Differentiated Reading Explicit Instruction Lessons

Teaching Reflection

Reflect on the process of planning and implementing structured, explicit instruction reading
lessons.
 What were some challenges you encountered either during planning, practice, or
implementation?
 What are your thoughts on using a semi-structured script for teaching foundational
reading skills? What are drawbacks and what are benefits?
 After watching yourself, what did you do well? Provide examples from both lessons.
 After watching yourself, where did you struggle? Provide an example from both lessons.
 These Bookworm lessons are evidence-based and developed to be delivered with
fidelity, meaning all core components must be implemented as intended so that the
lesson is effective. On a scale of 1 to 10 --- 1 being Walpole would not even know I was
teaching one of her lessons and 10 being Walpole would request I film demo lessons for
professional development --- rate your “treatment integrity.” Why? How close do you
think you were able to stick to the evidence-based plan?
 Lastly, reflect on how this experience will be different when you are teaching in a first,
second, or third grade classroom rather than with three of your peers. Where do you
anticipate challenges? How can you prepare and set up the class so that you can prevent
some of these challenges?
 For my reading lesson I was assigned to do using letter patterns lesson 9 for PAWR

lessons and vowel teams lesson 9 for WRAF. Overall, I found the script for evidence-based

reading instruction super helpful. It was easy to follow and made a lot of sense in how it tested

the topic at hand. I felt it was laid out in a way where if you had no teaching experience you can

logically follow the lesson and make sense of the information. My favorite part about it was the

format. It engaged in prior knowledge in the beginning by going over phonemic skills or other

foundational reading skills, taught the topic at hand, and brought in lessons of high frequency

words too.

Sadly, I lost my video for this lesson due to technical issues on my partner’s phone, but I

wrote bullet points on what I felt I did well and what can be worked on after. If I had to rate my

performance, I would give myself a five out of ten. Though that sounds bad I think considering

this is new to me and I am not a teacher, yet it is a good place to start.

I would like to start with what I did well. I felt I did significantly better in the second

lesson than I did in the first. I think as I went through it, I decided that the script can be used as a

guideline and putting my own spin on the lesson is helpful for my peers. I added in modeling so I

would do the first word together with my students so they knew how the rest of the lesson would

go. I also felt I practiced a lot so I felt comfortable with the lesson and I hope it showed. I also

feel my peers felt comfortable with me and were pretty engaged because I allowed by students to

engage more than the lesson would allow for.

Even though I felt I did well overall for this being a new lesson there were definitely a lot

of areas I need to improve on. The first would be I was so nervous and focused on doing the

lesson right that I paid no attention to if my peers were picking up on the material in the first

lesson. Regardless of how well I read the script if my students aren’t getting it and I am not
doing what I can to correct them then I am doing a bad job as a teacher. I also was blatantly

looking at the script throughout the lesson. I always feel teachers should have notes to stay on

topic but a teacher flat out reading and not engaging with her students isn’t acceptable in my

book. I think with practice I will get better at it but it takes time to develop that.

When I teach, I would want to use the script with some modifications. I think the script is

great for implementing the lesson itself however I think instead of using it as a script it should be

used as a guideline. For example, in my WRAF lesson I needed to model what do first. It was a

little tricky. It didn’t give a lot explanation or directions they just wanted the students to jump

right into it and if college students can’t follow then first graders won’t be able to. I also found it

difficult if a student made a mistake to correct them. The lesson relied on the fact that the

students were just going to get it right away but realistically if a college student can make a

mistake with these lessons a first grader can too. I also found it hard to keep the students

engaged. This would definitely be an activity that students would dread in the classroom.

I feel if I had to rate on a scale of one to ten how accurate I was with Walpole’s lesson I

would give myself an eight, but I think it should be a five to execute the lesson properly. I feel

the lesson it best executed if you take the lesson use it as a guideline and adapt it. If you add

modeling and more engaging activities and student participation these have potential to be such

great lessons.