More and more I am starting to feel comfortable teaching. I am not as nervous as I first was and I feel as though I am learning a lot. My CT is very supportive and always provides helpful suggestions to guide me along my way. Technology is something that my CT always incorporates into her lessons which has influenced me to use more technology. Now I am using the smart board for almost every lesson which has been a big success; the students enjoy the interactive activities.
We just finished our unit on creative writing which to my amazement went rather smoothly. I personally had never done much creative writing so I was extremely nervous about this unit. Catching the students’ attention on a daily basis is always a struggle so I knew that I needed an activity to start with that would be exciting, or at least interesting. Therefore, I decided to open with creative writing circles. The students were split into two groups and each person within the circle got a different prompt. Students had around three minutes to read the prompt and then begin to create a story based off of the prompt. When time was up the students passed their papers to the left. We followed the same procedure for all nine prompts. Each time a paper was passed to the left the student had to add their own take on the story. We shared the stories that the groups believed to be the best. The students were really able to get creative and construct some fabulous stories. Most importantly they wrote for a solid hour. Something I am sure several of them have never done. After this class period we spent time discussing how to develop plot, character, and suspense. I made it a point to really break down these elements into examples that the students could understand and relate to. I used pictures, movies, and books to help students relate to the different concepts. Sometimes I feel like teachers just tell us to write but don’t actually teach us how to write; therefore, I am doing my best to teach writing.
In April I will be starting my unit on poetry…ahhh! This is where I need help from my classmates. Poetry is by far my biggest weakness; I am extremely nervous. I will have approximately two weeks to teach my unit and the one area I feel semi-comfortable with is the Harlem Renaissance Era. However, I am not for sure how to teach poetry. What activities can you incorporate into a poetry lesson? Just simply reading poems for two weeks is not something I want nor do I suspect the kids would want. So how can I teach a variety of poems but make it more interactive and interesting? Any ideas or suggestions would be awesome!
