Evidence Report 4

Evidence Report #4

TC Name: Jamie Harris

RICA Domain: Domain 4 Vocabulary, Academic Language and Background Knowledge

RICA Competency: Competency 11- Vocabulary, Academic Language and Background Knowledge

Grade level: Third Grade

Additional Descriptors: All ELL students

INSTRUCTION:

            I observed Mrs. S developing word consciousness with her students. In the short amount of time I am observing in her class, I have noticed that Mrs. S has been focusing a lot on multiple meaning words, synonyms and antonyms during ELD time. The lesson begins with the teacher inviting the students to the carpet for ELD time. She starts out by reviewing what the students have learned on previous days about synonyms and antonyms and has them repeat specific words they have covered about this topic. Mrs. S has a poster paper that has the word SYNONYM written on it with the definition of a synonym as well as another poster paper with the word ANTONYM on it, with the definition as well. Throughout the lesson, the teacher initiates a discussion by asking the students to explain to their partners what an Antonym is and to give an example of one. While the students are talking to each other, Mrs. S is walking around and assessing the students listening to their discussions.

            After the discussion is over, Mrs. S begins by writing one example of a synonym on the paper, and asks the students to raise a quiet hand to tell her what they synonym for that word would be. Example: “hot and the students raise a quiet hand and tell Mrs. S in a complete sentence, The synonym for hot is cold.” The students are able to interact with one another throughout the lesson and come up with some words that they want to share and also some other examples that other students may not have thought of. When the teacher comes to the word “right” two students give two completely different antonyms, one saying “left” and the other student said “wrong” which allowed the teacher to explain the term multiple meaning words. Before confusing the students with all of the terms the teacher added a star next to the word and reminded the students to remember this word and the term multiple meaning words, because she will be coming back to it later. The teacher also draws some simple pictures next to the words for the students to remember and visually see the difference in the words meaning and connect to opposites. This lesson prompts independent practice and guided practice and allows for peer interaction, student teacher interactions, group interaction and teacher assessment.

            On the next day during ELD the student review what the learned yesterday about antonyms but are able to add to their chart more words and create another discussion on what they remember and other words that they came up with. They then learn another term known as SYNONYMS, which is written on a new poster paper and has the definition posted on the paper as well. The students talk with their peers, discussing some words that they think are synonyms. The students then interact with the teacher by discussing what they came up with as their synonym words. At the end of the lesson, the students and teacher have come up with a long poster of examples of synonyms and the definition for the teacher to post on the wall right next to antonyms as a visual for students to remember and refer back to during worksheets and other assessments where they might see those words come into play again, usually during their language arts warm up.

            On another day of ELD the teacher has a poster paper ready for the students that says, “MULTIPLE MEANING WORDS” with the definition posted right next to it. The teacher talks about all the different ways words sound the same and are spelled the same, most of the time, and that have different meanings. Mrs. S refers back to the word the students said the other day when coming up with antonyms and connects back to their previous knowledge. This excites the students, so she allows them to talk with a partner about all of the different words they know that have more than one meaning. Then as a group, they have a discussion and make a chart of those words, allowing students to get creative with their words and think outside of the box. These discussions are developing word consciousness and making the students aware of all of the different word connections around them and what those word connections are called. This also allows for a visual for the students to refer back to throughout the class sessions and is a great learning tool.

           

INSTRUCTIONAL SETTING:

            The instructional setting I observed was a whole class group discussion. The teacher guided the learning at the front of the class, but allowed time for peer interaction throughout the lesson before having the students begin the group discussions. I also observed where independent practice took place, because in the morning before ELD the students work on a language arts warm up and each day had questions that referred back to the learning the day before on antonyms and synonyms. The students had great visuals to look back on from each day and each lesson. Throughout each lesson I observed the students being very engaged and constantly learning and interacting with one another.