Madi's First LA Reflection

This lesson was the first of the ‘Ideas & Content’ portion of our six traits language arts unit, called ‘Draw on the Count of Three’. A majority of my students have experienced the six traits of writing throughout their schooling, so in 6^th grade we are able to practice using these traits in writing instead of simply learning about them. It was a prewriting lesson and Joey and I were lucky enough to watch each other teach all of our lessons, so having a helping hand with a class of 28 was amazing. I have two ELL students who required extra assistance I terms of understanding instruction. Once they were given more specific instruction, the entire class was able to thoughtfully work their way through each of the prewriting activities within the lesson.

My students sit in table groups during language arts and typically work well with these groups. However, in sixth grade we don’t assign them seats because we want them to be accountable for their own learning and make good decisions about whom they choose to work with. This, as expected, occasionally backfires. With this lesson, there was a specific table of boys who were silent throughout the lesson, even when I addressed them individually in hopes to see their thoughts. When they had nothing to contribute to me verbally, I made sure to look at their responses in their packet once they were collected. As I anticipated, they each had the exact same things written down in almost the exact words. I talked to them later about being responsible for their own work and that it is okay to not want to share with the class, but they need to think for themselves and demonstrate their own learning. Since then, each of them has done an excellent job of working individually, as well as within their group.

Stemming from my previous paragraph, and as Joey also stated in his blog response, my students reacted very well to differentiation of classroom talk. There were times when I led the discussion and gave specific examples, but we also had really engaging talks as a whole class. I observed great conversations amongst my students’ table groups, and after reviewing their responses to this lesson, it was clear that they were able to complete the activities and apply them to their own, individual, writing.

For those students who necessitate additional support, like my two ELL boys, our school is fortunate enough to have an ELL class each day. They receive one-on-one and small group support with practicing English and they are able to bring their homework in for further explanation and clarification. Language arts, in particular, can be a challenge for ELL students, so I am very lucky to have this resource in my school. I bring a copy of my boys’ assignments to their ELL class and am able to work with that resource teacher and my students more closely.

If I were to re-teach this lesson I would do it more like how Joey conducted it with his class. I was able to watch him teach this ‘Draw on the Count of Three’ lesson and really liked how he engaged his class during discussion. I also held a successful discussion with my class, but Joey did a great job with letting the kids bounce ideas off of each other rather than facilitating the direction of conversation. Students were really able to gain a better understanding of each others’ thinking from listening to what their peers had to say.

I walked around during the small group discussions and made sure to address each student within this context. I know that some specific students, including my ELL boys, feel uncomfortable sharing out loud as a whole class, but were able to participate nicely within the “safety” of their table groups. I also wrote ideas from our whole class discussion on the board so that students were able to reference their peers’ thoughts throughout the lesson.

This lesson was the very first of my unit, so I didn’t feel that I was truly able to implement my core practice, at least not very deeply. I addressed the six traits and this lesson was a great way to get them thinking about them, but I am looking forward to using this practice to reference while discussion my core practice later on throughout other lessons in the unit.