Feedback Assignment

Question 1: The learning target is to define mood and tone, so asking, “What is mood?” should produce a definition.

Feedback 1: Yes. Are you “supposed” to feel a certain way?  Is everyone supposed to feel the same way, or can there be differences?

Explanation 1: Good definition.  I just directed to student to think about multiple perspectives of readers.

Question 2: The learning target is to define mood and tone, so asking, “What is tone?” should produce a definition.

Feedback 2: Are the author’s feelings what make the tone?  Can an author convey a tone that s/he doesn’t feel using a variety of words?

Explanation 2: I encourage the student to consider writing with a certain feeling about something they actually feel differently about.

Question 3: The learning target is to identify the mood and tone of a poem, but asking for just one word from the poem to demonstrate the mood is limiting.

Feedback 3: Does the word that’s used the most necessarily have to be the only word that contributes to the tone? Think about the words around “cold” that affect its meaning.

Explanation 3: I directed the student to think beyond frequency of words and look further into what other words could contribute meaning.  I focused them on looking into what words could affect the meaning of the word they’d chosen to represent the mood.

Question 4: The learning target is to identify the mood and tone of a poem so asking students what the tone of the poem is should produce the desired response.

Feedback 4: Look where the speaker mentions loving the privacy.  Do you think the author is upset about being in the snow and alone?  Be careful to identify tone based on what the text says, and not accidentally switch and identify mood.

Explanation 4: The student has mixed in some of his/her own opinions about the poem into the explanation of the tone.  So I remind the student of the difference between mood and tone.

Question 5: The learning target is to analyze how mood and tone affect an author’s word choices, but because the question is worded based on mood, which is subjective, and gives the teacher’s interpretation of the mood, the student is limited in his response.

Feedback 5: What are some example of words you could change to change the tone?

Explanation 5: The student has a good grasp of the analysis of mood and tone, so suggested a next step that could take them even deeper if they were to write an extended essay or something.

Reflection on CCHS Teaching: Day One

Reflection on Teaching: Day One

I completed my first day of my multi-day teach today, and while it went all right, it certainly could have gone better.  I think the most challenging thing about these two classes is the motivation.  It is hard to convince them to do the work because they just aren’t interested and don’t want to be at school.  I don’t them that well yet, so I can’t really cater to their interests, the best I can do is take what they give me in the classroom, and run with it.  I tried to that with our story and mini discussions throughout the lesson today, but because they’ve never had a discussion before, it’s hard to take all of that into account at once.

Getting the class to read and have on topic discussions was also difficult due to classroom management problems.  There were a lot of kids sleeping or with their heads down, and there were lots of side conversations going on.    Heather suggested that tomorrow I start off class by warning the students that if they get too chatty, I may move them, or if they’re sleeping that I may have them stand for the rest of the class.  It sounds like an excellent idea, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to follow through on the threats because I’ve never seen Heather follow through on any.  It is also hard to do much classroom management because I only know the names of a few students in the class.  The seating chart I have for the class isn’t necessarily accurate, because the students move around, and I haven’t had many chances to interact with the students and learn their names.

I’ve also decided to switch gears as much as I can.  Central Crossing has a policy that any copies must be in at least 2 days in advance, so deciding to provide additional or different materials to students based on formative assessment can’t happen on a day to day basis, but I will be making some small changes.  I’ve put all the students names on strips of poster board, and when I’m asking clarifying questions about the reading, I’ll be drawing their names from a cup.  Realizing the students won’t particularly like this strategy, I’m also going to write a few “stock responses” up on the board that I found on Yvonne Hutchinson’s website.  They require students to say something, but also provide them with examples of what to say if they are confused, don’t want to participate, or weren’t paying attention.  I worry that students will take advantage of these responses and feel as though they now don’t have to pay attention, but I also hope that it will help more of them to feel comfortable speaking up in class.

