Videotaped Lesson 1 Reflection: Writing Strong Endings

*Please note that the lesson plan, slideshow, endings worksheet, and endings rubric that were been uploaded for the project
submission will be referenced throughout this reflection as articles to support my discussion.

Learning Goals

The learning goals were met by a significant portion of the students. With the goal of the lesson being
that the students could revise the endings of the story to create stronger ‘yes’ endings using action, talk,
and/or feeling, learning and progress was evident. Two pieces of student work can be seen below.
Understanding of the use of the three different types of endings is evident in the type-associated
elaboration that is exhibited. With knowledge of their original endings, I see a greater amount of effort
and understanding put into the focused writing of the endings to their stories. It is evident that
instruction led to clarity in the purpose and design of the ending that wraps of the story. Of the students
who exhibited progress, but had not yet reached the level of mastery, instruction the following day
included strategy groups and individual conferences that allowed me to focus my attention on the needs
of each student’s understanding and writing. In analyzing the worksheet completed by each student,
every child either attempted to write three different endings motivated by the three different types of
endings, or a single ending that combined the three methods. Although the goal was for strong leads to
be written, the attempt of all three types is a significant point in their development that was
acknowledged and verbally appreciated. This was the first lesson including explicit instruction of
endings, so mastery was not deemed to be necessary for each child. I desired for understanding to be
evident while practicing and becoming acquainted with their new knowledge. My observations were
consistent with this. As the students are currently working on publishing their stories this week, I see
them repeating this revision process as they type to ensure that their endings, leads, and other aspects of
their stories are strong and at the ‘yes’ level that exhibits mastery of the learning targets expanded upon
throughout the unit.
Use of Feedback

The main strategy utilized in this lesson based on feedback was the inclusion of a strategy group based
on information gathered from the ‘mud-bugs-clear’ formative assessment. In this particular lesson,
before sending the students off to complete their independent work, the question associated with
understanding of the new content and activity procedures was posed. Of those who desired additional
guidance, they remained at the rug with me that served as an opportunity to conduct conferences with
each student to clarify their thoughts, while allowing the others to be retaught and reminded based on the
questions of their peers. Some students required guidance with completing the worksheet, while other
needed the additional support and reinforcement through talking through the task with the use of probing
questions. This spontaneous strategy group allowed me to ensure that those students felt confident in
their abilities to take on the task of writing a strong ending without allowing their confusions or other
factors to prevent work from being done. Through additional practice with strategy groups during
lessons that have taken place before and after the recording of this lesson, I have come to value the
usefulness of this instructional method that I have discovered can be used in every subject area, not just
reading.

