Lesson Overview:
This week I had the opportunity to present my final teaching demo to my entire class. Creating my lesson, "Guilty Pleasures," was fun but also challenging! This was the first lesson plan I was tasked with creating that I knew would have to be presented in front of my whole class. Knowing I had to present, I had a difficult time, feeling the pressure of trying to pick a topic that would both excite and engage my classmates. The idea to ask students to write about guilty pleasures came to me while performing my own...shopping. Almost everyone has at least one or two guilty pleasures that they indulge in every once in a while. So, I figured it would be the perfect topic for my creative writing lesson plan! I was also excited to complete a creative lesson plan because of the inspiration I gathered from one of my course readings this semester: "There is, indeed, a place for many genres of writing in the classroom, including academic writing, but we should create moments for students to explore creatively as well." (Hicks, Creating Confident Writers, pg. 29) I think it's extremely important that as teachers we take the necessary time every once in a while to give our students a break from academic writing, and give them the chance to explore creatively. While performing a guilty pleasure of my own, shopping, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity for students to have fun and engage with some creative writing of their own!
The Making of the Lesson:
When designing my lesson I had to make sure I completed a lesson plan, slideshow, assignment sheet, graphic organizer, model assignment, and rubric. Once I had figured out my topic and felt confident to start working, the required materials seemed to come out all at once. I finished all of the work within a few days and I felt ready to present. However, after being a student for four of my classmates the week before my presentation, I noticed that some of the graphic organizers were designed in a way that limited our class, as the students, from typing directly on them. Witnessing this, I decided to go back to my graphic organizer and recognized my classmates would have the same issue with mine. So, I was able to remedy my organizer so my classmates/students could easily copy, paste, and write on it when it came time for my presentation. I was grateful to have the opportunity to change my organizer before my presentation this time, although I know when I am in my own classroom in the future I won't have that privilege. My classmates did a wonderful job quickly fixing the issues and offering solutions!
Takeaways:
During/After the Presentation:
The lesson itself went very smoothly. I had no issues with technology which was a big relief because I had never shared my screen on Zoom before. One moment I was happy about was that my graphic organizer worked for everyone after my initial editing of the document before my presentation. I was popping in and out of everyone's documents throughout writing time and everyone seemed to be able to write directly on the organizer without any issues. My presentation of the subject, guilty pleasures, went smoothly. The students seemed engaged throughout the lesson and did a wonderful job volunteering when I asked questions. One critique I would give to myself, although I am very proud of my presentation, would be to slow down. I have a tendency to talk fast and I especially noticed it during the lesson, although it had a lot to do with nerves. One thing I tried to challenge myself to do throughout the writing time was to reassure students that I was there for them if they needed any help and give praise to students who were working hard. I think it's important for teachers to praise students when it is deserved because it can make all the difference in their performance in the future and even encourage their peers to do the same!
Mini Lesson:
When designing my mini lesson, I could only find one area that seemed like it could be useful for my students to strengthen their writing. I decided to add a mini lesson on descriptive language to my lesson plan and presentation! Although some students included it, descriptive language seemed to be the one aspect that was slightly lacking throughout the students work. One example of where more descriptive language could've been used was from my focal student who stated, "When I was a kid my mom made us waffles for breakfast a lot. I fell in love with them." I had included in my feedback that descriptive language could be used here to describe what the waffles tasted like...were they warm? soft? etc. One student who did a wonderful job of using descriptive language stated, "I'd think so too, but the forbidden taste test brought an explosion of flavors that pleasantly surprised me!" The use of "forbidden" and "explosion of flavors" really brought the sentence to life!
Focal Student:
My focal student completed the optional graphic organizer that I had created in its entirety. Although it was optional, I was happy to see the completed version and be able to connect it to their final writing piece. This helped me feel confident about my organizer and let me know it was a good format to use for future lessons! It's important to provide structure and means for students to get inspired to write, which is why I'm happy the organizer was so successful across my whole class. I also made sure to include both marginal and end comments in my focal students feedback. The idea came from another one of my course reading which read, "marginal comments are the evidence that their drafts have been read closely. Without such responses, students conclude that their readers merely glanced at their words." (Sommers, Responding to Student Writers, pg.16) I wanted to make sure that my focal student felt heard and that I really took the time to read and engage with their work. My focal student received a 16/16, as they painted a wonderful picture of their guilty pleasure through their writing. My only "grow" that I could think to include in their feedback was to utilize more descriptive language. They had used some throughout the writing, but I mentioned how you can never use too much! However, all aspects of the assignment were completed and well thought out which earned itself the 100.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, I have to say I'm extremely happy with how my materials and presentation turned out. I was overwhelmed by how engaged the students were during both the presentation and writing time. I looked at everyone's work both during and after the presentation and I was really happy with the responses. The students did a great job at helping me understand what their guilty pleasure is and even got me excited to potentially try some of them myself. I got some really creative food and movie recommendations through their work! Reflecting on my experience, I am extremely thankful for everyone who participated during my lesson and for all the hard work that was put into everyone's writing!
Links
Materials:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSIjVuCbexKu9XZwrbyzm5T2ieiqdn4AvMhhGpVaC-U-vDKMfN_JTzvNeK0tLhv9KX6NPwGPSJ45EFQ/pub
Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQa3rzxxYmF4s63VXZVH9nH20VyK1Qc8DAneAmfrHhf78RnDokNIqmMWFyI8GCAKxsbFE6BsdgsR-Z2/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000
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