Lesson 1 Reflection

The lesson overall went pretty well as the students were highly interested and engaged in

the lesson. The lesson unfolded pretty well but there were some deviations to the lesson. The

lesson I originally planned became too repetitive as they were doing the same task three times. In

writing the lesson plan, I didn’t think this would happen but it became too redundant. Therefore,

by the time it was the student’s turn to independently practice the skill; there wasn’t much to do.

Therefore, I quickly grabbed another folktale book I brought and had the students examine that

book to identify what a folktale is.

Based on the students’ responses, I learned that these students varied in their reading

level and understanding. Some of them were able to understand the text pretty quickly and

understand what folktale was. However, some of the students had a harder time understanding

folktales and identifying the characteristics of it. I learned that the students need more explicit

teaching and concrete tasks to measure the skill I am trying to teach them. There was a child that

kept saying, “What do you mean?” and “Can you explain it again, I don’t get it…” This showed

me that I need to be more explicit in my instruction and more clear in what I am teaching them in

addition to what I want them to do.

What I noticed about myself as a teacher was that I tend to talk a lot instead of guiding

the students into the skill they needed to do. I realized that I tend to talk and lecture about the

lesson I am teaching with examples and then expect them to do the same after I have ‘taught’

them the concept. However, this was not the case as many of them needed more guidance and

walk through the lesson. I need to learn to scaffold the students’ learning and better guide them

in this lesson.
 Some modifications for tomorrow’s lesson included leaving more room for independent

practice so they can apply what they have learned and step by step guiding them in the lesson. I

came to this conclusion because I realized that the tasks in my lesson became too redundant

where the students couldn’t really independently practice the strategy because we already went

over them. Also, I realized that I tend to talk a lot and not leave room for scaffolding and guiding

as many students seem to get distracted towards the end and confused.
 Lesson 2 Reflection

Today’s lesson went pretty well and there were definitely a lot to cover and go through.

Compared to yesterday’s lesson, today’s lesson was very pact and there were a lot to do and

address. I almost feel as if I tried to squeeze too many concepts and skills into one lesson. There

weren’t really many deviations from the lesson plan but it just took a long time. However, I

thought it was worthwhile to cover everything as the students gained a lot of knowledge and

helped build their skill where they will eventually have to identify the theme of the story.

Based on the students’ responses, I learned that they have a harder time analyzing the

characters than I thought. They can describe concrete characteristics of the character, but it was

harder to analyze their actions and thoughts. As a reader, I continues to notice the difference in

pace they read. Moreover, I learned that this particular skill I was teaching them to do was a little

more difficult. One or two of the students kept complaining that it was too hard and that they

couldn’t do it. When I had the students do the character analysis on their own, few of the

students just sat there not knowing what to do. This helped me to see that the lesson was a little

more difficult than I thought it was.

I noticed that I need to better prepare in differencing the lesson for struggling students.

Also, I need a more concrete way of assessing the students’ work. While assessing them orally is

important and works, I think a concrete written assessment will be helpful in assessing and better

catering to the needs of the students. Moreover, as a teacher, I think I need sound more confident

and not rush through the lessons so much. As the lesson was packed, I tried to get through all of

it as soon as possible, but in doing that I think my pacing was a little too fast.

The modifications and changes that I will make for tomorrow came from a need for more

written work of the students to assess their learning. Through their written work, I think I will be
able to have another way of assessing the students and seeing where they need more guidance

on. Also, another changes included having a better plan for a differentiated lesson plan for

struggling students. As the students are at different levels, I need to meet them where there level

is. Therefore, having a more concrete plan differentiated learning will benefit the students and

help them to grow in the skill I am trying to teach them.

 Lesson 3 Reflection

Today’s lesson overall went really smooth and seemed like the students were

understanding the lesson of the story. However, I wonder if the students really understand the

concept or if they were just following what I was doing. There weren’t any deviations as the

lesson went on as planned. Moreover, I think the written worksheet contributed to how the lesson

unfolded. Instead of a discussion, there was more of a written assignment and written work the

students had to complete. This made the structure of the lesson a little more concrete and stable.

Based on the students’ response, it seemed like the students were understanding the

concept of the lesson but I had second guesses. While the students seem to successfully fill out

the worksheet by writing down the theme for each of the story passage, they didn’t really know

how they got that answer. They couldn’t really tell me step by step how they figured out the

lesson of the story. Instead, it seemed like they just came up with an answer even though it was

right.

