ASW Project

Haley Jackson
EDEL 311
University of Nevada Las Vegas
College of Education
 Student Background

Ellie is a first grade student at Bonner Elementary School in my mentor teacher’s

classroom. She began attending Bonner at the beginning of the year with not knowing any

English at all. She moved from Iran and only spoke Farsi. Ellie has progressed very well since

the beginning of the year. She speaks English very well and is always eager to learn. According

to my mentor, she never had a real shy phase. She has always wanted to be involved with her

peers. My mentor credits her quick progression of the English language to her social tendencies.

While Ellie can speak and understand English well, she still has a tough time understanding

questions during assessments, and certain concepts that her peers tend to pick up on quicker. I

picked Ellie for my ASW project because while she might not understand an assignment or

lesson the first time, she is always willing to learn and wants to understand. I applaud this

attitude and figured she would be a great candidate due to her history (according to my mentor)

of needing to be retaught regularly.

 Grade Level Standards and Expectations

Lesson #1 -

a. RL.1.1: Ask and answer questions about key details in text.

b. RL.1.3: Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story using key details.

Objective:

SWBAT identify the problem and solution after listening to a story.

For my first lesson, I chose to teach the above standards through a lesson in problem and

solution. By the time students leave first grade, they are expected to be able to describe a story

using key details from the story and ask/answer questions about those key details. By the end of

the lesson, I expected the students to be able to identify the problem and solution in a story

through key details in the text.

Lesson #2 –

G5.1.1 Differentiate between and identify water and land on a map and globe and use the

terms ocean and continent.

Objective:

SWBAT identify landforms and bodies of water on a map and glove while using the terms

‘continents’ and ‘oceans’

This standards calls for students to understand the concept of water vs land on a map. They are

expected to use the terms “oceans” and “continents” to differentiate between these two key

features on a map. My objective for the students was that they would understand
Lesson #3

1.OA.D.7 Understand the meaning of the equal sign and determine if equations involving

addition and subtraction are true or false.

Objective(s):

SWBAT determine equal equations on either side of an equal sign.

SWBAT determine the meaning of an equal sign.

By the end of this lesson, I expected students to be able to use their knowledge of the equal sign

and basic math facts to determine whether or not statements were true or false. Students were

given two equations on either side of the equal sign and asked if the statements were true or

false. Students were required to show how they solved both equations to determine if the

statement was true or false.

 Lesson #1:

Initial Lesson

This lesson was a whole group lesson on identifying a problem and solution in a text. I

began by reading a story with a clear problem and solution. Throughout the story I asked

prompting questions that were able to lead students to understanding that they was something

wrong in the story that needed to be fixed. Once we finished the story, students were given

puzzle pieces with one piece being a problem from the story, and the corresponding piece being

the solution to that problem. They worked on this activity with their table partners. This gave a

clear visual that a solution must fit the problem at hand. Once they were finished with the

activity, students were given a problem/solution worksheet in which they were expected to write

one problem from the story and the corresponding solution.

Student Performance/Initial and Possible Strategies

As I circulated around the room, conducting my formative assessment, I realized Ellie

was struggling with finding the proper solution to the problem she chose. She was able to

identify that something was wrong in the story, yet couldn’t identify its direct solution. I

implemented the Lemov strategy “Stretching” by prompting her with questions such as “how

was the character feeling when this happened?” and “When did you notice a change in the

character?” to get her to think further into the story. This was able to lead her to realize that once

the character was happy again, the problem must have been solved by a previous event. She

gained more confidence in the assignment, yet she needed a good amount of guidance. This is

what stood out to me, so I decided to reteach the subject to her in a small group setting. To
reteach, I thought of using “I/We/You” (Lemov), “Name the Steps” (Lemov), “Right is

Right”(Lemov).

Reteach with New Strategy

For re-teaching problem and solution to Ellie, I chose to implement the learning strategy

“I/We/You”. I like how this strategy utilizes modeling by the teacher, independent work, and

also peer collaboration. I chose this strategy because I know Ellie works very well with her

peers, and continues to learn through different social settings. I retaught this lesson to 3 students

so this strategy was able to be easily implemented. To reteach, we read another book that had

clear problem and solutions. Once I modeled finding a problem and solution given specific

events and character emotions, they were asked to find a problem together, then I will help them

come up with the solution to that problem. I believe this strategy worked very well to help Ellie

understand the process of identifying a solution in a story. By the end of the lesson, she was

better able to notice character feelings, identify that there was a problem, and tell me the problem

with the solution. I was very pleased at how well she improved with small group instruction. She

was able to come up with 2/3 of the intended problem/solutions for our worksheet. For example,

Ellie identified one problem from Dog vs. Cat as “They don’t want to share the room” and its

solution, “They made a wall” on her own.

 Lesson 1 Student Work Samples

Initial

Re-Teach
 Lesson #2:

Initial Lesson

For my second lesson, I originally planned to teach a lesson on continents with a small

amount of direct instruction, and the rest through collaborative learning. As I allowed students to

work on their own after modeling a couple pages of their booklet, I realized they needed more

guidance. I didn’t realize that students in first grade have such a difficult time understanding that

a country is smaller than a continent, and so on. I ended up allowing students to identify the

difference between ocean and land on their own using a globe at their desk. This was followed

by a quick lesson on the hierarchy of states, countries, and continents.

