Textbox 4.0: Contextual Information a) Describe your classroom.

Include the grade level, content area, subject matter, and number of students. Provide relevant information about any of your students with special needs. The classroom is a very warm and inviting one. It is filled with age appropriate material, and is set up in a way that children can learn without any distraction or disruption. The walls are covered with mini lessons that the teacher and class have done together. Most of these mini lessons consist of little reminders of what to add when writing, and different chunks students will find in words when reading. The students desks are in groups, with an exception of four students. These students desks are considered islands. They are put in islands when they cannot work well in groups, or have trouble paying attention. The overall aura of the classroom is an engaging one, and a perfect place for students to learn! The teacher teaches her class the main subjects, Reading/Language Arts, Writing, Mathematics, and Social Science. Science and Social Studies times are combined so one week the class may work on Science and the next week they may work on Social Studies, it depends on what standards they are working on at the time. So far, the students have been learning about subtraction, addition, parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions...etc.), the difference between needs and wants, all about maps, and much more. There are 21 students in the classroom; 9 girls and 12 boys. Four students receive Speech/Language Services, and one child goes to resource every day. One of the students is on tier 2B, and another is on tier 2. b) Describe any physical, social, behavioral, or developmental factors that may impact the instruction that occurs in your classroom. Mention any linguistic, cultural, or health considerations that may also impact teaching and learning in your classroom. Two of my students are Hispanic, which causes a little bit of a language barrier. Throughout my lessons, I make sure that I speak clearly so they understand what I am trying to teach. One of them catches on to things very quickly, so I barely have to check for understanding. The other Hispanic student has trouble when it comes to understanding so I usually will work with him one-on-one. Since I have some background in the Spanish language, I will speak with him in Spanish to make him feel more comfortable around me. Once he realized that I could communicate with him through Spanish and English, he opened up a little more to me, which made it easier for me to help him. A couple of my other students are ADD and ADHD, and they like to be kept busy. I make sure that I give them tasks like helping out so they dont zone out or wander off. I have to constantly keep an eye on them because they tend to get off task quickly and will cause a disturbance in the class. For the students who receive language services, I make sure to model how to talk. I pronounce my words carefully and always rephrase or reword questions that I ask throughout lessons to help avoid any confusion. A few of my students have peanut allergies, so I have to be careful of what I bring in to eat. I must also be mindful of what types of snacks to bring in for parties or for rewards. As I teach this semester, I must be mindful of all the different learners that are in my class. Each child learns differently so I make sure I incorporate different strategies and methods so that I reach just about everyone in the class, if not all. There will always be some way for me to incorporate some type of song, book, craft or visual model in my lessons because I know for sure that each student can better understand through one of these strategies. Knowing how your students learn can definitely help you in the long run because you know that they will catch on to lessons much quicker.

c) Describe any factors related to the school and surrounding community that may impact the teaching and learning that occurs in your classroom. The school offers tutoring and after-school programs. This is beneficial for students in the class who need more one-on-one time. Because a teacher cannot spend the majority of his/her time with one student, tutoring programs can play a huge role in a childs life. There are a few of my students who go to tutoring, which makes it so much easier for me because I do not have to spend too much time with them, helping them understand the days lesson. The after-school programs are also beneficial for students. They help students with their homework, which is also good for students whose parents cannot provide that help when they get home. After schoolprograms not only help with homework, but they check it for accuracy too. Many times, I have checked homework, and noticed incorrect answers even though homework was fully complete. Completing homework does a child no good, if the answers are not correct. Thankfully, the school offers such programs, which affects influences my teaching and my students learning in the classroom. Textbox 4.1.1: Goals and Student Background a) Explain how the selected content standards and learning goal(s) are appropriate for the lesson and your students learning needs. The selected content standard and learning goal is appropriate for the lesson and my students learning needs because students will need practice interpreting data on graphs, and using this information to ask and answer questions. This information is something they will need to know as they prepare for second grade. The standard and learning goal is also appropriate for students because it makes a connection in developing an understanding of linear measurement and measuring lengths as iterating length units. Students will also be using previous skills they have learned in Kindergarten for this lesson, such as classifying objects into categories and counting the number of objects in each category. b) How did your students prior knowledge and background information influence your planning process? Since students have already had some encounters with the content in this lesson, I knew that this was a good way to reintroduce what I would be teaching them. Knowing what they already know and have been vaguely introduced to had a huge influence on my planning process. I incorporated skills they already obtain, and skills they need to know within this lesson. The lesson builds upon itself in a way that students can build upon their own knowledge. I thought back to all previous lessons I have taught, and thought about what I did that worked. For example, strategies I used that worked for everyone will be incorporated in this lesson. Using that information, I could plan an appropriate lesson. Textbox 4.1.2: Instructional Strategies a) What research-based instructional strategies do you plan to use with students to engage them in the following? content area language To engage students in the content area language, I plan to use prior knowledge. Students should already have some knowledge of the vocabulary words in this unit, so activating their

