10/14/2014
Today I
taught my first mini lesson. A direct instruction lesson on how to close read.
I focused on the use of figurative language in poetry and how it aids in an
understanding of the theme and tone. The objective was:
Students will identify the theme and
tone of a given poem and use a citation from the poem
as evidence.
I used the first three
stanzas of Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise,
and on the board modeled my thought process of picking out the metaphor or
simile, drawing a sketch of the image then noting the feeling portrayed by that
image.
Next, in peers the class took the next
three stanzas of the poem and did the same working together to discuss the
images and tones.
After working together, I had the
students take the last three stanzas and practice this method on their own.
Once they had practiced on their own, we
charted on the board, their pictures, the feelings they got from their pictures
and then discussed as a class what the tone was and what the theme was.
I liked the way the lesson flowed and
how the students had ample time to see an example, work together and work
independently as well as regrouping at the end as a class.
I felt one weakness was not having
enough of a discussion as opposed to one answer and one simple question. I
would’ve liked the end discussion to have student-directed responses that were
higher on Bloom’s Taxonomy. This also would’ve aided me in being able to
measure what the students actually took away from the lesson.
Overall it was a good first experience
of how a lesson operates.