Domain 1

This lesson plan reflects the important concepts of discipline because it addresses skill-based
instruction critical to literacy development. These skills are associated with two of Connecticut’s Core
Standards along the ELA progress that includes writing narratives that includes a sense of closure, and
revising based on support and feedback from oneself, peers, and teachers. These standards pertain to the
lesson because the learning objectives are associated with making revisions to pre-written narratives in
order to create strong endings that wrap up the story. In the slideshow designed for use within the
defined instructional procedure, there are clear explanations that guide the thinking of the students about
‘yes’ endings, the stages of this revision process, and guided practice. The design reinforces the making
of connections to prior learning, specifically the writing of ‘yes’ leads that followed a similar approach.
While using this slideshow, it is the knowledge of the content that allows the teacher to accurately
answer the questions of the students. From the planned collection of the endings worksheet completed
by the students, there exists an opportunity for feedback to be provided to further learning. The
collection of the work and return on the following day allows the teacher to offer a ‘glow’, or
compliment, and a ‘grow’, or a constructive suggestion.
Prior to planning this lesson, the previous lessons of this third writing unit were considered. It
was necessary to determine the logical next step of the sequence. The students has gradually pieced their
stories together through several stages, so in this later phase of revising, after guiding the students
through strengthening leads, elaboration, and term choice, it was determined that the final area of
revisions to be made it to the story endings, which would be critical instruction before transitioning to
the editing and publishing stages of the writing process. Beyond this consideration of the prior
knowledge of students, their interests were considered in the use of their own narratives for the ‘You do’
part of the lesson that would serve as motivation to strengthen their work that has the authentic audience
of dentist office-goers due to the opportunity to send their final, published drafts to a local dentist’s
office.
The content addressed in this lesson encourages the students to think at a challenging cognitive
level due to the necessary involvement in the revision process. It requires self-reflection within a growth
mindset in order to tactfully analyze one’s own work and strive to make improvements as opposed to
accepting its immediate status. Therefore, such reflection requires higher-level questioning on the part of
the students that is guided by the endings rubric and three step process of revising that is outlined in the
lesson. The goal of writing strong endings using action, talk, and/or feeling are known and the students
are reminded of it through the learning statement listed on each slide and the worksheet that can easily
be referred to. As previous mentioned, this goal is necessary to be achieved in order to reach the next
stage of the writer’s workshop. Furthermore, although there are students in the classroom who require
differentiation, the outcomes were not differentiated because based on the content learned from a recent
professional development opportunity, criteria should never be changed. Rather, it is the scaffolding that
should be modified to better serve the needs of students. Therefore, I ensured that the plans and goals of
the lesson would be accessible to all levels of learners.
The principles of this lesson were guided by the district’s curriculum for second grade students.
Unlike math lessons that follow the Math in Focus program that supplies materials, these writing lesson
materials are established by the teacher, myself in this case. With the district initially following
principles defined by Lucy Calkins, the school has begun to stray in order to better address the present
needs of students, so the design of my lesson considered the distinct needs of the students I was working
with by adding more structure to the guided learning. Beyond this, pre-organized by myself earlier in the
unit were boxes of books sorted and labeled to function as mentor texts for the different areas of writing
development, whether it was a book with strong transitions, an action-based lead, or feelings-based
ending, the students were aware of their ability to use these texts as models for their writing it they felt
‘stuck’, or wanted to be positively influenced by resources available. These were sources of guidances
without the need for the teacher’s direct guidance. Furthermore, to reinforce the strategies used in
teaching, my mentor teacher and I will support each other through various co-teaching approaches. This
support takes many shapes and forms, including being a supplemental source to the conversations
conducted by the other teacher in order to enhance the learning of the students. This is evidence in the
area of instructional delivery in the recorded video, which further exhibits my resourcefulness by
utilizing all adults in the classroom to support the learning environment.
Given the point in time that this unit was taking place, formative assessment was the ideal
method to incorporate into my planning. Formative assessment, such as ‘mud-bugs-clear’ allowed me to
ensure that the students understood the learning target, the vision of a ‘yes’ ending, and the three steps to
take in writing a strong ending. It also provided me with the ability to make judgments associated with
who required individualized attention, as well as utilizing alternative teaching methods to express the
content in a stronger manner. The other most useful assessment planned was the collection of the
worksheets. These would be authentic sources of data that would truly show me their performance,
while enabling me to provide constructive feedback to enhance their learning and allow them to grow
their skills to reach the ultimate goal. The assessments that were utilized were suitable for the outcome
and style of learning taking place. They were accessible to all, so modifications were not necessary.
Given the endings rubric that was provided and could be referenced at any time during the lesson, the
expectations for levels of performance was made evident to the students. They had the opportunity to
reflect on their work to determine their individual level of performance associated with the main task of
the lesson.

