For my first one-hour lesson that I taught at the GED PCAP class on Thursday July 15 at 7 pm:
After introducing what I will be teaching them today (brainstorming and making an essay map), in the first 7 minutes, I asked students to do an "outline/brainstorming" activity about the 'Professional Goal Essay' that they have to do over the weekend, however they prefer to do it and what they are used to already.
Next, after giving them time to do so, I asked them to take 3 to 5 minutes to share their work with each other. Afterwards, I asked them to volunteer and share their work with me and with the class. The primary reason why I did it in this way was that Linda always implements this learning strategy and I wanted to do something they are already doing so that they get used to one strategy throughout the class.
While asking students what they thought of the process of outlining and what their idea of what an outline should look like, I began my lesson by emphasizing the importance of doing an outline, especially for timed-essay exams like the GED. I then handed out the 'essay map' and modeled the introduction and first body paragraph on the board based on that. Meanwhile, I explained what I was doing by comparing doing an essay to doing a science experiment: to be able to prove a hypothesis (thesis in the case of an essay), one has to come up with evidence (supporting details, which is in the body paragraphs, in an essay). I asked for students' inputs on what to put in each section like the thesis, each supporting detail, etc. I tried to help them with trying to use the words of the question to answer it like: "what is your professional goal? My professional goal is.... (as the thesis) and then for the supporting details, answering the rest of the questions like: "what are the tasks and skills needed? what are your reasons for choosing this? what should you do to achieve this? and for each question, using each body paragraph to answer that particular question." I used one of the 'New York State Department of Labor' job descriptions for physical therapist that I had from before when Linda gave it to me since everybody had at least one of that. The tasks and skills needed for each profession was listed in this sheet and I taught them how they should prioritize and not choose every single one of the tasks or skills but go into detail about the ones they do choose.
I tried to implement my own personal experiences and the ways that I learned each writing skill to teach. In fact, I have found this to be effective. In my own case, I always found that the teachers who used their own personal skills to teach always got my attention the most. In a way, it made the lesson more tangible.
When I finished the modeling process, I asked them to compare what I have on the board with their own outlines and list the things a 'good outline' contains and I wrote it as they volunteered to give the tips. Next, I handed out the 'How to Plan Your Essay' that I have prepared for the class, which basically begins by giving an overview of why and how outlining is very important. Then it gives the basic tips of what an outline should and should not have. For instance, an outline should have as few words as possible and some abbreviated even and not in full sentences or that it may have grammatical errors since the plan is not for anybody else to see but the writer.
Originally I had planned to give students about 10 to 15 minutes to now do a new plan using the 'essay map' sheet and the information they got from what an outline should look like and etc. and then do the same process of going over it first with classmates and then with the class. However, I only had 5-7 minutes of my time for my one-hour lesson so I just gave them 5 minutes to work on the activity. Afterwards, I just thanked them for being patient with me and that I hoped they will use outlines to write their essays from now on starting with this weekend.
Overall, I feel very confidant about my lesson. As I have mentioned before, I was already very comfortable with the topic mentioned because I have worked on it again and again with my students in the Writing Center. This was perhaps my biggest strength. However, I do wish I would have organized and predicted my time in a better fashion i.e. I wouldn't lose time in the end. Linda also suggested in her lesson evaluation for me that it would've been better if I modeled one more body paragraph on the board so that they could see that they can use the introduction as a map for the rest of their essay. Especially after I read some of the students' works and saw that they had the outline right and introduction along with the beginning of their body paragraph but then I saw that they had all the three important supporting ideas all in one paragraph. Also, I saw that they have 'listed' each task or skill and I think that by asking them to just look into that sheet and choose the most important ones, students assumed that they do not even need to use their own words to expand further on each idea.
Both of the sheets that I used I took from the writing center and cited so on the top of the page as it already was cited; the sheets are usually prepared by the tutors on site or other faculty.
Next time when I have more time and patience perhaps I will prepare my lesson plan in a way that I can follow it more closely and predict the time spent for each task and activity more carefully.
Mahla, Your description of your lesson is sufficiently clear for me to understand what you did. However, I don't find the references to what students did and what they learned to be as clearly described. When you do refer to students, you generalize. How many students were present? What were they doing as you were speaking? What "learning outcome" were you using to guide you as you planned this lesson? That is, what were students learning and what should they have learned about or learned how to do at the end of this lesson? And how successful were the students as learners? Were you able to evaluate a range of learning responses by reading the students' writing?
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your self-criticism and your inclusion of Linda's critique of your teaching. Experiential learning is crucial for teachers and critique from a master teacher is very valuable as you start teaching.