Jami Centrella ELD395-Coats Field Reflection

Tell Me and I Forget, Show Me and I Remember Mini Lesson 1: Show Dont Tell Lesson Plan Taught: October 25, 2012 Standards: W.6.3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences. b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters. d. Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to convey experiences and events. Objective: Students will be able to explain the writing strategy of show dont tell through the use of charades and practice in their independent narratives. Materials: -Example paragraph from Turning the Knob worksheet (McDonalds) -Exit tickets -2-3 scenario cards for charades activity -Student narratives Procedures: DO NOW: McDonalds Paragraph o Have sample paragraph on PowerPoint from Turning the Knob worksheet (McDonalds) o Have students read the paragraph on their own and write down elements of show not tell on the paper o Re-read the passage aloud to students and ask them what kind of things they came up with on their papers Direct Instruction: o Explain to students that today they will learn about the writing strategy known as show dont tell Ask students if they know anything about this strategy already o Provide students with notes on the strategy Use show dont tell to add detail and maintain your readers interest from beginning to end Answers the questions of who, what, where, when, and why Describe characters using active verbs and tools such as similes and metaphors Be specific in your descriptions Guided Practice: o Ask for 2 volunteers per period Assign each person a scenario card 2

Scenarios include: o The girl cried a lot o The student was nervous Tell player that they must act out what is on their card; they may not say what the scenario is Ask students why they thought we did this game Explain that the writing they do should create pictures in the readers mind When a reader is reading the students writing they should be able to see a game of charades in their heads Explain how writing is more fun when it shows things over telling them Ask students what about the charade made them correctly guess that scenario Generate a board list of show dont tell characteristics found in charades activity for students to copy into their Writers Notebook Independent Application o Have students go through their narrative and pick out a section with which they can work on the show dont tell strategy o Also allow students time to continue to draft their narratives Closure (Exit Tickets) o Choose one sentence from your narrative Write the original sentence Write the sentence revised (using show dont tell) Assessment o DO NOW: Review with students o Direct Instruction/Guided Practice: List generated by students through charades activity o Independent Application: Narrative o Closure: Exit Ticket

Tell Me and I Forget, Show Me and I Remember Lesson Reflection

This semester I have the privilege of working with some of the most wonderful sixth graders to ever walk the face of the planet. One of the things I have come to love about the West Windsor-Plainsboro District is the passion the students seem to have for learning. Having only experienced Elementary Level students in this District, I was extremely interested to see how that love of learning either flourished or fizzled into the Middle School years. I must admit, the students pleasantly surprised me and were warm and willing to learn as much as they could from the first full lesson that I taught. I was very familiar with the topic about which I was teaching. My cooperating teacher asked me to teach a lesson on the writing strategy known as show, dont tell. I had actually done a similar lesson last time I was in the West Windsor District with second graders; therefore, one of the greatest challenges I found in planning this lesson was adapting my thinking from second graders to sixth graders. One of the best parts of planning this lesson was that I was able to use curriculum-based materials for the first time. In the past, I had always had to reinvent the wheel when it came to writing lesson plans; however, for this lesson, I was given a choice of many materials that I had to make my own. I actually found this experience very encouraging because having a curriculum on which to base my lesson plans was extremely helpful, and greatly reduced the time it took me to actually think of activities to do during the lesson itself. Ultimately, I chose to do a couple of activities. First, I had a Do Now, second I had the class play charades, and third I had the students bring everything together in an independent application and closure activity.

I am the biggest believer in the idea that your greatest successes are actually found in recognizing your greatest faults. Throughout my time in my methods courses, I have found self reflection to be one of my most useful tools. For this lesson, I would change a couple of things if I could. In short, I thought teaching the lesson first period was much more successful than it was second period. I found that the students in my first period class were much more into the charades activity we did, whereas the second period class was much quieter. This is not to say that both periods were not engaged, because as my cooperating teacher notes, both periods were actively engaged and involved in the entire lesson. However, if I could change things, I would have first period participate in charades as an entire class (as we did) and second period participate in the activity in small groups. I think this would accommodate for differences in the personalities of the periods, and help each student to feel comfortable participating in the activity. Also, my cooperating teacher noted that I tend to give very broad compliments to students. Rather than telling students I really liked how you applied this to your writing by I would just tell students Cool or Awesome. While there is nothing wrong with this, my cooperating teacher told me it is much better to specifically compliment students instead of giving general remarks. I think this will come with time. This was the first lesson I have ever taught in the Secondary Education setting; therefore, I think I was trying so hard to not talk to them as I do to my Elementary Level students that I ended up being a little bit too casual in compliment word choice. Overall, for a first go around, I think I did a really good job. I was most nervous about drawing the connection between our charades activity and the writing strategy; however, I found that the students very easily saw the connection. The best part was that I realized they were able to make the connection because they had gotten it during the mini-lesson portion of my lesson.

