Students: Advanced/intermediate teenagers and adults in Mexico. First class session.
Objective(s): In the first week of class, provide the students with a introductory activity that taps into their life story as a source, helps them get to know their classmates and teacher, and let them experience writing as a low-stress, personal and rich experience; to provide a way for the teacher to get to know the students and their level of writing ability.
Why I chose this activity: As outlined in Objectives, above, I wanted to think of a lesson plan that would be a good ice-breaker for one of the first class sessions, and that introduces the students to experiential writing as a building block for future lessons. Further, it symbolically tells the student that I am also a learner and that I am part of the group, albeit it as director.
Raimes aspects: Word choice, grammar, syntax, content, writer’s process, organization.
Genre: First-person expository writing. Is it an authentic task? Yes. It is based on the students’ lives.
What other skills are included in this activity? Listening (to others’ stories), reading (of their own stories) and speaking (as they converse with their classmates about their respective stories).
Is culture integrated? Yes, the students’ culture is represented through their stories, and American culture inherent in the teacher’s writing.
Assessment of student writing: I will evaluate each students’ writing based on several criteria: command of vocabulary, grasp of grammar, complexity and accuracy of syntax, use of verb tenses, and text-level construction (that is, how they tell a story from beginning to middle to end).
How this lesson fits into my overall approach to teaching: My teaching of all of the four skills will, as much as possible, allow students to draw on their own experience and other personally relevant topics for inspiration, and to get to know one another and build community as the exercises are shared between classmates.
What do I like about my activity? I’m interested in the students’ stories; I — and the other students — will learn something about one another. It’s valuable for students to know that they have a voice in this class, and that their individual lives are considered important here.
What questions and concerns do I have? I don’t know if students will be willing to write something personal on the first day of class, which is why I’ve defined the activity so that writers can choose an emotionally “safe” (I hope) topic. I also don’t know if they’ll feel comfortable writing at all right away, but think it’s a risk worth taking. See below for specific questions for Elizabeth.
Lesson Plan
5:00
1. Schema-activation: Pass around a photograph that I’ve taken of a place I love. As each student looks, ask him/her to tell me one word for what they see in the picture. I’ll write each on the blackboard.
10:00
2a. Pre-writing — an example: With the photo in the background, tell Ss a brief story about it. For example: “This is my father’s farm in West Virginia in the US. It’s rocky, wild, hilly and very beautiful. My father and I used to take long hikes all day long, just to see what we could find. Those are among my happiest memories in my whole life. One time we were walking through these woods in this picture. The hill was very steep, and suddenly I slipped on the leaves and fell down hard. Dad and I started to laugh as I lay there. But then a huge, hairy spider jumped onto my arm. I screamed and brushed it away. Dad started laughing even harder.”
2b. Recap: That’s a story about a place I remember. What was the place? Who were the characters? What happened in the beginning of the story? In the middle? In the end? What emotions are in the story?
10:00:
3a. Transition: Ask Ss to think of a place they remember: an elementary school classroom, grandmother’s house, anything that’s important to you. I’ll ask that everyone (if willing and depending on class size) make at least one suggestion, and will write the places on the BB.
3b. Instruction: Tell Ss they’re going to write a quick story, we’ll share them with the class and then I’ll collect them. [It would be nice to do something more with the stories: display them in the class (but we may be sharing classrooms) or compile a “book” of their stories to give them at the end.] Ask them to pick a place on the BB or think of another and picture themselves there. What does the setting look like? Who was there with you? What happened? How did it start? How did it end? [I’ll write those questions up on the BB for reference.] Tell them the story can be funny, exciting, sad, surprising — whatever they want. Give them a minute or two just to think, before writing. When all Ss have a place in mind, give writing instruction: Don’t worry about punctuation or spelling yet. If you can’t remember a word, just draw a line there. Move on to get out as much as possible of your story. Don’t worry if you run out of time before you finish.
20:00
4. Writing (Raimes: grammar, syntax, word choice, organization, content)
20:00
5. Post-writing pair work (ten minutes per story): Silently read your partner’s story. Underline your favorite sentence. Then discuss: help each other with any missing words (it’s okay to use Spanish for this part). Talk to each other about why you underlined the sentence you did. Tell each other about any parts that confused you or where you needed more information.
25:00
6. Whole class reconvenes. Ask for volunteers to read their story. We’ll do three or so today and the rest tomorrow. If time [there won’t be, but maybe the next lesson], ask a process question: why did they pick that theme? And if time, ask each person: what did you learn about your partner from reading his/her story?
7. Homework: Finish your story and bring it to next class. If your partner had ideas you’d like to include, revise the story. Any unfinished stories can be read in the next class. Bring in an object from home that represents your story — if you have no object or photo, you can even do a sketch — and we’ll play a matching game to see what object goes with what story.
TOTAL: 90:00
Note: A number of the ideas in this lesson plan are thanks to collaboration with Yajuan and Tatiana.
Questions for Elizabeth
This is a refinement of what I presented in class today. As mentioned, I was trying to build from the objective up, rather than the topic down, which was a real challenge.
1. The end/wrap-up of the exercise seems incomplete or otherwise abrupt (see step 7). What do you think? Is it possible to end it after @1:05, when they’ve finished writing and discussing in pairs; then the next day we can share the final product without rushing and burnout? How long are our classes in Pachuca?
2. What do you think of this activity as a preliminary, simple way to explore writing a first-person story? Do you find the “hook” engaging at all, and do you think it’ll inspire the students, or is it too generic?
3. I feel that something is missing between Step 2a and 2b, to slide from my role as storyteller to my role as teacher. What can I do between those two, to ease the transition?