Lesson Plan Blog

Lesson Plan Blog

March 9th -13th, 2015

The purpose of this blog is to present my weekly lessons and reflections about them.



      My English II classes will read chapter one in the book, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. As they read, they will create ten questions using the following words: contrast, identify, describe, interpret, summarize, and explain. For three of the questions, they have to use the APE strategy. On Thursday, we will have the "Stump the Classmates" tournament where they will use the questions that they created during the tournament rounds. For this unit, they will practice time-management assignments combined with the flipped classroom.

       The Pre-AP classes will complete a practice round for the "Dead Poet's Society" Tournament. This week, I will go over four poems: "Meeting at Night" by Robert Browning, "The Piano" by D.H. Lawrence, "Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes, and a surprise poem written by me when I was a teenager. For each poem, they will complete one of these challenges: Socratic Discussions, "Act It Out," Poetry Connections, and Rhymin' like a Bard. This tournament will begin on the Monday after spring break.

                                                          Weekly Reflections                                                   

     The tournament started today in the English II classes. Let me just say that even though the debates were heated, I was impressed with how the students were using the book to prove their answers. I even had one student who quoted from the book without using the book. The other students were asking how he knew all these details. He listened to the book on tape and read the chapter two times.  They are also learning what makes a good question and what makes a bad question.  These questions are about chapter one; I can't wait when they discuss three chapters.

      In the Pre-AP class, I combine the Poetry Connections with "Act It Out." Poetry connections requires the students to relate the poem to a current event, historical event, and a idea from literature. They have to use their persuasive skills to convince us that their answers are correct. "Act It Out" requires the students to act out the poem, and they have to keep the idea in the poem. They can do a dramatic reading, a musical, or just act it out. 

 

March 23rd-27th, 2015

 

     The Dead Poet's Society Tournament has started in the Pre-AP classes. They will be reading two poems this week and completing the challenges. First hour read "Ballad" by Gabriele Mistral, and second hour read "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson. They had to discuss the poem, take notes, and complete the Socratic Circle Challenge, create five questions and answer two of them using the A.P.E. strategy. Tomorrow, they will be in their discussion groups debating the questions. It was difficult for them to stay on task because of the long break they had.

     The second challenge is "Act It Out!" I used the same poems that we used yesterday for this challenge but gave both classes different poems. We are going outside to perform the interpretations of the poems. I had to give the students who will be gone for two days an alternative assignment for the one they will miss.

 

      The English II classes will be reading chapters 2 and 3 in the book, Lord of the Flies. They have to take notes about the conflicts, characters, settings, main ideas, and tone words in the chapters. They identify an example and explain why it fits that word. This assignment will be due on Wednesday, and on Thursday, they will have to answer my questions over those two chapters.
     I tried mixing it up today rather than just sitting in class reading the book. I took my classes outside. Some of them enjoyed it; some of them complained. I can't make everyone happy! Their notes are due tomorrow, and then they get to answer my questions.