The Learning Academy is a private elementary school that provides students (grades second to sixth) the opportunity to learn techniques, by way of the Orton-Gillingham (OG) Approach, that will better assist them through their lifelong journey with their reading disability. Dyslexia is very hard to diagnose, but many of the students at this school are assumed to have this reading hindrance. Reading difficulties begin to arise and become recognizable in the first grade, which is why this outstanding school does not start until grade two.

 

Classroom Observation

I arrived at The Learning around 7:45am in order to set up for my “main idea and details” lesson.  I began the lesson by stating, “Today, boys and girls, you all get to be detectives. I am going to split you all into groups and each group is going to get a mystery bag. First, we have to put on our detective caps and our detective glasses.”

The introduction to the lesson were mystery bags. There were four groups (split heterogeneously). Within each bag there were three ingredients. The group members were “detectives” and wrote down each ingredient and then wrote down the main topic of the bag.

Bag 1: Cake mix, frosting, pan= Baking a Cake.

Bag 2: Sand, sunglasses, shells= The Beach.

Bag 3: Plastic eggs, candy, toy bunny= Easter

Bag 4: Popcorn, 3D glasses, and soda= the movies.

After the students wrote down their ingredients and topic of the bag, they presented their bags/predictions to the rest of the class. They explained why they think their main topic is what it is based on the evidence. They were prompted with higher order thinking questions. For example, I asked, “Interpret the main idea of your mystery bag based on the evidence.”

The instruction to the lesson contains many modes of guided and independent practice.

Slide 1: Main slide which contains title of the presentation. I will said, “I know you all have heard and talked about main idea before, but I have a trick to help you whenever you get stuck!”

Slide 2: “Before I tell you my trick, I have a super cool fourth grade activity to do with you. I know you all can show me that you are ready to move to the fourth grade. Fourth graders listen, participate, and sit up nice and tall! Now, you all get to be detectives. Put on your detective hat and your glasses!” I split the class into four groups.

Slide 3: The vocabulary term “topic.” The term came up before the definition so that the students could discuss with their shoulder partner what they thought the term meant (think, pair, and share). After some discussion, I will presented the definition.

Slide 4: The vocabulary term “main idea.” The term came up before the definition so that the students could discuss with their shoulder partner what they thought the term meant (think, pair, and share). After some discussion, I will presented the definition. We then compared and contrasted main idea vs topic.

Slide 5: A picture of various useful notes that I refered to in order to help explain the differences.

Slide 6-8: Practice opportunity for both terms (article, two multiple choice questions). The students had the chance to do a 3, 2, and 1 showdown (write their prediction and hold up on the count of three).

Slide 9: The vocabulary term “evidence.” The term came up before the definition so that the students could discuss with their shoulder partner what they thought the term meant (think, pair, and share). After some discussion, I presented the definition.

Slide 10: The vocabulary term “details.” The term came up before the definition so that the students could discuss with their shoulder partner what they thought the term meant (think, pair, and share). After some discussion, I will presented the definition. We compared and contrasted details vs evidence.

Slide 11- 14: Practice opportunity for all terms (article, three multiple choice questions).

Slide 15: Ice cream graphic organizer. I showed the students how they can use it to help them find the main idea, topic, and details. The students completed this organizer with a partner.

Slide 16: Box graphic organizer. I showed the students how they can use it to help them find the main idea, topic, and details.

Slide 17: Refresher points for finding main idea (focus and this is used to support struggling students) before doing independent practice.

Slide 18-19: Individual practice article (let go and let the students). The students received a hard copy of the article and a copy of both graphic organizers (they chose which one to use). I assisted individual students and small groups.

Slide 20-21: Summative assessment. The students received a hard copy and a copy of both graphic organizers (they chose which one to use). I did not assist students and students will not work cooperatively.

Slide 22: Wrap-Up. Brain Pop Video. The video did an excellent job at explaining main idea, topic, and supporting details. I stopped the video at certain points for questioning and review.

After the instruction, guided practice, and independent practice, the students completed a summative assessment- an easier read than the independent article. The students completed the assessment on their own (I pulled three students to read the article to due to my observation during the formative assessment). After all of the student completed their work and I showed the wrap-up video, I stated, “This is a fourth grade lesson, and this was a lot of information, but you did it! You all did such a great job, and I now believe that you all will be great fourth graders!”

