their preassessment was 5/7 and 6/7. There was not a median score for Hispanic
students post- assessment, but the mode was 7/7. Additionally, the preassessment data showed the Hispanic students as at standard and the postassessment indicated that the student who was present reached exceeding
standard.
B. According to the male and female sub-group, the female students had more
prior knowledge than the males. However, the instruction benefited the
males more for the post-assessment. Hence, the 9.3 percent increase in the
male students mean score. Based on research, I used competition and group
interaction to support my male students. These instructional decisions

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provided the scaffolds and aides necessary to meet the lesson objectives. The
pre-assessment found that the African-Americans and Caucasians had similar
amounts of prior knowledge because their mean scores were close with
scores of 61.2 percent and 61.8 percent. Instructional decisions clearly
benefited Caucasians with the 22 percent increase in mean score compared
to the 12.2 increase in mean score for the African-Americans. All gifted and
talented students in my class are Caucasians, which affected the scores.
During group work activities, I used heterogeneous groups with a mix of
male, female, Caucasian, and African-American students. For the preassessment there were seven student approaching standard, nine students at
standard, and two exceeding standard. For the post-assessment, there were
three students approaching standard, nine students at standard, and four
students exceeding standard. With the students who were at standard and
approaching standard I used visual aides, modeling, and question prompts to
scaffold their learning.
C. The most successful student was student number 1 because his preassessment score was a 2/7 and his post-assessment score was a 6/7. This
student scored the lowest on the pre-assessment. However, by the end of the
mini-unit he was at standard and made the most significant improvement.
Student number 1 is a gifted and talented student, but some days he is not
focused. Therefore, he may not have been focused during the preassessment but was focused for the post-assessment. Additionally, he is a
visual learner and I used multiple visual aides such as charts and written

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directions in my lessons. Future lessons will continue to use visual models
and aides. The student that was least successful was student number five.
This student scored a 4/7 on her pre-assessment but then scored a 2/7 on
the post-assessment. She relies on teacher assistance too heavily. During the
pre-assessment she was assisted by having questions clarified, but did not
receive assistance during the post-assessment. Additionally, she is an
auditory learner that struggles with reading comprehension. In the future,
the assessment administration will be consistent. Students 9 and 10 were
average performance students because they both made a 6/7 for the preassessment as well as the post-assessment. Student 9 is a Caucasian male
and student 10 is a African-American female. Since the students scores did
not increase or decrease, they are considered having average performance.
This performance may be attributed to not being focused or on task for the
duration of group work activities within the lessons. The two students were
in the same table group for each of the lessons. However, I know they did not
cheat on the assessments because for both the pre-assessment and postassessment the two students incorrectly answered different questions.
Therefore, it was possibly the wording of the assessment that contributed to
their results. In their particular table group, these two students are the
higher achieving students. Thus, for future lessons, I will move the two
students to a different table group. By moving to a different group, I can
place them with peers who may provide better support for improvements.

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D. When teaching the mini-unit lessons again, I would make the lessons more
relatable by using passages about iPads, TV shows, movies, or other items
important to students. With the text structure Pass the Bag game I conducted
in the second lesson, I would like to play the game again on a different day
and have the students create the clues for the bags. Overall, I feel confident
that I created lessons that encompassed all of what we have learned in our
education classes over the past two semesters.
Section 3: Reflection on Mini-Unit
The selection of strategies and activities helped the delivery of the mini-unit by
providing visual aides and representations for students to attach new knowledge.
Additionally, I used the schools pacing guide to determine what the students should
already know before teaching my lessons. The pre-assessment helped me see what
the students already knew and what they did not. For example, the questions about
summarizing, comparing, and contrasting were missed the most. For the preassessment I had three students miss the question about summarizing, three
students incorrectly answered the question about summarizing and comparing, one
student missed the question about summarizing, comparing, and contrasting, three
students missed the question about comparing and the question about contrasting,
and one student missed the question about contrasting. Therefore, I knew I needed
to plan my lessons so that the students would have visual aides, modeling, and
personal interactions with the content. The post-assessment results showed that
three students, although different students, missed the question about summarizing,
three students missed the questions summarizing, comparing, and contrasting, one

Breanna Cook
of the students was the same from the pre-assessment, one student, different than
from pre-assessment data, missed the question about comparing, and one student
missed the question about contrasting. One student was absent for the preassessment and three students were absent for the post-assessment. Through the
use of the Harry I Was?! social studies text, I honed in on students interests. The
students love Harry I Was?! because the text is not intimidating and it is an
interesting read with relatable history to natives of South Carolina. The charts and
games used in the three lessons had been used in previous years with the students,
thus, activating students prior and background knowledge.
My knowledge and understanding of the content helped me clearly and
accurately state information on the elements of informational texts. Through my
deep understanding, I was able to show the students that the content is important
and useful. In addition, I made connections throughout the lesson to show students
when and how we use each element of informational texts and why they are
important to know.
As I taught the mini-unit, I experimented with different ways to prepare students
for group activities. For example, the first lesson I provided students with jobs in
their groups. Since group work was already new to them this year, I believe the
assigned jobs were overwhelming. Therefore, I should have modeled and
introduced the jobs beforehand. The second day, I did not have set jobs and the only
need was for a writer. Therefore, this lesson ran more smoothly. The third lesson, I
had the table groups chart paper, markers, and activity directions already on their

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tables before they came in the classroom. This worked beautifully and created a
wonderful beginning transition for the lesson.
I know that the mini-unit objectives were met because after looking at the
student data, the whole classs mean increased by 5.9 percent. This increase in
score for the post-assessment shows student growth for the mini-unit objective.
The male student data showed an increase in the mean of 9.3 percent and the female
students mean increased 2.4 percent. Additionally, none of the males scores
decreased from the pre-assessment. Only one male scored the same on the preassessment and post-assessment. The data for males and females shows growth in
the mini-unit objectives. African- American students scores increased by an
average of 12.2 percent and the mode for the post-assessment was a score of 6/7.
This data shows me that most of the African-American students scored a 6/7 and
also says that there were five African-American that were at standard or above. My
Caucasian students showed much gain in my mini-unit objectives because their
average rose 22 percent. After the post-assessment, two Caucasian males were at
standard and five females were at standard or exceeding standard. The data from
the whole group and subgroups reflects that the mini-unit objectives were met.
I prepared and managed my time for all three lessons because I effectively used
the allotted time to ensure that the students stayed actively engaged throughout the
lesson. I timed group work activities so that adequate time was given. Additionally,
I had necessary materials ready at the start of the class period.
Throughout the mini-unit, I learned which students can and cannot work
together during group work. The use of group work for all three lessons presented

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student personalities more clearly. For example, the facilitation of group work
within my mini-unit gave insight to student interactions and problem solving. I will
use this new knowledge of student personalities to strategically group students for
future lessons.
Section 4: Reflection of Professional Development
One professional development goal I have is to work on transitions in my
lessons. While I am prepared before the lesson and know the content, I know that I
need to work on making connections and transitioning within my lessons. I will
work with my cooperating teacher for student teaching for suggestions in
transitions. I will also write transitions into my lessons so that I can practice and go
into the lessons with transitions in mind.
Another professional development goal I have is to incorporate iPads and
other technology in my lessons. I am not all that comfortable with technology use
but I recognize that it is important for my students to be creative and interact with
different technology. In order to incorporate technology I will collaborate with the
library and computer specialists at Springfield to show me, which apps are on the
class iPads and how to effectively implement the apps in my lessons. I also plan to
research technology resources online to learn about new apps for the iPad and how
they can be used in the classroom.