Students are from a split Year 3 /4 class setting which accommodates students with varying academic ability levels. The students have various levels of comprehension understanding within the area of Literacy.
Teaching/Learning Purpose(s) (written in terms of outcomes):
At the conclusion of the lesson the students should be able to:
Demonstrate appropriate level of comprehension skills as a result of answering questions about the text. Display appropriate written skills by using correct grammar and spelling when completing comprehension worksheet related to the text. Ability to recall examples of text through written questioning e.g. identify the subject/theme and recall information about the text.
Preparation:
Provide copy of book for reading to class Green Eggs and Ham. Prepare comprehension worksheet.
Learning Experiences:
1. How will I engage the learners? Introduction & reading time (10 minutes):
Ensure students are listening through use of classroom management techniques. Ensure 100% attention before commencement of lesson (e.g. clap hands hands on head, shoulders, arms folded, look at me, or finger to lip, look & wait until attention is gained. Any stragglers advise that I would like your attention in 5, 4, 3.. use a count-down method to indicate to the student/s I want their attention when I reach 1). Advise students that the lesson will involve me reading them a story. Explain to the students that I expect them to listen carefully to the story because they will be going back to their desks to complete a Reading Comprehension worksheet to demonstrate to me that they have listened carefully to the book. Read story to students, on conclusion praise good listening. Direct students back to their desks, requesting they move quietly back to their seats. Advise students that those who complete the worksheet early and I mark it as being correct, will be able to read other books by the same author that I have provided.
2. Student tasks and activities (what will the students do to achieve the lesson purpose(s)? Activity (15 minutes):
Students will complete a comprehension worksheet (see attached). At commencement of activity tell students how long they have to complete the worksheet (15 minutes).
3. Conclusion (how do you summarize the learning and relate it to the lesson purpose(s)? Conclusion (5 minutes):
Re-group and conduct a short questioning session to discuss the answers the students have written on their worksheets (choose different students for different questions). To conclude the lesson, praise the students on their efforts in listening, speaking and recalling texts.
Assessment and evaluation: (How do you know the students have achieved the learning purpose/s)?
When students can demonstrate their understanding of the story by completing correctly the worksheet I provide. Students can display their ability to recall examples of text through written questioning e.g. identify the subject/theme and recall information about the text.
Evaluate your own performance
I ensured that I dealt with classroom management at the immediate commencement of the lesson including a brief outline of what the Literacy lesson would comprise of and what my expectations of rules and subsequent rewards would be. This method appeared to gain, and maintain the students attention quickly and effectively. I also confirmed the rules, outline of the lesson and timeframes by having it written on the whiteboard for the students to observe throughout the lesson.
During my reading of the storybook, I made good use of dramatization, facial expression and proximity to particular students when reading. The outcome of this produced effective classroom management and attention by all students. I was pleased with both my classroom management strategies and reading strategies to keep the whole class on task and interested in the story I was reading to them.
An area for improvement is the ability to gauge the correct level of reading material appropriate for a split class level. Although I was able to keep the students focused on the story by effective classroom management, my Mentor Teacher commented that I could have had a situation where the students lost interest because the reading material was lower than the Year 4 level of comprehension.
It would be essential for me to consider further research in the Literacy learning area in the future to obtain the correct year level requirements for the Reading Comprehension strand of the Literacy learning area.
A further area for improvement would be to consider in the future how I would be able to support students with a below average level of reading comprehension. I observed through off-task behaviour during the completion of the worksheet that a small group of students struggled with completing the worksheet due to lack of knowledge or interest. I was however, fortunate to be given the opportunity to mark all student worksheets after the lesson which offered me further insight into the ability of each student.
I was confident with my decision to request students to come to the front of the class and to answer questions I posed to them from their worksheet. I ensured that I gave these students the opportunity to answer a range of questions (closed questioning).
Overall I was satisfied with the successful delivery of the Literacy lesson through the use of well- planned classroom management strategies. However, for future lessons, it will be necessary for me to conduct better research to appropriately match literature to the appropriate year level.