Smith 1 Katie Smith Professor Brian White ED 331-12 19 April 2013 A Semester Reflection: Teaching in Review Experiences in a classroom

never actually go the way we plan them or imagine them. Something we do not plan for always seems to happen--unanticipated student responses, the amount of time you plan for content never matches what's actually covered (what is assumed to be a simple review becomes the entire lesson), or the activities you plan disappear at the spur of the moment because of student interest and desire. Each day in the classroom presents new challenges, but each day is a day of learning for both the student and the teacher. Regardless of the experiences in the classroom , a teacher cannot use those opportunities as learning experiences without taking time to reflect on those lessons. Through reflection, we understand more about the lessons we teach, the strategies we use, and the way our students learn. Every time students walked out of my classroom, I would reflect on the lesson, typically focusing on the things that I should have done as opposed to what worked. In this paper, I put forth a thorough analysis of a series of lessons taught on figurative language including a summary of the lesson procedures, data of student growth, and a reflection on the choices I could have made, in an attempt to consider where I need to grow most and how to improve the lessons for future use. Classroom Teaching Experience: Teaching Reflection In my teacher assisting placement at Caledonia, I had the opportunity to teach mini-lessons on grammar and sentence variety, assist with a unit on argumentation, lead a unit on a novel, and assign a narrative essay. I select the words "lead" and "assign" because I do not feel I taught students these things. Instead, I provided them with the opportunities (or rather requirements) to read and write. It is true that while reading I asked questions to deepen their understanding and I prefaced the novel by

Smith 2 having students write about challenges in their own lives; however I feel that I was more just asking students to do things as opposed to helping them gain knowledge of how to connect to a story or look at the story on a deeper level. Maybe this activity helped students make meaning of what was happening in the story, but I am unsure. One thing that I did use the story for was to help expose students to figurative language as a means of adding detail to their writing. I had not previously seen a wide spread example of student creative writing, yet I feel that it is important for students to write with descriptive details. The ultimate goal of instruction was for students to get in the habit of using figurative language to add detail and description to their writing. Therefore, I have selected my series of figurative language lessons as my teaching experience to focus on in terms of impacting and analyzing student learning. The unit began with the simple task to write a total of four sentences, one that uses each of the following: simile, metaphor, personification, and onomatopoeia. I provided students with images associated with the current novel, Jason's Gold by Will Hobbs, in case they could not think of something to describe using figurative language. (The individual student responses are attached and the class correct response percentages are shown in Table 1 on Page 3.) All but one student participated in this diagnostic quiz and, for some reason, four students decided that they did not want to complete the concluding assessment. Because of this, I have decided to analyze the results of the 22 (out of 27) who took both in order to determine student improvement and effectiveness of the lesson. From the preassessment results it was evident that fewer than a quarter of these students were familiar with the different terms and able to use them. More were familiar with and could write similes, but only four of the 22 students wrote a sentence with a metaphor and only four could use personification. From here, I decided that students need to be exposed to the definition of each, see a variety of examples , see how each of these four types of figurative language is used within a text, and have some opportunities to write their own sentences that use figurative language. Thus I began my instruction.

Smith 3

Pre Assessments

Post Assessments
18%

45% 55%

Simile
10 12 Correct Not Yet There 18 4

82%

18%

Metaphor
4 18
82%

36%

Correct 8 Not Yet There 14

64%

18%

23%

Personification
82%

4 18

Correct Not Yet There

16 6

77%

23%

18%

Onomatopoeia
77%

5 Correct 17 Not Yet There

17 5

82%

Table 1 Number of students responding correctly to given question on given assessment.

Smith 4 The Lessons I taught a total of 5 lessons, one that individually covered each type of figurative language we studied and one review lesson. I introduced each by sharing the definition and examples. The students wrote down the definition. (I wrote a definition and shared it with them, but encouraged them to word the definition in a way that made sense to them.) We followed with a short discussion as to why the presented examples fit the definition. Next, we transitioned into reading chapters of the novel Jason's Gold, which was full of more examples. Before reading, I asked students to think about where Hobbs uses a simile, for example, in his novel. Sometimes I commented on the use of the simile as we read through, but usually I let students notice examples themselves. With 10 minutes left in class, we stopped reading. Students shared places where they saw the similes within the text, and we discussed each presented sentence determining why it was or was not a simile. We also spent time discussing how the particular simile functioned within the text, focusing on what details it added to the story and what it helped us, as readers, understand. At the end of class, learners wrote on their note sheet an example that they had seen from the text and an example that they had developed on their own. One mistake I made here was that I never collected these note sheets, so I was never knew if students actually had correct textual examples and correct constructed examples to use. Other than the whole class discussions, the only actual assessment of whether or not they understood what these types of figurative language were and how to write them was the post assessment. Because I failed to do this, I feel that I did not provide students with enough opportunities to demonstrate the skills that they were developing and I did not provide them with any specific, direct individual feedback. Before giving the final assessment, I did require that students create a journal from the perspective of the main character. In this journal they were required to write at least three sentences using one of the four types of figurative language we discussed. Unfortunately, not every student decided to include this required component of their journal, so some re ceived minimal feedback on their figurative language and some

