Name: Kerry Seiberlich

Lesson Topic: Poetry (cause and effect, active listening)

Date Recorded: 10/8/13
School/Grade Level/Number of Students Taught: Manitoba Elementary, 4th grade, 6 students
Cooperating Teacher Name: Diane Wirth
Dust of Snow by Robert Frost
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
Planning and Preparation:
My lesson design was based on discussion, small group work, and a final presentation. During the
discussion, we went over Robert Frosts Dust of Snow and identified the characters in the poem, the
mood of the poem, any changes that occurred in the mood. For each of these topics, I elicited responses
from the students and consistently had them back up their answers with why they felt that way. Since
poetry is a very subjective experience, this opened the doors for even more discussion.
After that, we talked briefly about body language and segued into active listening. I asked
students how they can tell someone is listening to them, and we identified a few key indicators of active
listening: eye contact, facing the speaker, no fidgeting, and maybe even some nodding or facial
expressions.
Finally, students broke into pairs and, using the characters we identified earlier in Dust of
Snow, chose which lines each character should read and practiced reading them. We put on small
performances of the poem for one another as our final assessment.
If I were to do this over again, I wouldve found a way to incorporate more media. Unfortunately,
since I carried this lesson out in the Manitoba Elementary library, my options were extremely limited. As
it was, I had a copy of the poem for each of the students and myself and that was it. I also wouldve been
sure to introduce the lesson more thoroughly at the beginning. The students didnt know where the lesson

was going, and I think the transitions wouldve been much smoother if Id made sure my intentions were
clearer. I had plenty of time to get through everything I wanted, though, and was easily able to finish the
lesson within the 40 minutes Id allotted for it.

Learning Environment:
For the discussion portion of my lesson, I made sure each student had a chance to contribute.
There was, however, one participant who refused to participate I asked for his input or opinions more
than once, and urged him to be more engaged, but he actively refused me until we broke into pairs. The
other five students were eager to contribute, though, and rather than working to get responses, I actually
had to limit them somewhat in order to make sure everyone had their turn.
The student that refused to participate eventually began to doodle. Fortunately, I had spent
enough time in Ms. Wirths class to know that this particular student might be troublesome, so I was able
to anticipate his behavior and was seated next to him throughout the discussion. Im sure that being in
such close proximity mitigated some of the possible issues that mightve come up otherwise, and when he
started doodling, I was able to quietly take his pencil and set it down without disrupting the discussion.
When the students paired up and went to different parts of the library to practice their
performances, I was able to orbit around the room and monitor each pair. This independent work got them
out of their seats and made them engage with one another, and when we came together to put on our
performances, we were able to apply our active listening skills toward being good audience members.

Classroom Instruction:
Before we even got into our main discussion, I had the students read Robert Frosts Dust of
Snow aloud. Afterwards, we identified any words they were unfamiliar with hemlock and rue
and I was able to make sure they understood the full meaning of the poem before we went into discussing
it. The same issue came up with body language. When I first introduced it, the first response I got was an,

Ewww! Once we identified what body language actually was, however, it was easy for students to
come up with different examples of how we use body language every day. This made the transition to
active listening a very smooth one.
Being able to briefly introduce each topic and then have the students discuss it really was helpful
in letting me assess throughout and ensuring that they learned about it. I was able to answer questions and
steer them in the right direction with questions of my own, but they were the ones driving the discussion.
Id change the lesson to include more varied procedures. The discussion portion of this lesson
went on a bit longer than Id anticipated, and I felt that it dragged a bit, especially at the end. My earlier
comment about being able to use media wouldve helped with this; even if Id just been able to project the
poem and indicate important lines or key words, I feel that it wouldve made a huge difference in the
lessons overall effectiveness.

Assessment:
I feel that the assessment portion of my lesson was particularly strong. As I explained earlier, the
students were the ones driving the discussion, which gave me a lot of opportunities to assess who knew
what. For example, by posing certain questions about the mood of the poem and how it changes (and
why), I could tell who was picking up on the important line at the end, had saved some part of a day I
had rued. The same went for our discussions about the poems characters, body language, and active
listening.
The final assessment each pairs performance of the poem allowed me to see who picked up
on the overall story behind the poem. Which students were clear in expressing their understanding
through tone and body language? Even beyond that, while students werent performing, they had a chance
to apply what theyd learned about active listening to be good audience members for their peers. These
methods of assessment, which included both formal and informal, tied back to the overall lesson
objectives really well.

read a poem

identify and interpret cause and effect from a simple poem

practice listening actively

Professional Responsibilities:
Unfortunately, because I only took a small portion of the class, my cooperating teacher was not
there to observe the lesson. Instead, she was managing the students that either hadnt turned in their video
permission slips or hadnt been randomly selected to join my group.

Summary Reflection:
Teachers know how to test for student progress. The teacher understands and uses formal
and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and
physical development of the pupil.
This is Wisconsin Teaching Standard #8, and I feel like this is my area of greatest growth so far.
During this lesson, I was really able to continually assess my students learning and understanding. It
wouldnt have been as easy to do had I been managing a larger group or even an entire classroom, but it
was a simple matter to get six students actively engaged so that I could apply formal and informal
assessments to the lesson.
Teachers know how to manage a classroom. The teacher uses an understanding of
individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages
positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
I could definitely stand to work on this one: Wisconsin Teaching Standard #5. While I feel that I
was able to effectively manage a group of six, I know that I would struggle with a larger group. Even in
the small group, our discussion went off on a tangent more than once, and I had to reel students back to

the main topic at regular intervals. However, the fact that I recognized the tangents fairly quickly and was
able to pull the students back makes me feel confident that, with a lot of practice, I will someday be able
to manage a larger group lesson.
Overall, I feel like I learned a lot more than the students did from this lesson. I was able to apply
what Id learned about my education classes to a lesson of my own, and thanks to Alvernos rigorous
system of self-reflection and evaluation, I know that I need to work on introducing my lesson more
thoroughly and making sure the students stay focused; fixing the former would likely help with the latter,
too!