I found teaching this lesson extremely rewarding for a couple of reasons. First of all, I have the best students in the entire world. Their eyes were gridlocked at the front of the room the entire lesson, and you could tell they were learning this lesson in a way they never had before. Better yet, they didnt just seem to be engaged in the lesson, they proved it. I had students use exit tickets to state a sentence they revised using the show dont tell strategy, and some of the revisions were so well done it amazed me. Its one thing for students to learn information; its another for them to get it. That was the best part of teaching this lesson--my students got it! To be honest, it is so much more clearly displayed in Middle School when a student understands a concept than it is in the younger grades. I think in Elementary School, students are learning so many foundation blocks that they only get bits and pieces of concepts; however, today I had my first experience with really understanding what it meant to see a student get it!

Be Known By Your Character Mini Lesson 2: Character Traits Lesson Plan To Be Taught: November 29, 2012

Standards: RL 6.1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. RL 6.3 Describe how a particular storys or dramas plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

Objectives: Students will be able to support first impressions of a character through the development of character traits. Students will be able to support developed character traits through the use of textual evidence

Materials: First impressions worksheet from the day before Character traits description sheet Every Living Thing by Cynthia Rylant (Short Story: Shells) Powerpoint with sample body chart based on Shells Paper for body chart for Independent Practice

Procedures: DO NOW: o Write on board: Think about your first impression of your best friend. What was it? What adjectives could you use to describe that impression? o Have students respond in their notebook Direct Instruction: o Review with students the concept of first impressions, starting with the DO NOW Direct students to take out the first impression worksheet from previous day o Ask students to read one of their first impressions based on the short story Shells read the day before and also the information provided in the boxes on their page of notes from the previous day Shells/Book Club first impressions sheet will be double sided Remind students that for the book club side of the sheet, the boxes should all be filled in by the end of the week; not all of the Shells boxes need to be filled in 7

o Generate a list of adjectives with students that could describe the first impression they read For example, if the first impression the student came up with is that the boy seemed sad, have students generate using stronger words than sad o Pass out character traits sheet Have students reference character traits worksheet for stronger adjectives if they need to add to the list o Explain to students that the list they have just generated are adjectives known as character traits o Address the concept of using textual evidence when determining character traits Character traits do not just come out of thin air, there has to be a reason why you are describing the character this way. The TEXT gives you that reason. If your character trait does not make sense with the text than it probably is not an accurate character trait Refer to one of the adjectives students named, ask them what specific part in the story made them think of that adjective Character traits must be based on textual evidence o Explain to students that character traits can be based on first impressions and can shift throughout the course of a story o For students purposes, stress that character traits should focus on main characters rather than minor characters Differentiate between a major and a minor character Remind students of the terms DYNAMIC (Round) and STATIC (flat) characters learned the day before Guided Practice: o Display the sample body chart on the powerpoint Pull up screen so that the body chart is reflected on the white board o Explain to students that they are going to be making body charts for the books they are reading in their book clubs o Do sample of body chart using the story Shells Name body as Michael (Main character in Shells) First, label the head of the body as THOUGHTS Second, label the eyes of the body as PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Third, label the mouth of the body as DIALOGUE Fourth, label the hands of the body as INTERACTION WITH OTHERS/OBJECTS Last label the feet of the body as ACTION o Have students provide textual evidence for thoughts, physical description, dialogue, interaction with others/objects, and action that characterizes Michael in the short story Write beginning of the quotation on the board under appropriate category o For each description of textual evidence, have the students come up with a character trait that best describes the quote they just stated (theory)

