ASSIGNMENT: XEDU 10002

The Education Professional II

Due Date: November 17, 2017, 9:00 a.m.

Instructor: Joanne Sampson Email: (jsampson@mtroyal.ca)

Reflection on Support Lesson

Read Aloud/Lesson

Title of Book/Lesson: This Is Me by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell

Why I choose this book/lesson:

it signifies the importance of culture

and identity

Grade Level: 4&5

Subject: Humanities Time: 20 minutes

Student profile: What are the special needs of this student(s)?

I had 4 students, two low readers, one ELL, and one gifted student.

Learner Outcome: What did you want your student(s) to learn?

I wanted them to understand the significance of their identity and the different cultures

within our school and country.

Assessment: How will you know what they have learned? What assessment will you use?
Will you consider a student self-assessment of your lesson? Anecdotal responses?

I used a verbal assessment to determine if they understood the vocabulary, main point of

the story and if they had personal connections. I was given prior knowledge of the students

Id be reading to, and the levels that they are at for reading comprehension.

So I knew ahead of time the responses I should be expecting from each student.
 Differentiation of Instruction: How will you accommodate all learners needs?

I made a system where if they didnt know what a word meant they would put their

thumbs up so I could explain what it meant, I also made sure to read slow and take

pauses so that they had time to reflect and ask questions. I allowed the students to

choose where they sat/how they sat as long as they could see the book.

Resources/Materials: What supplies do you need to teach this lesson?

I needed an open quiet space so that students were able to move around, sit in their own

space, and listen.

Introduction/Hook: How will you get students attention to begin the lesson/reading?

I asked them to make predictions of what they thought would happen in the book and

asked them what lead them to that prediction.

Closure: How will you end/wrap-up the lesson?

I asked them questions based on the story. In a part of the story the girl talks about what

she would put in her suitcase since she is moving countries. I connected it back to the

students and asked them what they would put in their suitcase that represents them.

ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FOR YOUR REFLECTION:

Your Reflection on the support lesson: (2 pages double spaced)

Respond to the following statements that are a self-assessment/reflection of your lesson
and what you learned from this experience.

This is what worked: I liked that I had an open quiet space because it gave the students a

chance to move around if they couldnt sit still, but also be in hearing distance. Some

students sat and others were standing up. I began the lesson with asking them to predict

what they think might happen before I even open the book. The students made guesses

based on pictures and the title of the book. Then before reading I asked them to give me

thumbs up if there were any words that they didnt understand as I was reading. Then Id

come back to them and explain them later on. I chose a fairly easy level of reading for the

book so that they could focus more on the meaning behind it rather than the vocabulary. As I

read I would make sure to take pauses to give them a chance to make any comments. Once I
finished reading I asked them questions to see where their level of comprehension is. I also

tried to tie in questions that would allow them to make personal connections. Since I had one

student that was gifted, I tried to accommodate him by keeping things interesting and asking

questions that would make him think critically. I also used different tones of voices for

reading, and pausing to look at all the pictures.

This is what did not work: The students had a hard time understanding the symbolism

behind the story. Even though it was a simple message behind it, some of the metaphors

used were hard for them to visualize and comprehend. I also found that by having a gifted

student, and a low reader, it didnt allow for the low reader to feel as comfortable to jump into

the discussion. The higher readers would keep jumping in and making personal connections,

and the low reader would just quietly shrug when I would ask them. They didnt feel confident

in their answers. I also had three males and one female in this reading group. The males

would often make their personal connections about hockey, and would start drifting off into

conversations about famous hockey players, which wasnt a very inviting conversation for the

girl.

Why it didnt work: By having different reading levels in this read-aloud, I had a variety of

different answers that raised a lot of good questions and were very thoughtful. However, the

other readers (lower levels) would just rephrase the same answers as the higher readers. I

knew from previous assessments, that all the readers had a really good understanding of

personal connections, and in-fact had really thoughtful connections. Since the gifted student

always spoke with a lot of confidence and had good personal connections, the other students

may have thought that there may have only been one right answer to the questions I was

asking. I also felt like the lower readers were intimidated and didnt feel confident enough with

their answers as they kept replying with I dont know or joking answers.

This is what I learned from my students responses/writing/drawing/discussion: The

story lead the discussion of what the students identities are. The story talked about this girl

who was moving countries and had one suitcase to pack all of the things that she would want

to bring with her. She didnt know what to pack, and as the story progressed she began to

understand what is really important to her and what her values are. At the end of the book,

there is a pop-up of a suit case asking the students what they would pack with them. So

thats where the discussion began. I created a scenario that they would have to be moving

away and they only had one suitcase to pack and asked them what they would bring with.

Here were some of the responses:

Low reader #1: I would bring my hockey sticks, gloves, and helmet.

