Tasks accomplished during an ELA lesson on Point of ViewGrabbing student's attention:When my students work in small groups or pairs, or they are transitioning between tasks, my CT uses a variety of attention getting strategies. Her usual strategy is counting down from 5. Students know they are expected to have their materials prepared and be on task by the time my CT reaches 1. During my lesson, I utilized the "5, 4, 3, 2, 1," attention getting strategy as students were to return to the class group after discussing with their table groups. Most of the students' attention was redirected as they turned to face me and move forward in the lesson. The next time I needed the learner's attention during the lesson, I practiced one of my favorite attention getting strategies. I adore music, rhythm and having fun in the classroom. So, I clap a fun beat (usually 4-6 beats) and the students mimic my clapping. I did two different rhythms to make sure all students had an opportunity to redirect their attention. While I clap and the students return my rhythm, I take the opportunity to dance around the classroom. Getting the students focused and smiling allows us to return to the task refreshed and ready to share. Moving forward, I believe it would be beneficial to have a variety of attention getting strategies in the classroom. Students should be given explicit instruction so they understand the intention and appropriate response for each attention getting technique. I would also like to introduce new strategies throughout the year to keep students engaged and on task. There is an excellent slideshow resource here that includes multiple unique strategies that can be integrated in the classroom. In particular I would like to try the knock-knock joke attention getter and doing something unexpected (see example below). Planning and implementing a read aloud:
room, students are made aware that I am still present and cognizant of their behavior while I am reading. I included dramatic pauses, changes in my pitch or volume of voice and appropriate expression while I was reading. Students were on task, highlighting key words for point of view, as I read the multicultural tale aloud. I absolutely adore read alouds and plan to implement them in my classroom daily. During the last 10 minutes of each day, there is wasted time before students dismiss. I plan to use this time to read interesting folk tales, new science articles and other reading materials to students. I also believe students should be given time to read aloud to each other. Reading is a social, creative and fascinating experience that I hope all my students will find joy in.
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4th grade ELA: Rafiki Means Friend |
In the beginning of the lesson the students helped me complete an anchor chart on point of view. The students were in charge of identifying where the Key Words would fit best and their peers provided feedback through the Survey Says method (formative assessment). With consideration for the English language learners in my classroom, I translated "point of view" and "who is telling the story?". One of the bilingual students gave me feedback about my attempt at "punto de vista," and "quien es deciendo la historia?" One of the learners in the earliest stages of language acquisition was impressed by my attempt. Moving forward, I will be improving my Spanish to better communicate with the students. |
Cross-content connections can be made with primary source materials to offer a multidisciplinary approach to teaching Language Arts and Social Studies.
Source: Library of Congress and Short Term Missions. | For my lesson, I included primary source photographs that built background about the setting of the story and engaged students in the character in Rafiki Means Friend. I utilized the ELMO projector to show the students the photos (to the left) as we made connections as a class. The students had not been to Kenya, Africa, but they had seen and interacted with cows (like the 1940’s children in Kenya). The students may not know anyone from Kenya, but they recognized the smiles of young children pictured in Kenya in 2016. In the story, the main character mentions that everyone in England watches rugby. I know that most of my students are not from Europe, but I’ve been aware of their interests in sports. One young boy plays football in the community and I’ve discussed favorite sports teams with many of the learners. I asked the students if they had heard of rugby, then explained what I know about the sport (an intense mix of soccer and football). We connected that they usually watch football on the weekends, much like the main character’s classmates watch rugby every Saturday. |
Throughout my lesson, I continuously referred to the objectives my CT had posted for the week to keep student's focused. While we discovered connections to the setting of the story, I reminded students that as unique as Kenya is, there is always something they will have in common with other people. While we were reading Rafiki Means Friend, I consistently reminded students that we were looking for how the point of view impacts the reader's understanding of the story. |
Differentiation and accommodation benefit all learners.
The first time I taught this lesson (with my morning group), the testing interfered with our time. So, with 3 minutes left in their ELA block, I told the students we will be reflecting on understanding a character in the story through F.A.R.S. (feelings, actions, relationships, spoken word). We moved on to the Point of View Exit Tickets (continued below).
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Lining up students to change locations.
Though this task may seem mundane, it is important to keep in mind that it takes precise classroom management to have 25+ young children line up effectively, quietly and safely. Beyond that, I have witnessed those first few days of kindergarten when walking through the hallway is more like herding monkeys who just figured out they can climb. Luckily, 4th graders have had the life experiences to know how to line up. They have better self control and can keep themselves in line without disturbing their peers in other classes. But, much like monkeys, they are still young, wild and entitled to enjoying themselves. To begin this task, I observed my CT (see notes below). |
![Picture](/uploads/5/9/3/4/59343165/0689801165-01-lzzzzzzz.jpg?225)
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