Marina Culhane Mr.

Simon Libfeld Student Teaching Reflective Evaluation Lesson 1 Descriptive Writing The descriptive writing lesson I planned and implemented with my Slh grade CTT class at PS 19 went well. I felt that the plan was adequate and complete based on the feedback that I received from my cooperating teacher, my college supervisor and the general education teacher. The student responses to the stimulus pictures demonstrated for the most part that they understood what descriptive words are and their essays included use of the five senses. Overall this was a satisfactory lesson with some good aspects: the planning and structure were good, the pace was mostly good. The student materials I prepared for this lesson were clear and useful for my differentiated groups. The materials, ie. the amusement park stimulus pictures were adequate and appropriate for the advanced and middle group, however I realize after conferring with the classroom teachers that I should have chosen easier or less complex pictures for low and special needs group. It would have facilitated their completion of the graphic organizer and their descriptive essay writing. The document viewer made the sharing of my descriptive essay and the identification of descriptive words easier to share and elicit responses from the class. I feel that the directions that I provided each individual group for differentiation were clear and explicit Additionally I provided a rubric for the students to follow and understand exactly what was expected of them in their descriptive writing essays. My tone, pitch, voice pacing were appropriate throughout my lesson execution. During my read aloud of my non descriptive essay, I utilized a monotone voice on purpose to emphasize the drab of reading and listening to a boring written piece, whereas during my read aloud of my descriptive essay I used inflection, excitement and varying vocal tones to excite and bring life to the mental images being created by this piece. The pacing of this lesson was satisfactory with the well with the help of the general education teacher who was giving me visual cues to move on to the next part of my lesson. I feel that lesson pacing is an art that develops with more experience. In the meantime I will plan additional activities so that I do not fall short of activities to do with the class. I remember an adage my parents (both retired educators) shared with me, "If you don't have a plan for them, they will surely have a plan for you." The meaningful events of my lesson were primarily the student interaction and participation. Their responses to my questions, the student questions they formulated, the turn and talk, their responses on the graphic organizers and descriptive essays were the meaningful events of my lesson. If I were the cooperating teacher, I would definitely say that this was a good first lesson. Of course there is always room for improvement, and if I ever implemented another ELA lesson on descriptive writing, I would definitely tweak this one. As a student being taught this lesson, I feel that the hook was a good motivator and I enjoyed the teacher's enthusiasm and materials. As a student I can see the value of writing descriptively to add vivid images for the reader. It is also a valuable lesson as a student in fifth grade is expected to write descriptively for standardized tests.