"Making Inferences 2" Lesson Plan
"Making Inferences 2" Google Slides Presentation
This is a lesson plan that I wrote to teach to my 5th grade students at my first student teaching placement. They had just begun their poetry unit when I started at their school, and their teachers informed me that they had really been struggling with identifying the theme of the poems they were reading. In order to identify the theme of a piece of literature, students have to know how to make inferences, and it was with that fundamental idea in mind that I created this lesson plan. This is the 2nd lesson I taught about making inferences to my students. Instead of focusing on what we can infer from real-world scenarios, which is what my 1st lesson about making inferences was about, I had my students practice making inferences about the song "Strong" by Sonna Rele. I read the song aloud up until the end of the chorus, and then I had my students pair up to talk about the inferences they made after reviewing what is needed in order to make an inference (support from the text and one's own background knowledge). I then had my students share their inferences out loud to the class, and we made an anchor chart about making inferences together.
IPTS Standard 4 states that "the competent teacher structures a safe and healthy learning environment that facilitates cultural and linguistic responsiveness, emotional well-being, self-efficacy, positive social interaction, mutual respect, active engagement, academic risk-taking, self-motivation, and personal goal-setting". My "Making Inferences 2" lesson plan meets Knowledge Indicator 4D, which says that "the competent teacher understands factors (e.g., self-efficacy, positive social interaction) that influence motivation and engagement". Promoting positive affirmations is one major way to create a safe, learning environment for students, which is the main reason why I chose the song "Strong" for this lesson. The themes that can be found in "Strong" are kindness, courage, and listening to one's heart, which are all characteristics and values that I want my students to have and see in themselves. I have always wanted to be a teacher, but more than anything, I have always wanted to create a safe space where students can learn, grow, and be themselves. One of the ways teachers can create a positive learning environment is to encourage communication amongst students, and because of that, I decided to make it a major component of my lesson plan. I utilized the Turn-and-Talk method after reading the lyrics to "Strong" to have students discuss the inferences they made about the song. I love learning from my peers, and I could never thank them enough for all that they have taught me. That being said, I wanted to give my students an opportunity to talk and learn from each other, and they really enjoyed this part of the lesson.
Creating this lesson helped me to further realize how highly I value safety in the classroom. One could make all the necessary adjustments to their classroom to make it a safe physical space, but a classroom will never be truly safe if unconditional kindness is absent. That being said, positive communication is a must, and that is the reason why I chose to have it be a part of my "Making Inferences 2" lesson. Doing this created the safe learning environment that I wanted for my students, which was my main priority.
This is my classroom management plan that I wrote as an assignment for my Elementary Science Methods class (Science288). It contains a philosophical statement, a description of my classroom's physical arrangement, rules/expectations, rewards/consequences, daily procedures, and underlying philosophies of management. I specify in my plan that the behavior management theories that reflect my teaching style are the democratic classroom, unconditional positive regard, positive reinforcement/token economy system, and the choice theory.
My classroom management plan meets Knowledge Indicator 4A, which is that "the competent teacher understands principles of and strategies for effective classroom and behavior management". In my plan, I discuss several behavior management theories that align with my teaching style the most. In order to have an effective learning environment, teachers need to give students the opportunity to make decisions on how they want to learn the material, as well as help create the rules/expectations of the class. Students also need to always be treated with kindness, no matter what, and positive reinforcement should always be given daily. The absence of any of these components will not make for the most effective learning and safe environment
I really enjoyed having the opportunity to create a preliminary behavior management plan for my classroom. It allowed me to think deeply about the types of rules/expectations I want to have in my classroom, and how I want my students to play a role in creating them with me. A positive environment is essential if students are to learn the material, as well as gain wisdom that will see them through the rest of their school years and beyond. That is why teachers need to prioritize how they will structure their classroom, both in physical arrangement and behavior management.