Lesson Reflection #2

My focus students were really excited to work with me again. My goal was for them to be able to identify R and L blends, know the sound they make, and be able to recognize them at the beginning of a word. At the beginning of the lesson, the students had trouble recognizing the blends. We had to go over a few times what sound each blend made. I noticed that they started to understand the lesson more when they were able to see pictures of things that start with the blends. Once we did the first 3 or 4 together, they started to pick up on which sound each blend made. By the end of the lesson, the students understood the blends and could say them almost every time. I still think the students need more practice with blends.

One strength of this lesson would be the visual representation. I noticed that the students were able to understand the blends when they saw pictures where the word started with one of the blends we were using. The pictures I used were ones that students could recognize, such as drill, crayons, brain, etc. The students really responded to the pictures and they were really into the lesson once they finally understood what to do.

One limitation of my lesson would be that the students were really confused at times. I tried to call on each student to answer my questions and identify the blends, but if they did not know they got pretty frustrated. If I could do the lesson over again, I would have spent more time at the beginning with sounding out the blends so they were not so confused. I kind of assumed that they could sound out the blend, but they had trouble with it. After the lesson was over, I think the students understood the concept a lot more than at the start of the lesson; therefore, I would say it was a success.

I noticed that I was having trouble explaining to the students what a blend was. I tried to help them sound it out, but it seemed to me that they did not understand. I wish that I had prepared a second strategy to be able to explain to students how to read blends. The students did love working together to figure out the blends on the worksheet, and they were proud to show their teacher afterwards. I would probably pick a different activity next time.