I noticed that I need to give more specific feedback for the students. I noticed that I

would give general feedback like ‘good’, ‘this needs to be fixed’, and ‘looks good’. This could

have contributed to the students being confused and not really knowing what to correct. Through

more specific and direct feedback, I think the students will be able to grow a lot more and really

understand the lesson in depth. Moreover, I still need to work a lot in scaffolding the students

learning so that they may be able to learn the process of the skill and really be able to apply it

independently. I feel like I told them the answers many times instead of guiding them through

the process.
 For tomorrow’s lesson plan, I plan to give more specific feedback and more direction

instruction. Moreover, I am still working to scaffold student learning and equip them to carry out

the skill the learned. I came to these conclusions based on the students’ responses. As the

students were able to concretely tell me the process of how they found the theme of the passage

alarmed me to make more concrete steps in helping them scaffold the concept. Moreover, I think

providing them with more specific feedback will also help them foster the skill.
 Lesson 4 Reflection

Today’s lesson was very enjoyable as I got to see all the previous lessons come together

for this final lesson. The lesson today went really well and I think the students seemed more

confident as they got to use and see what they learned before for this lesson. The lesson unfolded

pretty well and followed the lesson plan pretty well. While the lesson and exercise seemed a little

redundant, I think the students still stayed engaged, as they were willing to participate more and

understand the final objective of the lesson.

Based on the students’ responses, I saw some improvements in terms of their reading

level and fluency for some of them. As we did a lot of reading and retelling outside of the lesson,

some of the students to show some improvement in their reading. As for the skill they were being

taught, the students seem to have a pretty good general grasp of the lesson. In asking them how

they came to the lesson or theme, the students replied with the characters actions in their

responses. Moreover, even one child commented “Ooohh! Now I know what the lesson of this

story is! And it’s fun figuring it out!” Even just hearing these comments show me that the

students are learning and have processed some of the lessons that were taught to them.

I noticed that myself as a teacher that the lesson goes well when I feel comfortable

around the students and the lessons. I noticed that as I felt pretty comfortable today directing the

lesson and leading discussions, it went pretty well. Even with pacing, I thought there was a goof

flow to it where everyone could follow along and I wasn’t rushing through it. Moreover, even

questioning them about how they got to the theme and guiding them through it really helped. I

also noticed giving more concrete specific feedback and tried to expand on the responses I gave

the students so that they could understand better. As this was the last lesson taught, there weren’t

any necessary modifications needed for the next lesson.

 Final Reflection

Through this small group lesson, I was able gain valuable experience and lessons. Some specific

things I learned from this experience was learning to develop a lesson plan based on a specific language

arts skill, scaffolding instruction, and importance of the concept knowledge. One major lesson was

learning how to write four extended lesson plan on a single concept. This was really helpful and useful as

I got to experience how to build off of each lesson to ultimately equip them with the final skill I was

trying to train them in. As my lessons were centered around finding the theme in a folktale and retelling

the folktale with the theme in mind, I was able to see how each of the lessons I created all came together

for the students to actually utilize that concept. I believe this was why the students felt more confident and

actively participated in the last lesson because they were better equipped to finally learn the last piece

needed to carry out the skill the were learning. Even as one student commented, “It all makes sense!”

showed me how the lessons were all tied together.

Thinking about the process of planning to the end of the fourth lesson, the different components

of standards, objectives, assessments and activity sequence all aligned pretty well to develop into what I

wanted them to learn. Of course, there were some modifications that were made and objectives weren’t

met exactly as there seemed to be missing links at times, but I think the overall flow of the lessons

seemed to in align with each other. The students were able to follow what I modeled for them and what

we worked together on for the lesson for the most part. They did pretty well in participating and giving

answers.

I think a strategy I could work with them for this group of students is really scaffolding their

process of thinking so that they may be able to see how they came to an answer. Also, I think they could

use some help in making deeper connections with the texts and inferences, as those are not easy for them.

While they did a pretty good job with the strategies leading up to figuring out the theme and retelling the

folktales, I would really want to work with the students on getting deeper with the text and the concepts

and not just straightforward observations.

 Something I found most challenging was really teaching the students and guiding them in their

understanding of the concept. Many times, I was just inclined to explain the different lessons and expect

them to understand them. However, that was not the case, as they needed more direct guidance and

instruction. It was when I walked through with them step by step that they were able to understand better

and work independently as well. However, trying to scaffold the various lessons was difficult for me

personally. This made me even realize that teaching is not something where you explain the different

concepts and expect your students to understand it, but it’s really meeting them where they’re at and

walking through with them. I think that’s why it was difficult for me because I didn’t understand this at

first and expected the students to jump more than they could reach.

I believe one thing that I did well as a teacher to help students learn the intended strategy/skill is

facilitating discussion and engaging the students in the lesson. While there were difficult parts teaching, I

think the students stayed engaged throughout the lessons for the most part and I think this is important as

they need to be engaged to learn the intended strategy and skill. Also, through the discussions, the

students were able to gain insight and learning even from each other and hearing each other retell the

lesson or the story. Some things I could do differently to facilitate students’ learning is initially seeing

where the students are at and their level to gage where I should start off with in the lesson and its

difficulty. Through this experience of teaching a small group, I learned that I need to be more aware of

differentiating the lessons as the students could be at teach in the future will be at different levels as well.

It’s so easy to think that the lesson you prepare will fit all the students and they will respond in a certain

way. However, as each child comes from different backgrounds and have different levels, I realize that as

a teacher, I need accommodate to that and adapt to those different situations. One goal I plan to set up for

myself related to planning and teaching for my next semester’s student teaching placement is not just

presenting the different lessons and concepts to the students, but really helping them to understand them

by unfolding it step by step where they can also teach it to others as well.