Dana Franey

Katie Rasmussen

LS 3001

14 February 2017

Lesson Reflection

The lesson study we did was at Coleman Elementary school in San Rafael. We

observed a kindergarten classroom with a teacher and her teacher assistant. The Teaching

Performance Expectations specifically observed were TPEs one and three. TPE one

talks about engaging and supporting all students in learning, while TPE three discusses

organizing and subject matter. The activity we helped the students do was connected to

the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle. They were provided colored construction paper,

and asked to cut/tear certain shapes out in order to create a scene from the nursery rhyme.

Some of the shapes we encouraged them to create were rectangles, triangles, squares, and

spheres. Students were asked to glue down their shapes to create the scene from the

nursery rhyme.

To start the lesson, the students all gathered on the carpet in a circle, while the

teacher read the nursery rhyme aloud. This allowed the children to focus in on their

listening and comprehension skills, which is an important factor of TPE one. She had

pictures all around the room from the nursery rhyme, and even printed to them for

reference. These fun pictures were hung both high and low, which was a great idea for the

children who like to observe and look around when they get distracted, as they are

constantly seeing the rhyme! I noticed that she used an extremely soft and quiet voice
while reading. I later asked the teacher why she did this, and she said it was a tool she

used to keep the kids focused on listening, and so that their was no competition for who's

voice was heard. She also used her finger to point to each and every word, which allowed

the student to unknowingly observe her reading pace, and see that even teachers use their

finger to assist their reading. And even though many students were unable to read the

word she was saying, they were learning from her how to read and sound words out. She

made it fun during the Diddle Doodle, Diddle Daddle parts, because she really sound

out the new change in sound that every word that followed Diddle made. The children

looked forward to this part because they knew the different sound would be silly. This

allowed them to associate word with sound, which is a major goal of TPE one.

After the students were finished listening to the rhyme, they were divided into

groups of six, and sat at tables. The tables were already set up with all the tools and

supplies needed for the activity. TPE three came into play when the children were given

step by step listen and do monitored instruction for the language arts activity. They all

had the exact same supplies, although some shared, which was excellent because this

allowed them to have fair and equal success in the activity. Every child was given exactly

what they would need, which is key to TPE three. This Subject Specific Pedagogy was

perfect, because it used the best method of showing understanding of the story. The

subject matter and the activity complimented each other flawlessly, which allowed for no

confusion and complete clarity for the students to successfully complete the activity.

Krystina and I gave them step by step directions, and we observed their listening and

performance skills. The teacher had previously emphasize to the college students that we
do not do the activity for them, but scaffold them only when needed.

Overall, I really enjoyed this specific lesson study because of the age group of the

kids. I haven't worked with students that young in years, and it gave me more insight on

how to be a better teacher for the younger age groups. I was very impressed by the

cooperation of the students, respect for others in the classroom, and genuine interest they

showed in both the teacher and activity. Every single student was engaged and focused

during both the reading and the activity. I am glad we were able to be their to help her

and support her, as she even said she wouldn't have been able to successfully for the

activity if she hadn't had the extra help! She planned ahead everything so well, which not

only helps her out, but the students are given all the time they need to start the activity

with adequate completion time, rather than sitting and waiting for the teacher to hand out

the supplies.