REFLECTION CONVERSATION

Teacher Name: Subject/Grade Level: Lesson Date/Time:

K Steele Theatre/ 5th Grade 2/3/2022 1:25 pm

In general, how successful was the lesson? Did the students learn what you intended for
them to learn? How do you know? If you do not know at this point, when will you know,
and what will be evidence of their learning? (3d, 4a)

The lesson was successful just didn’t accomplish all of the tasks planned during the one class period. I
was able to finish the lesson during the next class period, where the students were able to work in small
groups to complete the Elizabethan word sentence worksheet. These worksheets were turned in and
reviewed as the evidence to their learning.

How does this lesson fit into the sequence of learning for this class? (1a, 1e)

The unit is covering William Shakespeare and his importance to theatre history. Once students have
background knowledge of who he is, they learn about the style of writing his work was done in and do
a quick study of Elizabethan words (this lesson) in small groups to help them better understand the text.
The lessons proceeding this lesson are then to read a Shakespeare script of “A Midsummer Night’s
Dream,” followed by small group scene work, and final performances.

As you reflect on the lesson, were the students cognitively engaged in the work? How do
you know? (3c)

Yes I was able to visually observe their participation during the Kagen structure Two Pair Share they
did at the beginning of class to review their knowledge of the information learned previously. I also
had student volunteers reading the synopsis out loud while the whole group followed along, and student
leaders were monitoring peer behavior. I also stopped periodically to check student understanding and
ask questions to make sure they were obtaining the information.

How did the instructional strategies you chose support student learning? How do you
know? (3c, 3e, 1d, 1e)

Kagen strategy helped every student in the class have an opportunity to review and voice their
understanding to a partner, while the whole group summary read gave visual learners an opportunity to
view the information and for everyone to follow along. Student volunteers were selected to help read
the information aloud to also engage the learning process and verbal check-ins with whole group helped
check for understanding.

What have you done to promote a culture for learning in your classroom? (2b)

The most rewarding evidence to support a positive culture in my classroom are the student leadership
“jobs” alotted to different students each week. It keeps them engaged in the classroom, teaches them
leadership, self-accountability, behavioral management skills, real-world applications to positions in a
theatrical job setting, and improvement on self-esteem.
I also make sure I try to combine various strategies of teaching to meet the needs of different types of
student learners. These include: partner work, small group/whole group activities, video observations,
tableau, student led peer check-ins, scene work, script reading, visual observations, and student choice
activities such as theatre games and exercises.

Revised 9/2020
 Any students with special needs/IEP’s are placed near the point of instruction and are put with positive
peers as much as possible for student learning. I also do frequent check-ins with these particular
students for understanding and any questions they may have but are not vocal about.

Did you alter your lesson plan or adjust your outcomes as you taught the lesson? If so,
how, and for what reason? (3e)

I realized I would need more time to teach all that was intended in the lesson, so did not rush to get
through all of the information and instead made sure to take more time teaching and checking in with
students on the plays summary before moving forward. During the following lesson I was able to move
forward with the Elizabethan worksheet and made sure that my IEP, 504’s, and division of girls and
boys were distributed fairly in small groups when accomplishing the task.

If you had a chance to teach this lesson again to the same group of students, what would
you do differently? (4a)

I wouldn’t have technically planned a group read of the summary along with trying to accomplish the
completion of the worksheet in small groups during the same lesson. When I had originally written the
lesson, I also hadn’t put in the “Two Pair Share” structure which ended up extending the lesson and was
an important component to check for student understanding.

Based on what you’ve learned about your practice, throughout this entire process, what
are you taking forward for use in future planning? (4a)

It is ok to change my mind and slow things down to meet the needs of the students’ learning process,
rather than trying to rush to meet all of the expectations of the lesson itself. I REALLY liked how well
the Two Pair Shared Kagen structure went and plan to incorporate it more frequently as a way for
students to review what was previously learned. After incorporating it with this particular class, I went
ahead and applied it to another 5th grade class, and found the results to be just as rewarding!

Revised 9/2020