Learning Letter

The projects were a challenge to me because I have not worked on anything like that in quite some time. That being said, I cannot explain how much it helped me in my learning enough. I should have allocated a lot more time to doing the projects, and there were times when I worked at my job, went home, immediately started working on assignments, and it was all worth it. The 20 minute lesson was great for me because I used to be a terrible public speaker, and even today this still shows. That assignment provided me with a comfortable way to gain feedback, and it was my favorite project.

I am used to teaching pedagogies that are directed at ESL students, so I was nervous about anything that was directed towards adolescent learners with English as a first language. One thing that I had trouble wrapping my head around was in Discussion as a Way of Teaching, where the author claims that there is no such thing as a guided discussion. I felt that my definition of guided discussion was different, and I think that it can be good when it is intended to guide students to develop their own thoughts on the text.

Being a teacher is a lot of work. I say it this way because not only is the act of teaching a lot of work, but everything that goes into the preparation is so much work, and it is this work that goes unseen by so many people. My dad is a mailman and told me that he sees teachers on their porches writing their lesson plans all summer long while he is delivering mail to them. That is a good indicator of how much work a teacher does. Teachers do not stop their job when they exit the classroom, exit the school, or even when school is out. Teachers need to constantly work in order to be up to date and properly prepared, and that is the most important thing I got from this class.

Thanks to everyone for being a great class!

-Michael Cook

Lesson Plan

1. Teacher Candidate: Michael Cook                                       2. Date: December 1^st 2014

3. Grade/Subject: 9^th Grade English

4. Subject: Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese

5. Lesson Length: 20 Minutes

6. Academic Content:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.5

Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3.B

Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.2

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

7. Lesson Objectives:

Students should be able to come up with a working definition of “identity.” (i.e. personal, cultural, national etc.)

“What is an identity and how does it affect our lives?”  “Can an identity be forced on you? How?”

“In what way do we see identity in American Born Chinese?”

Draw a comic depicting how you see yourself, and how you feel other people see you.

8. Academic Language:

Students need to be able to know what an identity is. Students will define this term in a whole class discussion. We have already discussed identity in previous classes. 

9. Assessment:

Students will make a comic about two things: what they see themselves as, or want to be, and what another person sees them as. (i.e, society, their parents, their friends.) The comic will not be graded on artistic ability, but rather on if they clearly depict an identity and use standard English as defined by CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.2.

Rubric: (10 points)

__5/ Comic has multiple panels (at least 2) that clearly define how they identify with themselves and how others see them.

__5/ Students use standard English with very few or no errors. 

10. Connections:

In A case for interruption in the virtual English classroom with the graphic novel American Born Chinese (2011), Melissa Schieble reports that “the high school students’ adept familiarity with using computers and the internet led to an intertextual connection to American Born Chinese that the EED students had overlooked in their reading and preparation.” YouTube can be a valuable source of informational text that I want to use for intertextuality, therefore I chose an interview with the author and cartoonist, Gene Luen Yang.

11. Instructional Strategies:

Sequence:

Begin the class by writing the objectives on the board and ask the class to define the term identity (5 mins).

Watch the YouTube Video of Yang, focus on identity. (5 mins).

Ask the students if they could connect what Yang said to the text itself.

Pass around computer paper and explain the activity. (3 mins).

For the remaining time students will work on the comic and I will move about the room answering any questions and checking up on the students. (5 mins).

12. Differentiated Instruction:

I want to engage many ways of understanding the text by offering videos and personal expression activities. Students may talk to each other and share their work with one another, or they may work silently if they wish. Students do not have to share their work if they feel uncomfortable with it, and can choose to express their identity in any way.

13. Materials:

Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese

White board/Markers

Blank Computer Paper

Extra pens/markers/crayons etc.

Computer/YouTube

14. Safety/Management:

I will move about the room during paired discussion to ensure that everyone remains on task. I will provide confirmation checks whenever giving instructions and will ensure that the conversations comply with the rules of the school.