Low reader #2: I would bring billions of dollars

ELL: oh yeah, I would also bring my hockey stuff and money

Gifted Student: all my books, my family, my friends, and my family pictures

Then as the discussion progressed they made the connection that they could buy everything

that they own in the different country so they dont have to pack anything. So, I decided to

make it more challenging by asking them what they would bring if it was a country (for

example: Africa, or any third world country) where they didnt have anything that Canada had.

Then they began to respond with this:

Low reader#1: I would bring all my video games and my hockey stuff

Low reader#2: i wouldnt move at all then

ELL: I would bring my school

Gifted Student: I would just transfer all of my video games and music onto my phone and you

cant bring money into the airport without declaring it first so you should put it all onto your

bank card.

Then, I asked them what made Canada unique from any other country that they would want
the people in the other countries to know. Other than the Canadian flag, and hockey, the

students didnt know much about the differences of Canada. The gifted student did mention

that we are known for our wheat, and the low reader mentioned our Alberta beef. The

discussion went through many questions and debates as to what is significant to those

students to bring with them, and what is unique about themselves and Canada.

This is what I would improve for next time: For next time, I would like to have a poster or

some sort of individual work that they could show me of what they would put in their suitcase,

and what is important to them. By doing that, itll give all students the confidence to speak on

what is significant to them, and it would allow for me to see what their genuine answers are.

The discussion was very effective and it brought up a lot of meaningful questions and

thoughts, but I wasnt sure what some of the students genuine opinion was, since they would

just agree with all the other students.

Artifacts: work samples/drawings/student self-assessment could enhance your analysis

This is what I learned: I learned a lot about the individual and how their minds work. I kept

the discussion open so that I could see their train of thoughts and the connections they made.

We started discussing the different countries in the world and what makes them unique and it

was interesting how much knowledge these students actually retain from books theyve

previously read, and classroom activities. The gifted student would always raise meaningful

questions like: why do I need to go to school if I am in the wild/safari countries, all I really will

need to know is how to hunt or he would comment on the air pollution in India etc. He made

interesting observations about the different countries. So I raised the idea of stereotypes, and

none of the students knew what Canada was known for. It was quite interesting to see that

these students live in this country, and many were raised here, but they dont know what

makes this country unique to others. The low readers would usually give me one worded

answers or try to debate the whole moving situation in the first place. It showed me that the
low readers are comfortable where they are (literally and symbolically) and the gifted student

is more open to different scenarios as he is prepared for them with all of his knowledge. The

ELL student didnt say much or make many connections, he would just agree with the other

students.

This lesson showed me more than how well they can comprehend a story. It showed

me whats significant in their lives, and how they measure that significance. The students

were quick to leave their things behind if they knew they had money to replace those things.

In fact, when asking them what they found valuable in their lives that they couldnt replace,

they were unable to think of anything. This makes me wonder if students are truly educated

on their heritage and culture. If so, why is it so easy for them to leave everything behind?

Overall, I thought the book read-aloud went very well, and I really appreciated learning more

about these students background and history. I also found it very interesting to learn more

about the things that matter in their lives. It was a very engaged discussion, and I believe

everyone was able to take something away from it.

 Grading Rubric: Reflection on Lesson Support

A B C D

Outcomes Clear connection Connection Some connection Little connection

and between the task between the task between the task between the task
Assessment and the learning and the learning and the learning and the learning
outcomes; outcomes is outcomes; outcomes;
experience clearly evident; experience may experience does
supports the experience is support the not seem to
achievement of likely to support achievement of support the
those outcomes the achievement those outcomes achievement of
Assessment tool of those Assessment tool those outcomes
clearly outcomes attempts to Unclear
distinguishes Assessment tool identify student assessment tool
between strong and helps to identify learning
weak student learning
understanding

Hook Clearly articulated A hook activity The hook is The hook activity
and developed has potential to included but is not clearly
hook that will engage students potential articulated.
clearly interest and assess prior engagement and
students and knowledge assessment is
assess prior somewhat
knowledge. unclear

Participation Task is clearly Task has the Potential of the Task is not
Task engaging potential to task to engage engaging and
Potential for deep engage students students and has limited
thinking is clear Some potential promote thinking learning potential
Shows creativity for deep thinking is somewhat
and imagination Some degree of unclear
creativity

Closure Clear closure Closure invites Some closure Closure is

invites thoughtful reflection on missing or
reflection on learning unclear
learning

Reflection Rich reflection Reflects on the Reflects on Unclear reflection

IMPORTANT! shows insightful LP process, some aspects of with little or no
understanding of all teaching and the LP process reflection on the
aspects of the LP some personal and teaching, LP and teaching
process, teaching learning with limited personal with no reference
and personal some reference learning to course
learning with to course with minimal readings
thoughtful reference readings reference to
to course readings course readings