1

Tylar G. Smith

Professor Reilly

EDUC 359

November 18th, 2019

SIOP Lesson Reflection Questions

1.) Did you achieve both your language and content objectives? How can you be sure?

Quite Frankly, throughout the course of this lesson I was confused on the objectives.

Creating my own objectives for lessons has always been a challenge for me. It is something I

have been working on daily within my classes at the University and with the help of my

cooperating teacher at Neil Armstrong Elementary. When I look at our objectives for both

language and content they seem to look very similar. Putting a key focus on the key vocabulary

terms and using these terms throughout the activities. With this being said, I can somewhat

confidently say that yes, I believe both our language and content objectives were achieved. Katie

and I came up with a total of five objectives, two language objectives and three content

objectives. Each objective had a focus on the activities that the students were asked to participate

in, either being the KWL chart or the water droplet activity. With the information and materials

we provided to the students which can all be found on my Weebly page, the students were able

to accomplish each objective. I can be sure about this because we both formatively assessed the

students as they were working on the assignments by walking around and observing. Also,

because we asked every student to share an answer, which this way we were able to easily check

for understanding and make sure all of our objectives were achieved. We also asked students to
 2

place their work on the board at the side of the classroom for all to observe. This is a great way

for instructors to vividly see what students wrote and how well they understand the material at

hand. Overall, I definitely need some assistance when it comes to writing objectives but I think

we did an okay job with making sure our objectives for this lesson made sense and were

achieved.

2.) Do you feel you “immersed” the students in vocabulary? Based on your assessment,

did the students have their own understanding of each of the vocab words?

Personally, this question is hard for me to answer to the best extent in which I know I could. I

think since we presented our lesson clearly to students our age and who knew the vocabulary

words prior to our lesson, it is hard to tell. If I had to give a specific answer I would say yes, I

feel that Katie and I “immersed” the students in vocabulary. I believe we gave each student

excellent resources on the vocabulary words and we provided them with several slides on each

word in order to provide the students with even more information so they gain full and complete

knowledge on each word. We provided each student with a key vocabulary worksheet to use as a

reference throughout the lesson, along with around three slides on our PowerPoint presentation

going over each vocabulary word in depth. We also made sure to include two different

definitions for each vocabulary word, this way if one definition did not stick well with a student,

they would have another one they could refer to. Even though the students we taught our lesson

to had a general understanding of the five vocabulary words we discussed, I think this only

helped to broaden their perspective on each one, essentially immersing the students in the

vocabulary. Based on our assessment we implemented, I believe the students did have their own
 3

understanding of each word. However, I think they used the definitions we provided to them in

order to complete the tasks that were asked of them, and not so much coming up with their own

idea or definition of the vocabulary word so to say. In addition to this, I believe that the key

vocabulary terms given in our lesson provided each student with a new perspective on what the

words mean even if they already had prior knowledge.

3.) Do you feel you had enough interaction, giving students the chance to apply the

language/ content with other students? Why or why not?

I firmly believe we have enough interaction, giving the students the chance to apply the

language/ content with other students. This is because I think for our lesson in particular, we put

a big emphasis on the activities we had planned out for the students. Before we even started our

lesson, we had the language and content objectives written out on the side white board so the

students were able to look back at it throughout the duration of the lesson. Also putting the

objectives at the beginning of our PowerPoint presentation and going over them in depth before

the lesson even begun so the students were well aware of what was going to be asked of them.

Most of the interaction regarding the language and content objectives took place after we went

through our PowerPoint presentation. As a group of around five students, they worked together

in order to complete the “What I Learned” portion of the KWL chart using key vocabulary terms

from the lesson and summarizing what they learned about the benefits of drinking water and

staying hydrated. Following this activity, students were able to use the think-pair-share technique

with a shoulder partner, discussing what they wrote down on their four water droplets. During

this activity, students were asked to make sure to include at least two key vocabulary terms on
 4

their water droplets. Sharing and interacting with shoulder partners helped students to broaden

their understanding of the benefits of drinking water and the importance of keeping hydrated. As

I observed, the students were learning from each other during this activity because many of the

students wrote different ideas so it was nice that they got to share their ideas with each other. We

then took this a step further implementing the stand and share technique. After each shoulder

partner was done sharing, we asked that each student come up to the front of the classroom one

at a time and share out loud with the whole class one of their water droplets before placing it on

the board. This concluded our lesson and incorporated a whole group interaction. Having

interaction within the classroom is an essential process to help make sure everything runs

according to plan.

