Reflection Summary: ELA

Above are the results of the pre and post tests for my ELA lesson. The pretest results
were as follows: one student got 20% of the spelling words correct, one got 40%, two got 80%,
and four got 100%. There were nine students in my class, meaning over half of my students got
results on the pretest that met my objective. The results for the post test improved drastically, I
had 0 students under 60%. Two students got 60%, two students got 80%, and five students got
100%. Every one of my students either met their same score or improved a lot. Since most of my
students met the bar for the lesson I would use the data collected to find out what spelling
concepts the students who did not meet expectations needed help with. I would then teach a
lesson that would go over an additional way to sound out and decode the spelling of their words.
During this lesson I would pair the students up so the strong students are with the students who
need improvement. The students who understand the topic well will practice with those who
need to improve giving students extra practice. According to edutopia.org pairing by ability can
lead to the formation of new leadership structures and could encourage students who don’t
usually participate to do so (Johnson, 2011).

I felt the feedback I provided overall was helpful and developmentally appropriate. I put
the feedback into understandable words for 1st grade. I also made sure the feedback was targeted
and student specific in that it examined each of the students’ patterns of spelling error and
provided solutions or built on their knowledge to help them in the future. For my two students I
worked with on the observation log I targeted extra feedback to their individual behavioral and
educational needs by including a section about behavior and setting up to provide for
intervention in the future. To help them use this feedback in the future I would plan intervention
time with any students who are struggling in which I would provide targeted intervention and use
the evidence practice of planning my interventions and targeting them based on data and the RTI
(response to intervention) strategy. This would provide intervention in a manner that would allow
the teacher to measure how much improvement students make from one intervention to another.
This is a proven way to help students who are struggling to catch up to the rest of the class
(Morin, n.d.).

I learned that to be an effective educator it is important to change with your students and
learn from them. Each of my students had a part to play in my own education this semester. Over
the course of the ELA lesson that I got to teach this semester I learned that movement can be a
teacher’s best friend. According to a study out of NW College, “Children learn best when
moving because it stimulates the neurons and electrical wiring in the brain” (Kleinjan, 2020). I
planned both my math and ELA lessons to include some type of movement to keep my students’
brains engaged. I found that my two students who struggled that I was in charge of observing did
exponentially better when movement was incorporated into the lesson. If I could do the lesson
over again I would have spent a little more time allowing the students to practice. I think the
extra practice time would have really brought the students who scored 60% up to at least 70 and
possibly 80. I may have spent a little too much time going over the strategy as they seemed to
have grasped it pretty quickly. This could mean I over explained it, wasting time that could have
been spent on getting my students more reps.
Reflection Summary: Math
 Above are the results of the students’ math pre and post tests. I was even more pleased
with the results of this than I was from the results of ELA. The scores for math started out a little
bit lower. Two students scored 20%, two students scored 40%, one student scored 60%, one
student scored 80%, and three students scored 100%. Six students were below the 80% mark and
four students met or were above it. The post test results were very impressive to me and I was so
proud of my class. Six students got 100% and three students scored 80%. This meant that 100%
of students met my goal of 80% six of which got 100%. Moving forward I would go on to the
next part of the lesson or the next learning segment. The fact that my students all met the bar
shows that they are ready to move on to the next thing. Going forward I would use this strong
knowledge base to build for the next lesson. I would try my best to frontload students.

For feedback, I provided written and detailed feedback during the pretest on what the
students needed to work on. During the lesson I taught the students to use a number line
manipulative to help them in their efforts to solve the problem. Since the students did so well, I
gave them verbal recognition for their hard work and improved scores. I called each student by
name and had the class give themselves a round of applause. According to teacherready.org, it is
very important to recognise good behavior and work by students as this will provide intrinsic
motivation for continuing the desired behavior (TeacherReady, 2016). I also wrote a little bit
about resources they can use to practice at home and some math game websites they can use to
play games accomplishing learning while they have fun. My two students also did really well.
One of them even got 100%. I made sure to go up to them privately and give them a pat on the
back for their hard work. Since they all performed well on the assignments, I will use this
experience to motivate them if they feel discouraged as many of them had a lot of trouble in the
beginning, but prevailed in the end. I can use this as a learning experience on two fronts. I can
also keep their work for individual motivation to remind them during intervention. Hanging them
up on the walls would also be another option.

During this lesson I saw the students using the strategy I taught to help them with a
concept that was new and tough to them. Additionally when I saw them the next week they had
kept the number lines and were using them on that week's assignment. It made me happy to see
that the students were using what I had taught to assist them with their learning needs. The
movement thing came in handy again and students were very engaged in the lesson. Additionally
the use of the number line manipulative helped the students a lot. It is considered evidence based
to use manipulatives in the classroom. According to Campbell University, manipulatives have
been used by teachers in the classroom for a long time and help build a concrete foundation for
education (Campell, 2022). I learned in this lesson just how much manipulatives can help
students especially if you let the students keep the manipulatives. The students were using the
manipulatives the next week after my lesson. This is a really good thing to see and it has led me
to start planning to make manipulatives that students can keep in future lessons. If I could redo
this lesson I would have added a third rubric made to challenge students further. The students
who started at 100% could have benefited from the opportunity to have a third more challenging
option. Instead I differentiated on the fly by having them partner with students and work to help
improve the scores of the kids who were struggling. I feel that even though this worked, the
former option may have done better.
 References
Bar graph. Create a Graph Classic - Bar Graph - NCES Kids’ Zone. (n.d.).
https://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/classic/bar.asp

Johnson, B. (2011, January 2). Student learning groups: Homogeneous or heterogeneous?.

Edutopia.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-grouping-homogeneous-heterogeneous-ben-johnson

Kleinjan, D. (2020). Movement matters: The importance of incorporating movement in the

classroom. Movement Matters: The Importance Matters: The Importance of Incorportance of
Incorporating Movement in the Classroom.
https://nwcommons.nwciowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1209 context=education_masters

Libguides: Learning Through Inquiry: Makerspaces, Manipulatives, and boardgames: Using

manipulatives in the classroom. Using Manipulatives in the Classroom - Learning Through
Inquiry: Makerspaces, Manipulatives, and Boardgames - LibGuides at Campbell University.
(2022, September 16). https://guides.lib.campbell.edu/c.php?g=325978&p=2667668

TeacherReady. (2017, August 16). Recognize and reward: Reinforcing positive outcomes in the
classroom. https://www.teacherready.org/recognize-and-reward/

What is response to intervention (RTI)?. Understood. (2023, October 5).

https://www.understood.org/en/articles/understanding-response-to-intervention