Anna Van Wert
Live Lesson Reflection
1. Did you achieve both your language and content objectives? How can you be sure?
I would say that we did achieve our objectives. Students were asked to read about
each conspiracy, process the information which included the vocabulary, reflect
on their opinions, and answer a question. Every group was able to explain why
they believed or didn’t believe each conspiracy, which showed that they
understood both the language and objectives.
2. Do you feel you "immersed" the students in the vocabulary? Based on your assessment,
did the students have their own understanding of each of the vocab words?
I think that the students were “immersed” during the lesson, since the vocabulary
words were used frequently, and the students then discussed their opinions using
the words. Each group had their own reasonings for their beliefs, so that showed
how each of them understood and applied the vocabulary in their own correct, yet
personalized way.
3. Do you feel you had enough interaction, giving students the chance to apply the
language/content with other students? Why or why not?
I feel as though the students had a decent amount of interaction time with the
language/content at the end, since they got to discuss the conspiracies and come
up with their own opinions on them. However, it was hard to get the students
involved during such a short lesson. Ideally, we would have had more time to let
the students talk with one another and answer questions as a whole class
throughout the lesson.
4. What are three aspects of the SIOP process that you find effective and truly need to be in
your lesson plans (especially if ELLs are present)?
I feel as though lesson preparation, comprehensible input, and practice/application
are three necessary aspects to focus on while creating my lessons. For lesson
preparation, it is important to consider the goals of the lesson, the scope and
sequence, and everything in between. Proper lesson preparation helps you to
successfully achieve these pieces while teaching your ELL and non-ELL students.
Comprehensible input is a valuable consideration since each teacher has already
mastered their content, so the lesson inputs needs to be on the students’ level, not
the teachers. This would make learning harder for all students, especially ELL
students. Lastly, practice/application helps the students to fully process the
information by creating a personal understanding of it. This allows the student’s
to have a deeper, more permanent knowledge of the content. For ELL students,
they are given the extra opportunity to interact with the English language.
5. Looking back now that you've completed the lesson, what is one thing you would have
done differently? Why?
If I was going to be doing the lesson again, one thing that I would change would
be timing. For example, instead of watching the approximately 5-minute-long
video at the start to build background, we could have spent a minute stating aloud
the major facts of JFK’s presidency. Then, the extra few minutes could have been
used for students to discuss the conspiracies throughout the lesson, instead of just
at the end.
