Classroom Literacy Environment
During my internship with my mentor, Mr. Charles Becker, 11th grade Street Law and United States History teacher at Millennium High School, I have had the opportunity to observe many different literacy techniques that he has incorporated within his lessons. On three different occasions I have observed him and have taken notes on which techniques were used and the student’s engagement while using these techniques. My observations are detailed below.
The first observation was on September 29, 2015 during Mr. Becker’s Street Law Class and the lesson was on Illegal Sales Practices. Students came into this lesson already knowing some prior knowledge of the topic due to Mr. Becker scaffold lesson. A power point was
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Becker’s U.S History class on October 20, 2015. Students were given guided notes to fill out while watching a video on the Seeds of Change: Early 1900’s, with included how Teddy Roosevelt took over the Presidential Office and what he did while in office (introducing Progressivism to America). This video was used as the introduction lesson on Progressivism. Once the video was over the class used their guided notes to have a discussion on the video. Mr. Becker asked students certain questions regarding the movie as a way to check for understanding. Mr. Becker asked the students to orally respond to his questions. During the class discussion, a question he asked was, “Why was the United States the most creative in the World? Give examples of our (the United States) inventions.” He used thought-provoking questions instead of yes- no questions so that students could defend their answers with very fact detailed answers. After the class discussion was over the students were instructed to take and use their guided notes at home to write a short essay (200 words max) for homework on how Roosevelt and Progressivism changed early America. Mr. Becker’s used the short essay as a way to assess the students’ learning process and check for understanding of Progressivism. Students seemed to like the video, however they did not like the idea of having to write an