This observed video was recorded during a lesson on "Theme," which was introduced after it became apparent via a final test that my students, surprisingly, weren't comfortable readily identifying and recognizing themes. I gave a brief Powerpoint lecture on the different elements of how/where/when/through-whom themes can present themselves in a story. Then, to give the kids practice discussing and identifying themes, I read them a couple of children's stories:
... Which is mostly all pictures, and...
... Which was cool because it's a West-African story; since Things Fall Apart , the novel we'd been reading, takes place in Nigeria, I thought it would be fun to use stories from the same area.
The first taped portion of the video includes both the powerpoint lecture and the two children's stories that I read aloud.
After the children's stories, the kids broke up into small groups to discuss Things Fall Apart; they were asked to come up with two themes and a possible "moral of the story." The second video depicts me facilitating the kids' reported conclusions from their small group discussions; after each group supplied their ideas, we launched into an all-class discussion about the book, which was also taped.
Observations during the lecture:
- I use lots of gestures.
- Beck and Haven (who were right by the computer and therefore right by the microphone) talk more than I realized... Should perhaps address that...
- I have a nice loud "teacher voice."
- Classroom management techniques:
----> "There's some side chatter, which I'm not happy about."
----> "Okay girls, if you have something to say, please raise your hand."
----> "I'll wait."
- I'm good at affirming students' responses-- "Excellent." "I like it."
- Needed to pass out paper at one point-- perhaps should have had a student do that. Oh! I did. Never mind. "Thanks for passing out the paper, Alex..."
- I use funny voices a lot-- both when reading the stories, and just periodically throughout class... Will slip into accents. Usually makes the kids laugh!
- Another classroom management technique to get them "back together" after the kids got out paper/pen, etc. for note-taking:
----> "Alright, focus up here!"
- I use lots of pictures/images in my powerpoints
- Also give LOTS of examples for the different points... Many examples from novels, some from popular movies. I tend to paraphrase the points on the powerpoint slides while the kids are jotting down notes; rephrase it in a less formal vernacular.
- I don't say "Um" much, which I thought I did! That's good.
... Do, apparently, say "You know" a lot however. Which could be improved. (At least the overused phrase acts as a formative assessment though, yes?)
- I use TONS of gestures!
- When I'm talking, the kids are really quiet. Yay! Could possibly be because they're note-taking. But that could be considered an effective management/assessment technique, methinks.
- I ask the kids to provide examples, often.
- At one point I search for a relevant quote from the book... Should have had that quote marked already.
- Classroom management technique:
----> "Justice, I'm sorry, can you wait until everyone's ready and has stopped talking?"
- I go over the main points from the Powerpoint at the end of the lecture.
Observations during the story-time:
- I allow the kids to murmur/respond/comment during the first story, which is primarily illustrated with only a few words.
- I occasionally tell anecdotes as they're relevant
- The kids LOVE the voices!
- I touch my hair a lot, which is distracting-- at least to someone watching the video! In the next video segment, I've put it back, which is good.
Observations during the class discussion:
- I hear students' ideas, will usually verbally repeat them, then validate them for what is merit-worthy, and elaborate on their ideas.
- I have each group contribute answers.
- I provide some leading questions, and then let the kids contribute from there.
- Typically, when I see a number of different hands up, I'll say, "Okay, we'll have Brandon, then Kimmy, Lara, Max, and Rakeesh." The kids then put their hands down, because they know what order they'll be speaking in.
- Classroom management technique:
----> Sometimes I use hand signals-- like just reaching my hand in the direction of a talking student with my hand/wrist flexed, like, "Stop"-- to quiet kids down.
----> "Can we stop the side chatter please?"
Overall, I think this was a good lesson. I felt I broke it up into several different parts-- the introduction, the lecture, the stories, the small group discussion, the large group discussion, and then we capped the whole thing off with some Ethiopian food. Yum! I felt I did a good job keeping the kids engaged with my hand gestures, voices, providing of and asking for examples, and kept things interesting by throwing in an occasional anecdote. Although there are a few things I could have improved upon, like having the quote ready from the book, or perhaps having the kids present their theme/moral-of-the-story ideas from up front (would have been an excuse for them to stretch their legs!), I think the lesson and my instruction was overall, pretty solid.
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