Independent Practice: o Explain to students that they are going to create a one body chart per book club group following the same format they just saw in the guided practice If paper is big enough, have students trace one student in the group on the paper as the body for their body chart If paper is not big enough, allow students to create their own group body, since every body is different Display powerpoint slide with instructions for independent practice If students do not have all the information necessary to complete all categories of their body chart by the end of the period, they can go home and take note of the missing evidence continue working on the body charts the next day in class with the information they gather from the reading that night Students only need one example for each category Body charts stay in school Students will create another body chart at the end of the book based on more than just first impressions and compare the two charts Once the charts are completed, students will share the first impressions chart o Allot for 15 minutes of discussion o Allot for 15 minutes of reading Closure: o SHARE: Ask one student from each group (or two) to share one of the categories, textual evidence, and character traits their group illustrated on their body chart

Assessment: DO NOW: Discussion about first impressions Direct Instruction: Adjectives list Guided Practice: Body chart creation Independent Practice: Discussions and body chart creation Closure: Share

Field Reflection People always ask me why I want to teach at the Middle Level. There seems to be some sort of confusion as to why I want the students that are at that awkward age between worshipping the ground the teacher walks on and thinking about their lives as future adults. I usually just smile at the snarky remarks and casually respond, The reason I want this age is because they are convinced that nobody else wants them. To be honest, I was a little bit nervous going into field this semester. I was a bit unsure about what to expect. I knew that my heart was with students in the Middle School; however, I wasnt really sure why. I had never had experience with this age group before; therefore, to feel such a soft spot for these students seemed puzzling, even to me, let alone to other people. I wanted my field experience to be so perfect this semester. I wanted everything to go great and to like everything about being at Community Middle School. To make a long story short, I didnt like everything about being at CommunityI loved it. By far, this has been the most incredible experience I have had as an Education major, and it was made crystal clear to me the exact reasons why I want to teach this age for the rest of my life. During field, I was allotted numerous types of responsibilities. During my past field experiences, my primary responsibility was to teach my two lessons and gain experience; however, during this semester, teaching became only part of my job. I was given the privilege during my time at Community to be, for lack of a better word, accepted as part of the 6C Team. I not only was able to work with my incredible cooperating teacher to build strong lessons, but I was also able to work with the other IRLA teacher on my team to suggest new ideas. I not only had a voice, but according to my cooperating teacher, I had a lot of really good ideas. I was able

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to observe actual teaching during first and second period, and experience prep time during third period. As much as I loved working with the students, I really enjoyed the prep period because it was the time I was able to discuss things with my cooperating teacher and sometimes her IRLA partner. It was during this time that I learned the most. My cooperating teacher allowed me to teach every week I was in field. While I taught the entire period only twice, I was able to teach the Do Now activity every week. The Do Now activity always consisted of a grammar exercise. Being the grammar nerd that I am, it was a dream come true to be able to teach grammar to a classroom full of middle school students in a district with which I am slightly obsessed. Even though it was a couple of minutes each day, this teaching experience showed me a lot about myself. First of all, it was my first time ever teaching a Do Now type of activity, so on the surface, it showed me how much I really enjoy having them present in a classroom. On a more reflective level, teaching every week gave me a great sense of consistency that I had never experienced in field before. It allowed me the chance to see how it would be teaching on a more constant basis. The students always knew that I would be reviewing their Do Now with them, and it was a really great opportunity to get closer with the students. In teaching the upper grades, one of my biggest concerns was losing that personal connection with my students; however, being able to teach something small every week showed me that connections can and should be made across all grade levels. Caring about students does not disappear after fifth grade. It was also interesting observing the workshop approach in Community Middle School. Being that I had been in West Windsor Elementary Schools before, it was interesting to compare the different workshop approaches across grade levels. In my time at Community, the workshop approach to IRLA was relatively new; therefore, it felt as though my teacher and I were learning 11

