Article #2 Lesson and Reflection

For my second lesson I used the article Revisiting Read-Aloud: Instructional Strategies That Encourage studenets' Engagement With Texts by Vanessa Morrison, Lisa Wlodarczyk, The Reading Teacher,63(2),PP.110-118 doi:10.1598/RT.63.2.2

The strategy that I chose to use from this was making connections. The students listened to the story and used their prior knowledge to help them interpret the information they were listening to. They related the information to what they have  already experienced, read,or heard. The students were encouraged to make a connections to what was being read and to connect the information to there own lives.

For the lesson I used the First Grade Imagine It Curriculum and read the story Back to School. This a wonderful reading program. The lesson was all laid out for me in  the teachers manual all I had to do was follow the teaching steps to complete the lesson. I did not have to search for my lesson it was right there for me to use. This makes my life easier I just had to implement it correctly.  There were thought provoking questions that help the students link the information given in the story to their own lives. The skill that we were working on was to compare and contrast our school experience to other students school experiences around the world. 
Several vocabulary words were introduced at the beginning of the lesson: uniform, science and discovering the students were given pictures and information to help understand what each word meant within the story. During the first reading of the story the students were able to make several text to self connections and text to world connections.

On the second day of the lesson the teacher then read the story again and students were encouraged to point out parts of the story to compare and contrast their experiences at school with the pictures of the students in the story. The co-teacher in the classroom stood at the Promethean board recording the students responses on a T chart. The students were comparing school in the United States to schools around the world. The students were  eager to share their observations. The special education teacher monitored the students and lead the questions and encouraged all students to participate. The students were able to produce a substantial list of likes and differences between the schools.

This activity was a great way to involve all students and they enjoyed contributing to their ideas. This activity help with comprehending the information that was given along with introducing new vocabulary to the students.

Standard covered:

ELA1R5 The student acquires and uses grade level words to communicate effectively.