A Step in the Right Direction
Today was the day to create a full lesson for an imaginary class and I can say pretty confidently that it went quite well. I had a wonderful time creating it and then teaching so that is a great sign that I am probably doing the right thing with my life. It was a lot of fun to take the role of the teacher and really interesting to try to slip into that role. I found myself working really hard trying to find a way to make sure all the students would have fun and learn and forgetting that there aren't actually a group of students that I am giving this lesson to. It was a little easier than expected because I started to have a good time doing it and wasn't fully concerned about making sure I was doing something right or wrong. I was just concerned with making sure that I was lesson would be helpful toward the larger goals. I cared about the lesson so I had quite an easy time teaching in the video format. I don't know how this would translate into in front of the classroom. I think I would still be able to confidently give this lesson in that medium as well. I would want to do this in the future and I am excited to try making many different lessons that help students become stronger writers.
The Lesson- Here
Above I attached my lesson slides for a 9th grade honors English class. I wanted to try to create a lesson that could incorporate everything that a student would have learned over a marking period. I ended up coming up with the idea to have students write short narratives from one photograph. So I found two photographs, so students have a choice, and then I composed this lesson around them. One thought from Matthew Burgess that really stuck with me from "Writing Our Way Through" states, "Above all else, approach these exercises playfully. Think of them as experiments or explorations, as games to be played around the kitchen table. Shirk and shake off any baggage you might be carrying about your own perceived “weaknesses” as a writer or about the word “poetry” (which is loaded for many people). The point is to play and to see what happens with curiosity and openness. Put the perfectionist, the critic, and the killjoy in a closet and lock the door for the duration"(Burgess). This idea of making sure the students aren't pigeon held by trying to be prefect is something I tried hard to follow throughout my lesson. I made sure to point out that the rubric is based on showing an understanding of what we have learned and not based on how good of a story you create. It is more important for the students to show effort and give an honest writing sample than to spend so much time trying to impress me with their story that they never actually start. The second idea that followed me as I planned my lesson is from the "Welcome to Writer's Workshop" article. Steve Peha writes, "Students improve so much because they get so much time to write, and because the workshop atmosphere is more conducive to personal expression and growth than the traditional writing classroom"(Peha 3-11). There is a very clear way to make students better at writing. Have the students write. Give the students a chance to write and learn from their writing and give them freedom to explore how they want to write. This is the main take away I took from this article before starting my lesson.
References:
Peha, S. (1995-2010). Welcome to Writer's Workshop Teaching Young Writers the Way
Professionals Teach Themselves. Teaching That Makes Sense, 1-81.
Burgess, Matthew. “Writing Our Way Through Tips for leading imaginative writing lessons at home.” Teachers and Writers Magazine, 2020,
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