Standard I - Designs/Plans Instruction

To the right you'll see a picture of one of my favorite pieces of student work. It's a quilt they created from a lesson I provided. The quilt squares were made by my wife, but the designs on them were created by the students. They also put together the quilt using cloth ribbons which were strung through button holes my wife had put in each square. The concept was to write a quote that summed up their experience in creative writing as soon the class was going to change to the second half of speech and drama.

That's just one of the ideas I used for getting the students involved. Throughout the year, one of my strongest points was always with lesson planning. I did not start off as being good at presenting the lessons I designed, but I was able to design the lessons quite thoroughly. Following are examples of those lessons. I've included all documents necessary for each lesson. Most of the lessons are using the Morehead State University lesson plan template which can be found here . Each set of items is presented in a box. Green boxes mean that the contents include a rubric.

Quote Quilt Project - I'll start with the project that ended up as the picture you're seeing. This was a fun project. This is the handout for it. A formal lesson plan was not created for this project, however, much thought did go into the creation of the unit.

• Quote Quilt Project - PowerPoint

Writing Humor in the Secondary Classroom - This is a Curriculum Framework I created for another class at Morehead State University. I was very interested in the concept of using humor to reach students.

Persuasion Through Poetry - This was one of my first lessons. I enjoyed presenting this lesson. In this lesson I used music to reach the students.

• Persuasion Through Poetry - Handout
• Persuasion Through Poetry - PowerPoint

Setting - In this particular lesson, I used a game called Nanofictionary to get them to practice writing stories. The lesson itself focused on setting.

• Setting - Handout
• Setting - PowerPoint

Dear Reader Letter - This lesson was designed to show the students how to write a Dear reader Letter to include with their Creative Writing Portfolio. The handout below is actually a template for it. I love using templates when I can so I know exactly what is expected of me (such as the lessons presented here), os I also love providing them for my students.

• Dear Reader Letter - Handout
• Dear Reader Letter - PowerPoint

Voting Slogan - In this lesson I had the students write voting slogans. I then had them enter their favorite into a voting slogan contest. None of them have heard back yet, but I think the experience was fun and enlightening for all.

• Voting Slogan - Handout
• Voting Slogan - PowerPoint
• Voting Slogan - Video - This video was created to highlight other slogans. I also included a portion of the trailer for "All The Kings Men" because I thought it would interest them. The main character was based on Huey P. Long.

Poetry of Sara Holbrook - This was actually a complete unit as evidenced by the rubric included below. This first lesson plan dealt with day one. This was a great exercise for assessing the students. I enjoyed coming up with the questions.

• Poetry of Sara Holbrook - Handout Day One
• Poetry of Sara Holbrook - Handout Day Two
• Poetry of Sara Holbrook - Rubric
• Poetry of Sara Holbrook - Lesson Plan for Short Story Day
• Poetry of Sara Holbrook - PowerPoint
• Poetry of Sara Holbrook - PowerPoint for Short Story Day

Commemorative Speech - Once again, this does not have a formal lesson plan for it, but it was a unit on commemorative speaking. Also included is the PowerPoint and the outline for the speech I did as an example. I gave them each a copy of the rubric and had them grade me when I did the speech. You'll notice in the speech outline that I also used this as a way for them to play a game to determine speech order. It was quite fun to watch and be a part of.

• Commemorative Speech - PowerPoint
• Commemorative Speech - Outline for My Speech
• Commemorative Speech - PowerPoint for My Speech

Harlem Renaissance Open Response - For this particular lesson I not only had to design the lesson but also the Open Response questions they would be answering. It was great practice in creating an Open Response.

• Harlem Renaissance Open Response - Handout - This was the actual Open Response. Included is the rubric and the "Do/What" prewrite template.
• Harlem Renaissance Open Response - PowerPoint

Reflection

It has been an interesting road this past year learning how to plan lessons. There are many different parts to a lesson plan that must work together. I didn't know any of that at the beginning of the year. I know it now thanks to my mentor teachers and Morehead State University.

The important parts of a lesson plan include the following: Core Content, Goal, Objectives, and Essential Questions. The rest of the lesson can be easy to plan as long as you've prepared yourself with the previous information. All essential parts must flow together. The core content leads to your goals as a teacher which lead to the objectives you have for the students which finally lead to the essential questions you will be asking your student that day. If this doesn't flow right, then you don't really have a grasp as to what needs to be done for the day, and therefore may not end up teaching your students anything except poor planning.

A really important thing I've learned about designing my lesson plans this year is to be yourself. Sure, you need to include the essential information as I just discussed. But after that, the lesson is all up to you. Design a lesson you can feel excited about and just can't wait to present to the students. Your enthusiasm will spill over onto the students, and as long as you have their "hearts" as the quote on my home page mentions, then the day/week/unit will be a success. Do NOT try and design lessons that are just like the lessons you see other people do. Everyone has their own style of teaching. Find yours.

"No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself."