My mini-lesson.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to do my Mini-lesson until Monday April 28th due to aquity testing! The good news is that I will be there for a full day that day so I will be able to give the lesson to all of her classes. I am extremely excited about doing it. My host teacher and I sat down Friday afternoon and discussed a few options. She suggested I have them read an article that she has about white supremacy and discrimination, and then have them write two paragraphs about a time they had been discriminated against or someone they know has been. They will be sure to include specific details, which is what they need the most work on. Before the lesson I will be showing them an examples thats I wrote which included specific details and one that doesnt. They will then continue to write two more paragraphs about the article, and how they knew it was discrimination, etc. Since they don’t really have a district wide final exam, my host teacher suggested this would be perfect in preparation for her exam. What do you guys think? There still is a little fine tuning to do, but this is the central idea. Well I am off to observing now. Everyone have a good day!

 

Kaitlyn

My Lesson!

So, after over a week of constant stress and planning, I finally taught my lesson on Wednesday. I was extremely nervous all morning, but as soon as I got in front of the classroom, all of my fears melted away magically!

I had such a great time working with the students, and felt very comfortable with them. One block even gave me a round of applause! In another block, one girl thanked me and said that she had really learned something. I was so proud of myself!

Another cool thing that happened was that my host teacher said that she was going to use my lesson! How flattering!

Basically, I do not think that my lesson could have gone any better, and I cannot wait to go back on Monday and work with the students some more!

Krystina

observation mini lesson

Hey guys

I have to do my mini lesson on point of view on monday.  I know I could do a graphic organizer in class, but lately those two words make me cringe.  I really want to give the students a homework assignment when they are finished for them to write either part of the story or write their own page story practicing with point of view.  Any ideas or comments would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Jackie

Mini Lesson Assignment

I finally got the chance to discuss the writing lesson we have to do with my host teacher.  She was fine with it, but asked me to teach the students how to write a summary.   Immediately, alarms went off in my head.  Why would students be interested in this, and what is the purpose?  Obviously, I have to do what my host teacher tells me to do, but I want to put a spin on it.   For my pre-lesson, I am going to have the students write about what they did the day before and then collect it.  For the lesson, I’ll have the students define what a summary is and we will develop aspects of it.  My host teacher wants the students to write a summary of The Outsiders for the post-assignment.  Is there any way to make this creative? I would appreciate any and all help.  Thank you!

I also asked my host teacher about the writing curriculum.  She said that she knows that there is one, but she has never seen it.  She said she is going to find and give me a copy, so I am interested in seeing how her teaching differs from that of the writing curriculum.

 Alexis

What I’ve been up to…

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to write about where I am as far as 409 goes. Why? Probably just to make myself feel better.

I’m doing my lesson this Wednesday, for three 80 minute blocks. I am SO nervous, but even more excited! I did my pre-assessment (an interview activity to get students familiar with direct quotation) on Thursday and Friday of last week, and I think it went very well. I got to be humorous with the students, while teaching them!

One very important thing that I think you could only learn from experience was that if you are doing a partner or group activity, you should ALWAYS finish with the directions before asking students to form groups. For the first class I did my pre-assessment with, I completed the  directions before I asked students to move, and it went well, however, when I did the activity with the second class, I, for some reason, had students find partners before I finished the directions. One word for the following two minutes:chaos! Thankfully, we got the students settled down and worked straight through the end of the period!

So, because I have been focusing so much on my lesson, I have not yet had a chance to interview my host teacher about the writing curriculum, but I am hoping to talk to her about that either tomorrow or Wednesday, depending on whether we have the time.

Thanks for reading my rant!

 Krystina

Editorial

Today at Whitney Point, I spoke with my host teacher about both my mini-lesson and the English Department’s curriculum.  She showed me the curriculum (which was a HUGH binder of papers including benchmarks and regents practice tasks, but I will write more about that later) and we talked about the up-coming assignments so that we could incorporate my lesson. In her school, English teachers are required to do one Regents practice task for each unit. Since that iswhat she has planned for the next couple of weeks, we decided that my mini-lesson could be included in that. The task is for the students to read a piece about hazardous waste and write an editorial either agreeing or disagreeing with the idea of a hazardous waste incinerator being built in their community. I know that this might sound like a task we would not want to do in the classroom, but this is the first Regents task she has used since I started observing. I have noticed that she usually teaches the skills needed on the Regents through other activities, but since this one is a requirement, she has to fit it in. Anyway, here is the plan we have come up with so far: 1) Students complete a rough draft editorial. 2) I teach a mini-lesson explaining how to write a successful editorial using tips like the ones found on these websites: http://www.courses.rochester.edu/brickman/cas105/Editorial.html 

http://wiki.elearning.ubc.ca/tela/ReenaEditorial

and I will also show them an example of a successful editorial (Perhaps from Atwell because I found some starting on page 463)

3) Students will then use the tips I gave them to edit their editorial before it will be handed in. Then I can look at their 1st and 2nd drafts to see how effective my lesson was.

After reading over the requirements for the mini-lesson together, this is what my host teacher and I have come up with so far. I hope that this is on the right track! Any advice is always welcome!

Stacia

409 Mini-Lessons

Please post your lesson concept (however rough) before class meets tomorrow. This is just an idea not an entire lesson plan. This lesson will take place over several weeks, perhaps, if you are doing pre- and post analyses. Given that Tuesday is April 1, you must begin this process immediately in order to plan to complete it by, at the latest, the week of April 21st, the week after the school break.

If you have not yet spoken w/your teacher about the assignment please plan do that THIS week.

Here is a nice short piece from the NCTE blog about what makes an effective writing assignment. Do you agree? KES

Mini-lesson!

I am excited to collaborate with my host teacher on the upcoming mythology/research unit, and I am going to do my mini-lesson on properly putting quotations into their research papers. From her past experiences, the ninth grade students have difficulty grasping the concept of pulling quotations from sources. I look forward to teaching this lesson… Anybody have any advice? What are you considering for your mini-lessons?

 Krystina