Lauren Ottomanelli

1. The pre-teaching session is a little less formal than an actual lesson, and usually does not
involve the "whole" class. However, do you feel that spending a little bit of time on your
upcoming content is beneficial to the students? To you as the teacher? Please explain in
a paragraph.

I felt that the pre-teaching session was very beneficial to the students. The pre-teach
allowed the students to gain the proper background knowledge that they need for the actual
lesson. For my pre-teach lesson, I went over the information that the students should already
know before the actual lesson. Without the knowledge of the content that was taught in the
pre-teach lesson, students might struggle and fall behind the rest of the class. The actual
lesson is on valence electrons and the Lewis Dot structure. However, before learning about
these topics, students need to know about elements, the periodic table, and S, P, D, and F
Blocks, which we taught in the pre-teach session. As the teacher, the pre-teach session is also
very beneficial because it will help clear up some misconceptions on the actual lesson day.
All the students will have knowledge of the topics needed to learn the new information. This
will make things a lot easier for me as the teacher because I won’t have to take time from the
actual lesson to reteach certain things.

2. Now that you had an opportunity to deliver your pre-teaching session, would you do
anything differently if you had the chance to do it again? If you wouldn't change
anything, why do you think you used your time effectively? Please answer in a couple of
sentences.

Now that I had the opportunity to deliver my pre-teaching session, I feel that I would not
change anything if I had the chance to do it again. I think it went very well and I feel that I
taught the information that is necessary to have a better understanding of the actual lesson.
We went over four topics that the students should know before learning the upcoming content
and told them one specific topic that they should remember for the actual lesson. I feel that if
I taught anymore during the pre-teach session, I would have overlapped with the content
being taught in the actual lesson.

3. Do you feel that interaction is important during the pre-teaching session, or rather is it a
time to simply present information that may help the students in the upcoming lesson?
Please answer in a couple of sentences.

I feel that interaction is not important during the pre-teaching session. I think that the pre-
teaching session is a time to simply present information that may help the students in the
upcoming lesson. I feel that any background knowledge or new vocabulary words should be
taught the students during the pre-teaching session in order to help them not fall behind
during the actual lesson. The pre-teaching sessions are short and do not leave much time for
interaction. I feel that during the pre-teaching sessions it is more important to provide the
students with any information that they will need for the upcoming lesson. Interaction is
definitely necessary during the actual lesson, but I feel it is not truly needed during the pre-
teach session.

4. Did you achieve both your language and content objectives? How can you be sure?

I feel that I achieved both of my language and content objectives. I think the content was
clearly taught and the students were able to successfully do the activity and show correct
amount the valence electrons on each of the elements they were given. For our language
objective, we wanted the students to be able to write a response to the two questions we
asked and then read them out loud. I think we achieved our language objective because the
students were able accurately respond to the prompt and share their answers with the class.

5. Do you feel you "immersed" the students in the vocabulary? Based on your assessment,
did the students have their own understanding of each of the vocab words?

I feel I immersed the students in the vocabulary. We went over the vocabulary in the pre-
teaching session, as well as in the actual lesson. We taught the definitions of all the main
concepts. The students then had to define “valence electrons” and explain how they are used
when drawing the Lewis Dot Diagrams. This prompt forces students to understand the
vocabulary words that were taught.

6. Do you feel you had enough interaction, a chance to apply the language/content with
other students? Why or why not?

I think we had a lot of interaction throughout our lesson. The students had many
opportunities to come up to the board to write things and answer questions. The students also
had their own copies of the periodic table, where they were asked to follow along and label
their copy accordingly. The students were given time to talk with their partner, as well as
engage in a class discussion. During our activity, the students really got to apply the
language/content with other students because they were showing the correct number of
valence electrons for the elements, while speaking to and working with a partner.

7. What are three aspects of the SIOP process that you find effective and truly need to be in
your lesson plans (especially if ELLs are present)?

Three aspects of the SIOP process that I find effective and truly need to be in my lesson
plans are building background, comprehensible input, and interaction. Building background
is important because it allows the content and language to be more accessible to the students.
If students do not have the proper background knowledge needed for a particular lesson, it
could be very difficult for the student(s) to follow along. Comprehensible input is very
important because it ensures that the language, content, and concepts can be clearly
understood by the students. Using manipulatives and visuals can be very helpful in building
comprehension of concepts. Interaction is also very important to include in lesson plans
because it gives the students time to engage in discussion and build on the language and
content of the lesson. Having students work with a partner or in groups can be beneficial
because the students have to speak to each other and use their language skills.

8. Looking back on your pre-teaching sessions now that you completed the lesson, what is
one thing you would have done differently? Why?

I would have taught valence electrons in the pre-teaching session. Doing this would have
allowed me to focus more on the Lewis Dot Diagram and element/chemical bonding in the
actual lesson. I would have also made the pre-teach session more engaging and have the
students do a small activity. This would allow them to have an even better understanding of
the background knowledge needed for the actual lesson. However, I think that what we
taught in both the pre-teach session and the actual lesson was effective as well.