APS 5 Reflection
Uses Instructional Strategies to Facilitate Learning
I selected one of my Language Arts lesson plans on writing to fulfill APS 5 because it is a great instructional strategy that I use in the classroom to facilitate learning for my first grade students.
I was very excited while writing this lesson plan. During St. Patrick’s week at school, I decided that I wanted to do a writing activity titled, “My St. Patrick’s Day Wish” with the students. The writing prompt was a large shamrock with lines for the students to write on. The shamrock already had “I wish that” written out on the first line. The students were instructed to write about any wish that they had on the shamrock. I chose to do this for my lesson because teaching lessons on writing provides my students with a huge feeling of accomplishment. They love seeing how their writing progresses throughout the year (as do I). The more they practice their writing skills, the better writers they will become. This fun activity allowed them to not only participate in an activity about the leprechaun and St. Patrick’s Day, but also gave them more of an opportunity to produce a creative piece of writing.
I provided a model at the beginning of my lesson and explained to them what I would wish for. I placed my shamrock on the whiteboard for the class to see. I showed them how I wrote on the lines and how I used my best handwriting. I also pointed out how I lightly colored my shamrock, making sure that my writing was still visible. I called on every student to share his or her ideas before we began with the writing activity. This actively engaged each and every student during the lesson. After everyone expressed their wishes aloud, we reviewed that we use capital letters at the beginning of our sentences, punctuation marks at the end of our sentences, and finger spaces in-between words. All of these key elements corresponded with the Language Arts standards for first grade. We also discussed that the students could use the word wall in the room to help them while writing. My students benefit from seeing a model at the beginning of lessons; however, I do not do this all the time because I want them to come up with their own ideas.
All types of learners benefited from this lesson because a model was shown on the board for the visual learners, the directions and writing prompt were read aloud for the auditory learners, and the tactile learners were able to participate in a hands-on writing activity where they wrote down their wish, along with cutting out and decorating the shamrock. The directions the students have to follow throughout this lesson were all appropriate for first grade. They had seen a prompt before, they know how to write on lines, and they had been learning about the leprechaun and St. Patrick’s Day all week.
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