Smith 5 received suggestions of where they could include it. It is unclear whether or not students looked at these things. The final task done before assigning the culminating assessment was to provide a model of what I was expecting. The culminating assignment was to write one paragraph on something that they did over spring break using at least one example of all four types of figurative language. I asked students to label each of the examples they used. It was completed the day after students returned from spring break; therefore I also used the model as a review. I first shared a paragraph of my spring break activities that had six sentences containing figurative language (the model). I read the paragraph to the students. They were provided with a copy and in pairs asked to identify the sentences using figurative language, the type of figurative language used, and what it helped them to understand about my story. Following, we had a class discussion to ensure that each pair was able to identify the figurative language. At this point I addressed any questions or issues and presented students with their culminating assignment for this unit. The results of the assessment are shown in the right side column of the table on page 3. What the Results Mean While these results display a significant improvement in almost every category, the one that stands out most is the minor change in the number of students who successfully wrote a metaphor. In this category, there are some disturbingly common mistakes among students. First, students used metaphors to incorrectly identify a different type of figurative language. For example, one student wrote, "Our bodies were getting pierced by the cold water (metaphor)." Another wrote "On one of the trampolines when you bounce super high and come back down it feels like you are breaking through a black hole (metaphor)." The first student incorrectly labels an example of personification as a metaphor and the second incorrectly identifies a simile. While this demonstrates that these students do not quite understand what a metaphor is, I am pleased that they are still adding description to their paragraphs by

Smith 6 using some type of figurative language. Other students, were just comparing 2 things: "Being at the Titanic exhibit was more fun than an amusement park." Although this is not exactly a metaphor, detail is added to the experience with this sentence and it demonstrates that the student knows some key ideas about metaphors. This sentence shows the student knows metaphors are comparisons and that she understands they compare things using a be verb. The kind of response that most concerns me for metaphor was a fourth student who identified the sentence "The game was an excellent game" as a metaphor. This offers no comparison and really no extra details to the experience . Based on these results, it is clear that metaphors is a topic that needs to be discussed again. Another interesting result from the assessments that the pie charts do not show are the three students who responded correctly on the diagnostic assessment, but provided an insufficient example of figurative language in their spring break paragraphs. The first question I ask myself is "Did I not teach this well? Did I not provide students with the necessary information and examples?" My first thought is no, because there were significant improvements among their peers. These three students were the only ones to respond correctly on the pretest, but incorre ctly for the same types on the post test. As I stated before I did not provide any feedback to students before writing this paragraph, but other than that, I feel that I provided adequate examples, time and opportunities to review and discuss the materials. The concrete, specific feedback on their examples would most likely have reinforced that theses students were constructing these statements correctly. My second question is "Did students not understand the instructions?" This could be possible as the one student who never pays any attention to directions had examples of all but a metaphor on the pretest, but only wrote a simile in his final paragraph. He did not attempt to write any more figurative language. Perhaps I could have worded my instructions differently, as there were others who did not have four examples either. My final option for the other two students who regressed is that they know what each type of figurative language is and can give examples, but they are unable to incorporate them fluidly into their writing. I feel that this is

