Vowel teams are especially important to practice until students understand how and when to use them, so by incorporating physical movements into the lesson, students focus and have better recall of the material. This lesson with the tier 2 students follows the same routine as the other tier teams by starting with direct instruction of review and introducing a new concept followed by application of the new concept–whether on a dry erase board or as an activity–followed by independent practice, usually sight reading to see the concept in action, like in this lesson. During the independent practice, I had students read to me to ensure that they understood the new concept and could apply that skill. 

As this class is comprised of 1st graders, most of their ELA lessons focus on foundational skills and language development, such as long "ai/ay" vowel team phonemic awareness. The structure of the lesson allows for direct instruction of the new concept (as well as review beforehand), followed by application of the new concept before practicing the rule independently; all of this reinforces the development of language and foundational skills. This lesson also includes other areas needed at this educational level like technology, motor skills, and speaking/listening skills. 

Tier 2 students need many examples, not only of just words in general that utilize the concept but also examples in context of written texts. During the direct instruction and application of the new concept, students seemed to grasp the new concept and could go between the two vowel rules (short "a" and long "ai/ay" vowel team) immediately when asked, however when they transitioned to independent practice, the students had trouble applying the concept in context. When discussing this observation with my mentor teacher, she replied that this particular group of tier 2 students have always had trouble with new sight reading texts and usually need two or three read-throughs before the vocabulary and expression flow.