Journal Practicum student: Natalie Radke Date of Entry: 3-28-2013

Describe an instructional interaction that is: ___ problematic ____effective During my first week of take over I decided to plan a lesson that broke the students up into small groups for instruction. There were about 4-7 students per group with a teacher and one group of 6 students who worked independently. I planned the groups prior to the class period and selected students who would work well together and were at similar reading levels. Overall, the lesson went great! I think the students liked being in a smaller setting. Students were volunteering to read and answering questions. We used a graphic organizer, which the students seemed to enjoy because it outlined the essay and made the essay easier to understand. This is the most Ive seem many students participate in class. I was asked some great questions from students who sometimes do not speak up when in a whole class setting. Mark the learning variables that made it problematic/effective: Task difficulty ____ Environmental Considerations Curriculum meaningfulness ____ Clarity of Task Prompting ____ Materials Consequences

____ ____ ____ ____

If the scenario above was problematic, describe solutions to variables mentioned. If the scenario was effective, describe how the variables were used correctly. Because 2nd hour is always very talkative I think switching up the flow of the class and breaking apart into smaller groups is a great way to keep students focused. I definitely will be using this strategy again in the future. I also think having smaller groups and explaining expectations was a way to keep all students accountable. There was one adult with a group of 7 students instead of three adults for a whole class. Usually some students get overlooked because the adults are too busy worrying about the students calling out or misbehaving. Another variable that was used correctly were the materials. All of the essay topics were relevant to 6th graders and the

outline was a great way to 1. Show the students how to use an outline and 2. Help make the essay easier to understand. Based on your reflection above, describe 1 action you choose to be effective and explain why. For my first week of take over I was really happy that I was able to make a change to the classroom so quickly. I did not like the way the whole class instruction was going everyday. I thought the normal routine of our classroom was getting boring and causing the students to misbehave. By breaking up into smaller groups I think the students gained back some focus and interest in the class.