Domain 2

Through prior interactions with the students, we have developed respectful relationships within
which all parties involved are aware of the expectations of respectful talk. This becomes further evident
in the ‘Pair-Share-Care’ task within which the students are reminded of the appropriate manner in which
feedback can be offered. Pertaining to active listening, it was interesting to review the videotaped lesson.
Based on my earlier observations in this student teaching experience, the behaviors of students
consistently appeared to be distracted, or in some manner straying from active listening and engagement.
However, to my surprise and my mentor teacher’s, the observable movements did not represent a loss of
attention. This was discovered through their abilities to accurately respond and contribute to the whole-
class discussions, as well as participate in the engagement activity without evidence of difficulty. This
lesson was yet another example of such a situation. Therefore, in regard to a respectful and
understanding environment, this was ‘mentally’ accurate. Bodily, the students can be seen wiggling,
playing with classroom tools, standing up in the middle of the lesson, and other similar activities.
Collaboratively, we have accepted some behaviors as long as the students are learning, thus ignoring
some that would appear to be distracting and discussing later, while only acknowledging those
preventing others from learning that need to be addressed immediately. Regardless of these behaviors, I
maintain a warming, caring, and positive attitude reflected in my body language and language. I use eye
contact and hand gestures for encouragement. Although at a difficult angle, this can somewhat be seen
while I am working at the Smart Board and easel. Beyond this, the students take turns contributing to the
conversations, and generally exhibit politeness in ‘giving the speaker five’.
My belief in the value of what was being learned could be gathered through my excitement and
personal engagement in the content being covered. This excitement could reinforce the motivation of the
students to share the value in their work and efforts. Throughout the lesson, positive reinforcement is
used such as the occasion within which students following the expectations are identified by name. As
learned through research in previous courses, I made an effort to recognize the effort and persistence of
students, rather than the use of statements associated with intelligence. It is challenging to hear my
individual conferencing with the students during independent work, but I used statements such as ‘I can
see how hard you have worked on creating a strong ending’, while continuing the conversation with
higher-level questions to promote deeper thinking and continued revision processes.
The functioning of classroom routines is something that is consistently practiced with these
students given the variety of challenging behaviors that myself and my mentor teacher are presented
with. The need for practice and repetition remains as they have yet to develop into habits. This can be
seen in the end of the video when the students are preparing to leave for lunch and the transition is
repeated due to difficulty following the expectations. Even though some time is lost, this repetition
benefits the students as an opportunity for practice and working towards appropriate following of norms
becoming more consistent. Furthermore, in comparison to the way in which other lessons are carried
out, when reviewing the video, the classroom appeared to be managed better than other occasions. Some
of the students who are typically roaming around the classroom when either myself or my mentor
teacher are teaching remained in their seats focusing on their learning that is easily observable.
Expectations for classroom management were known by the students from previous lessons focused on
such procedures, and I chose to remind them on occasion verbally, and through notes written on the
slides. There was not an opportunity during which the students would be left unaware of what to do or
the norms. Interestingly, as mentioned previously, some behaviors went unnoticed until watching the
video because I had been so focused on my role of teaching. However, those behaviors that were
noticed, such as the fidgeting or lack of eye contact were analyzed and addressed the following day
through a grand conversation with the students. Regardless of the behaviors that were acknowledged
during the lesson, I remained aware, with no sense of bitterness through my positive behavioral support.
During the week prior to teaching this lesson, I used research from EDUC 529 to redesign the
classroom to make it more conducive to the learning and efficiency of the students. This began with
creating subject centers within the classroom in which all tools, materials, and key information could be
found making it easier to direct the students. The classroom library was designed as a segregated area
that could be more comfortable and inviting as a space to wind down quietly. Through the openness and
brightness of the classroom that remained, it continued to be an area that was pleasant, inviting, and
safe, while simply increasing the accessibility for more students. Beyond the design was my use of the
physical resources. Evident in planning and the video, I utilized the Smart Board, as well as the easel for
the lesson. The Smart Board was used to present the slideshow and discuss some of the key information.
The easel was used for collaborative purposes for the ‘I do’ and ‘We do’ portions of the lesson that was
ideal due to the fact that those were the initial stages of applying their learning, so the use of the easel
help make it more realistic since the students would be writing by hand as opposed to typing. This was
the initial stage of transferring instruction back to the use of the easel based on data gathered by co-
workers during rounds from which we discovered the students prefer learning from the easel. The use of
multiple resources in the classroom helped to maintain engagement and attentiveness of the students.

