I was really pleased with how the lesson turned out because I think that I accomplished what I wanted to do. I do not think that it should have taken as long as it did, but I recognize that I must cater to the needs of my students and adjust the pace so that they can keep up. Normally, I probably would have given parts of this lesson as homework. However, I know that my students would not complete the assignment and I wanted to make sure that I was available as a resource to help teach them the material. Therefore, I was fine with the fact that it took us some time to get through the material.
I’m glad that I chose to break up the skill of teaching how to outline the way that I did because it allowed me to correct my own teaching and see where I had not given my students enough help and assistance. For example, during the guided practice, my students and I came up with a general formula for an outline. This allowed them to truly understand how to read and write an outline and be able to apply it to any type of text. It showed me that perhaps I had not explained it properly the first time and gave me a chance to correct that so that my students can learn.
I have spent this year getting more comfortable with the idea of giving my students control of the classroom, since I grew up in a very traditional educational environment. Therefore, I was glad that I found a way to give the students control of this assignment, even though it stressed traditional academic skills. I was really impressed with the outlines that my students did on their own during the third and final day of outlining. It helped me realize that I do not always need to be the one standing in the front and the room – and that perhaps it might even be more beneficial for the students to do the work on their own. I thought it was cool that students were able to teach one another and do the work with little guidance from me (since we had spent the previous days setting the frame for the assignment).
I thought that this lesson was also differentiated in that it included assignments that were both traditional and creative. While the first half of the lesson required students to develop their reading and writing skills, the second half forced students to be able to interpret an infographic and then write something creative about it in the form of a diary entry or postcard. It was important for me to differentiate the lesson so that I could engage a variety of students in the lesson.
I’m glad that I chose to break up the skill of teaching how to outline the way that I did because it allowed me to correct my own teaching and see where I had not given my students enough help and assistance. For example, during the guided practice, my students and I came up with a general formula for an outline. This allowed them to truly understand how to read and write an outline and be able to apply it to any type of text. It showed me that perhaps I had not explained it properly the first time and gave me a chance to correct that so that my students can learn.
I have spent this year getting more comfortable with the idea of giving my students control of the classroom, since I grew up in a very traditional educational environment. Therefore, I was glad that I found a way to give the students control of this assignment, even though it stressed traditional academic skills. I was really impressed with the outlines that my students did on their own during the third and final day of outlining. It helped me realize that I do not always need to be the one standing in the front and the room – and that perhaps it might even be more beneficial for the students to do the work on their own. I thought it was cool that students were able to teach one another and do the work with little guidance from me (since we had spent the previous days setting the frame for the assignment).
I thought that this lesson was also differentiated in that it included assignments that were both traditional and creative. While the first half of the lesson required students to develop their reading and writing skills, the second half forced students to be able to interpret an infographic and then write something creative about it in the form of a diary entry or postcard. It was important for me to differentiate the lesson so that I could engage a variety of students in the lesson.