After my lesson and the class’s snack time, I pulled Hannah in order to continue our weekly intervention plan. This lasted about 20 minutes, and we then flowed right into small groups. My small group played a game similar to the ones previously played. However, this game required the students to identify whether the word was open, closed, or ‘r’ controlled. The students received the majority of the words correct- the ‘r’ control syllable type was the one that stumped them and with a reasonable excuse (they had not discussed this kind in class before). Only one 15 minute round was available due to the time, and my day at The Learning Academy came to a close.  

 

Classroom Reflection

Overall, I think that my lesson went really well. However, I almost feel as though I provided too much information at once. Given the provided and mandated lesson plan created by my college, I feel as though having an independent and guided practice provides too much information- my students had “deer in the headlights” eyes and acted as though the material was overwhelming. I would normally provide the summative assessment at the end of the unit or week- but the lesson requires us to give it all in one day. The lesson plan works very well for a unit plan, but not so much for one day lesson because cramming it all into one day is too much for me and too much for the students. Based on the graded independent practice and summative assessment, it is apparent that most of the students grasped the overall concept. Although this standard was given in the third grade category, I know that the students will dive more into the topic in later grades- this lesson was an overview and I am very pleased with their performance, both behaviorally and academically.

I really enjoy participating in small groups when behavior management is not at the forefront of the activity. In weeks past, especially with the “Moose” game, it is a constant battle between knowledge and management- it is both mentally and physically draining. However, I actually feel like I accomplished something today (knowledge) because my students began to not need assistance towards the end of the game. I am still a little uneasy when it comes to my boundaries in the area of classroom management. Mrs. William is so sweet and nurturing and I do not want to overstep her and her techniques in anyway. However, I also do not want to be taken advantage of by the students.

 

Case Study Observations

Due to my lesson, I was unable to gather specific notes on Hannah during the main instruction time. My attention was equally focused on each individual student so that I could better guide my lesson to meet their needs as I saw fit. However, I remember one specific moment when Hannah answered a higher order thinking question- “Compare and contrast the main idea and the topic.” Hannah answered, “The main idea is a sentence on what the whole passage is about. The topic is one or two words on the whole passage.” Hannah also appeared to be fully engaged because she did not color or scribble during the lesson, but participated and answered questions when the time arose.

After my lesson, I provided Hannah with two blend worksheets dealing with ‘br, bl, cr, cl, fr, fl, gr, or gl.’ Hannah correctly answered all of them. She received a 12/12 on the first worksheet and a 12/12 on the second worksheet. As Hannah wrote each blend down, I had her say just the beginning diagraph sound. Hannah only needed assistance on the ‘cr’ blends two times.

The worksheets went a lot faster than expected and I had planned on administering some spelling words containing a mixture of blends and diagraphs, but I decided to go ahead and do it today. I was not looking for the correct spelling of the whole word but only the spelling of the diagraph/blend- I pulled these words from the original spelling inventory given on the second day. Hannah received a 5/7 on the spelling words. Hannah did not get the ‘dr or bl’ blends correct.

After spelling, Hannah and I read buddy read, “Be Nice to Spiders” by Margaret Bloy Graham. I read the majority of the book, but stopped at words that contained the diagraphs and blends that we had been working on. Hannah received a 7/10 on the reading of these words. However, two of them contained the ‘thr’ blend that we have not worked on yet.  

 

Case Study Reflection

I was so proud of Hannah and her participation in class. I only get to see OG instruction so seeing her learn in a specific area was interesting, and I fully enjoyed comparing the differences. For example, Hannah typically does not pay attention during OG, and she frequently draws on paper or her whiteboard. Today, however, I did not have to speak to her and tell her to put her things away. I am curious as to why she does not do this during subject learning but does it during OG learning. I would love to come in at another point during the week and observe her learning in a domain-specific area like science or social studies.

A weakness I have is coming up with new materials week after week- I am pretty consistent with providing worksheets and reading. I really need to mix it up so that Hannah becomes more engaged in the learning process and so that I can have a variety of assessments! After discussion with my peers and supervisors, I am going to have Hannah read spelling words/text while I record her. She will then have the chance to listen to what she just said in order to help with her oral language skills. Perhaps she does not know she is making certain mistakes. I will also provide instruction for this next week by doing an oral component instead of a typical writing worksheet. I want to ensure that Hannah has these blends down before moving on to something else. I also want us to continue practicing on the blends and diagraphs she already mastered.

I was very proud of Hannah and the reading of the words. When I first began to notice that Hannah was beginning to zone out of the read aloud, I knew that I needed to pull her back in. I began noticing that the book contained words with the blends and diagraphs we had gone over in week’s past. I will continue this strategy with Hannah in the weeks to come because I found it very affective in her enthusiasm and participation.