Student Teacher:

Chloe Rakos

Supervisor:

Lauren Delisio

Date:

November 12, 2015

Visit #

Summary of Pre-visit Conference/Goals for this lesson:

Scaffold students when necessary without giving them the answer
Provide explicit directions for what students should be doing at all times
Effectively manage classroom during independent reading
Student Teacher Reflection:
Planning reading lessons has presented a challenge for me. I feel that many students
understand the concept when we are working on it together as a class but then have a
difficult time transferring that skill to their own reading. It is also challenging because
many of the readers in my classroom are reading ion low levels that even though the
books they are reading independently are technically fiction, they do not have the typical
fiction elements.
I felt good during the lesson. I felt like I did well managing the class during my minilesson and tried to use more preventative management techniques like reminding students
to make good choices for their seats on the carpet. I was lucky enough that on this day I
did not only have my cooperating teachers to assist with management during the
independent reading portion of the lesson, but I also have two college sophomores that
were there to assist. This really helped with students being able to get the help they
needed and for me to be able to focus on my guided reading group that I pulled during
independent reading.
Looking back on this lesson, theres really not much I would do differently. I felt that I
was really able to take a reading skill that is pretty abstract for such young children and
make it into something easier to understand. I think I may revisit this skill for a lesson
again in the coming week and then do a more formal assessment of it.
Supervisors Feedback:
Today you taught a reading lesson in the general education first grade class. You called
students over to the carpet by tables, and reminded them, Make sure youre choosing
your spot on the carpet wisely, because we had some chatting this morning.
You began OK who can tell me what story we listened to yesterday yeah, we read
Lillys Purple Plastic Purse. Remember, we did our five-finger retell with it. What
was that kind of tricky part? Events yeah we had a little bit of a tricky time telling
those events we had a hard time telling the difference between the major and the minor
events. Next, you reviewed the five-finger retell: character, setting, problem, events, and

solution. You asked the students to say it with you, and then you repeated it again. There
was also a Five Finger Retell chart on the board for students to refer to.
You moved onto the direct modeling portion of the lesson: I am going to read some of
the events and decide if each one is a major events and detail or a minor event and detail.
A minor event or detail would be something that is important for us to know, but didnt
affect the problem or the solution.
You had prepared index cards with several events written out, and as you read them
aloud, you showed each card to the students, did some thinking aloud about why each
event was major or minor, and then had the students help you place them on a T-chart on
the white board that read:
Major Events/Details --------- Minor Events/Details
You modeled a few and then moved onto the guided practice portion of the lesson where
you asked students to help you to decide if each event was major or minor. You repeated
this process for ten of the major and minor events in the story. You moved the lesson
along, but your pacing was perfect. You spoke clearly and slowly and provided a lot of
examples for the students to ensure that they understood this skill (which is a difficult one
for many students).
When one student was calling out, you redirected him nicely by saying, Thoughts in
your head, I am going to call on someone who has their hands raised.
When you had finished placing all of the events onto the chart, you read each of the
major events events aloud, in the order that they occurred in the book.
Next, you modeled how to complete the beginning-middle-end chart that students would
be working on independently, and explained the directions. The students would read a
few books, decide if any of their stories have a beginning, middle, and end, and if so, then
they would their own books to complete the chart. If not, they would use events from
Lillys Purple Plastic Purse to complete the chart, and that they could draw pictures or
write words in the chart. You asked them to repeat the instructions (great). You called the
students by number from the carpet to their reading spots. While students were
reading, you were circulating the room, listening to students read aloud. Then, you
worked with a small group for guided reading
Both transitions back and forth to the carpet were smooth. Your lesson was explicit and
short (as it should be- the pacing was perfect) and your modeling/think alouds were
excellent. My only tiny suggestion is related to formative assessment; how do you know
every kid got it and is now able to distinguish between major and minor events in their
own books? How will you know which students need remediation and which students
maybe need some enrichment in this area?

Cooperating Teachers Feedback:

Chloes lesson was well-prepared and carried out. Her classroom management continues
to develop nicely. Reading workshop can be a tricky time balancing a mini-lesson
along with guided reading lessons. Checking in with students verbally (before meeting
with guided reading groups) following the mini-lessons is a great was to assess students
comprehension of the concept taught. Assessment can also be integrated into certain
guided reading lessons if the book works with the concept you practiced. Overall a welldone and valuable lesson!
Review and Revision of Personal Goals:
Scaffold students when necessary without giving them the answer I think that I
did fairly well with this. If a student gave an incorrect answer I tried to get them
to explain their reasoning and then guide them toward the correct answer through
questioning.
Provide explicit directions for what students should be doing at all times I feel
that I did well with this but could have done a little better. I think I was more
concerned about the content of the lesson that I didnt have the directions as
planned out in my mind as I could have. I still feel that my students knew what
they were supposed to be doing and I asked them to repeat the directions back to
me for their independent work to really assess if they knew what they were
supposed to be doing.
Effectively manage classroom during independent reading As I explained prior,
I was lucky enough to have a lot of help with this on this particular day but in
general, I think I have been doing well with this. I feel that most of my students
really respect that we are trusting in them during this time to stay on task and
work independently. Even when I pull a guided reading group to work with me, I
feel that I have developed more of an ability to work with them but still be able to
scan the room and keep tabs on the other students.