Artifact 2
Name: Methods of Teaching Early Literacy Lesson
Reflection:
This is a lesson plan I wrote for my Methods of Teaching Early Literacy course in the spring of 2003. I taught this lesson to a kindergarten student at Orchard Hills Elementary in Cedar Falls, Iowa. This lesson was about rhyming and repetitive text. I used the book "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" to illustrate these concepts. We looked at how words that rhyme can be spelled differently (ex. horse, course), we also reviewed the students' sight words and wrote sentences in her journal. After the lesson, I reflected on what I learned from the student, and what I learned about myself as a teacher.
This lesson went well. The student I worked with really enjoyed the book, and even spoke the repetitive text with me as I read. The student was able to make connections from the book to other activities we did (differences in rhyming words' spelling). Because the student was a struggling beginning reader, I had to make sure that I was creating lessons that catered to her needs. She was able to succeed and feel good about herself at the completion of the lesson, this was important, because it made her feel as though she was successfully accomplishing an important task.
I would use this lesson again if I was working with a group of beginning readers. The text that I chose would be familiar to most students, and it is a nonsense story so most kids would enjoy the humor in it. The activities I used were appropriate for the age level, and the variety of activities throughout the lesson would hold students' attention. The only reason I would change this lesson would be if there was a wide range of reading levels among the students, then I would manipulate some of the activities to accommodate some of the more advanced readers.
Standards/Criteria Connections:
Standard One - I saw the student demonstrate new knowledge and application
skills that supported her intellectual and personal development through her
understanding of new information.
Standard Two - I created this lesson to meet the needs of a beginning reader.
Standard Three - This lesson incorporated different areas of language arts
to enhance the student's ability to understand a concept.
Standard Four - I used word ending recognition and repetitive text to teach
new concepts to my student.
Standard Five - I created an environment that promoted student learning by
encouraging participation from the student.
Standard Seven - I checked for understanding by having the student apply new
knowledge.
Standard Eight - After the lesson, I reflected on my role as a teacher and
what I learned about my student.
Artifact:
methods of teaching early literacy lesson plan