Megan Fabro-Mariano

Professor Schwartz
EDEE 426
4 October 2017
Oral Language Lesson Reflection
Introduction/background

For my 1st lesson for Block 2 Seminar and Practicum, my lesson focused on Oral

Language. I am currently placed in Ms. Tiffany Bala’s 1st grade class at Pearl City Highlands

Elementary School. I am still building more knowledge and experiences in teaching more than

10 students, since I currently work in an elementary where I interact with several students at a

time. During this lesson, I felt more confident than I ever did throughout my experiences at my

different field placements. Because of this experience, I realized that I want to teach 1st graders

when I graduate. My lesson fit into my mentor teacher’s lessons because she said that my

activity targets the components of language arts: speaking, writing, and listening. The students’

past assignment was to share their narratives, which involves asking questions, speaking, and

listening. So, the students were familiar with clarity, volume, critical listening, and asking

questions. For my 1st lesson, the objective was that students would orally describe their

classmates’ animal drawings. And, students would also illustrate their partner’s animal drawings

and write a description about it.

Description

There are 19 students, 10 boys and 9 girls, in my field placement Language Arts class.

Students switch classes during the Language Arts period according to their reading and writing

levels. My mentor teaches the 2nd to the highest level. None of the students have a form of

disability or are a part of a behavior or academic intervention. However, one of the students is

exiting out of English Language Learner (ELL). For my 1st lesson this semester, one of the

students was absent. Therefore, there was an even amount of students in my class.

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 My 1st lesson prompts multiple 1st grade Hawaii Content and Performance Standards

Benchmarks: the ability to use rhetorical devices to craft writing appropriate to audience and

purpose (Standard 5); the ability to apply knowledge of verbal and nonverbal language to

communicate effectively in various situations: interpersonal, group, and public: for a variety of

purposes (Standard 6); and, the ability to adapt messages appropriately to address audience,

purpose, and situation (Standard 7). The conceptual knowledge that students are supposed to

obtain is meaning, clarity, and critical listening. The procedural knowledge that students are

supposed to obtain are adding details to and description to a topic, using adjectives and

prepositional phrases to describe, use complete sentences when speaking, and listening skills.

This lesson was broken into 2 parts and was scheduled to take about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The

location of the lesson was taught in multiple areas: carpet and student desks.

Before starting my lesson, I did a warm-up activity with my students. Since my lesson

took place during the morning, I wanted to incorporate an activity where students greet each

other one by one. So, I had students take off one of their foot wears (slippers or shoes), place it

in the middle, and sit in a circle with the rest of their classmates. One by one, each person were

assigned to pick one foot wear in the middle, find the person with that foot wear, look him or her

in the eye, and say “good morning” following with his or her name after the greeting. Because

my lesson was on Oral Language, I figured that this would be a great warm-up activity to get

their oral communication going.

There are several components that happened in this lesson: independent work and partner

work. However, both components fall under the teaching strategy of Direct Instruction. To

begin my lesson, I held a discussion with my students about the topic of pets: what are they, what

animals make good pets, etc. Then, I did a read a loud of a book (The Pets You Get! By: Adrian

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Reynolds, Thomas Taylor) to better engage the students in the lesson and for them to have an

easier transition to the next activity on the agenda. After reading the book, I explained the first

part of the activity, which was for students to independently draw their dream pets – a pet that

they would want – and list 6 key physical characteristics that are shown in their pictures; the

students were open to listing more than 6 details if they wanted to. They completed this

assignment on a worksheet called “My Dream Pet.” For students to acquire a better

understanding, I explained to the students the definition of characteristic - the way something

looks or acts – and provided them with an example using my personal dream pet. I drew a

giraffe with 2 brown antlers/horns, a yellow body and face, brown spots on the body, 2 black

dots as its nose, 2 brown feet, and 2 yellow ears with pink in the inside. To involve my students

in the learning process of how to identify characteristics, I asked students to define some

physical characteristics that they saw in my picture. Before excusing my students to their desks

to complete the first part of the activity, I did a “Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down” to check their

understanding. The whole class understood the instructions, was excused back to their desks,

and was given 15 minutes to finish their worksheet.

10 minutes into their independent work time, I checked to see the students’ progress of

their drawings. Majority of the students were almost done drawing and writing their 6 details.

After 20 minutes passed, I called the students back to the carpet area to explain Part 2 of the

activity. For Part 2 of the activity, students were assigned to partner up heterogeneously and take

turns drawing each other’s dream pets by listening and asking questions. So, I explained that

while one student explains their dream pets verbally with clarity and appropriate volume, the

other person is listening, asking questions, and attempting to draw his or her partner’s dream pet.

And, all students will have the chance to speak, draw, and listen. To provide students with a

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better understanding of how to do this activity, I had them watch a video of an example of me

doing the activity with another person. This provides them with a better understanding because

it shows them how they are supposed to act and what they are supposed to do while doing the

assignment. I also provided them with an example of a completed worksheet to show them the

quality of a finished assignment. The students’ drawings are used as assessments to see if the

students were listening and speaking clearly. The students’ pictures do not have to look exactly

alike; however, they must portray the 6 details that their partners wrote down and explained.

After explaining the drawing portion of the activity, I explained to the students that in

order to complete the lesson, they would have to write a summary of what they drew in the back

of their worksheet. This portion is used as an assessment to see if they were using their listening

skills. Their writing will be based off what they drew and heard from their partners.