prior knowledge will be helpful in their success in the lesson. For this particular lesson, I will review vocabulary for this lesson and previous lessons because they all connect to one another and are used frequently throughout the lesson. Once we have reviewed vocabulary from previous lessons in the unit, I will review our word, which is picture graph, and we will talk about it. critical thinking To engage students in critical thinking, I plan to use active learning and modeling. For this portion of the lesson, I will pass out an already made picture graph titled Snacks. There will be two categories: popcorn and cookies. Students will be asked to find five friends and ask them which snack they like better. If a friend likes cookies better, they will draw a picture of a cookie in the graph; if a friend likes popcorn better, they will draw a picture of popcorn in the graph. Each picture represents one vote. I will first model what I am looking for. Then I will send them around the room to find five friends. Once they have surveyed five friends, they will write a sentence to describe the results. This will engage them in critical thinking because students will be dealing with categorizing and classifying, finding patterns, and answering open-ended questions. When students are asked to describe the results, there will not be only one right answer. There will be many ways to describe these results, and students have the opportunity to point out things someone else may not have noticed about their own picture graph. inquiry To engage students in inquirt, I plan to use a class discussion. This will be an introduction on how to interpret picture graphs. I will create a picture graph about favorite zoo animals. There will be three categories: monkey, elephant, and tiger. I will then lead students in a discussion about what they notice about the graph, how many chose each animal, how many were surveyed in all, which animal has the most votes, which animal has the least, etc This will engage students in critical thinking because students will use problem solving skills, and have the opportunity to explain and discuss their thinking. reading integrated within the content area To engage students in reading, I plan to use a class discussion. Students will be asked to compose and share sentences about their graphs. During our discussion we will talk about the different sentences that were shared, and then we will discuss what they mean. This will engage students in reading because as they compose sentences, read their sentences to the class and listen to others ideas, they will have opportunities to improve fluency and to develop vocabulary. All of which are important as students in this grade level learn to read. b) How will each of these instructional strategies enhance your teaching skills and improve your students learning? Prior knowledge will enhance my teaching skills and improve students learning because it is important to review what students have already learned within previous lessons. It is also a good way to jog their memory before reintroducing a concept that may have been taught in previous grades. This way, students may understand a concept better. Therefore, as I review vocabulary, I will activate prior knowledge, which will help as students learn how to interpret data on a picture graph. Active learning will enhance my teaching skills and improve my students learning because keeping students engaged in the lesson is something any teacher needs to consider. If students are just sitting down the whole time, some may get bored and tune

