After fully watching the videos, I saw disciplinary teaching successfully modeled in both. With this being said, I do believe that both of these videos are somewhat out of date. I’m not saying that the teaching strategies themselves are out of date – but instead, I am suggesting that in a modern classroom when teaching disciplinary literacy, we should incorporate some kind of technology to keep the students engaged. I know that teaching can be successful when technology is not incorporated, as seen in the videos, but I believe it to be more effective and more tailored to the students of this generation and generations to come. Instead of having the kids write on a big sheet of paper, teachers could incorporate the use of smartboards or something similar. Kids get excited when technology is involved – and it’s something they are familiar with – so they are more likely to volunteer and participate in the lesson itself.
As for disciplinary teaching, I saw aspects of it in both videos. For some reason, the first video stuck out more to me – maybe because I want to be an ELA teacher? The teacher started with connecting the lesson to a book they read in class – The Gardener? Because they already read the book (I’m assuming had something to do with gardens), they were able to easily generate words that related to gardeners. After the teacher modeled the strategy in the lesson, and after completing the “gardening” example together as a class, she then made it possible for the students to, on their own, do the same strategy with a different subject – insects. She provided guidance for the children and encouraged them to work together. She had them share their group work and then discussed why the strategy was important. I believe, and so does she in my understanding, that this lesson helps students to develop new vocabulary. One vocabulary word, for example “insects,” can produce a whole new list of words that they can use in their writing. She stresses that learning new vocabulary is important so the students can expand their own writing, as well as their ability to recognize words. They are learning new vocabulary without even realizing it – especially when working in small groups. Maybe one student shared a word that another student had never heard of – they now can add that to their mental list of vocabulary! This, in my opinion, is a perfect display of disciplinary teaching in an English Language Arts classroom.
As for the second video, I found it less engaging. It was a simple equation on the board that evolved into a long discussion. Although I do believe that the discussion was student based (which is a part of disciplinary learning), she, in my opinion, gave the students a vague understanding of the correct/incorrect answer. By the end of the lesson, the correct answer was clear, but I believe that she could have elaborated on her leading of the discussion – try harder to get her students to think a certain way instead of listening to a wrong answer time and time again and not commenting. I do commemorate her on her use of pictures and examples – the skittles.
I see aspects of disciplinary teaching in both lessons and I believe that, for the most part, both lessons were successful. I definitely see more benefit in the first video and would consider teaching a lesson similar to that if I planned on teaching 2ndgraders. The backbone for disciplinary teaching is there – I just wish the videos were more up to date.
Content Area Reading 