Week 6
This week I started working with small groups in the class. Everyday the class does language arts Universal Access groups. The students are divided in heterogeneous groups. The groups are assigned to complete different tasks. Usually the tasks consist of independent reading/ summary writing, responding to a journal prompt, guided reading with the teacher, and Success Maker on the computer. My master teacher and I decided it would be a good idea for me to start taking over guided reading during Universal access since it is small group instruction. Mrs. Smith modeled for me how she does guided reading with two of the groups then she had me try it with the remain two groups while she watched. While we were reading the story together, I struggled coming up with critical thinking questions. Mrs. Smith noticed this as well. She gave me a list different kinds of questions that should be asked during guided reading to help with comprehension and critical thinking. Then she told me that she would give me a copy of the story we were reading to look over and come up with questions. This really helped. She also wanted to model guided reading a few more times for me so I could see the kinds of questions she asks the students during guided reading. This also helped. Later in the week, I tried leading the guided reading groups again and it went much smoother. Intially, I had a list of questions to ask the students and eventually I was able to come up with questions on the spot. Also later in the week, she wanted me to experience working with whole groups so I taught my first whole group lesson. I taught the lesson on perimeter and area. For this lesson, I started by giving the students a real life example that would require knowledge of perimeter and area. Then I explained to them what perimeter and area are on a flip chart. Lastly, the students got to practice solving for perimeter and area on a worksheet then on a flap book. Overall, the lesson went well however, it was too long and I began to lose the students attention near the end. For the next lesson, I need to have less activities planned.