Analysis for Lesson Plan #2
This lesson plan focused on two seemingly different but actually interconnected activities: discussing questions about certain chapters in They Cage the Animals at Night and unpacking the Sunday’s Child assignment. I put these two activities in the same lesson for several reasons. First, I wanted to add more diversity to the lesson. The students were very familiar with group and whole-class discussions of the book. The advantage was that they would be comfortable with this learning activity and could be accountable for finishing the task. The disadvantage was that they might be bored with the same regular routine. Adding a writing assignment that required originality and creativity would provide internal motivation for learning from students. Second, the writing assignment was actually a good extension of the group discussion. We talked about topics like orphans and adoption, and it was only natural to let students see from their own perspectives and imagine themselves being in the same shoes. Another reason is that these two activities really complement each other in the assessment: one being a performance-based informal assessment, one being a formal written summative assessment. The third reason was the design of the lesson plan tried to meet the needs of diverse learners. The discussions provided them with a chance to showcase their diversity in opinions and to express themselves in different ways while the Sunday’s Child assessment was a good learning opportunity for the students to write about themselves based on their different cultural and social background.
I set three learning goals for this class. The first two were related to students’ comprehension of the texts and the third goal was for students to extend their thinking about the reading and then be able to come up with an advertisement for their own adoption in the form of a newspaper article. A lot of my students grew up in middle-class or wealthy families, and they didn’t necessarily empathize with Jennings’s hard struggle. To have them imagine being in the shoes of an orphan provided them with a wonderful learning opportunity to support their social growth. In addition, my students were greatly different in their family backgrounds and cultural heritages, and they would have different stories to tell about themselves. This was a time to combine the reality with imagination to exhibit their diversity.
About 15 discussion questions were provided by the online district curriculum, but I chose only five to six to discuss, discarding literal levels questions. I did this because I had the evidence of my students’ learning to support my decision. The previous Socratic Seminar showed they were beyond the literal level questions. I also added some questions to further their thinking, for example, I asked them to think about what birthday gift they would give to Jennings and the reason why they chose this gift. Students came up with different ideas and when I asked them the reason the invariable answer was: “This is the way how I want to spend my birthday!” So I let them imagine they were Jennings and their families could no longer provide for their needs. The idea of adoption and asking for help from another family was thus accepted by the students. I did this activity with respect for my learners, asking for their opinions without dominating the questions. All students were welcome to participate in the conversation in a free and supporting learning environment. They were not discouraged from expressing different opinions.
I think unpacking an assignment is far more than distributing the handouts and reading the requirements. Students were vastly different and not all could be actively engaged in the learning activities. In this lesson, I used my own “Doggie” and my childhood story to hook them up with the topic of adoption. I used my own stuffed animal to provoke the students’ interest and create a lively classroom. I also used the story of my own experience of growing up in poverty and political instability and finding my home in the United States to inspire them to think about how people change in different environments. My own example showed my students the diversity of this country and that anything could be achieved if we dared to dream. This would greatly boost the confidence of my students, especially some struggling learners.
All along the planning, I took into consideration the diversity of the learners in the lesson plan. In the group discussion, I grouped students with different backgrounds and talents together to let them complement each other. The post-reading group discussion was a learning form students were very familiar with and they had the scaffolding to complete the whole-class discussion later. It was a lively and creative learning community.
As for the Sunday’s Child assignment, I had anticipated that several students, including a few IEP students, would have difficulties turning out works that meet the requirement. It was mostly because they had a hard time following directions, even if I stressed the important points. That was why I leave some time at the end of the class for students to finish the packet for the assignment. I used this time to work individually with these students, especially those with IEPs, to illustrate what they should pay attention to. One point to note was that although they were writing about themselves, they should actually write in the third person – in the voice of a journalist. This was not something easy for them to grasp, though the packet has provided them with some guidance. In my lesson plan, I took a note about it and in the class I checked the packets to make sure all students got the point.
Sunday’s Child assignment was a well-designed summative assessment in that students were provided with an opportunity to show their distinctive backgrounds and to connect what they read in the book to reality. What I liked about this assignment was that it supported students’ intellectual growth by assessing students’ reading, writing and thinking skills. Another good point was that it could be easily adapted for diverse learners. Students could create their own reasons for adoption or their ideal families based on their family background. By showing the finished works to the whole class, other students would also be able to see and celebrate the diversity.
To sum up, this lesson was an effective combination of oral and writing activities, and a good opportunity for different students to learn together and improve intellectually and socially. The lesson plan was designed out of respect for students and concern for diverse learners.