Amber McBride RED 4742-004 March 29, 2014 Explicit Literacy Lesson Reflection For my explicit literacy lesson,

I selected my lowest level group of students to teach an explicit lesson on homophones with. I formed this group of students from my data collected from a spelling inventory that I had administered to the whole class. These students were determined to be at the level within word pattern stage of their literacy development. The spelling inventory is a list of words the students were required to spell. The inventory not only assess the words that were spelled correctly, but also the words that were spelled incorrectly. It breaks down the words into different features, or common sounds in words. Based on the missed features, the students level of literacy development is determined. According to the text, Words Their Way, students in this stage of literacy development need to practice with homophones in order to differentiate words that sound the same, but are actually spelt differently and have differently meanings. This will help them improve in the areas of spelling and vocabulary. During this stage, students rely on sound to help them with spelling and decoding words, but are now beginning to incorporate meaning. Homophones are an effective way to introduce this. For this lesson, I began by reading a story that contained many homophones. The incorrect homophones were used within the story, but because homophones sound the same the students were unaware of this. After the read aloud, we discussed the content of the story. The students were then given a copy of the story. This allowed them to see that what they heard me

read was not that same as what they see on the paper. The students then identified that the words were homophones. From there, through guided practice, the group identified all of the misused homophones and determined which words should have been used in the context. For independent practice, the students used an online activity to practice using homophones in the correct context. They were given sentences to which they had to select the correct word from the pair of homophones. The students were taught that practice with homophones is the best way to be able to differentiate them. Throughout the lesson, they were exposed to many commonly used homophones. Overall, this lesson went very well. The students were engaged and motivated by the integration of technology. They enjoyed the online activity I had selected for this lesson and at the end opted to complete an additional activity for more practice. The story used to introduce the homophones was also effective. It allowed students to make the connection between sound and meaning of words. They recognized that even though it sounded right, the words used were incorrectly. For the summative assessment, I reviewed the students scores from their independent practice, the online activity, and each student did very well. If the students were to miss one problem, I would ask them to tell me the meaning of both homophones again. Then they were able to distinguish between the two. If I were to do this lesson again, I would incorporate a word sort. I think this would give the students more exposure to homophones and their spelling. Through this lesson, the students were able to practice identifying the homophones and determining their meaning, but they didnt get any practice spelling the different words. I feel that in order for them to advance in their spelling development, they would need more practice in this area.