Presentation Reflection

For my write to learn exercise I did Admit and Exit slips. To prepare for these I initially read over the information that was presented in content area writing textbook and figured that I could use many of the tips they presented in the book into my presentation. I then decided I would make a power point to show to the class and after putting everything I wanted to put into the power point I realized it was 12 slides! There was no way I was going to have time to show this to the class and still have time for them to have an opportunity to do it themselves. Plus, who wants to hear 12 slides worth of information that can be done in 3! I decided I would shorten the power point for the class into ONLY the essentials. I included the demo picture along with the picture they would do an exit slip on. I also included just a couple uses that these can be utilized for. After trimming down the presentation I ran through it a couple times to make sure I had everything I wanted to say in my 5 minutes of time and I found I would have more than enough information to relay in that time. I was ready to go.

            During my presentation I felt that I was able to relay how easy and useful these slips can be for any subject and for any lesson plan. I think that was the part as well that I really wanted to get across, this can be used for ALL SUBJECTS. I think this was also something my classmates took away. One thing that was written down on my “Pat on the Back” was how useful the slips would be in a classroom.

            If I got the chance to do this again I would zip through my information so I would have time to go through a couple of the slips and actually show what I would do. I quickly summarized what I could do with the lesson plan for the next day, but I would actually show this if I had the chance again.

B-D-A

No. Not PDA. BDA.

Before-During-After reading activities. These activities are very important in introducing a text, dissecting it and reviewing it for students, especially those who tend to struggle with comprehension of academic text. Each phase of B-D-A brings its own advantages to assisting students in text comprehension and text awareness.

Before: In this first phase teachers should do one or more of the following according to Vacca^2 and Mraz:
1) Motivate Readers 2) Build/Activate Prior Knowledge 3) Introduce key concepts/vocab 4) develop metacognitive awareness of the task demands and strategies necessary for effective learning.

Students should want to read the text, this is part of the motivation. It could be hard to do this if the teacher isn't motivated to read it, so make sure you are before you give it to your students! BE ENTHUSIASTIC!

Next, building/activating prior knowledge give students the idea that they can build off of that and they will be more interested to reading the text. Or it could be as simple as relating it to what was done the day before in class.

Defining Key concepts will allow students to identify and realize the key concept and understand what it has to do with the rest of the text and understand that that particular word is more important than others.

During: Find out what the students are thinking. This can be a place for admit slips! Find out if they are recognizing the concepts pointed out and the class could be able to discuss!

After: Clarify! Anything that the students have questions about, be able to provide an answer, or direct them to a place to do so. Use activities that address if the students has been able to understand the language and concepts provided.  Extend their learning outside the textbook!