324 Lesson 2

    During the lesson, we started with an acrostic poem as our icebreaker to get to know the students better. They used their first names and wrote adjectives or things they liked that started with the letters in their names. Each student, my partner, and I shared our acrostic poems as well. From this, we learned that one of our students really enjoys music, and the other student enjoys basketball and animals. After this, we went over our norms again and then started our lesson about making predictions. 

    I explained our anchor chart and talked about what predictions are, and also how we had sentence starters written on the chart for when they would write their predictions. My partner introduced the vocabulary words. Even though our book didn’t have any printed words, there was still a lot of vocabulary used to describe what was happening in the pictures. Most of our vocabulary words were about the ocean or cameras, and the students enjoyed taking turns reading each one.

    Next, we began our prediction chart. I introduced the book and had them make a prediction about what was on the cover. The cover looked like a big fish with smaller fish around it, and something floating in the fish’s eye. One of our students thought it could have been a ship and that the “eye” was actually a window reflection. They both shared their predictions before we moved on. 

    Throughout the story, there were three other points where we paused for them to write predictions. In each box, they wrote what their prediction was and why they thought that, using details from the pictures as clues.

    As we read, our students really enjoyed analyzing the pictures and finding all the little details. They looked for things we had talked about in the vocabulary, like barnacles and film. I gave prompts to help them verify or reject their predictions as we went. One student had a hard time writing after a while and uses a special pencil grip for OT, so my partner wrote for him while he expalined what he wanted to say to give his hand a break.

    After we finished the first two predictions, one student had to leave for about 30 minutes. We continued with our other student, who stayed very engaged and took her time looking through every page. She gave thoughtful ideas about what she thought would happen next. When we finished the last two predictions, my partner had the idea to make one last prediction about the ending of the book. Our student made her final prediction and explained her reasoning. Her answer was correct, showing her strong understanding of the story, and she explained why in the third box.

    When the other student returned, my partner went through the book with him while I gave our first student a brain break. We switched our schedule around a bit and used that time for her to color and make the cover for her reading journal. After our second student finished the story, we had about 30 minutes left. Our plan was to create a Diamante poem online, but since there was not much time, we decided to do it on paper instead. I had printed copies ready just in case, which worked out well.

    The Diamante poem included directions for what type of word to use on each line (noun, adjective, verb, etc.). This was the first time our students had seen this type of poem, but they really enjoyed it. We did it together, with my partner teaching, me giving examples on my own paper, and both students writing their own poems. We chose the words underwater and ashore (also a vocabulary word) for our two nouns, which made a nice contrast. The students had fun coming up with descriptive words and sharing ideas. It was great to see them use vocabulary words like beachcombing and magnifying in their verbs. Each of our poems turned out to be unique but still correct.

    When we finished, it was right on time. We kept their papers to add to their reading journals, which they will take home at the end of our six weeks.

    Both of our students met the objective because they were able to predict elements of the story and complete an interactive prediction chart together. The evidence is shown in their written predictions and their verbal reasoning throughout the lesson. One of our students received more support, as my partner helped write for him and guided him with sentence starters. Student G exceeded expectations by being very attentive to the book and pointing out every detail. Even when she was not writing, she was thinking out loud about what she thought would happen next. We did not have her write down every thought since she often made new predictions as we read, and many of them were similar to what she had already written.

    What we learned from this experience was that our students did a really good job analyzing the story. They really enjoyed looking at all the different pictures and finding details throughout the book. We learned that our new student does not enjoy writing as much as our other student, and we will take that into account for our next lessons. We also learned that Student G enjoys coloring, so next time we meet, we will have our other student create their journal cover during their brain break to make it fair and enjoyable for both students.

    This experience will influence my professional identity by reminding me how important it is to pay attention to each student’s interests and needs. I learned that giving students choices and including activities they enjoy helps keep them engaged and motivated. This experience will also influence how I plan and teach in the future by making sure to include a mix of activities, with some that involve writing and others that let students be creative or move around. I will plan lessons that give students different ways to show what they know, like through drawing, sharing out loud, or writing. I will also continue to use brain breaks to help students stay focused and enjoy learning.