Episode 4: Sentences (1).movDirect Instruction
Learners are developing knowledge gained in a previous lesson on sentence types. In the previous lesson, learners had created their own sentences on the Google Slides Sentence Types Task.
After discussing the structure of sentences and looking back at the Sentence Types Task, they use a piece of their own writing to find, highlight, and/or create their own sentences to then share on their blog.
Reflection
In the video, there are some occasions where learners were actually stating complex sentences, rather than simple sentences. I chose not to mention 'complex' sentences though. Instead, I wanted to ensure that all learners had a clear understanding of the relationship between a simple sentence and a compound sentence before moving onto complex sentences. The focus was therefore on correctly structuring sentences rather than wondering whether sentences had additional clauses attached.
It is really interesting being a fly-on-the-wall of your own teaching. Whilst watching this lesson, I realised that there were a couple of occasions when a child said something very valuable, and I missed it! This highlights a couple of really important things.
1. I need to be encouraging learners to elaborate on any 'words of wisdom' that they share.
2. I need to be praising learners more for sharing their ideas. I need to take time to stop and think about what the children are saying before moving on. I also need to remember that it is OK for a lesson to go down a slightly different path to what I was originally expecting, if it is going to benefit the learning of the children.
3. I need to begin next term with stronger class norms where the expectation is that only one person speaks at a time. If this is mastered, then this will give me a better chance of catching all of the gems which the learners share.
An example of 'a missed gem' was when we were discussing elements of the sentence: The monkey ate a banana.
In the middle of discussing what the subject was, one of the learners said, "The banana is the object." This could have been a great gem to have elaborated on, however in the moment, I missed it.
I felt that there was a lot of learning that happened in this lesson. It was really clear that the learners were making connections to prior knowledge and they had the ability to clearly explain what made up a simple or a compound sentence. Even though there were some challenges when it came to finding examples of these sentence types in their own writing, there was a lot of reflection happening. Some learners realised that they did not have enough sentence variety in their writing. This will be a great realisation to develop on next term. I feel that these learners could benefit from using a rubric to support them in editing their writing in the future.
Focus:
This week, we are going to be learning to identify and use different sentences to make our writing flow and to add interest.
Instructions:
1. Complete the 'Types of Sentences' task. Post this on your blog.
2. With Miss West, you will be looking through some of your writing from this term and identifying a simple sentence, a compound sentence, and a complex sentence.
3. In your group, write out some simple sentences on the cards. Put them together to create compound sentences.
Labels:
2018, Writing, Room 10, Sentences
Learner Created Content
Hannah West
Pt England School
Auckland, New Zealand