Smith 7 entirely possible as this is a much more challenging task. In addition, these students had four different sentences with figurative language; they just labeled it incorrectly. Maybe they just felt that a metaphor did not fit into what they were writing. Improving the lesson for the future Looking at the results, I am pleased with the growth that occurred; however I am not satisfied because I was not able to teach to every student. In retrospect, I know there are many options for lesson revision including creative options for instruction. First and foremost I would require that students turn in their notes at the end of each class or that they complete an exit slip that requires them to share what they learned and provide a sentence that includes an example of the figurative langu age we discussed that day. This is one of the simplest ways to evaluate whether or not my lesson reached my learners. It's also an opportunity to provide feedback for my students. Another thing that I don't understand why I didn't do is clearly show students how figurative language adds to a piece of writing. This could have been through the simple task of showing students two different paragraphs about the same thing: one that simply states the events and another with rich detail and figurative language. Students would then write about what they notice about the two paragraphs. Another option is showing students a paragraph with no figurative language and modeling for them how to make the paper more descriptive and detailed. I could show students a video clip or an image or an object and have them describe what is happening or what they see. A fun activity would be to give each student a different image, have them write about it, switch paragraphs with another student and see if that student can recreate the image or event that is written about. In conclusion, I feel that my instruction may have been more effective than I have given myself credit for. I have included a chart of student responses from both the pretest and the post test. Reanalysis of the results shows that 5 students who did not respond with 100% accuracy on the pretest wrote a paragraph that correctly incorporated all four types of figurative language I taught. The average

Smith 8 growth (defined as providing an example on the post assessment that was not included on the preassessment) was almost two. That means on average a student learned and could apply two additional types of figurative language after instruction. With a bit more review and practice, each one of these students will master this skill. My initial inclination when reflecting is to think of the things that I did poorly and the things that need to change. Rarely do I think of what was successful, but I understand that this is part of me being too hard on myself. As a teacher, the goal is for our instruction to show vast improvement in all of our learners and to show that they have mastered the content. The reality is that not all students will. As an educator I need to look for and praise the small improvements that each individ ual student makes. I need to learn how to find the positive aspects of my instruction and think about why those worked and why those students got the lesson. This will provide a foundation for adapting and changing my lesson. I don't need to completely scrap and recreate the lesson, but rather think of what aspects of the lesson worked and how more of those aspects could be incorporated. Just as students are building knowledge to the learning goal, teachers are continuously analyzing themselves and thei r instruction, learning how to improve their teaching along the way.

Growing to Infinity: A Self Reflection A key aspect in improving one's teaching is the ability to recognize one 's weaknesses and consider ways which one can transform those weaknesses into strengths in order to grow as an educator. Perhaps the one thing that was certain when I arrived at Caledonia was that I was going to learn...a lot, about teaching, about the subjects, about the students, and about myself. I think learned the most about myself as a teacher either in spite of or because of my consistent criticism of my own teaching habits. In particular I have learned what I do well and what I need to improve on. At this point I

Smith 9 am well aware that my weaknesses far out way my strengths, but I do know that I have grown throughout the semester. Other than my already discussed lack of assessment and being too hard on myself, I think my biggest weakness thus far is that I never established a set schedule or set procedures within the classroom. Rarely did I share with my students what I wanted them to learn, but rather proceeded to just explain things and assign work for them to do. If I plan on teaching my students, then I need to plan on being intentional with what I am going to teach them. I need to make my objectives clear and I need to make them known. I need to post them both as a reminder of my focus and for the benefit of my learners. In conjunction with lack of set procedures came a lack of time management while in the classroom. I thought about how long I wanted things to take, but forget to watch the clock, and I know that I allowed my students to work on things for too long. This was especially true for my warm -up activities. I wanted every student to have an opportunity to complete the question because I used post warm-ups as a way to discuss and analyze student work. I think that having my own class will make this easier and more routine. Students will have 5 minutes to complete the warm-up and if they don't get it, they don't get it, but that doesn't mean that they will not benefit from hearing and analyzing other solution strategies. The next 5 minutes will be dedicated to discussing the warm-up and the different ways students responded which will then transition into our lesson for the day. On the other side, I feel that the warm-up questions I asked were engaging, allowed students to think on a deeper level, consider their solution strategies, and have an opportunity to communicate about math through both writing and speaking. This leads into one of my strongest aspe cts when it comes to teaching: asking students deeper level thinking questions. By this I mean that I am good at asking questions that challenge students think beyond the question. I desire that my students explain and share their thinking. I also desire that my students think about different ways in which a problem could be solved or a passage could be read. I

