Tutoring Reflection

Name Cassie Mayer Lesson 5 Date October 19,2015

Listen to your recording and reflect on your tutoring session by addressing
the following areas. Pay specific attention to the dialogue that you have with
the tutees and what insight you can gain from that. Write a short
paragraph for each section.
1. Identify and analyze strengths of the lesson, include reflections
about written and oral comments from the Coach and/or
professional peer and insights gained after listening to your
recording. [TPE 1A, 10]
This week I worked with only Jennifer because Jaquelyn was absent. It was a
great opportunity to get to know Jennifer better and also give her the extra
help she needed. Jennifer did an amazing job and had a great attitude the
whole time. Being able to give Jennifer all of my attention helped me keep
her engaged. This week I introduced annotating text to my tutee and it was
such a success. Jennifer, though she cannot read the level that our text was
at, she did follow along word for word and paused to make note of supporting
details and main ideas. Part of that process was me modeling my thinking so
she could understand how to think critically about the text and not underline
everything, just what was important. This connects to TPE 1.7 Candidates
provide opportunities for students to read purposefully and listen attentively
to build discipline-specific knowledge in the content areas. My coach made
the comment in my word study that I had good connections between my
standard, objective, and procedure. This was very encouraging and I will be
referring to that section of my lesson when writing others in order to model
that good connection again.
2. Identify and analyze problematic aspects of the lesson include
comments from the Coach, and/or professional peer and insights
gained after listening to your recording. [TPE 2,3]
During the word study this week Jennifer got one of the high frequency words
she missed last week, but added to more that she got correct before. This
tells me she may not have been as engaged during word study, or that she
was distracted when practicing the high frequency words. TPE 2.2 says,
Candidates pace instruction and re-teach content based on evidence
gathered using assessment strategies such as questioning students and
examining student work and products. Taking a tip from the RICA on page
51, it goes into detail about teaching high frequency words whole to part
using sentences that include the high frequency words the teacher would like
to teach. Next week I will use white boards to help explicitly teach high
frequency words my tutees struggle with. Referring to the RICA for this

section was suggested by my coach. Another area that can be seen as a

problem, was that we were only able to begin writing our final draft on our
opinion piece, however this is actually beneficial since Jennifer needs more
time to work on her writing than Jaquelyn. Next week we will continue to
finish our final draft, and because of the one on one time I had with Jennifer
this week, differentiating the time for instruction has already taken place for
Jennifer.
3. Describe possible changes to lesson if implemented a second
time. [TPE 9,10]
Based on TPE 9.9 Candidates reflect on and improve their planning based
on their instructional experiences and analyses of student work. If I were to
implement this lesson a second time, possible changes I would make would
be to do our word study in a quieter, less distracting environment. Next time
I will do this and see if it helps my tutees improve in their word study. I would
also provide more time for Readers Theatre. Now combining groups there is a
bit more discussion involved with the teachers and the tutees. I would also
get together with my Readers Theatre teachers beforehand so we could
better differentiate instruction between the three of us.
4. Discuss insights about tutees. Discuss and analyze tutees work,
describe tutees behavior/attitudes, etc. How did you differentiate
your instruction/materials to meet the different needs of your
tutees? What will you work on next session based on your analysis
of this session? [TPEs 4,5,7]
Jennifer was very engaged during the reading of the expository text. I
thought this reading would be more difficult for her since it is more
informational than creative. She loved it though and asked questions about
baby sloths which I plan on bringing more information about next week. Her
interest in animals is such a helpful tool in preparing lessons for my tutees.
During Word Study Jennifer seemed to be distracted as she missed the words
is and it that she got correct in last weeks word study. Connecting to TPE
5.4 which discusses students who seem to be off task and struggling, I will
analyze the lesson. Next week I will attempt to take us to a quieter area in
the classroom with fewer distractions to help my tutee out.
5. Discuss progress made toward becoming an exemplary teacher.
Refer to the RICA Competencies, TPEs, learning theories, etc.
Progress made toward becoming an exemplary teacher was through my
modeling of annotating text. This kept my tutee engaged as we analyzed the
expository text together, it also showed my tutee how to be thinking while
reading informational texts. This connects to TPE 5: Student Engagement, 7:

Teaching English Language Learners, and TPE 4: Making Content Accessible.

According to the text, Reading and Learning to Read, scaffolding instruction
through modeling explicitly establishes thinking before, during, and after
reading a text (pg. 287). In time Jennifer will be able to use this thinking by
herself and will no longer need a model to think analytically about a text.