Mini Lesson

     For my mini lesson, I chose two students who my MT thought would benefit from the strategy I chose to teach. Both students have a very good grasp of their letters. They know which sound most of the letters make and they can form their letters well when writing. However, these students have a very difficult time focusing on their words and being able to write out complete thoughts/sentences.They are very concerned with whether or not their words are "right." Throughout the year and especially over the past few weeks, I have paid close attention to how these students write. I have noticed this issue they are having with getting their thoughts onto the paper. Often times, these two children only have a couple of words written down when it is time to turn in an assignment while many of the other students in the class have almost half of a page filled. Therefore, doing your best and moving on is the strategy I chose to use for this lesson.
     Overall, I thought the lesson went very well. Both students were excited and motivated to be working with me. During this time, I noticed that they worked very hard to stay focused on their thoughts. Both students were successful in completing their stories. In the same time it took the rest of the class to complete their stories, my students filled up all of the available lines with words and all of these words were readable. I was very excited to see them do so well. However, when I first started the lesson, I came to a realization. There is a difference between rushing the students and having them do their best and move on. For awhile I felt as though I was rushing them to finish their words. After a little bit, I took the time to help them break the words apart by sounding them out. We sounded out one letter, wrote it, and moved onto the next. I was sure to point out that we had tried our best and now we were going to move on to the next word. Eventually, the kids got into this routine and ended up doing really well with it.This worked better than me simply sitting back and urging the kids to hurry up with their words.
     If I were to teach this lesson I would keep the majority of it the same. However, I would definitely take out the part where the students write down what I am saying aloud. I found that this idea was very challenging for both the students and I. I felt like I was rushing the kids and I think they felt pressure from it, too. It was especially difficult because all children write at their own pace. I would try to implement this lesson into our classroom on a daily basis. This strategy should be the first thing students think about when writing.A follow up lesson to this might be another writing assignment where this strategy is implemented. I think that by using this strategy all year, this lesson could be present within many other lessons.

Grade: Kindergarten Mini-Lesson Rationale (Why are you teaching this lesson?): Students in Kindergarten are still learning how to write and spell. Many of my students spend so much time worrying about their spelling that they often only have time to write a few words. By practicing this concept of doing your best and moving on, I hope that students will be able to accomplish more during a set time of writing. Objective for this lesson: Students will be able to… (Remember it must be student centered and observable!!!!!!!) Students will be able to recognize and record the letters they hear in a timely fashion in order to write the story of a time they connected with the character in the book. Students will be able to write a complete story about their past experiences. Materials & supplies needed: White boards Markers Bedtime for Frances Lined paper

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event  • Introduction to the lesson  (What will you say to help children understand the purpose of the lesson?  How will you help them make connections to prior lessons or experiences?  How will you motivate them to become engaged in the lesson?)    Do you remember when you first started drawing pictures in school? Sometimes you would need to draw something but you didn’t always know how. When this happened you tried your best and kept drawing. Tell me about a time when this happened! What were you drawing? Did people end up knowing what it was? Well, spelling out words works the same way. In Kindergarten you are just learning how to write and there are times where we are not exactly sure how to spell a word. When this happens we should try our best and keep moving on. When we try our best and keep moving, we have more time to write even more words.  (3 minutes)  • OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (Include specific details about how you will begin and end activities; what questions you will use; how you will help children understand behavior expectations during the lesson; when/how you will distribute supplies and materials) I will first talk to the kids about why we are doing a special lesson. I will tell them that even though we are working separately, we still need to do our best work and be on our best behavior. The first thing I will do is model a writing situation. I will take my white board and write a sentence. I will come across a word I don’t know and model the appropriate actions to take. I will sound out the word and write the sounds I hear. I will ask myself, “Does this look right?” Then I will say, “Well I am not completely sure but I did my best so I am going to keep moving on, that way I will be able to write more words!” I will then pass out white boards to the students I am working with. As a way to practice moving on, I will say a sentence out loud and they will write along as I go. I will give them enough time to sound out and write the words but not an excessive amount of time where they might second guess themselves and worry. The activity will be paced. I will then ask the students to think back to when they read the story Bedtime for Frances. What happened in the story? What did Frances do to keep from going to bed? Think about a time where you were in a situation similar to the one Frances was in. I will then have the kids write about their experience using the “moving on” technique we just discussed. I will remind the students to spell words the best that they can and keep moving on so they can write their entire story. (15 minutes) • Closing summary for the lesson (How will you bring closure to the lesson and involve children in reflecting on their experiences?  How will you involve them making connections to prior lessons or prepare for future experiences?  What kind of feedback do you want from them at this time?) I will ask the students to read their story to the group. We will talk about how their experiences relate to Frances’. What was hard about this activity/doing your best and moving on? What was easy? Were you able to write a lot? Do you think that doing your best and moving on will help you to write more? I want the students to make the connection between using this new strategy and the number of words they were able to write. (3 minutes) Assessment: (How will you know the students are progressing toward your identified objective?  What will you observe for and/or take notes on to help you plan follow-up instruction?) The assessment for this activity is mostly done during the lesson. The story that the students write will be used to assess how effective they were at doing their best and moving on. I will pay attention to how many words they were able to write in the allotted amount of time. Since I will be able to watch each student while they are completing the activity, I will be able to witness how well they use this new method of writing firsthand. Also, any writing activity that they do in the future can be used to assess this lesson. This technique will hopefully be something students will use as they continue to grow as writers.