4.) What are three aspects of the SIOP process that you find effective and truly need to

be in your lesson plans (especially if ELLs are present)?

Since I have first started learning about the SIOP process this semester, I truly think that all

of the aspects are very effective and truly needed in lesson plans especially when dealing with

ELL students. I think the main goal that the SIOP process tries to implement in the classroom

setting is, having instructors design lesson activities that gives all the students in the classroom

(especially ELL students), multiple opportunities to use new vocabulary orally and in writing.

Which is what Katie and I did in our lesson we presented today. We presented students with new

vocabulary terms and they had to participate in various activities which granted them the

opportunity to use these new vocabulary words both orally and in writing. However, If I were to
 5

only pick three aspects of the SIOP process that I truly, truly find effective I would choose,

lesson preparation, the idea of motivating the students in the classroom using building

background, and having various learning strategies for each lesson. When instructors plan out

their lesson properly in lesson preparation students will be more benefitted. Each SIOP lesson

has content and language objectives that are clearly defined, displayed, and orally reviewed with

students. These objectives are linked to subject area standards and curricula, and the academic

vocabulary and language that students need for success. For instructors, the goal is to help

students gain important experience with key grade-level content and skills as they progress

toward fluency in academic English. Students know what they are expected to learn and/or be

able to do by the end of each lesson. This is why it is so important for instructors to properly plan

out their lessons and creating the proper objectives that go along with the language and content

they are going to be teaching. This way, the students know exactly what is asked of them. When

it comes to building background, in SIOP lessons, instructors help students connect new

concepts with their personal and cultural experiences and past learning. Instructors sometimes

build background knowledge because some immigrant language learners have not attended

schools in the new country, or are unfamiliar with the cultural references in texts. At other times,

teachers activate students’ prior knowledge to tap into what students already know, to identify

misinformation, or to discover when it’s necessary to fill in gaps. Tapping into what a student

might already know about the lesson being presented is what Katie and I tried to accomplish

when it came to the KWL chart. Finally, I think having at least three different learning strategies

within each lesson is very crucial. From experience, I think students learn and respond best to

these strategies and this is especially true if they are an ELL student. It is also easy to see where

a student goes right and where a student might go wrong.

 6

5.) Looking back now that you’ve completed the lesson, what is one thing you would

have done differently? Why?

Taking a look back on the lesson Katie and I presented today, one thing I would have done

differently is having better time management. Prior to our presentation set date, we were told by

Professor Reilly that we would only be allotted thirty minutes to complete our lesson. I think as

we were planning our lesson we did not take this into consideration. I believe we tried to have

the best possible presentation and activities that we made each a bit to long. Since I was in high

school I have always just added more to my assignments than there needed to be. When I came

to the University of Scranton, and especially this past semester, I have learned that sometimes

adding to much information can hurt your grade and overall performance of a task. I have

learned that it is ideal to just get the basics and core ideas into an assignment without adding a

bunch of extra information, which is what I believe we did throughout our PowerPoint

presentation. Overall, I thought we allotted enough time for each activity, but we definitely

should have made our PowerPoint presentation shorter, only including key and important

concepts about the importance of hydration. If we made our PowerPoint presentation shorter, we

would have had more time to complete our activities, which was one of the more important

factors of our SIOP lesson. To conclude on this question, having good time management in the

classroom is going to be essential. Good time management allows an instructor to accomplish

more in a shorter period of time, which leads to more free time, which lets one take advantage of

learning opportunities, lowering your stress for yourself and students, and can also help to

maintain focus which can lead to career success for the students within the classroom.
7