WorksamplesI wanted to create a cyber lesson for the students in my class who are achieving below grade level expectations in reading. Since they have witnessed other students in my class complete a cyber lesson, I thought it was important that they have the same educational opportunity. The students in this reading group were excited and eager to complete this task!
The four students who completed this cyber lesson have difficulty sequencing stories; therefore, the after reading activity required them to create “flip books” that retold the important parts of the story in sequential order. I also think it’s important to relate the material they read to their personal lives; therefore, I wanted them to design posters of the missing mouse that could be displayed in their neighborhoods as the beyond reading activity.
Before introducing them to the cyber lesson, I did preteach many of the vocabulary words prior to them independently reading Pepper’s Adventure, and we also discussed their predictions after they took their picture walks. Since previewing text is a critical component of the reading process, I thought discussing their predictions as a group would benefit their reading and comprehension of the text.
Since there were four students, each was given a laptop during their reading group. They had four days to complete this assignment. While the students were doing the cyber lesson, I was monitoring their reading comprehension and fluency by listening to them whisper read and having them answer my informal questions.
The after reading activity required the students to create “flip books.” For the past month, we have been practicing sequencing stories using transition words such as first, then, after that, and finally. The sequencing was not a problem, but putting the information into a “flip book” did cause a problem. Since they had never created one before, and all four students were asking me for assistance. I thought the directions were clear, but the fact that they had never made a “flip book” before lowered their self-confidence and they each asked for my help. In the future, I must make sure that they are exposed to “flip books” before completing this cyber lesson because the whole purpose of the cyber lesson is to let the students become independent learners and thinkers.
The beyond reading activity was awesome! The posters they created were very detailed. One of the students in this group has fine motor difficulties, yet his poster was very detailed, neat, and organized. He took a lot of pride in his work because he was trying to make it look like a poster he had seen about a missing cat.
Each of the four students enjoyed working on the computer. I am considering making a cyber lesson for one book every month just to let them individually complete reading activities that require the students to interact with the text in a different way.