the teacher out, while others get distracted with other things around them, rather than focusing on the lesson. In order to avoid teaching a boring lesson, my students will be engaged all throughout the lesson and have the opportunity to physically move around the classroom, while learning at the same time. Modeling will also enhance my skills and student learning because students will know what is expected of them, without me having to explain what to do repeatedly. Once I show them what I want each child to do, and how I want them to do it, I will not have to constantly remind them of what is expected. Expectations are told at the beginning of the lesson, so students will know what to expect. Lastly, class discussions will enhance my teaching skills and my students learning because this will help students understand the purpose or goal of our lesson. Within discussions, students can hear others opinions on the subject, which exposes them the thought process of others around them. This may encourage them to answer questions or even help them understand that there are different ways to answer questions. This will help me because I can see who does and does not understand by who participates in answering questions. Through this, I can plan how to encourage participation from everyone when teaching future lessons. Textbox 4.1.3: Lesson Activities a) Describe one activity that is the main focus of the lesson plan. Explain how that activity is designed to anticipate and address student learning needs. One activity that is the main focus of the lesson plan is when students are asked to survey five friends to determine which snack is liked better, and then asked to write a sentence to describe their results. Students are to go around the classroom and find five peers and ask them whether they like popcorn or cookies better. As they are asking friends, they have to fill in their picture graph. If a friend likes popcorn better, the student has to draw a piece of popcorn in the row for popcorn; if a friend likes cookies better, the student has to draw a cookie in the row for cookies. Once they have asked five friends, the students are then to write one sentence to describe their results. This activity is designed to anticipate and address student learning needs because need to know how to look at graphs and interpret the data or information presented in the graph. This is a skill they will need and use for more complex problem solving second grade. Allowing students to find and graph their own information and then use that information to write a sentence about what the graph is telling them, not only helps them meet the learning goal, but gives them practice with a necessary skill. b) Describe how you will monitor student learning during the course of the lesson. To monitor student learning, I will observe students engagement during the course of the lesson. During our beginning discussion about picture graphs, I will mentally note who does and does not participate in the discussion. Those who do not participate will show me one of two things: the student does not understand or he/she just does not want to participate. As I begin seeing who is and is not participating, I will begin calling on students to get feedback about our discussion, to avoid a lack of engagement those students. During our main activity, I will walk around and ask students about the data they are collecting. I will check to make sure everyone is following directions, and are correctly filling in their graphs. I will know who understands the lesson so far and who does not, depending upon how their graph is filled in and by what his/her sentence about the information they have graphed says. As we are doing more practice examples in their workbooks, I will walk around and make sure that everyone is still on task, and then do a

quick survey of my own to monitor their learning during this period. I will tell students to put their thumbs up if they understand the information so far; thumbs sideways if the information makes a little sense; and thumbs down if they do not get it at all. Should I get thumbs down or sideways, I will ask where the confusion is coming from, and go from there. c) What work samples will you require the students to submit as part of your assessment of student learning resulting from the lesson? (The work can be created either during or after the lesson.) How will these responses be integrated into the lesson plan? Provide a rationale for your choice of student work. The work sample that I will require students to submit as part of my assessment of student learning resulting from the lesson will be a graph that they will fill in, using data or information they have collected themselves. This will be done during the lesson. These responses will be integrated into the lesson plan during our discussion of everyones graph. After each student has surveyed five friends, they will return to their seat and look over their data. I will quickly ask five students to tell me which snack they like best and graph their response. I will then take a look at my own graph, and write a sentence about it. Then I will ask students what else they notice about my graph that I could have written about, and we will talk about. Then I will have them do the same using their own graph. I chose this as an assessment for student work because there is so much they get to do within this activity, and it sums up what the whole lesson is about. This assessment allows students to collect data by taking a survey, graph their own data, and then interpret what their graph tells them about the information they collected. This is what the whole lesson is about and students have the opportunity to practice this skill before we explore more. After this assessment, we will simply practice more with problems in their workbooks. Textbox 4.2.1: Instructional Strategies a) How effectively did you use content area language in this lesson? Cite examples from the video to support your analysis. I started the lesson off with reviewing previous vocabulary and the vocabulary for this lesson. It is important that students know the vocabulary in this lesson because it will be on the test and these are words that they will see again in future chapters and future grades. Therefore, they need to be aware of these math terms. I made a picture graph about favorite zoo animals and then asked students what the picture graph is telling us. In the video, we reviewed the definition of the word picture graph, and things we find in them. From there, we transitioned to what the information or data in picture graphs tell us. b) How effectively did you use instructional strategies, including questioning skills, to engage students in critical thinking? Cite examples from the video to support your analysis. To engage students in critical thinking, I used active learning and modeling. In the video, I passed out an already made picture graph titled Snacks. There were two categories: popcorn and cookies. Students were asked to find five friends and ask them which snack they like better. If a friend liked cookies better, they drew a picture of a cookie in the graph; if a friend liked popcorn better, they drew a picture of popcorn in the graph. Each picture represents one vote. I modeled how I wanted them to complete this activity. Then they went around the room to find five friends. Once they have surveyed five friends, they wrote a sentence to describe the results. These two instructional strategies effectively engaged students in critical thinking because this activity dealt with categorizing and classifying, finding patterns, and answering open-ended

questions through modeling and constant engagement. Students were engaged throughout the lesson, and had a model to follow as they did so.