Smith 10 am not satisfied when students tell me an answer; I probe them to think about why they have decided on the answer and why the answer makes sense. By no means will I say I am great at asking questions, as I know I can improve upon asking my students "just right questions"--questions that are not too easy or too hard and don't directly lead them to the answer. One area that I know I need to improve on is asking questions that will help students explore the problem when they don't understand it rather than asking questions that guide them to the solution or questions that direct them to think in my way. Regardless of what strengths I have, I know that those can be improved too. I can grow as a teacher through the experiences of teaching, by reflecting on my teaching, and by making things intentional (knowing that I need to improve on things, creating a plan to improve, and focusing on that plan for improvement.) My weaknesses will only improve if I make an effort to improve them. Even things that I do well I know I can improve on as there is no limit on greatness. Creating an Organic Unity in Learning I think more important than my particular strengths and weaknesses are the things that I realized about the subjects I want to teach and the process in which they are taught. In the traditional view of a classroom, planning and implementing instruction must be done differently for English and mathematics. Both subjects involve learning skills, continuously building upon skills, and implementing them through communicating or problem solving. English is more like a tightly wrapped ball of yarn; everything is connected to everything else; however you can work on refining the skills each time you revisit a text and each time that you write. If you don't master the skill of adding description to writing the first time, it will not inhibit your ability to write. As a teacher, you can provide ways for students to continually practice that skill and point out times where it can be used in each writing assignment so that you hit it the next time the string comes around. For mathematics, most times instruction is viewed as linear, although this is a misconception. Math is more like a spider web. Everything is connected, but content builds out from a central core. If you are missing a crucial piece of content, the web is

Smith 11 incomplete and falls to pieces. Students cannot truly master division of decimals until they understand whole number division. Once both processes are mastered, they can circle back to think about the relationship between these problems. When teaching math, I cannot move on until it i s clear that my learners have that foundational prior knowledge. With my math lessons, I planned my entire unit, but often times had to alter my plans and extend the unit because the assessments (when I finally began to look at them) showed students did not understand the content. I found myself adjusting my lessons many times to ensure that students understood the foundational content before proceeding. Throughout this experience, I have realized that teaching English and learning English are usually presumed to be more organic and more fluid than teaching and learning math are. We learn to speak and read and write though experience and exposure. We learn how to make meaning of texts by tal king about them, thinking about them, and asking ourselves questions as we go. Math is often believed to be more rigid with set guidelines and processes, but the truth is there is no correct way to solve a problem and there is not always one right answer. As my spider web simile reveals, mathematics is perhaps even more organic than English, and mathematics instruction should take the organic nature of the subject matter into account. It must be taught though experiences and asking questions about the structures that we see in our everyday life. Any sort of meaningful learning, regardless of whether it occurs in school or outside of school, occurs through the desire to find an answer to a question, usually a question that we ask ourselves. I mean, isn't that really what life is? Think about it. We continually ask ourselves questions and then strive to find an answer for it. In doing so we gain knowledge about the world and ourselves. That is learning. Why is this so rt of organic learning absent from math classrooms in particular and from the school systems in general? We can meet the required standards and cover the necessary content, by creating engaging experiences and asking challenging questions. There is no reason that any classroom, math included, should not focus on creating an environment of le arning though experience. No matter where I teach or what I teach, I will strive to create this learning

Smith 12 experience by asking students challenging questions about the world in which we live. Together we will search for answers through reading, writing, talking, and analyzing the thought processes of others. I am not the know-all being in my subject area. In my classroom I am just the one with the most experience. I am the guide to my learners as they embark on their own exploration. I do not hold all the knowledge, but rather increase my knowledge and understanding by journeying with my students.

Where do I go now? I know that I have indicated a strong desire to teach math, but now (after grading fairy tales and writing a story long response to each one) I feel that I don't want to give up teaching English. I enjoy listening to learners discuss exciting observations they find in books and thinking about how the stories relate to their lives. I enjoy reading about their lives and their creative ide as. At the same time I like the different type of challenge that math problems present. I love watching students problem solve and share in the joy and the excitement when they finally find the answer and finally get it. Maybe what I need is to not make a choice, but rather blend the two into a unique experience of discovering mathematics through literature by finding math concepts with in texts, or in the connections that we see within the texts. Maybe instead of writing personal narratives students write math problems that represent their lives. By blending the two, perhaps students will see a pureness in the subjects and realize that learning is the experience, not the information that is scrawled across a page. Maybe a fear and misconception of mathematics will fall away as students understand their entire word is constructed of mathematics, just as their world in constructed of stories. Sharing your mathematical process is sharing a story. By allowing students the opportunity to solve problems and presenting them with little direct instruction, I allow students to write their own story that can be shared with others. Together then, we can revise the stories and live through the mathematical journeys of others, reflecting on these experiences to learn more about ourselves along the way.