Domain 3

The purpose of the lesson was made evident in the slideshow when I stated that on this day I was
going to teach the students how to write a strong ending using action, talk, and/or feeling to wrap up the
story. Through discussion and the opening activity, the purpose of a strong ending was reinforced as the
students became interested in why a reader would look as distraught as the individual on the image in
the slideshow. As the lesson continued and the discussion deepened, I made an effort to explain the
directions, particularly those pertaining to the three steps of revising one’s ending in a clear manner. This
was checked through the use of the ‘mud-bugs-clear’ formative assessment. Prior to the modeling and
guided practice, a student can be seen to exhibit that he is ‘buggy’ about the content to which I respond
that with the modeling and practice his understanding should develop. Given that he did not have a
specific question at the time, my response was chosen due to the fact that these students could better
understand their learning through seeing the process actively take place. The explicit modeling of the
three steps followed to write a strong ending functioned as a strategy to provide clarity. This content was
expressed without errors using vocabulary relevant and necessary for the learning of the students.
From the perspective of the teacher standing in front of the students educating them, they all
were seemingly engaged given that their responses and work was appropriate. However, when reviewing
the video, enthusiasm, interest, and thinking may have been questionable. I say this due to the wiggling,
playing with items, head drooping down, and other unnecessary movements. This is something that is
not only prevent in my lessons, but also those of my mentor teacher, the Spanish teacher, the music
teacher, and all others who work with these students. As much as the combination of students presents a
challenge, motivation to maintain and increase engagement should not be lost. There exists the need to
allow for greater flexibility, whether this is with wiggle cushions or alternative learning activities, or
restructuring the approach to these lessons in the classroom. These students are learning, but if there was
increased engagement, higher-level thinking, and more accountable talk, even more could be learned.
While the strategy group took place, carefully considered questions were used to guide the
thinking of the students to help them carry out the processes learned without explicitly stating solutions.
This questioning based on assessment of their needs help them become more confident in the concepts
and their own skills that are necessary for developing writers. Once work was complete with the strategy
group, I circulated around the classroom conferencing with individual students during which higher-
level questioning was used to learn of the thought processes they went through to work on the lesson’s
task. This circulating allowed me to use prompting when necessary, as well as provide feedback to
enhance the writing of their new endings and strategize for their next steps. The students assessed their
own work against the endings rubric on the area of the worksheet that required that they determine the
performance level that each ending was out. This required comparing and contrasting with a growth
mindset accepting that perhaps additional guidance, practice, or revising was needed.
The interests of the students were incorporated by allowing them to use their original narratives.
These were stories that they ‘wrote from the heart’ as Lucy Calkins suggests. This allowed for there to
be a motivation to work during the independent activity. Within instruction, there was flexibility
exhibited in the use of a strategy group. Time was used to help students overcome their individual
learning needs at the time while others continued to actively work. Once this conferencing was
complete, instruction could return to the initially intended procedure that would allow me to check on
the understanding of each child as he or she was working while taking it upon myself to use teachable
moments to help them reach higher levels of thinking and questioning that would result in strong pieces
of writing. Flexibility was critical in order to exhibit my mindset of instruction based on the best
interests of the students. Change may have occurred, but when appropriate as could be seen in this
lesson, ‘going with the flow’ led to deeper understandings, more engaged students, and developmentally
appropriate pieces of work.

