Lesson #1 reflection

1. What students learned and which students struggled with the lesson
1. The target of the lesson was for students to be able to preview, predict, and use their prior knowledge to deepen their comprehension of an informational text. We practiced previewing an example mentor text together as a class, where I pointed out important text features that are useful when previewing a text. Then, I explained to my students the importance of making a prediction based on your preview of a text- when we read for information, we want to be active readers and try to make connections with the information that is being presented to us. We also discussed making precise predictions using what we learned from our preview of the text and to avoid making a 'general' prediction, because again we are active readers and are always seeking to learn and make connections with the text. Lastly, we discussed using our prior knowledge to aid our comprehension of an informational text. To facilitate discussion and thinking about students' prior knowledge, I gave each student a KWL chart to complete. They had a discussion with their partner in their reading group before reading the text about their prior knowledge, what they wanted to learn from the text, and what they learned after reading the text. For the most part, each of these strategies was a review for my students- this lesson introduced using these strategies as a way for us to deepen our comprehension of an informational text. The only thing that I noticed some students struggling with was digging deep into their thinking. Some students struggled with making complex analyzations of what they learned from previewing the text to make a precise prediction, some struggled with tapping into their prior knowledge. 
2. What are alternate reads of your students performance or products?
1. I plan on collecting my students' KWL charts/prediction sheets tomorrow after my second lesson so I can get a sense of how everyone is doing so far with using these strategies to help their comprehension of an informational text. My students will be reflecting tomorrow on what they learned in their reader's notebooks, so they needed to keep their worksheets until tomorrow. I also took the time to conference with my groups of students, listening to their conversations and asking questions to facilitate their discussion.
3. what did you learn about your students' literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?
1. From listening to my students' sharing their comments at the end of the lesson, I learned that many of my students consciously practice previewing, predicting, and tapping into their prior knowledge before reading a text! Many students brought up an important point, that we as readers can practice these strategies before we read ANY text, not just informational. Also, before we even started the lesson, multiple students expressed their excitement for reading about animals and habitats! As we previewed our example text together, many students shared their prior knowledge of animals and I was very impressed.
4. When and how will you re-teach the material to students who needed additional support?
1. My unit is focused on comprehension strategies to help students better understand informational text, so we will continue to build upon our knowledge of strategies as the unit goes on. While we will be practicing a new strategy each lesson, I can easily go back and review the strategies taught in this lesson or future lessons to come. The majority of my lessons are structured similarly-mini lesson then group/independent work time, so I can always pull up a group or individual students to go back and reteach something that they are still struggling with. For my ELL students, I also have opportunities during group/independent work time to either sit with them in their groups or pull them to the side to check their status of comprehension or work with them more in depth.
5. If you were to teach this same lesson again, what would you do differently and how do you think the changes would improve students' learning?
1. I think one thing that I would definitely change would be how in depth I went with my lesson. Out of all the preparing I did for my lesson, I forgot to take into account that my students have practiced previewing, predicting, and using their prior knowledge before in previous grades. So, I believe after reflecting on my own and with my mentor teacher that I definitely could have cut back my instruction a bit, and gave my students more reading time.
6. What did you learn so far about implementing your core practice and what do you need to do to continue your professional learning?
1. I have learned so far that it is very helpful for students to see and think about different ways we can use comprehension strategies to help us understand different types of text. As I mentioned before, students are already familiar with previewing a text, making predictions, and using their prior knowledge during reading. So, they are taking these familiar strategies and using them as a way to not only comprehend an informational text but to also help them be active readers before, during, and after their reading. To continue my professional learning, I think that I need to continue to discuss how these and future strategies are important in comprehending informational text and get students more comfortable with using the vocabulary.