Student Performance/Initial and Possible Strategies

Ellie still seemed to struggle with this concept which is why I was able to reteach it to

her. Ellie would answer any continent question voluntarily, however she would give the name of

a country instead. Three strategies I thought to use during re-teaching were “Right-is-Right”

(Lemov), “Affirmative Checking” (Lemov), and “Batch Process” (Lemov).

Reteach with New Strategy

I ended up using “Right-is-Right” for re-teaching continents to Ellie because I believed it

was most important that she respectfully understands her error in her responses so she can move

closer to understanding this concept. I worked through a worksheet with her that identified the

sizes between a town, state, country, continent, and planet. Ellie greatly improved after being

able to see the growth between each place. By the end of the mini lesson, Ellie was able to

identify to larger bodies of land on a map as continents. She was also able to understand that a

country is within a continent which is within the planet, and so on.

Lesson 2 Student Work Samples

Re-Teach
 Lesson 3

Initial Lesson

For my third lesson, I taught true or false statements in balancing equations. This lesson

used counters and balances as visuals to assist students in their learning. We focused on proving

if two equations on either sides of an equal sign were equal or not. Then we determined if the

given statement was true or false. We began the lesson with direct instruction as they followed

along using their visual aids. I used Lemov Strategy #14 - “paper = board”. I modeled exactly

what students should be doing and they followed along with me. Next, I let them try some

problems on their own with their groupmates to provide support. I circulated around the class

performing formative assessment during their group work portion of the lesson.

Student Performance and Possible Strategies

My regular ASW student exceeded my expectations in this area. With that being said, I

picked another student to reteach this assignment. I chose Tom for this assignment because he

seemed to be having a difficult time identifying equality of two different equations. He also had

difficulty with the terms true or false, and the math problems themselves. Many of his mistakes

were due to addition and subtraction errors. I considered using “Name the steps” (Lemov),

“break it down” (Lemov) and “Begin with the End” (Lemov) for my re-teaching of this concept.

Reteach with New Strategy

To reteach this concept, I used a dry erase balance, with an area to show work. This

simple approach seemed to be effective. I wrote different equations for Tom to try as I
supervised him. I began the lesson with reviewing the terms “true” and “false”. He was able to

explain to me what these meant in terms of math. His main trouble seemed to be the math facts

themselves. I showed him different ways to show his work by either drawing a picture or writing

the equations out to add or subtract. After practicing, Tom was able to understand that if both

sides of an equal sign are not the same number (or value), the statement would be ruled false. At

the end of the lesson to ensure he understood, I used “Break it down” method from Lemov. I

would have him change one number in an equation to make both sides equal.
 Lesson 3 Student Work Samples

Re-Teach

Initial
 Future Use of ASW

I plan to use this ASW experience often throughout the rest of my time at UNLV and also

into my career as a teacher. The most important part of teaching is being able to effectively and

efficiently assess a student. This can determine a student’s success. A teacher must be able to

formatively assess her students throughout an entire lesson and beyond. This experience has

shown me that the ASW is not simply an assignment for school, but a useful tool to use to be the

best teacher I can be, one day.

I believe that this experience with the ASW assignment has helped me grow my skills in

assessing and re-teaching a concept. I feel more confident in my abilities to notice a student’s

weakness in a subject and choose a strategy that will supplement this student’s learning process.

It is comforting to know that we are being taught a skill to identify a student’s need for help

before it is too late. Many believe that assessment is a test at the end of a unit, or a pop quiz for a

grade. It is not beneficial to the student nor the teacher to simply give a student a test and think

“What a shame” when a student does poorly. A teacher must be ready to help a student at any

given moment to catch them up on a concept before they fall too far behind.

I plan on carrying with me, my ever-growing skills in assessment, along with the Lemov

strategies we have learned, to assist me in my future students’ achievement. My goal is for every

child to succeed to their best ability in my future class. This will include giving each student their

best chance. I plan on constantly assessing to ensure my students’ understanding and/or need to

be challenged in a particular area. This experience has helped me understand the importance of

monitoring a student’s understanding in a timely manner.

 Philosophy of Teach, Check, Re-Teach

Throughout this semester, I have gained a great outlook on teach, assess, and reteach. I

always knew it was important, but never to the extent that I do now. I am so grateful to have

been given the opportunity to understand the level of importance for this process. I believe that

being aware of your student’s needs, assessing their knowledge, and re-teaching the content is

imperative to a child’s success in the classroom. In every classroom, there are children on many

different levels. It is a teacher’s job to identify what a student doesn't understand, then work with

them in either a small group setting or one on one to assure they become successful in that

content area. If a teacher were to continue teaching when his/her students don’t truly understand,

many students could easily be left behind. This would only hold students back as the following

lessons continue. As a teacher, I plan on striving to provide the best support for each of my

students and never stop assessing them.

There are countless methods and strategies to go about re-teaching a lesson. I believe in,

addition to knowing if a student understands a concept, a teacher must understand a student’s

best path to learning. With that being said, a teacher must know her students strengths and

weakness to effectively provide support for a student who is struggling. Along with struggling

students, it is evident that there are students who exceed expectations. Teachers must understand

how to both provide support for struggling students, and also provide challenge for advanced

students. A teacher can be given such a range of students and levels, that it is important to be

aware of the countless strategies that are involved in the “teach, check, re-teach” process.
 References

Lemov, Doug, 1967-. (2015). Teach like a champion 2.0 : 62 techniques that put students on the

path to college. San Francisco :Jossey-Bass,