Another thing I would change if I got the chance to go back and redo this lesson is I would have chosen a different story.  I think I would have used “All of Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury, rather than “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker.  While I originally thought this story would be universal enough to allow every student to make ties to their own heritage and history (which it still might, we’ll have to see how discussion on the third day goes), I’m now thinking that it may be too long for the narrowness of the theme we’re talking about.  Granted the first half of the story is not as interesting as the second half.  I think they would have been more interested to read “All of Summer in a Day” because it’s only a few pages, and has a very open ending that they could debate and talk about.

Another thing that I noticed while teaching was my level of comfort between first and second period.  I didn’t experience this last quarter during my multi-day teach because my mentor teacher last quarter only taught one of each class, so there was no opportunity to double up.  I found that after having done the lesson during first period, I was able to make some minor adjustments to what I was doing second period, and because I’d already taught the lesson once, I was much more confident in my teaching during second period.  I asked slightly different questions, and asked the students to write down slightly different things between the two periods.

Reflection on Central Crossing High School

Now that I’ve been in my school for a little longer, and have gotten to experience more of the classroom culture and procedures that help the run, I feel more able to talk about my experience at Central Crossing High School with Heather.  The aspect of her classroom that I find to be the most interesting is the team taught dyad classes.  All of Heather’s classes are team-taught with Melissa, a social studies teacher.  I find I interesting how they’ve structured their class to maintain the team taught atmosphere and develop a more cohesive curriculum.

World History and English were always my favorite subjects in high school, and I would have liked to be in a class that combined them the way Heather and Melissa do.  I really like the way they take the time to be sure their lessons will connect to each other’s lessons.  For example, Melissa’s History class is just starting to learn about the Russian Revolution.  They’re learning about Nicolas II, all his children, and Rasputin, and how the monarchy was overthrown and replaced but the Soviet regime.  To pair with this, Heather’s class is starting to read Animal Farm.  When I talked to Heather, she said when they did this unit last year, they had a couple days where they taught with the wall closed, rather than open.  This meant that instead of teaching to the double class once, they closed the partition and each taught to the singular classes, and then the classes switched.  Heather said it was really interesting to observe how the students who had Melissa’s class first made the connections between the history and the novel without much prompting.  She really likes how the structure of the dyad classes makes it easier for students to make these connections, and how working closely with Melissa has made that kind of team teaching possible.

I know we’re not supposed to be making comparisons and judgments about our two placement schools, but there has been one aspect of my schools that has been vastly different and intriguing to me, so I thought I’d explore it.  One of the big differences I’ve noticed between Central Crossing High School and Westerville Central High School doesn’t have anything directly to do with teaching or instruction, it has to do with the level of social interaction that I see.  The teachers at Central Crossing, or at least my mentor teacher and other teachers I’ve met, seem to be a lot more social that those I encountered at Westerville Central.  My mentor teacher at Westerville Central would always eat lunch alone, and while she would talk to other teachers in passing in the hallways, she wouldn’t engage in extended conversations that didn’t relate in some way to the workplace.  At Central Crossing the teachers I’ve met have been very social.  They talk about their personal lives, and spend time together outside of the workplace.  Heather eats lunch down in the teachers lounge with a whole group of other teachers from various subject areas.

This observation is interesting to me because I felt more comfortable at Westerville Central, and more like a teacher, but during my time at Central Crossing I’ve felt much more like a Student Observer.  My feeling is that Central Crossing would be a more pleasant place to work as a teacher than Westerville Central because the teachers seem to have built good, solid relationships, both personal and professional, with each other, while at Westerville Central I didn’t witness much of this happening.  I suspect I was more comfortable at Westerville Central because I didn’t know anyone, and hadn’t built relationships with any of the teachers there other than my mentor teacher, but since this was the norm, I didn’t feel out of place.  At Central Crossing I think I feel like and outsider and an intruder because the relationships they’ve built are an integral part of their day, and help to bind the school community together.  Just to be clear though, I’m not saying that Westerville Central doesn’t have these types of social interactions happening, only that with my previous mentor teacher, I never witnessed any.  Nor am I saying that every teacher at Central Crossing has the same level of social interaction that I’m witnessing with my current mentor teacher.

