Online Reflection #1 - Lesson Plan Opportunities

Of Mice and Men/citation: http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/of-mice-and-men/author/steinbeck/pics/
 

                                        Online Reflection #1:  Lesson Plan Opportunities

     I can think of nothing that could be better than to work with my CT in preparing the lesson plan coming up.  There are several elements that will be covered to meet the class curriculum and my assignment requirements.

     Currently, my CT is working on her first unit on Modernism.  The book the class will be covering is Of Mice and Men.  Each day a grammar lesson is covered with information for the students to reflect and remember prior knowledge they have learned. Often this is a sheet of paper with the rules, examples, and then a sampling of sentences which the students must apply the rules. Next, a list of words pertaining to this unit is covered, with one word covered each week.  Per my CT, character and plot will be the focus of this unit.

     For a starting point, I have been discussing with my CT about some of the youth text readings Dr. Mason covered in class.  Since Of Mice and Men is about diversity and disabilities, I thought a book covering diversity, the time period around 1930, rural life, or individual struggles would work well.  One possibility, could be Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, which is a first person narrative of life in Joyce City, Oklahoma for a 14-year-old boy during a period of January 1934 to December 1935.  My CT may wish to cover another book, which we will be discussing this Tuesday.  A question I have for my CT is whether diversity or the human struggle will be the focus for this unit.  Depending on our discussion, I would suggest creating a lesson plan covering diversity or the human struggles of my students in the classroom that would bring together prior knowledge and experience for retention.

     On the other hand, I have been talking with my CT regarding which standard USD 259 uses.  Her comment was that both the Kansas Core Standard and the National standard are used.  In my lesson plan, I will focus on the standard that she uses.

     Likewise, my CT is very big on incorporating listening, reading, writing, speaking, and technology in her classroom.  Therefore, I look forward to working with her on what information she would like me to present in my lesson plan.  To maintain a good flow of curriculum, I plan to show good organization, maintain a logical flow, show a connection of ideas, and import student prior knowledge and experience through use of different teaching strategies.  To maintain classroom content, I will work with my CT to keep a consistent flow of learning for this Modernism unit.  To develop Modernism in the 1930, I will discuss with my CT the prospects of relating history, art, pictures, economics, music, poetry, and industrialization during this time period and give my students a good foundation of knowledge to build upon when reading Of Mice and Men.

     My school meets daily so I will have only fifty minutes to plan my lesson plan and I will work with my CT on what will be the best way to present material in this short time.

     Moreover, I plan to  make good use of scheduling a date with Dr. Mason and my CT to evaluate my lesson plan and to tape a video for self-assessment.