c) How did engagement in critical thinking promote student learning? Cite examples from the video to support your analysis. Engagement in critical thinking promoted student learning because this activity dealt with categorizing and classifying, finding patterns, and answering open-ended questions, which pushed students to go beyond simply reading graphs. In the video, students were indirectly asked to categorize their data, classify information, and look for patterns as they interpreted the data in the graph. When students were asked to describe the results, there was more than one answer. There were many ways to describe the results, and students had the opportunity to point out things someone else may not have noticed about their own picture graph. d) How effectively did you integrate reading in your lesson? Cite examples from your lesson to support your analysis. In first grade, students are still learning to read and improve their reading skills. It is important that in every activity that student do, reading is integrated in any lesson. Knowing the importance of reading, I had students compose a sentence and it with the class. Each student wrote a sentence about the data from their graph, and shared their findings after surveying five friends. Each volunteer had a different finding to share, so the results varied. Reading in this lesson was effectively integrated by giving students the opportunity to interpret their results actually read what they found out. In doing so, students had practice improving their own fluency, expanding vocabulary and more. Having students write a sentence and read that to the class increases their opportunities for practice.

Textbox 4.2.2: Interacting with the Students a) How did you monitor student learning during the lesson? In what ways did evidence of learning guide your instructional decision-making during the lesson? Cite examples from the video to support your analysis. To monitor student learning, I observed students engagement during the course of the lesson. During the video, as we discussed picture graphs, I mentally noted who did and did not participate in the discussion. Those who did not participate showed me that they either did not understand, or they simply did not want to say anything. As I noticed who did this frequently, I called on students with hands raised, and students without hands raised. From this evidence, I could then determine where the lack of participation came from and what I could do to fix it. If I felt as if they were not learning, I would call on them to check for understanding. In the video, I walked around during our main activity and asked students about the data they were collecting. I checked to make sure everyone was following directions, and were correctly filling in their graphs. As students were completing their activities, I saw some students filling things in wrong. To address these issues, I was able to use my model on the Smart Board to ensure that all of the students graphs had pictures, and had the correct number of votes. From this evidence, I was

able to find ways to address mistakes. As we did more practice examples in the workbooks, I walked around and make sure that everyone is still on task, and then did a quick survey of my own to monitor their learning during this period. I told students to put their thumbs up if they understood the information so far; thumbs sideways if the information made a little sense; and thumbs down if they did not get it at all. I got all thumbs up, and was able to continue. b) How did your feedback to individuals, small groups, and/or the whole class advance student learning? Cite examples from the video to support your analysis. My feedback to individuals advanced student learning by causing them to check back over their work and making sure that they fully understood what was asked of them, and what the lesson is all about. In the video, I walked around constantly to make sure that understanding was evident throughout our activity. While students were in groups to fill in their graphs, I would remind them to only ask five peers and make sure they were drawing pictures to graph the votes since it is a picture graph. Some students were coloring in squares instead of drawing pictures so I would go over and ask them what is a picture graph (a graph that shows pictures). A light bulb would go off in head and they would correct their mistake. For the whole class, I modeled what I was looking for as they described their results. Then we talked about the results to make sure what they were saying described exactly what the graph showed. In the video, as we were completing work in the workbook, students would give me answers to problems without explaining how they came up with the answer. My response to this was, for example, to breakdown how to find the total number of votes in a graph. Instead of just adding up three numbers, I asked them how else I could find my answer if I did not know how to add three numbers. The students were able to give me other ways to answer this question.