Domain D: Teacher Professionalism

Professionalism means more than just dressing nice and displaying appropriate behavior, though those are important parts of it.  Professionalism in the case of a teacher means not only doing her job in educating the students, but constantly striving to do better at this job.  This means reflecting on her teaching and making changes where necessary, seeking out other professionals and their insights to help adjust her teaching, and helping the students and parents to get on board with her instruction and have confidence that the job can be done.

Criterion D₁ : Reflecting on the Extent to Which the Learning Goals Were Met

Reflection allows the teacher to change her plans, whether it be for the next day or the next year.  Upon reflection she can adjust her strategies for teaching and decide how to help her student better meet the learning goals, helping herself to become a better teacher.  The teacher can also have students self-assess.  This will help the teacher to reflect on whether or not her learning goals were clear, and how secure the students felt with the material.

Criterion D₂: Demonstrating a Sense of Efficacy

Efficacy is a tricky word that is defined as “the capacity for producing a desired result or effect.”  This means that for the teacher to demonstrate a sense of efficacy, she must know that she can, and more importantly will, teach anyone, and that she can, and will, do that job.  The teacher should have a sense of responsibility for her students and for their learning.  If she feels that they are capable learners and can become a positive impact on the world, altering society and the environment for the better, then that confidence will transfer to the students and help them to meet those high standards.  By having and showing confidence in her students the teacher is demonstrating more than effectiveness, she is demonstrating efficacy.

Criterion D₃: Building Professional Relationships with Colleagues to Share Teaching Insights and to Coordinate Learning Activities for Students

A teacher cannot encounter every situation, nor have every good idea herself.  That is why is important for her to develop professional relationships with her colleagues and become a member of the larger professional community of teachers.  By working with other teachers in her field, she can bounce ideas around and develop better, and clearer plans for instruction.  She can also work with teachers across the curriculum to make plans that will help students to make connections between subject areas.  Not only is this good professional behavior, it will ultimately benefit the students.  Professional organizations such as OCTELA and NCTE provide unique opportunities for teachers to share ideas across a broader range.  Teachers can gain insights from teachers outside of their district, often encountering vesting different viewpoints and ideas to improve their own teaching.

Criterion D₄: Communicating with Parents or Guardians About Student Learning

Nurturing a positive relationship with the parents or guardians of students is very important in the education of the students.  The teacher can begin to develop this relationship by connecting with parents first on a positive level and the continuing to keep parents up to date on what is going on in the classroom in general, and with their child specifically.  It is also for the teacher to be inclusive.  This means she shouldn’t assume that all parents and guardians have computer and internet access, nor should she assume that papers sent home with the students would make it to the parent if the parent doesn’t know they’re coming.  The teacher should also remember that simply because a parent isn’t present or active in the school doesn’t mean that the parent is apathetic about their child’s education.

Domain C: Teaching for Student Learning

In order for a teacher to teach for the best effect on her students’ learning there are several things she must consider in her planning.  She needs to be sure to appeal to as many learning profiles as she can in order to help more of her students understand the content that she is teaching.  In order to do this she should be constantly reflecting and re-evaluating her planning through the use of formative assessment.

Criterion C₁ : Making Learning Goals and Instructional Procedures Clear to Students

When considering how to make learning goals clear to student the most important thing to consider is how the teacher is presenting those goals to the student, and how the teacher is keeping the student informed.  The teacher must develop clear learning targets and present these to her students in a language they can understand.  The teacher must also communicate to her students a sense of relevancy, urgency, and immediacy.  This means the students must how learning about a certain topic applies to them, why they need to learn about this topic, and why they must learn about now.  In making the learning goals clear the teacher can have a colleague review her goals to double check that the goals are clear.

Criterion C₂: Making Content Comprehensible to Students

Relevancy is the most important aspect of making content comprehensible to students.  Teachers can use a number of strategies to make the content relevant to their students.  One way to increase relevancy and understanding is by helping student to access prior knowledge about the content, so that they can then apply that knowledge to the current aspect of learning.  Teachers can also use pop culture and technology to appeal to their students in a variety of formats that they may be more familiar with.  By varying the teaching style and format the teacher is addressing varying learning styles and multiple intelligences, increasing relevancy and making the content more comprehensible to their students.