Domain 4

This lesson was reflected on following the completion of the lesson when conferencing with my
mentor teacher, as well as in this moment as this reflection is written. Such reflections have allowed me
to analyze my skills as a teaching, and the learning opportunities I have provided the students with. I
have re-watched the videotaped several times noticing things that had not been seen before. Of utmost
importance to address in future lessons is the engagement of the students. This lesson was taught on
January 31, which was a few weeks ago. While teaching math today, this was again an issue. This
resulted in the spontaneous discussion about the purpose of their math learning and the project that was
to result. A lack of motivation was evident, so I chose to have the students close their eyes and raise their
hands based on their interest or the lack of interest in the project. All hands were raised for excitement
about the project. The students were then asked to write in their journals things that they already knew
about the topic of focus, and things they wanted to learn. From that, I could make conclusions and
modifications to math lessons for the remaining time spent in the math unit. Given that engagement was
an not fully presented in the video, I will use the same approach that was devised today, but in the
writing setting. The students will be tasked with explaining their knowledge and their interests. This is
not to say that content does not need to be covered if the students think they already understand it, but
teaching and learning can be approached in an alternative manner. Another area that needs to be
addressed is the reflective skills of the students. Even in the days before and after this lesson was taught,
students would frequently come up to me or my mentor teacher claiming that their story was perfected
without having gone through the revision or drafting process. That was a point when Lucy Calkins
tactics were followed more strictly. As we are striving to implement new strategies for writing based on
the needs of the students, I will consider the scaffolding to a greater extent that will be needed for these
students to become more reflective writers.
As mentioned, the endings worksheets would be collected. I was able to read each ending and
provide feedback to the students using a ‘glow’ and ‘grow’ system that would guide them to the next
step in their writing. This feedback, which was photocopied, allowed me to track the completion of the
work, as well as the level of proficiency associated with the learning target and the use of the endings
rubric. Through identifying students who would benefit from work in a strategy group the following day
due to challenge in reaching the ‘yes’ level of an ending, I could continue to track the progress of the
students, while using those records to guide further advancement. Ultimately, the final draft of their
stories would be published and scored based on the grade level’s predesigned narrative writing rubric
which would be a source of data to analyze student development and for conferences.
It is the final draft of the stories that would be used for communication purposes with families.
After scoring, a student-family conversation worksheet would be attached that would support the
conversations that should occur at home within which the student could explain their learning processes,
the origination of their ideas, and the development that took place. The worksheet would allow for
parents to provide feedback to the teacher that would provide evidence of the involvement of the family
in the learning of their child. If this were my classroom, I would approached the unit in an alternative
manner to stress the strengthening of writing skills through drafting, which would reinforce the
reflectiveness that I identified as a need. As each draft would be complete, it would be collected in a
process portfolio that could be sent home at the end of the unit. This would provide evidence of the
child’s learning and progress through the ability to see growth across the drafts that would be included. I
would explain my excitement for the efforts of the students while reinforcing the families to applaud the
persistence, allow the child to take on the role of a teacher at home through explaining the work and
processes, and provide feedback to the teacher about how the conversation went and any comments or
concerns. This goal would encompass establishing an open and supportive relationship between the
classroom and families.
Prior to the implementation of this lesson, all content was shared with my mentor teacher.
Feedback was provided on modifications to make to the structure of the lesson that resulted in such
changes. I also accepted the participation of my mentor teacher within the instructional delivery in order
to further guide student success, while also reflecting in those moments to consider things for me to do
next time. With each discussion that my mentor teacher and I have on a daily basis, our ideas are shared
in a welcoming and understanding environment that consistently results in improvements to our practice
with the best interests of the students in mind. It is the result of the concept that ‘two heads are better
than one’ through the ability to talk things out with someone who is knowledgeable within the same
career.
It was last week that I attended the school-wide professional development opportunity during
which Jenna Gampel, who works with Ron Berger that gave the lecture. During the workshop, we were
provided with student samples as the discussion was carried out to support the concepts being addressed.
Relevant to the writing lesson that was videotaped, Jenna explained the integrated writing project her
second grade students were involved in. The pieces of work that they created were astonishing and
served as motivation for me to work to include her practices into my own teaching. The research,
drafting, revising, motivational, and reflective processes of the students were evident. Based on this
lecture, I have a renewed perspective on a research-relevant approach to scaffolding and structure that is
very different from the approaches of Lucy Calkins, but I feel can be ideal for a groups of students such
as those I am currently with in order for them to get the most out of their learning. Through additional
research on Jenna Gampel’s strategies and Ron Berger’s theories, I will strive to observe the results of
such skillfully relevant approaches with my own students.
Each suggestion I provide and idea that I devise is with the students being help as the highest
priority. For instance, the students throughout the second grade were struggling to utilize the tools
available to them for all subject areas. We participated in rounds during which I observed the other
classrooms closely. I suggested that although the tools provided can be highly useful, the students are
overwhelmed. Having to much on the walls makes it challenging for the students to be interested in the
use of tools if their attention cannot be easily directed. This pertained to my lesson on endings because
the writing checklist board that was to be used during the revising process was not being utilized without
prompting. Therefore, I suggested minimizing the physical classroom environment to solely contain
articles relevant to the current content, and also choosing to provide students with individual copies of
tools as opposed to large, overwhelming versions in the classroom. This was all out of interest of
guiding the students to use their resources more often. The principal was supportive of this idea due to
the fact that throughout other classrooms, the tool availability was diverse from those of the second
grade classrooms. Plans are currently being talked through and worked on to put the development of the
students firsts to enhance their learning experiences.

