Placement+1+Week+5+Experience

Week of February 15th, 2010

2/15/10

Today was a great day for us in Mrs. Herring's class. It had it's unexpected moments like any day in exceptional ed., but it was a wonderful day overall. I made it my goal to share the second lesson plan I had written for my first grade student today, plus we would be recording it to satisfy the audio sample evaluation requirements of my Internship class.

At first my student was reluctant to begin the lesson because he didn't think it would be fun, but then when he learned that it involved creating a book all about himself and that we would be taking pictures with my digital camera to illustrate his work, he decided it wasn't so bad. He also remembered that if he didn't complete all his work, he couldn't have computer time today!

Presenting this lesson allowed me to accomplish several Florida Educator Accomplished Practices (FEAPs). That made me happy because I was then able to have Mrs. Herring sign off to say that I had demonstrated so many of these criteria in my Internship Evaluation Rubric. She also gave me my midterm evaluation based on my lesson delivery today, too. I am glad to be making progress with all the documentation in this class!



A photo of my student waving hello and sharing the puzzle we put together. He loves dinosaurs!



Watch out! This is how dinosaurs roar! You can also see the "Dinosaur Egg" book we made today.

2/16/10

I am very happy that I took the time to get to know some of my student's favorite things. That really came in handy today after lunch when we all needed a bit of quiet time because the lunch room was so noisy and crowded. I decided to take initiative and pull out a book I had gotten from the Curriculum Materials Center at UCF. I had selected this story with my student in mind, but I had no idea his response to it would be so incredibly positive!

I read aloud to the whole class from Dieter Wiesmuller's __Pernix: The Adventures of a Small Dinosaur__. In this brightly illustrated book, a little dinosaur named Pernix makes friends and goes on exciting adventures hunting for food, shelter, and fun. While the other children listened intently, the first grader in our class was overcome with enjoyment in the story! He asked me to turn each page slowly as I read so that he could stand close and get a good look at the amazing artwork. After the story was done, he wanted to see each page again, telling me what he remembered that happened in every scene.

Capitalizing on this moment, I asked the class - especially the students who had previously told me they don't enjoy reading - several in depth comprehension questions like "What would have happened if the Tyrannosaurus hadn't come along when he did?", "How did Pernix feel when he didn't get to eat the fat caterpillar, and how can we tell?" , and "What do you think happened to Pernix and his family after the story ended?" It was so much fun to engage the class in a reading lesson - impromptu though it was. Especially one that captured their attention and held it so well!

I can't wait to pay another visit to the Curriculum Materials Center to hunt for more quality children's literature to keep these kiddos entertained, and so I can work showing them how great reading really is!