Criterion C₃: Encouraging Students to Extend Their Thinking

The best way to encourage students to extend their thinking is to by engaging them in a discussion that they feel is meaningful and authentic.  By developing a classroom that has a comfortable atmosphere where the students are in a low-risk environment where they have the space to test out their ideas.  When the teacher is willing to engage students in a discussion, not a recitation, where there is no right answer and the students are able develop their ideas.

Another way that the teacher can encourage her students to extend their thinking is by providing lots of opportunities for group work.  Group work allows students to explore new ideas in a low-risk environment.  It also exposes students to the differing perspectives of their peers.  By putting the students in heterogeneous groups, and shifting them around often, students will have many opportunities to expand and extend their thinking.

Criterion C₄: Monitoring Students’ Understandings of Content Through a Variety of Means, Providing Feedback to Students to Assist Learning, and Adjusting Learning Activities as the Situation Demands

In order for a teacher to make sure that her students are understanding the content she is teaching it is important for her constantly use formative assessments.  This will allow her to check her students’ comprehension of the material, and determine what she may need to re-teach.   The teacher should also be sure to work within her students’ zone of proximal development to be sure that the tasks she assigns aren’t so easy to be uninteresting, and not so hard that the students are discouraged from completing the tasks.  By scaffolding activities for students the teacher can also help her students to understand what they are supposed to do, and help them to better comprehend the material.  By giving meaningful and timely feedback the teacher can also help her students to focus their learning.

The teacher should also be reflecting on her teaching and be willing to constantly revise her methods.  This reflection will allow her to adjust her teaching activities as the situation demands so that she can make her teaching as accessible as possible to as many students as possible.

Criterion C₅: Using Instructional Time Effectively

The teacher must be diligent in her planning in order to use her instruction time effectively.  She needs be have a good idea of what she needs to accomplish, and prioritize her activities so that she can be sure to get to the activities she most needs to.  The combination of having a back-up plan, and prioritizing the activities will allow the teacher to be prepared and effective in her teaching.  She should also know when to abandon an activity that doesn’t seem to be working and be willing to change direction.  Sometimes this means taking the teachable moment that the students’ present and going with it.

Initial Impression of Central Crossing High School

I don’t actually go to my placement until January 14^th, due to Central Crossings exam schedule, but to prepare for that, I taken a look at their school website.  The picture of the building on the website looks a lot like where I went to high school in Loveland: reddish-orange brick, new and clean looking.  They state that the mission for their school “in partnership with the community, is to enable each learner to achieve excellence in a challenging, safe environment while promoting a sense of belonging and mutual respect for our diverse population.  Students will demonstrate proficiency in academic standards, including communication skills and technical knowledge, as the staff will work to advance life long learning for all students.”  This draws off of Dewey’s theories and makes sense due to the diverse population that they referenced.  The district averages around 1660 students in classes everyday, with 14% Black, 2.1% Asian, 5.5% Hispanic, 1.4% Multi-Racial, and 76.7% White.  They are diverse in other ways as well, with 35.5% being economically disadvantaged, 8.2% having limited English proficiency, 13.9% having disabilities.

The diversity of the school will be an interesting environment to work in, as it is entirely different from my own high school experience.  However, working at Westerville Central last quarter, I felt that my class at least was relatively diverse.  I suspect that the biggest difference will be the resources that the school can draw on.  Westerville is a very affluent district, and was able to provide the latest technologies to classroom teachers.  The Southwest District doesn’t appear to be as affluent an area, so I suspect that the resource may not be as prolific.  But the building appears to be clean and new form the outside at least, so I’m guessing that they won’t be entirely lacking in resources either.

