For my last lesson I decided to incorporate a lesson about urban legends with my larger lesson about To Kill A Mockingbird. I made a PowerPoint, that I'm going to attempt to link to this, that described what an urban legend is and relating it to the novel. The very last slide of the PowerPoint is the activity that the students did at their tables.
I teach in a morning class so the main struggle with the students is keeping them awake. When I started teaching my urban legend lesson every student perked up and listened and responded to what I was saying and what the lesson was about. They also seemed to enjoy the writing assignment that went along with the PowerPoint, an urban legend explaining the origin of Boo Radley. The lesson was so impacting that in today's class I had a student come to me before class started wanting to share an urban legend with the class. This didn't have to do with the novel but it showed an interest in the class that I thought was important to perpetuate.
That is what I took from this experience in my student teaching class. That it is most important to engage the students with a lesson that meets their interest and also conveys a valid and measurable point. With this lesson the students had to realize the effect of an urban legend and what it means to the community of Maycomb, AL (the setting of the book). They also participated in a creative writing assignment that allowed me to assess their group skills along with their writing skills.
Making the subject interesting to the students is by far one of the hardest tasks I’ve found, thus far. Students have such a range of interests that it is hard to capture the whole class at once; and even if you can, to do so within the curriculum can pose as another challenge. It is great that you have overcome both of these! Hopefully, now that you have found something that creates student self-motivation and interest in this group of individuals, you can use that as a tool in the future.
ReplyDeleteMr. Gruning:
ReplyDeleteI was a little taken back with this student’s sense of accomplishment. I liked your piece for it showed what students pull in the classroom. This Genre was an excellent demonstration of classroom management. For me this demonstrated the approaches of classroom management. It also allowed me to look at different approaches that may be taken in a situation like this. I think teachers need to pick their battles and this was not one to be done in front of the class. To me, this was a situation where the student should have been removed and dealt with after class. I for one do not think confrontation in the classroom proves anything but a power struggle. If a student, tries to prove his power do not play his game but demonstrate a sense of calm and authority. Thank you for sharing this Genre with me. Good luck in class.
Pat Strelow
Isn't it nice when the students are interested in what you are teaching. I love to see student's engaged. And yes it does help if the subject is something they are interested in. I applaude you! That was a great idea to tie in urban legends with 'To Kill a Mockingbird.' Great Idea!! Keep it up and you will do very well.
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