Classroom environmental arrangements and lesson planning for reading instruction

¶ … group reading lessons, the small group teacher table would be helpful because I could divide the students up according to reading level and meet with them in small groups at the table. This environmental arrangement would help me to provide the degree of management needed for each group of reading level students, rather than attempting to provide different levels of support to the whole class at the same time.

A lesson that could take place on the whole group carpet area would be a listening activity, in which I read to the children. This gets the children out of their seats and lets them gather together on the carpet. The environmental arrangement has a positive effect on the children in that they are aware that the reading is like a treat and they are more actively engaged in listening this way.

Every lesson plan should have a stated objective because it allows the teacher to focus on the aim or goal of the activity, which prevents the teacher from getting too caught up in the details of the plan itself. When the teacher becomes too absorbed in the plan, it is easy to lose sight of the point of the exercise -- which is ultimately where the teacher wants to get. The exercise itself is just a way to facilitate the movement -- it is not the point itself. In this sense, the objective is helpful for both students and teachers because it keeps each on track.

UNIT 7 JOURNAL

The "sequence of events" should provide a step-by-step set of directions on how to go from the starting point of the lesson to the objective. It should also show how each step reinforces or guides one towards the objective. If the steps do not support the aim of the lesson, why are they there? It would be difficult for a substitute teacher to understand this and more so for a student; therefore, it is imperative that the regular teacher show how each step is vital and related to the objective in the lesson plan.

UNIT 9 JOURNAL

For this exercise, I am using the themes of sharing, orderliness, and discovery. The sharing activity will be student-directed and will allow the students to engage in sharing activities in small groups (they will share items needed to create a piece of art). Orderliness exercise will be teacher-directed and will be about putting the classroom and the students' space in order. Discovery will be student-directed and will about discovering something "new" in the classroom and learning about it so as to share with the rest of the class. The first exercise will promote working together, the second will promote organization, and the third will promote identification and presentation skills.