ViscardoFEJournal3

Today, at my placement, my mentor, Mrs. T worked on vocabulary instruction with students. She only chose about 8 words for students to know (they are reading a short story about a circus from their basal readers). I thought it was effective that she only chose some words to focus on. I remember back in middle school, teachers choosing way to many vocabulary words and in return, I would just memorize their definitions for the test and forget their meaning. By only choosing some words, students will have more time to better understand those words.

Mrs. T had students look up the story by using their table of contents. I thought this was a smart move instead of telling students what page the story was on. This will force students to get used to using the table of content in books. Before students began reading the story, Mrs. T had them do a "picture walk" where students flipped through the story and looked at the pictures. From the pictures, students were able to discuss what they thought the story might be about. I really liked that strategy and plan on using it in my future classroom.

I talked to Mrs. T about lesson plans. Mrs. T showed me her lesson plans and they were set up by period with a brief description of what students would learn. She also included Essential Questions for each class. I noticed, she sometimes shares the essential questions with the students. I thought that was positive so students know what their goal of the day is. I asked Mrs. T if she has to hand in her lessons, and she said the principal requires lessons to be handed in every now and then.

I asked Mrs. T what how she grades papers -- a question I've been struggling with. I asked what she would do if she has a weaker writer who ends up writing really well for them. How does she grade them? She said she will grade per the rubric, but when entering grades, if she sees a great improvement she may add a point or two to their overall score.

I also asked Mrs. T about differentiation. She has two students in the class who are identified gifted. One student "Carly" is identified gifted. I drew a of inspiration from "Carly" for Rachael in my unit plan.