Observations of Student Learning
The way Marna and I designed our lesson was for each student to have individual attention at the white board, while the other students practiced and worked independently on their individual white boards. It was a cohesive lesson where everyone had a voice, but the student at the board was the one who was answering the questions. When that student needed help, the rest of the group helped, or when a question came up, it became a group conversation. Student learning occurred when an individual student had one-on-one attention at the white board. This was an effective strategy because it allowed for differentiation depending on the perceived level of the student and scaffolding depending on the student’s mastery of the material. Those who were listening to their peers and had their own individual white boards were asked to write rhymes of their own at the carpet, but instead they copied the rhymes I was writing on the group white board which were being given to me by the selected student who was receiving one-on-one attention. This makes assessment difficult because I wanted to use their small white boards to gauge who could create rhymes independently. (See picture A below.)
Student learning occurred when I read a Shel Silverstein poem aloud to the group and asked them to focus special attention for the rhymes. At the conclusion of the poem, I asked what they heard. One student told me the long story of the poem, an example of reading comprehension, and another student presented some examples of rhymes he heard throughout the piece. It was effective to have the component of the read-aloud play multiple roles, because both comprehension and listening for patterns are important for kindergarteners. Although we were specifically focusing on rhymes and words that have similar endings, there are certain concepts that need to be threaded throughout all kindergarten literacy lessons in order to help hone the skills of an emerging reader and writer.
The concluding game was a way for me to assess the students’ comfort levels and their ability to hear and match rhymes. The video below shows one boy in particular who was unfocused and behaviorally disruptive throughout the entire lesson. He was “uninvited” from the carpet, a classroom norm, at one point, but was asked to rejoin and given a second chance to participate in our final game. He is a mid-level student in terms of phonics and sounding out words; this is his second year in kindergarten. I was not sure if his behavior indicated that he wanted attention or did not understand the material. Regardless of the reason, the situation below shows the other four students getting into their appropriate group and then explaining to Khalee what group he should be in. Their ability to articulate why Khalee’s picture of a king needs to be with Morena’s picture of a ring is an example of student learning, despite Khalee’s lack of willingness to cooperate.
Student learning occurred when I read a Shel Silverstein poem aloud to the group and asked them to focus special attention for the rhymes. At the conclusion of the poem, I asked what they heard. One student told me the long story of the poem, an example of reading comprehension, and another student presented some examples of rhymes he heard throughout the piece. It was effective to have the component of the read-aloud play multiple roles, because both comprehension and listening for patterns are important for kindergarteners. Although we were specifically focusing on rhymes and words that have similar endings, there are certain concepts that need to be threaded throughout all kindergarten literacy lessons in order to help hone the skills of an emerging reader and writer.
The concluding game was a way for me to assess the students’ comfort levels and their ability to hear and match rhymes. The video below shows one boy in particular who was unfocused and behaviorally disruptive throughout the entire lesson. He was “uninvited” from the carpet, a classroom norm, at one point, but was asked to rejoin and given a second chance to participate in our final game. He is a mid-level student in terms of phonics and sounding out words; this is his second year in kindergarten. I was not sure if his behavior indicated that he wanted attention or did not understand the material. Regardless of the reason, the situation below shows the other four students getting into their appropriate group and then explaining to Khalee what group he should be in. Their ability to articulate why Khalee’s picture of a king needs to be with Morena’s picture of a ring is an example of student learning, despite Khalee’s lack of willingness to cooperate.
Individual Time at the Board:
Picture A: Use of individual white boards.
Penn Mentor Observer Notes | |
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