Reflection In The Classroom

My featured video is in the PGE area of Literacy. The broad context of the lesson takes place during an opinion-writing unit based on the Lucy Calkins, Units of Study for Writing Workshop, for beginning writers. Earlier in the year my students were instructed on narrative and then informative writing based on the Lucy Calkins curriculum. Additionally, it is also synchronized within the yearlong arts integrated scope and sequence instruction implemented in my first grade class. The goal for this lesson was for my students to form their opinions and write about a topic in which they have expert knowledge. Therefore, the topic of personal collections fits easily into this category. To assist them with this concept, I brought in my collection of shells and modeled throughout

After I modeled my collection, they were excited about bringing in something they have collected or would like to begin collecting. Having their own collection gave them additional ownership of their opinions and writing resulting in student empowerment and increased engagement during this lesson sequence. Listening to their explanations during informal and formal writing conferences and prompting them to give more details assisted my students with improved verbal communication and greater transference to print. Following the featured lesson, my students used the photograph of their collection taken with class iPads, as a graphic to present their opinion writing. Students asked questions to their peers that were not in their group and gave specific positive feedback to the presenting students. As an extension to this lesson sequence, my students learned about Georgia O’Keefe and selected a painting from her flower collections, to coincide with our plant unit, and wrote their opinion of the painting giving three reasons for their opinion. After already writing opinion pieces about their collections, students struggled less giving detailed explanations for their opinions of the