c) How did your use of verbal and nonverbal communication techniques foster student learning? Cite examples from the lesson to support your analysis. My use of verbal and nonverbal communication techniques fostered student learning by increasing engagement in my students. Not only is it important for lessons to be engaging, but I should also be aware of my verbal and nonverbal communication. Throughout my lesson, I constantly used verbal and nonverbal communication. As I would was teaching, I would have one hand on my hip, while the other hand held a pen from the Smart Board. When I would call on students and they gave me correct answers I would give them a thumbs up or point at them and say yes! or exactly! This was a positive way of getting students to answer. If students were near the answer, I would move my hand in forward motion, to get them to explain some more. If they still did not get it, I would say not quite but good try and nod my head. Whenever students would answer questions, I would nod my head and give them eye contact as they explain their answers, so they know that I am listening to what they are saying. I want them to know that what they are saying is important whether it is right or not, because I want to know what they are thinking, and how they came about their idea. I always try my best to keep my verbal and nonverbal communication positive because if it is negative in anyway, some students will shut down, and not want to participate anymore. During my lesson, I used my verbal and nonverbal communication to encourage students to be engaged and be a part of the lesson. Textbox 4.2.3: Classroom Management

a) What classroom-management strategies did you use during the lesson? Cite examples of the strategies from the video. One classroom-management strategy I used during the lesson was circulating around the room to check on student progress, or any behavioral issues. In the video, as students were working on our main activity, I walked around to make sure everyone was on task and that they were filling in their graphs correctly. I was able to stop a child from causing trouble because no one wanted to be in a group with him. I simply called students to come and tell him what their favorite snack was, and I even let him use me too. Another classroom-management strategy I used in the video was verbal praise. In the video, as I waiting for students to return to their seats and prepare for the next part in our activity, I looked around the room to check and see whos table was ready. If a table was ready of would say so-and-sos table is ready. Then students around them would get quiet. Once they were quiet, I would say again so-and-sos table is ready. I would say this until we had total silence, then I was able to transition smoothly into the next portion of the lesson. b) In what ways did the strategies engage students and promote a positive learning environment? Cite examples from the video to support your analysis. As seen in the video, walking around the classroom allowed me to check students progress and to keep behavioral issues at a minimum. I was able remove any negativity that would cause a child to not want to participate or learn. I was also able to interact with individuals and groups one-on-one as they were engaged in the activity. I could give feedback to students about whether or not they were on the right track, and some students even chose me as one of their friends to survey during the activity shown in the video. As students prepared for the next activity in our lesson, I waited quietly to see who would follow directions. In the video, as students were finishing up, I clearly told that as soon as they were finished to go back to their seats and wait quietly so we could move on to the next portion. Instead of yelling out for everyone to be quiet and settle down, I verbally praised the groups who sitting patiently, with eyes on me, waiting for me to give the next instruction. After praising the first group, students began to catch on and do the same. This engaged students because they would see how I would praise one group on being ready, and they wanted to receive that same praise. It almost seemed like race to see who could be quiet and ready the quickest after one group had been recognized. This also promotes a positive learning environment because I dont have to raise my voice or get upset if everyone will not stop talking. I gave my expectations as they were returning to my seats, and as they saw me waiting, students began to quiet down. Because I did not have to raise my voice, the students showed respect, which is important when trying to create a positive environment, by preparing for the next activity in a timely manner. Textbox 4.3.1: Student Work a) Describe two student work samples that resulted from the lesson. In Student As work sample, she had one friend choose popcorn as the snack he/she likes better, and four friends choose cookies as their snack they like better. Her sentence to describe her results was 4 kids like cookies and 1 kid popcorn. In Student Bs work sample, he had three friends choose popcorn as the snack they like better, and two friends choose cookies as the snack they like better. His sentence to describe his results was one more people like popcorn than cookies.

