Mini-Lesson 2 Reflection

I’ve just finished my second mini-lesson!  My students were initially excited to go back out in the hallway with me, and Katie pointed out that I picked exactly the same group of kids to work with.  Once I asked what we’d learned last week, all three of their hands shot in the air to tell me that (Katie) “we shouldn’t read like this” and took several seconds to say a two syllable word, (Zack) “that reading like that is boring” and general agreement from James.  Katie told us that pictures can help readers figure out what books are about.  I asked them what reading with emotion and speed was called, and they thought for 30 seconds.  I gave them the hint, “fl...” and they all shouted “fluidez!”  They all were extremely excited to learn the new vocabulary, and practicing saying all of the syllables fast.  I had to remind them not to be so noisy!  When they all had an opportunity to read to themselves, James and Katie took the task very seriously, understanding that it was practice for them to read to the group, but Zack whipped through the book.  I specifically told him that he had another minute, to maybe concentrate on saying the new words, but he said that we’d already gone over them.  James skimmed them, whereas Katie went back over them, mumbling them to herself.

    This book was definitely much harder for them to read than the last one, because there were so many new (and long) words.  I assessed the students recognition, and all of the students “stopped to decode the unfamiliar words.”  For this reason, I actually think the book may have been too difficult for them, so that would be a weakness of my teaching: I was not able to pick a book that was at the correct level of the students.  At the same time, the book was easy to understand: each page featured a different animal telling the audience where he lived.  The students were able to tell me, correctly, in general terms, that the book was about this.  Their slow reading and decoding, therefore, did not interfere with comprehension.  This, therefore, was a strength of the lesson, but another one would have been that I as a teacher recognized their struggle with this book, so opened the discussion for them to talk about it.  They said that “no one” in the class could read those words quickly, but that they knew that they all could read them slowly when they tried.  They understood that new vocabulary words take some decoding, and hopefully understood that to mean that focusing upon these new words, and gaining familiarity with new words that may come up in texts certainly helps fluidity/prosody!

    It was also very difficult to score each of the students’ reading ability with the either/or assessment that I suggested.  I learned that I, as a teacher, could probably use such an assessment, but that I absolutely need a “comment” box, because I want to reach each of my students at exactly the level that they are at, and not one that a book necessarily pinpoints.  It was really hard to categorize them, but I’m sure that I’ll get better with time.  I wonder if first grade is too early to teach fluency, as so many of my students are still decoding words, although decoding them absolutely accurately.  I suppose that exposure to English-speaking classes next year may answer this inquiry!