At the end of my explanation, I did another “Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down”

comprehension check. For those who did not understand, I had them stay seated on the floor so

that I could help them acquire a better understanding of what to do. Only one pair of students did

not understand. For those who did understand, I had them partner up heterogeneously and start

the assignment at their desks. All students were able to find partners on their own. There was

one pair that was the same gender because there were not enough boys.

30 minutes later, students were finishing up their worksheets and reflections. For those

who finished earlier than others, I had them read a book. Students followed directions and did

what they were told to do. My lesson ended right when the bell rang, so I was not able to close.

When the bell rings, students usually pack up and go back to their homerooms when excused.

Majority of the class was able to complete the lesson.

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 Creating my lesson, I was very excited! However, it was challenging because there were

a lot of components to think of thoroughly. I had the hardest time trying to figure out a lesson

that dealt with Oral Communication. The only thing I knew was that Oral Communication dealt

with speaking. I did not know how I could assess Oral Communication. What really helped was

reading through the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards examples. Luckily, I was able to

come up with this activity from reading the examples and relating them to a game that I played

with my family last Christmas. One thing that I enjoyed was picking out the book to read. I feel

that books are very good resources when it comes to teaching students, especially the younger

grade levels! I was excited because I thought the book that I chose was very engaging. It was

about animals, and my students love animals! It also had a rhyme that made the reading flow

smoothly.

Detailed Analysis

After meeting with my mentor teacher, Ms. Bala, I am happy to say that my lesson went

really well. She said that she was very impressed with my performance and that she could tell

that I had experience working with kids because of my classroom management. She pointed out

that I was very calm throughout my lesson and that my lesson flowed smoothly from activity to

activity. What helped with the smooth transitions were my constant use of reminders to help

guide students through the assignment; how I went to each table for small group instruction to go

over examples so that the students better understand what to do and how to execute an

assignment; how I showed multiple examples: videos, finished worksheets, chart example to

target all learners; how I pulled those who do not understand what to do on the side to better

explain the instructions and to check their understandings; and how I incorporated a read aloud

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in my lesson because it engaged the students to listen attentively. Overall, my mentor teacher

liked my lesson because it targeted Language Arts standards, and it challenged all students.

From my point of view, I feel that my management skills definitely improved from last

semester when I taught at Alvah Scott Elementary School. I used multiple strategies that I

learned from both my mentor teacher last semester and my mentor teacher this semester. One

thing I took from my mentor teacher last semester is the different ways to start a lesson through

morning activities. For this lesson, I used the slipper activity, which I learned from my previous

mentor teacher, to start my lesson. I used it as a warm up activity so students can practice their

oral communication and interacting with their peers. One thing that I learned from Ms. Bala, my

mentor teacher this semester, is the phrases “sit where you will focus” or “eyes and ears.” I used

these phrases to better manage the class while doing my first lesson at Pearl City Highlands

Elementary School. The students are familiar with these phrases therefore, I thought I’d use

them to see if it really works with managing my class; thankfully, it worked!

Although my mentor teacher said that I did really well, there were some things I feel that

I could have done to make my lesson better. One thing that I did not have the chance to do was

end my lesson in a meaningful way. My lesson took longer than expected due to my morning

activity; therefore, I did not get the chance to close my lesson. The students were already having

a fun time doing this assignment; too bad I did not get the chance to end it the way I wanted to. I

wanted to do a short discussion about the lesson whether the students enjoyed it or not or had a

hard time completing it. This ending activity would allow them to have input on their

assignment and also to assess their own performance and knowledge.

Another thing I feel that I need to work on is specific praise. I have to work on praising

my students for their good work and actions. This is a good classroom management strategy

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because it motivates others to try and do just as well as their peer that is being praised. I caught

myself doing some specific praise throughout my lesson but not loud enough for others to hear.

Majority of the time, my “good job” was just a simple high five. This is why I have to work on

giving out specific praises. For my future lessons, I will keep this in mind so that I can start

giving out more specific praises. With more practices, hopefully it becomes a “good” habit.

Implications/ Conclusion

There are many things that I have learned from this experience, especially about myself.

I feel that I have gained more confidence speaking in front of my students, teaching a lesson, and

speaking without hesitation (following through with my comments). These are the qualities that

I have been working so hard on. With more practice, hopefully it becomes more natural for me

to teach and speak without hesitation. Another thing that I learned about myself is that I really

want to teach the lower level grades, specifically 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade. I was placed in a pre-

kindergarten, first, and second grade class for my field placements, and so far, I have a love for

teaching 1st graders!

One thing that I learned for 1st grade is that they learn best with direct instruction.

Because they are still young and need more guidance, I found that direct instruction best helps

with their learning experience. They love the teaching model: I do, We do, You do. It provides

them with multiple examples before they actually are assessed.

I do not think I would do anything drastic to change my lesson because I feel that I

executed it quite well. With structure and organization, it was quite easy to flow through my

lesson. However, I know that there are some things that I have to work on. These are the things

that will come with more practice. With more experience, I will build more confidence, and I

will learn to give specific praises more often. From this lesson, I feel a little more confident than

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I felt last semester. I can definitely say that I look forward to having a classroom of my own and

students that I could build stronger relationships with.