EDUC 200 Final Power Point Presentation Scott Reding Spring 2005

St. Vincent’s School Characteristics: Private (Roman Catholic) K Students 97% Hispanic Student to Teacher ratio (K-2 nd ) = 15:1 (3 rd -8 th ) = 30:1

Field Notes 3 rd Grade English and Math How the teacher identified the objective: The English class focused on reading comprehension and making predictions based on recalled textual evidence. The teacher read through part of a book aloud while the students followed along, occasionally asking the class to predict what would happen next and why they though that.

Field Notes How the children knew what was expected from them: The teacher’s questions revealed what he wanted them to do. Every prediction had to be supported. How the teacher checked for understanding: By the end of the lesson, he had asked every student to make a prediction at least once. Most students raised their hands and volunteered answers, but he made sure to occasionally call on students who had been quiet.

Field Notes How the teacher gives the rationale: He related their math class to the earlier prediction lesson, asking them to predict which color would be most prevalent in a bag of Skittles. While not necessarily making it relevant to the students, he did make them interested by giving them Skittles and having them make bar graphs to report their findings, which he would then hang in the hallway for the rest of the school to see.

Field Notes Group activities: For the math lesson, the teacher split the students up into groups of four. He gave a bag of Skittles to each group, and each group made a bar graph for the hallway. Assessment at the end of the lesson: The teacher looked at each group’s graph and talked to the students about their predictions and their bar graphs.

English-language Arts Content Standards – Third Grade Writing 1.0 Writing Strategies Students write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop a central idea. Their writing shows they consider the audience and purpose. Students progress through the stages of the writing process (e.g., prewriting, drafting, revising, editing successive versions).

Lesson Plan One Standard: 1.3 Understand the structure and organization of various reference materials (e.g., dictionary, thesaurus, atlas, encyclopedia). Objective: TSSBAT collect information on a topic of their choice using encyclopedias.

Lesson Plan One Motivation: Tell students that they are going to become writers; they can write about anything they want, but first they have to learn a little about it. Input of Information: Explain the prewriting phase of the writing process, what type of information is found in an encyclopedia, and how it is organized.

Lesson Plan One Check for Understanding: Ask if students have any questions. If not, ask the class a few questions: “What is this step in the writing process called?” etc. Structured/Guided Practice: Give students a few minutes to decide on a topic. Then, have them find their topics in the encyclopedias and start writing down the interesting things they learn. Walk throughout the class while they are doing this, occasionally providing hands-on help, like pointing out important information or helping them find the topic.

Lesson Plan One Closure: End class by telling students that they have finished the prewriting step and have learned how to research using an encyclopedia. Informal Assessment: Collect the information each student wrote down about his or her topic and read through it later to see if the facts apply to the topic and seem to have come from the encyclopedia.

Lesson Plan Two Standard: 1.1 Create a single paragraph. a. Develop a topic sentence. Objective: TSSBAT organize prewriting material and write a coherent, informative topic sentence based on it. Motivation: The next step in becoming a writer. Hopefully, the students are interested in what they learned about their topics, and they want to be able to share the information with others.

Lesson Plan Two Input of Information: Explain purpose of topic sentence in a paragraph. Give examples– simple paragraphs with topic sentences that I have written to illustrate the function of a topic sentence. Check for Understanding: Ask questions about what was just talked about. Also, ask students to pick out the topic sentences from a few extra examples on the handout and ask them how they knew it was a topic sentence and what it does for the paragraph.

Lesson Plan Two Structured Practice: Pass out a worksheet with a few simple paragraphs that need topic sentences. Help students determine good topic sentences for each paragraph. Guided Practice: Return students’ prewriting information and give them time to read through it and think of a topic sentence for their paragraph. Walk throughout the room and help students out while they are doing this.

Lesson Plan Two Closure: Explain to the students that what they are doing is part of the drafting step in the writing process. (This furthers their knowledge of the writing process and reassures them that they don’t have to have great topic sentences yet; these are just drafts.) Review once again what they have learned about topic sentences by asking a few quick questions. Informal Assessment: Collect their topic sentences and prewriting material and read through it later to see how well they seem to have understood the concept.

Lesson Plan Three Standard: 1.1 Create a single paragraph. b. Include simple supporting facts and details. Objective: TSSBAT create a draft of a full paragraph based on their prewriting information and topic sentences.

Lesson Plan Three Motivation: Keep the students excited about being writers. Show the episode of “Wishbone” about Shakespeare. Input of Information: Follow the episode of “Wishbone” by explaining more about the drafting step. Then discuss more examples of paragraphs, focusing on the body of the paragraph. Check for Understanding: Ask students questions while talking about the sample paragraphs, like how each sentence relates to the topic sentence of that paragraph.

Lesson Plan Three Structured/Guided Practice: Have students write their own paragraphs based on their prewriting information and topic sentences. Walk throughout the class, helping students organize information and write about it clearly. Closure: Reinforce that these paragraphs are just drafts. Tell students that even the best writers will rewrite their paragraphs lots of times before they get it right.

Lesson Plan Three Informal Assessment: Collect prewriting information and paragraphs. Read through them later and write short, simple comments to help the students revise tomorrow during the next step of the writing process.

Emotional Response I really enjoyed my first observations at St. Vincent’s, and returning to the school only increased my appreciation of the teachers and students there. I think what I have gained the most from these observations is a new way of looking at teachers. Not only do I have much more respect for teachers now, but also the mystery is gone. Never before have I really considered what is required for effective teaching. I’ve always just gone to class and learned what I needed to learn to get by. Now that I have ventured behind the proverbial curtain the separates teachers from students, I have gained an entirely new appreciation for the logistics of what actually goes on in a classroom.

Feedback “It looks good, I like it, but you need an ‘Emotional Response’ and a page for 3 feedbacks. I like the template, but it does get a little bland by the end, the pictures make that a lot better though.” “Oo! I like the background, haven’t seen that one! I think something might be to make the points you make not in paragraph form. Maybe bullets? I know it’s hard. I couldn’t do that for my lesson plans. I think yours is the very best since we used the same clipart! Wishbone! Yes! One thing is, you need an ‘Emotional Response’ page. I think its good. It is pleasant to look at!” “Good work, I really liked the theme, but needed a little bit of excitement toward the end.”