b) Explain how each work sample you selected demonstrates the learning of each student relative to your lessons goal(s). Student As and Student Bs work sample demonstrates their learning relative to the lessons goal because both students followed directions, and showed an understanding of the objective for this lesson through the correctness of their work and sentence to describe their results. She surveyed five students as told in the instructions and she described her results in a way that she could understand. Student A used her data to say that only four of the five students surveyed chose cookies as the snack they like best. She then went on to say that only one student chose popcorn as the snack he/she likes best. Student B showed his understanding/learning of the lesson by following instructions the first time given. He also went on to use a number sentence (even though he scratched it out) and a word sentence to describe his results. He was able to meet the learning goal, and go beyond what I asked him to do. c) What feedback did you provide to the two students concerning their responses? How did the feedback improve the students understanding of the content being taught? I was very impressed with Student As and Student Bs response because it was totally different from my example. Many times I have noticed that some of my students like to copy my example and use it as their own, so I was very pleased to see something different. The fact that both responses are different too, was good! As I walked around and saw their responses, patted them on the shoulder and said good job thinking of different ways to read your results. This made them smile and confirm that they were on the right track because they began to help other students. I also reminded the whole class to write something different besides what I had after seeing Student A and Student Bs work samples. Textbox 4.4.1: Reflection a) To what extent did the students reach the learning goal(s)? Cite examples from the lesson plan and/or the video that support your conclusions. Students were able to reach the learning goal 100%! According to their work samples, everyone was able to correctly fill in their picture graphs, and write a sentence to describe their own results. Everyone had different answers, and those answers could clearly be found by looking at their graphs. Some students even did more than what was asked, which was to write a number sentence and explain what that number sentence meant through a word sentence. As we completed practice problems in their workbooks, everyone was on the same page (everyone understood), and they were able to answer questions about the graph with ease. b) Reflect on your instructional strategies, interactions with students, and classroommanagement strategies. Discuss what went well and what areas you would revise in the future. Cite examples from the video that support your conclusions. The instructional strategies chosen, I believe, were good ones. The two I believe were most effective were active learning and class discussion. I always use active learning in my lessons because students need the opportunity to physically move around and to be engaged throughout the lesson which was apparent in the video. Students had the opportunity to not only interact with me, but also with their peers while moving around. They werent limited to one area, and could still talk to friends while learning all at once as seen in the video. For the future, I would probably tell students that they are to ask five students in the classroom , which snack they like best. I say this because I noticed that some students found five of their friends and went

off somewhere in the room to fill in their survey. There were students left who had no one to survey, which was when I had to intervene. Some children were getting frustrated because people had already chosen who would be in their group, when this was a simple activity to ask five people in the classroom what they like. I also like to use class discussions because I like to hear input from all of my students. Also, other students get a chance to hear what their peers have to say, which can assure them that it is ok to answer questions, whether they are on the right track or not. For this specific lesson students were free to move around the classroom and survey their peers. They had a chance to talk with one another and learn at the same time. While students were walking around the room, I was too. I had a chance to have some one-on-one time with individuals and with other groups. The classroom-management strategies I believe were also good ones because this specific lesson allowed me to walk around and address issues before they got out of hand and I could check on progress easily. Also, verbally praising groups that were ready was a good way to quiet students down because I did not have to raise my voice or call anyone out, which I did in the video. I simply praised the groups that were ready, and the other groups treated it like a race to see whom I would call next as being the second quietest group that was ready. Instead of verbally praising, next time I can pass out Starbucks to the quiet students. I would not have to say a word, but simply grab a couple Starbucks and hand them to those who are ready. This also would have been a good way to get students to be quiet and transition to the next step in the lesson. c) Describe revisions that you could make if you were to teach the lesson again. Why would you make each revision? Cite examples from the lesson plan, the video, and/or the students work that would prompt the revisions. One revision I would make if I could teach the lesson again would be to encourage students to keep the noise levels down while doing an activity. In the video, I noticed that during the main activity I had to constantly talk over the class to remind them of what to do, and when I was giving instructions as they were finishing up. There was too much chatter and it was too loud. Whenever I would remind them of what to do, I had to yell. It is never good to yell, so I would make this revision to avoid doing so. Before I send them to complete their activity, I would give EVERY expectation. I would encourage them to complete their work with inside voices, so if I have to remind the class of what to do, I can use a talking voice. Another revision I would make it I could teach this lesson again would be to show different strategies to finding answers to problems. As we were working in the workbooks, I realized that I did not show them more than one way to complete the problems. For example, as they were finding the total number of people surveyed in one of the examples, I only had them add up the pictures and tell me each number to add; this is not the only way to find the total. If I could do it again, I would ask students to raise their hand and tell me another way to find the answer because that is not the only way to solve the problem. I would make this revisions because I do not want students to think that there is only one way to find answers to problems. There are many strategies to use, even when using picture graphs, so I would want to emphasize that. A final revision I would make would be to have students create their own graph, rather than me giving them an alreadymade graph. Although this was because of time, I think them actually drawing their own graph (with my help) would have been a good skill to touch on. Overall, the students did a wonderful job meeting my goal for them and completing their activities.