His pacing could be exciting for confident learners since it keeps things moving, but it felt very fast for students who are just learning the material. I think having high energy is important for teaching a program like this to keep students interested, but for Mr. Holland, it seems like high energy also means moving really fast... which might not work for everyone.

I really enjoyed watching the videos. He flows very seamlessly from section to section of the lesson and is clearly well versed in the steps. A challenge that I think I will face is keeping up with the speed he did. For my students that would benefit from this, they are slow at processing information so I would definitely have to slow the lesson down for them and possibly break it into three days. I was also thinking about how he did a lot of the blending, segmenting, and reading. For the first lesson or two I may do that, but then I would want it to be more student led rather than them hearing me say the words. When I use to teach fundations, I would have a student come up and lead the beginning drills. I think this would be beneficial for these students as well and is something I definitely want to try.

I thought these 2 videos were a great way to show us how a lesson would flow! I was surprised to see all direct instruction though... I think it could be challenging to keep students engaged if things continue to be primarily direct instruction. I'm assuming as lessons progress there are more components that become more hands-on for students? Another challenge could be the pacing of the lesson. It seemed to move very fast. It seemed appropriate for average and above-average learners, but I could see struggling decoders really having difficulty keeping up and retaining the information he's presenting.

As teachers, we are masters at adapting things to meet the needs of the students in front of us. One thing I noticed that could be adapted is the pacing of the lesson. Other than slowing down overall, I think if we have a student who is struggling in one particular area, we can spend more time on that specific section of the lesson. The teacher in the video did a lot of modelling. With a struggling reader, or a small group of struggling readers, I would probably give them boards to do with me as we go through those parts of the lesson.

A: I found Mr. Holland's hand gestures and body language very helpful in both videos. He seems to have a clear knowledge of his students and their abilities. Perhaps this is a reason why he seems to be going so quickly. He mentioned in his Day 1 video that his class had just reviewed digraphs and specific sounds, so I wonder if the speed was partially due to showing the sequence of activities in one video and knowing his students' capabilities at that time. Going back to his hand gestures, as someone who speaks with her hands all the time, I noticed I often also teach with my hands. I find visuals and signals helpful for students to follow along and better understand what is expected of them. For example, when Mr. Holland points to his ear, he clearly shows his students that he expects to hear their voices. When he points to his mouth, he expects students to listen and watch as he says a word or makes a sound. When he taps out words, he clearly shows each sound represented by each finger.

I like how she started the lesson by stating what the new concept would be.  I am not sure if that part was teacher facing or student facing however, I think it would be nice to very very briefly tell the students what would be coming like she did!  Since our students are older, I think this will allow them to have more ownership over their learning and for them to start to think about what is coming rather than having to wait through most of the day 1 lesson.  I also like how she owned her mistake and talked about how mistakes allow thinking to happen.  Although this was something small, I do think that it is important for students to see that teachers make mistakes too.  In terms of the actual lesson, I LOVED the blender visual.  I think this is especially good for beginner ENL students who might not know the word “blend” or “blender” and explaining it to them the first time, and then showing the visual would be very beneficial to them.  Lastly, I like all of her visuals and hand motions.  I think it would be very beneficial for primary and ENL students.  I fear that most students at Rushmore would find it “young” but for the students who need these skills most, I think they might find it fun and engaging.  I wonder if her slides are available as they are very different from the standard UFLI slides!

I found the teacher’s teaching style engaging for students. She made the lessons visually appealing for her students. The use of the robot images was adorable and may help students to be more excited and invested in the process. I also noticed that she used a clear “I do, We do, You do” sequence while completing the visual drill and I found that to be effective as well. Overall, she moved through the lesson more slowly and modeled things more often as well. I still feel that certain aspects of the lessons could be slowed down, and I am really curious to see what these lessons would look like in a real classroom with real students engaging in them. Right now the lessons feel very teacher centered, and I would like to see the students’ role more closely and how active they really are in participating during the lessons.