the workshop notions from each other. It was such a great experience to see this because it allowed me to see that learning does not go away after my methods courses end. Some of the best lessons I saw were ones that my cooperating teacher told me that she had never taught before. This also provided a lot of insight for me as I am approaching my student teaching because it allowed me to recognize that even though I am still a student, even veteran teachers sometimes still have to learn as they go along. If I have taken anything away from field this semester, it is the notion that teachers never should and never want to stop learning. It is okay to not know what you are doing sometimes, because chances are there is another teacher in the school who feels exactly the same way. It was also interesting for me to observe classroom management styles at Community Middle School. In the past Elementary Schools I have observed, classroom management was very evident in the classroom. Simple strategies such as clap once if you hear me were implemented all the time; however, in the Middle School classroom they are much more low key. In fact, I found classroom management to be so well done and low key in my classroom that it seemed non-existent. However, I found out the hard way that it wasnt that classroom management didnt exist in my classroom, it was just that my teacher knew what she was doing enough to implement it in an effective, yet subtle way. When I was teaching my first lesson, I found myself talking over the students. This was something I never found myself doing in an Elementary School; however, I knew effective strategies for Elementary classroom management, but I found I was clueless when it came to the upper grades. It wasnt until I discussed this with my cooperating teacher that I learned more effective strategies for upper grades, such as counting backwards to gain their attention or developing a silent signal. Actually, one of the best classroom management strategies I saw at Community was not in my own classroom, but during 12

my time in the Media Center with my students. When the Media Center Director needed the students attention, she very simply said Hold up to which the students all knew to respond Wait a minute and proceed to be quiet. It was one of the most effective strategies I saw at Community, not to mention, it was absolutely adorable to hear the kids respond in that way. As I have already mentioned, the time where I learned the most during my field experience was during my prep period with my cooperating teacher. It was during this time we discussed big things, such as strategies for successful lessons and small things, such as why West Windsor schools are implementing Vocabulary tests this year. This 55 minute period was completely dedicated to answering my questions, and as one might expect, I was never short of questions to ask. After discussing absolutely everything I could think of concerning teaching with my cooperating teacher, I felt much more prepared for my student teaching in the coming semester. I would have to say the number one lesson I took out of these conversations was not to second guess myself. I think I have the mentality of being just a student teacher in my head when I get up and teach; however, working with my cooperating teacher showed me just how much I really have learned and how much I really do know. One of the moments that this all hit me was when I made a suggestion about a lesson to my cooperating teacher and she was so open to what I had to say that she implemented my idea into her own teaching. Lastly, I think about the role of literacy in the Middle School classroom. First of all, I have found that as crucial as it is to teach literacy well in Elementary School, it is about fifty times more important in the upper grades. Not only is it more important, but students care a lot more. I had a young girl come up to me every class that they did a vocabulary exercise and ask me if her grammar was correct in her vocabulary sentences. In this particular exercise, grammar was not even factored into the grade; however, she wanted the grammar to be right just for the 13

sake of it being right. This was a much different experience than I ever noticed in the younger grades. I also have found that students are much more willing to take risks in their writing in Middle School. Students are introduced to literary analysis essays in sixth grade, and I have found that instead of being intimidated by a new genre, they are inspired to try something new. I think that literacy in Middle School begins to overlap with student interests; they begin to see that there is more to reading than just textbooks. In fact, I noticed one student even bringing in comic books to contribute to the classroom library. Literacy is not just a subject to students anymore in these grades, it is something they enjoy doing. I will never forget the moment my cooperating teacher announced that Readers Workshop would be beginning again; my students cheered as though their favorite athlete had just scored the winning point for his team. It was a magical sound. I think part of the reason my students are so enthused about literacy is because my teacher is enthused as well. In order to create a great environment, you have to be a great teacher. My cooperating teacher presented literacy in a way to students that made it applicable to real life. When they did Writers Workshop, my cooperating teacher gave examples from her own personal small moments. When they did Readers Workshop, my cooperating teacher appealed to her students love of reading. Because she had developed such relationships with her students, she was able to successfully appeal to the needs and desires of her students. Overall, that was the greatest thing I learned about teaching literacy in the Middle School. It is most important to appeal to the desires and needs of your students. I have said from the start that Middle School is the age where you either make it or break it, and I believe that teaching literacy is one of the most important factors in helping students make it.

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When I say that field changed my life this semester, it may be the understatement of the year. I cannot even express how much being at Community Middle School has encouraged me to become a Middle School IRLA teacher. I feel more confident in my abilities to teach the upper grades and, ultimately, I have discovered the reason why I have such a soft spot for this age group. I have realized that I see a lot of myself in these students. I see a bunch of students who want to succeed in life, and who are given the choice to either give into the challenges they face or rise above them. I was always one to rise above them and my hope is that I can instill that same drive in my future students. My heart is with this age because it is still left there from my own time in the Middle School.

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