Tuesday, September 11, 2012

521 Field Observation #1


TC NAME: Melisa Finney

RICA Domain: Vocabulary, Academic Language, and Background Knowledge

RICA Competency: Homophones

Grade Level: 3

Any Additional Descriptions: A few students are ELs, two who need special attention, and others who are advanced.

                I observed Ms. X teaching homophones. The teacher presented the definition of the word homophones. She showed two pictures (pear and pair) and asked the students to identify the two images. From these two images she began to illustrate the difference between the image of the fruit pear and the image of a pair of shoes. The images presented visual support for all learners. Then Ms. X had the students write the word pear on one side of a note card, the other side of the note card read pair. She had the students share the meaning of homophones and to provide one example to their elbow buddy.  This provided auditory and community support for all learners; including ELs and students have learning disabilities.

                Using Ms. X’s iPad she reflected the word homophones and asked the class to reflect on the meaning. The students responded with three answers.

1.       Homophones sound the same.

2.       Homophones do not mean the same thing.

3.       Homophones are spelled different.

Then, the teacher had illustrated other images on the iPad for homophones. She illustrates images like hair and hare, male as in man and mail as in the mail received, and etc. After a few images, she had the students focus on the words pair and pear using the note card. She instructed the students to reflect the proper word that correctly matched with the picture. A picture of a pear would appear and students are to respond with the proper meaning of the fruit pear. The teacher also had students interacting with the iPad as they wrote the proper word that matched the picture. While this lesson was occurring, the teacher was recording the lesson. At the end she had a challenge for the students. This provided kinesthetic and visual support for ELs and for students with special needs.

                Then, the teacher took the recorded lesson with the students and had the students listen to their responses. Listening to their recording, students reflected to and practiced the lesson as a class. She had the students share their thoughts of what they had learned through about homophones with their mummy partner. This presented peer interaction, promoting community in a classroom. With the use of the iPad, it made the lesson engaging, especially for our ELs and for students who may have had trouble if the teacher had skipped guided practice.

INSTRUCTIONAL SETTING:

                The instructional setting of my observation contained many interactive tools for teaching and learning homophones: an iPad that illustrated pictures of homophones and recorded the lesson, note cards that involved students in the lesson, and big cards that also illustrated other pictures at the beginning of the lesson.


                             (Above picture: Teacher example. Below picture: Student's example)



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