I found this teacher's videos much more helpful. She really explained everything step by step and moved at a slower pace. It felt as if she was teaching teachers as well as her students. I think she did a good job explaining irregular words. I like how she went through each sound and then discussed how it's not the regular sound the letter would make. Her videos will definitely be a good resource to refer back to prep for teaching a specific lesson.

I have spent all of my career teaching the upper grades (5th and 6th), so it has been a long time since I have taught reading at this level. In the beginning of this course, looking through the teacher's manual and the slides alone were overwhelming. I couldn't visualize how to take each step and teach it. However, watching the videos on youtube has been extremely helpful. I am glad that we have even been exposed to different teachers teaching it and making it their own. With each new assignment, I look into the manual and have a stronger understanding of what the lesson might look like. This increased and varied exposure has made me feel more confident in teaching the program. I believe with more continued exposure, I will become even more confident and ready to implement this whenever needed!

Additionally, Mrs. Gardner incorporated interactive elements, such as call-and-response and visual aids, to support different learning styles. These engagement strategies not only made the lesson more dynamic but also helped reinforce phonemic awareness by involving students in multiple modalities—seeing, hearing, and saying.

Overall, her calm and enthusiastic delivery created a warm learning environment that encouraged participation and made foundational reading skills feel accessible and fun. I also find watching these videos to be super helpful for me personally because it gives me a much clearer idea of what effective instruction should look and sound like while I’m teaching. It’s a great model that I can refer back to as I continue building my confidence and skills.

Yes, I thought there were many techniques that she used that seemed effective. I viewed this lesson as if she was teaching it to young students/beginning readers, and therefore I though that the pacing of the lesson was very well done. Mrs. Gardiner spent a lot of time on each part of the lesson, assuring that all students were able to keep up and follow along with the steps. I also thought she prompted the students very clearly when it was their turn to participate or to just listen to her model. It was very easy to follow what was expected of the participants of the lesson.

Additionally, I thought the interactive images and characters were a great way to keep students involved. The robots attached to blending and segmenting seemed like a creative way to help students remember what each part of the lesson required. I feel like they would also keep the students engaged and help the parts of this lesson feel less like work for young students.

The checklist that comes up before each part of the lesson is a great way to develop metacognition for students. It allows them to anticipate what is going to happen next and feel accomplished moving through each part. Originally, I thought the checklist might become repetitive that comes up between part of the lesson. My view of this changed a bit as the checklist actually helped me learn each step pretty quickly. Often times, step by step programs can feel overwhelming and it can be difficult to know which lesson part to complete on each day. I think this checklist solves all of that worry I've previously had while teaching a program. So I appreciate that this part of the lesson is helpful not only for students but for the teacher too.

I really enjoyed the teacher's enthusiasm and use of visuals behind her. I could see this being very engaging for students as it was engaging for me, an adult. Specifically, the robot blender was very helpful. Her use of body movements and gestures is also useful for students as they receive multi-modalities of instruction. She also made it clear by stating, "Your turn!" I would use this with my students to make the turn taking clear. I find these videos extremely helpful as I can see UFLI put into action. It gives me ideas of what I can do when I use this program with my students.

My first take-away was the specific, procedural language Mrs. Gardner uses to prompt students during the first two steps of the lesson. The manual does not get that specific. For example, in Step 1 (Segmenting) the manual reads: /m/ /a/ /t/ (mat) In the video, she says: (1) The word is mat. (2) The sounds in mat are /m/-/a/-/t/. (3) Say the sounds in mat with me. For the visual drill, the manual only provides a list of the selected graphemes for the lesson. In the video, Ms. Gardner demonstrates a three-step script to use: (1) t spells /t/ (2) Say it with me. (3) Now your turn by yourself. The language is simple, but helpful for those who haven’t worked with Wilson or taught  foundational reading skills.

Another take-away later in the lesson (Step 8: Connected Text) is when Mrs. Gardner ties all the pieces together and establishes the goal for future learning. When reading connected text, she explains, “we’re not just reading single words, we’re reading words that work together to tell us something.”