A Weekly Lesson Plan

January 19, 2016

Day 204 as an Oklahoma Teacher

     Here is my weekly lesson plan for my wonderful seniors. We are getting ready to write a definition essay next week, so this week is our preparation week. Students will either read "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe or "The Murderer" by Ray Bradbury. With their group members, they will write questions with answers using the ACE strategy. I will give them questions about the vocabulary words from last week and have them relate the words to the short stories. Why am I going to have my students relate the vocabulary words in so many ways? It all relates to that definition essay they will have to write. The questions will be about using connotation of the word and relating it to the story, personal anecdote, and something in the news. After they finish, there will be a Socratic discussion between two groups at a time. On Friday, they will work on revising their senior paper.

     Well, sometimes the best plans for week seem to get off schedule. On Wednesday, some groups were able to participate in a Socratic discussion. In my third hour AP class, I only have six students, so I decided to have them pair up for the discussion. It was amazing to hear these two girls discuss their questions and keep the conversation going for almost 10 minutes. In my fifth hour English IV class, I have a few AP students, and I decided to have them discuss their questions first in front of the other students. Again, I was amazed at the level of their discussions, the references back to the story, and how they used the academic vocabulary. When the other students participated in the discussions, that in-depth, higher level discussion was missing. I think that's the difference between how regular students and AP students have been taught, and since I have been their teacher for three years, I now see that the other students should have been pushed harder to reach that level.