Week 2: Lesson Plan
Did I wrap up the lesson by praising the student’s effort?
Yes, I did. Following each literacy assessment, I provided the learner with positive feedback and encouragement. This made the learner feel valued and motivated, and they began to look forward to our next meetings.
Did I point out strategies that the student used that “good readers use”?
Sometimes. Since I have only met the learner twice—the first time to get acquainted and the second time for the Motivation and TOWER assessments—the tests we completed did not involve many tasks requiring reading or writing strategies. However, for instance, when the learner mentioned that they often enjoy sharing reading experiences with peers and teachers, or that they used to consult a dictionary when encountering unfamiliar words, I responded positively and encouraged these efforts.
Did I connect the assessments with goal setting for the intervention?
Not yet. Due to the learner’s recent frequent absences from school, there have been ongoing delays and changes in my schedule. As a result, it has been challenging to effectively connect my assessment practices with the intervention I plan to implement in the upcoming weeks.
Did I introduce the types of assessments that we will work on next time?
I did not do so during our first meeting, but I did after the second one. The learner asked me what we would be doing next time, as they had noticed that our recent sessions focused mainly on reading. They were curious to know whether we would also work on writing. I briefly explained the schedule and told the learner that we would conduct reading and writing assessments alternately.
What did I do to establish a positive rapport with the student?
For the first meeting, I prepared a large picture book titled The Biggest Word Book, which I had borrowed from the MIT library. When the student entered the room and saw the book, they were immediately excited and began flipping through the pages, asking many questions about it. This spontaneous curiosity created a wonderful ice-breaking moment between us. After we exchanged names, the student kindly reminded me about the correct pronunciation of their own name.
For the second meeting, I prepared three humorous postcards and asked the student to choose the one that best represented how they felt that day. They selected a postcard featuring a dog eagerly devouring an ice cream cone, saying that it looked “extremely ridiculous” and that they loved the playful vibe of the image. I invited them to keep the postcard and encouraged them to write down their feelings that evening before going to bed.
After each assessment session, I made sure to offer the student detailed and sincere praise for their efforts and progress. I also accompanied them back to their classroom after our meetings, which helped build a sense of care and continuity in our interactions.
Did I address the student’s use of social and cultural capital?
Not fully — I’m becoming more intentional about drawing on the student’s cultural and social resources in future sessions. Here is the plan that I would conduct in the following sessions:
1. Acknowledge and value his background
Show that I see the student’s cultural and linguistic identity as an asset.
e.g. “I invited the student to share examples from his home culture or experiences when discussing the text.”
2. Incorporate his lived experiences into learning
Connect lessons to what’s familiar or meaningful to him.
e.g. “I related the reading topic to the student’s family traditions, which made the discussion more engaging.”
3. Reflect on representation and bias
Ask myself: Whose knowledge is centered here?
e.g. “I reviewed my materials to include more diverse voices and cultural references.”
What are the student’s strengths and challenges in the areas assessed during this assessment session?
From my perspective, the learner demonstrates several strengths. They are intelligent and can easily understand my instructions for each assessment task. They also show a strong interest in reading. For example, they eagerly shared details about a book they were currently reading, and, according to the school librarian, they frequently visit the library during their free time. Moreover, the learner is able to stay focused during assessment sessions. Even when the corridor outside the meeting room becomes noisy, they appear undisturbed and maintain concentration.
However, the greatest challenge I have encountered is the learner’s frequent absences from school. Out of our last five scheduled meetings, they were absent for three, and I often arrived at the school only to find that they were not present. These absences have caused significant delays in my assessment plan, requiring me to make ongoing adjustments and add extra sessions to my schedule. I initially planned to meet twice a week, but for next week, I plan to increase our sessions to four times to catch up. Although this is not a burden for me—I actually consider getting up early a good habit—I hope to find ways to conduct both assessments and interventions more efficiently moving forward.
Before I left school yesterday (when the meeting was canceled due to the learner’s absence), my mentor and literacy coach informed the school principal about the learner’s regular absences. The principal called the learner’s family but did not receive a response. My mentor mentioned that she would keep me updated if there are any further developments.
Were the assessments administered properly? If not, why?
So far, the assessments have been administered properly, but I believe there is still much room for improvement. As an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) educator, I sometimes find that I mispronounce certain words without realizing it. In other words, I can occasionally be overconfident about my pronunciation. For example, when I pronounced the word calf, I mistakenly said /kɔːlf/ instead of the correct /kæf/. The learner kindly pointed out the mistake, and I acknowledged it after confirming the correct pronunciation in the dictionary.
This experience made me realize that my accent or limited linguistic awareness as a non-native English speaker could potentially affect assessment outcomes, as mispronunciations might cause confusion for the learner. Since then, I have made it a habit to check the pronunciation of any word I am not entirely sure about before going to school for our sessions. To me, being a teacher means being as fully prepared as possible.