Personal Teaching Goals

1. In consideration of the student engagement dilemma that will also be research further given that it
will be the focus of my student achievement project, one idea that has been found is at the following
link: http://www.gettingsmart.com/2016/08/15-actionable-strategies-for-increasing-student-
motivation-and-engagement/. The strategy of interest is the use of a choice board. Expectations
would need to be taught, but this would encourage student choice in making good decisions for the
best mode of their learning. If there is a day that learning from the whole-class rug area is not ideal,
the lesson could be viewed on the computer in a pre-recorded video version. It would be reinforced
that the privilege of these alternatives makes it a necessity that they are making a choice during
which they will be mentally and physically prepared to learn. Another approach to consider would be
the implementation of more project-based learning opportunities. During each project-based activity
that I have observed, such as those associated with homelessness and forces, the students thrived.
They were excited. Their motivation helped them maintain focus. There was and is a significant
difference in behaviors. Therefore, I will make it a goal to continue to research and implement
alternative student engagement strategies than those already utilized in order to optimize learning.
2. When considering motivation to learn, family support has a significant influence on the learning
experiences of children. I consistently feel that teachers must take on the role of an external mediator
who gives that extra push for family involvement in the learning of their children. Although it is a
challenge for me as a student teacher who has a limited ability to community with families, in my
own classroom at this point I would choose to devise a plan on how to maintain active
communication with families about the learning and progress of the students not just at the end of a
unit, but also within. Whether this is weekly updates on my part, the student taking home one ‘best
work’ each week for discussion, inviting family members in, or any alternative, I desire to develop a
system that reinforcing more consistent communication and involvement. As I consider and research
the approaches that I would utilize, I can devise a written plan and all relevant materials that would
make it possible, which can then be shared with my mentor teacher who perhaps could adopt some
of my ideas. In relation to this lesson on endings, it is the familial support that could help encourage
increased engagement and excitement for the writing development taking place.
3. Although I utilized the instructional approach of a strategy group in my lesson, I want to set the goal
to continue to strengthen my skills in the implementation of this teaching method. Strategy groups
can be approached in a variety of ways, whether they are heterogeneous or homogeneous groups. In
this lesson, it was a challenge to carry out this phase of instruction efficiently within the typical 5-
minute time it should take due to the diversity in needs of the students who remained at the rug with
me. Their questions and needs were more specific than general, which would have allowed me to
reteach them all. However, per the reflection with my mentor teach after the lesson, she suggested
that I carry out the process with one student while the others actively observe. This would be a
second modeling opportunity. Through this, the students could be asked who felt more confident to
try the activity that would allow them to begin working independently. Those who remained
confused would receive additional guidance. Based on this feedback and gradually becoming more
acquainted to this type of teaching, I want to continue to work on becoming more proficient by
ensuring that my strategies used within the group make the small-group meeting a useful resource.