Reflection & Planning
What would you teach as a follow up to this lesson? What is your evidence for this decision?
I would continue the conversation about the similarities and differences between the two accounts of The Three Little Pigs, and I would focus the lesson on the concept of perspective, or point of view. The objective of the lesson would be for students to answer the question: Which story do you think is the true story, and why? The lesson would be built upon the foundation that their answers are opinions, and that there are no single right or wrong answers. In asking students to explain their rationales, students would be encouraged to craft arguments in order to support their opinions.
It seemed that students had a variety of thoughts to offer in response to this question, so I think it would be a beneficial lesson for students to be able to further develop these ideas. A writing activity would be the basis of assessment for this lesson. By articulating their thoughts and transferring them to paper, students would work on fluidity of writing and practice using evidence to support their opinions.
How would you teach this lesson differently the next time you teach it?
If I taught this lesson again, I would get rid of the additional set of cards for the original sequence of the Three Little Pigs, and would ask students to come to the wall and physically order them instead of having me place them in order. My Penn Mentor noted that not everyone could see the cards based on their position at the table. She also suggested that I emphasize transitional words including first, then, next, after and finally. By emphasizing these transitional words during the first task, students would be better positioned to utilize them while writing descriptive summaries in the next task, and would serve to incorporate another element of sequence.
I would also tell students that they would work individually while writing the descriptive sentences instead of planning to have them work in pairs for this task. Additionally, instead of having students tell me the order and having me place them on the wall, I would ask students to get out of their seats and physically order them on the wall. Not only would this provide kinesthetic involvement in the activity but would potentially engage students in debates about sequence that would not have been teacher-led. Once the students decided on the order, I would read through the text they had written for each event to solidify the sequence before moving onto a discussion.
I would continue the conversation about the similarities and differences between the two accounts of The Three Little Pigs, and I would focus the lesson on the concept of perspective, or point of view. The objective of the lesson would be for students to answer the question: Which story do you think is the true story, and why? The lesson would be built upon the foundation that their answers are opinions, and that there are no single right or wrong answers. In asking students to explain their rationales, students would be encouraged to craft arguments in order to support their opinions.
It seemed that students had a variety of thoughts to offer in response to this question, so I think it would be a beneficial lesson for students to be able to further develop these ideas. A writing activity would be the basis of assessment for this lesson. By articulating their thoughts and transferring them to paper, students would work on fluidity of writing and practice using evidence to support their opinions.
How would you teach this lesson differently the next time you teach it?
If I taught this lesson again, I would get rid of the additional set of cards for the original sequence of the Three Little Pigs, and would ask students to come to the wall and physically order them instead of having me place them in order. My Penn Mentor noted that not everyone could see the cards based on their position at the table. She also suggested that I emphasize transitional words including first, then, next, after and finally. By emphasizing these transitional words during the first task, students would be better positioned to utilize them while writing descriptive summaries in the next task, and would serve to incorporate another element of sequence.
I would also tell students that they would work individually while writing the descriptive sentences instead of planning to have them work in pairs for this task. Additionally, instead of having students tell me the order and having me place them on the wall, I would ask students to get out of their seats and physically order them on the wall. Not only would this provide kinesthetic involvement in the activity but would potentially engage students in debates about sequence that would not have been teacher-led. Once the students decided on the order, I would read through the text they had written for each event to solidify the sequence before moving onto a discussion.