Inquiry 2

Emily Sponsler's Blog Postings for Inquiry 2:

One:

o What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson. 

After showing students a poster and modeling how to write a paragraph with descriptive sensory words, most of the students learned that sensory words describe a noun using your five senses. About a quarter of the students showed they did not understand how to add a sensory words on their outlines. I did one one one conferences with these students the next day. One on one conferences was how I chose to differentiate my instruction. I felt this was the best way to differentiate for a 15 minute lesson.

o What are alternate reads (interpretations) of your students' performance or products?

It was a struggle overall for students to grasp onto sensory words. If I were to do this lesson again, I would have students practice identifying sensory words more before we started our big outline for their papers. Having the skill of identifying sensory words down, would have made the outline much simpler to do.

o What did you learn about your students' literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?

I learned that writing is something they do not have much practice with.. Some students have the self motivation to make their writing the best they can,while others need to be monitored a lot further. In this lesson specifically, students showed me whether they put forth effort at planning or not.

o When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?

Students are already working on a new writing with poetry and I have shared my conclusions with my mentor teacher. While grading their descriptive writings, I am writing one thing they did well and one thing they should work on for their other writings. For students who show a lack of description in their next writing (after poetry), I will have them in for lunch to give them more instruction and practice with writing descriptively.

o If you were to teach this same lesson again, what would you do differently and how do you think the changes would improve students' learning?

If I were to do this lesson again, I would model more of what I wanted to see on the outline. This would hopefully give students a better understanding so they could do their outline efficiently.

o What did you learn so far about implementing your 'core practice' and what do you need to do to continue your professional learning?

Now, I am working in the other classroom a majority of the time. The other classroom has the subjects: math, science and social studies. To continue my development in my 'core practice', I will be grading their future writings. Therefore, I can analyze their writing and judge what they need to work on. This will also show me the growth students make from their last writing. This will help me to judge what students commonly struggle on, so we can remind them of conventions they need to follow and model specific writing strategies that will help them.

Two:

o What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson. 

After modeling how students should use organizational strategies and their sensory words, in their writing, students started writing their own writing if they were done with their outline. The students that struggled also struggle with reading and smaller writing assignments. I did one on one conferences with these students once they started writing.

o What are alternate reads (interpretations) of your students' performance or products?

My teacher and I discussed the possibility that the topic may have been difficult for students to imagine. The topic entailed students to visualize themselves as 20-years-old. She said it is hard for them to visualize tomorrow, let alone when they are 20.

o What did you learn about your students' literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?

I learned that student struggle with simple conventions of writing such as paragraphing and punctuation. Many of the students need to practice making a new paragraph, when they start a new idea. That will be one of the comments I will ask the students to work on, for their next writing.

o When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?

Students are already working on a new writing with poetry and I have shared my conclusions with my mentor teacher. On their writings, I will write what they did well and one thing I think they should work on for their other writings. For students who show a lack of description in their next writing (after poetry), I will have them in for lunch to give them more instruction and practice with writing descriptively.

o If you were to teach this same lesson again, what would you do differently and how do you think the changes would improve students' learning?

If I were to do this lesson again, I would make students move on from their outline and start working on their writing. I would do this so students would have more class time to transfer their thoughts from the outline into a story in their writing. Six students, out of fifty-eight, did not finish their writing and I did not receive a final draft. This happened on their previous writing also and my mentor teacher says that she told them writings are worth a grade. This change would have given students who struggled more time to work through their difficulties in writing.

o What did you learn so far about implementing your 'core practice' and what do you need to do to continue your professional learning?

Now, I am working in the other classroom a majority of the time. The other classroom has the subjects: math, science and social studies. To continue my professional development with my 'core practice', I will be grading their future writings. Therefore, I can analyze their writing and judge what they need to work on. This will also show me the growth students made from their last writing. This will help me to judge what students commonly struggle on, so we can remind them of conventions they need to follow and model specific writing strategies that will help them.