Teacher Commentary and Reflection

My philosophical perspective supports the notion that a student’s learning is accelerated when his self-esteem is unimpeded. Conversely, the student who has experienced too few accomplishments often demonstrates low self-esteem, because his concentration is seemingly impeded. However, when the student feels confident about learning, his self-esteem increases, and his ability to absorb information accelerates. Hence, the student learns to read and write at a faster rate. Therefore, this lesson is designed to aid the student’s deliberating, discerning, and decision making process.

By scaffolding the Expository reading and writing activities, the student learns to think critically. Consequently, the student is challenged to (deliberate) evaluate and dialogue the readings point-by-point. He also learns to (discern) make a long story short by coming to the point. The (decision making) determination process facilitates the student’s response to the essential question. Thus, the student critically reads the novel, dialogues the reading in with other students, deliberates it, discerns it, and makes an informed decision about the reading prior to responding to the essential question.

The scaffolding of the exercises that are embedded in the lesson plan, teaches the student how to understand the story from the author’s point of view. The literary growth building activities include writing exercises and pair-&-share dialogue. The small and large group dialogue serves to reinforce the reading comprehension exercises. When the dialogue exercises are combined with the Expository Reading and Writing activities, the student develops the ability to make informed decisions about most genres including literature, poetry, and history.

In hindsight, a greater emphasis on the theme of Social Justice, Social Reconciliation, and Social Transformation would have served to further boost the self-esteem of the students. It is now apparent to me that in addition to the improvements in the student’s reading and writing skills, the student’s awareness of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” gave strength to their voice, and they were able to defend the theme of Social Justice by supporting their findings with evidence. The students also learned that the theme of Social Reconciliation broadened their scope, and that meaningful dialogue helped them to make informed decisions about the readings. Therefore, Social Transformation is inevitable because a student, who understands reading strategies, learns to read at an accelerated rate, and usually develops a positive self-image. Thus, in the context of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave, the theme of Social Justice is an invitation to reconcile one’s racial and political differences. The developmental growth experience leads to a Social Transformation that improves the self-esteem of the student. Hence, the student becomes aware that learning to read improves the quality of life for all people.

What Worked?

• Silent Sustained Reading (SSR) in-class.
• Peer and/or group dialogue of the reading materials.
• Templates completion
• Computer Web search
• Microsoft Word and Spell-check
• Computer generated essay responses to the Essential Question.

What Did Not Work?

• Timely completion of the templates by the students with under developed reading skills.

What Would You Do Differently?

• Develop a Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Template, using the strategies presented in the Inspiration Software. Therefore, a show-&-tell template could guide the reading in the absence of the teacher.
• Develop a Power-point presentation that scaffolds the Template(s) lessons, for students who were unable to complete their assignment in class.
• Broadened the Social Justice, Social Reconciliation, and Social Transformation themes, for boosting the student’s self-image through meaningful dialogue. Hence, it is my conclusion that the student, who learned to use dialogue constructively, is better equipped to reconcile conflicts, developed a positive self-image, and accelerates his reading potential.