What Do You Think?

 By: Melissa Cabrales

Thursday, November 18, 2021

    Today I taught my first literacy lesson. I was nervous because I knew I was first to teach on the schedule at 10a. I was well prepared and ready to go with my lesson when it was time. I really enjoyed this lesson because it was fun, interactive, and the students learned something new. My lesson was on inferencing. I taught them how we can make inferences depending on the music in movies and t.v. shows and in books when we use text evidence and schema which is our prior knowledge. The students really liked the book I chose for the read aloud. They were laughing and having fun all throughout the reading. It was a fun book! I showed them a game called splash the sub which gave scenarios and whichever teacher that was clicked on that was holding the correct inference, got to get splashed with a water balloon. It was a fun but educational game. I also had them play a Kahoot! during the IP and the students really enjoyed it. I think any time the teachers can do something with technology instead of a boring worksheet, it's definitely worth it. The kids are so engaged. This was my best lesson to date. I felt so comfortable and really had a good understanding of what and how I wanted to teach it. 

After my lesson was done, I got to work one-on-one with a student who's reading at the 1st grade level in second grade. I like being able to work with him because I know he needs a lot of extra help and I found ways to motivate him. He likes when I set goals for him and make a game out of the work he has to complete. I feel that when he thinks it's more of a game than learning, he can have fun with it and he's more encouraged to work harder. I set goals for him because it motivates him to try. I started off with an easy goal and every time he hit the goal, I would set a new goal. I told him I would bring him a treat the next time I came for working so hard and hitting all his goals....and he asked for Takis. This made me laugh. Kids and their hot chips! 😂 

After lunch the students began working on Thanksgiving activities. They were able to watch a virtual field trip with the National Geographic Channel and learned about the Native Americans and the different tribes. They got to see how Native Americans look today and the work they do on their farms. A young woman spoke about how she became a journalist to to be able to tell the real stories of people from different tribes and not have fake news out there misrepresenting them. I'm so excited for Thanksgiving. I can't wait to eat all my mom's cooking and get a break from school work while enjoying time off with my family. This break is much needed so I can finish strong this semester when we come back after the holiday!