This past week in Literacy for Middle and High School we were given the opportunity to create and teach a mini (20 minute) lesson plan centered around vocabulary for the unit we have been building over the course of the semester. For this lesson we were also asked to record our teaching so we could review and critique ourselves to better our teaching abilities. To create my lesson plan, I chose to use vocabulary from the novel that I will be having students read; the novel is The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. The lesson is designed to be an introduction/pre-reading lesson for students before we begin reading. I will transform this twenty minute lesson into a full ninety minute lesson for my unit because I have planned to begin the novel with students in class during the lesson and will also work with the vocabulary at the beginning of the lesson.
The task of creating and implementing a vocabulary lesson plan falls within Performance Criterion 3.1: candidates design learning environments that support individual learning marked by active engagement. I demonstrated this through engaging students in the vocabulary through using personal experiences as examples for vocabulary words. Students were able to make better connections by hearing the stories of others and sharing their own in relation to vocabulary words. My lesson plan also falls within Performance Criterion 6.1: candidates implement multiple methods of assessment to monitor learner progress to inform instructional practice. In my lesson students were formatively assessed through the use of the Frayer Diagram activity and the verbal assessment at the end of the lesson. In both activities, students were given a word and asked to work with it to define it and/or give examples. If I would have had a larger class of actual middle schools students, I would have been able to use the information from the first assessment (Frayer Diagram) to help me determine which words may still be difficult for students and I could have addressed them in the verbal assessment.
After reviewing the video of my teaching I noticed that I am a very distracting person to watch and that I need to work on my public speaking. A few of the things I noticed were that I tend to fidget a lot in down time such as organizing papers and moving around when it is unnecessary; I also tend to smack my lips a lot when talking which makes a very distracting noise, as well as slapping my hands against my legs and, in general, moving my hands around a lot when teaching. I also noticed that I tried to build relationships with students; I can be heard joking with students and connecting to their personal lives when possible. This is mainly because I know my classmates, but I would also like to know my future students on an appropriate level as well so I am able to make these connections. The one thing that I am very proud of that I do is always providing one piece of positive feedback to students when they offer a response or example. There is research that shows that immediately providing positive feedback, before providing any criticism, makes people more likely to continue doing their work at their individual level of excellence, as well as makes them more likely to share. This same idea can, and should, be applied to students to encourage their learning.
This experience has shown me just how important a solid vocabulary foundation can be for students. When looking at texts of middle school grade levels, I often have no trouble with the words, but that is not the case for the future students I will have. It is extremely important for us, as future educators, to always take into consideration the difficulties that our future students may have within our content area. As an aspiring history teacher, it will also be crucial for me to explain to students why these vocabulary words are necessary to learn considering we often do not talk about historical events on a day to day basis, unless we are in school. I will also plan many opportunities for work with the vocabulary throughout my unit to ensure that students are learning and using the words. Ideally, I would like to stay away from the traditional vocabulary test and, instead, have students use the words more frequently, both written and orally, for me to check their understanding multiple ways without the anxiety of an exam.
My next steps in this process will be to gain more experience in both teaching and public speaking. I would like to move toward using my hands less, and in a less distracting manner, as well as avoiding "um, ah, like" and smacking my lips. The only real way to diminish these habits is through practice, so I intend to seek out opportunities for said practice. In regards to the actual lesson and unit, I will plan for the experiences that I discussed above to ensure that students have as much exposure to the vocabulary as possible within my classroom to guarantee that students will be well versed in the content jargon and on the path to being informed, global citizens.