My mentor teacher is Heather Barnes.  The school provides teachers with the opportunity to have their own webpage through the school.  Heather has done so.  She teaches three blocked classes (periods 1/2, 4/5, and 7/8), one silver dyad, and two gold dyads.  She has described the dyad grouping as different levels.  She team-teaches with one of the World History teachers, integrating English and History into the same classroom.  I will be going for as much of the day as I can on Tuesdays and all day on Thursdays.  Hopefully this will give me a good sense of what the differing dynamics of a class can be.  My MDT will likely add another day or two so that the days can fall consecutively.

The website for the school provides links to the many extracurricular the school seems to offer.  There are separate pages for athletics, band and theater.  The links on the page don’t take you directly to the webpages, but instead provide a link to the webpage.  Seems redundant, but they are provided.

The school report was somewhat more difficult to find.  I took some clicking around on the main district webpage through seemingly unrelated areas.  Central Crossing High School is rated as Continuous Improvement.  I tried to figure out how the rating system works, and I think they are rated Continuous Improvement because while their scores/percentages may be high, they didn’t meet one of more of their AYP score standards.  It appears as though that failing is in the sciences, but I’m not certain on that.

Domain A Exhibits: Examples of Organizing Content Knowledge for Student Learning

In my Class profile of Writers I examined aspects of my focus class in order to gauge what their interests were so that I would be able to make any content I taught relevant to them.  In line with criterion A₁ I was able to learn about the students’ prior knowledge so that I could then make the content of my lessons fit with what they were already familiar with.

Answering the question of “Why do we need to learn/do this?” is something that and understanding of criterion A₂ seeks to answer.   In my Multi-Day Teach Autumn quarter I helped students to understand the relevancy of learning to provide good description by comparing my own desire to read with their desire to read.  I asked the class if they liked to read really boring pieces of literature, and they predictably chorused “No.”  I was then able to relate to them by reminding them that Mrs. Cornelius and I have to read their papers, and we like reading boring work just as much as they do.  I also pointed out to the class that if they have trouble meeting word counts that teachers require, then the ability to write descriptive phrases and provide extended specific examples would help them to meet that goal.

Demonstrating criterion A₃ I used the knowledge of their prior knowledge to help them make connection between what they already knew, what I was teaching them, and what they were going to be learning in the future.  One of the ways I gathered information for my Class Profile of Writers was by obtaining a writing sample.  With these samples of student work I was able to assess what knowledge students already had and determine what specific areas they still needed work on.  When I was developing my lesson plan for my Multi-Day Teach Autumn quarter, I was aware of my students’ prior knowledge, and was able to tap into what they already knew about writing and help them to improve their craft.

One of the most difficult things for a teacher in this day and age can be finding materials that are both appropriate and relevant to students, as criterion A₄ suggests.  It can be hard to find materials that students will be able to relate to, but that retain some way to connect to academic content.  In my Multi-Day Teach Autumn quarter my lesson focused on tone words, and how they can be used to create parody.  At the time of my lesson, the unit that class was working in had a focus on gender roles.  So, in my search for a relevant text for the students to show them an example of parody that addressed and critiqued gender roles, I found a short movie remix of Twilight and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Twilight is part of pop culture, and from listening to my students’ casual conversations I knew that they had some familiarity with it, even if they didn’t like the book or film.  The result was that they were able to make connections to and be excited about the movie remix, “Buffy vs. Edward,” and I was able to guide them toward thinking more deeply about a subject that many of them felt they already possessed some expert knowledge on and therefore had an authority to contribute.

After teaching my students how tone words could be used to enhance their writing and create an effective parody I instructed them to write a parody of there own, evaluating them in a way that was explicitly aligned with the goals of the lesson as criterion A₅ requires.  I allowed the students to choose the base text for their parody, encouraging them to use a text we read in class that I provided a modal parody for, or to choose there own base text, such as a song or poem, that appealed to them personally.  This method made the assessment more authentic for the students because it allowed them to take more ownership of their writing by writing about a topic, or in a genre, that they cared about.

Domain A Artifact: Organizing Content Knowledge for Student Learning

In order for students to learn and understand the content knowledge that teachers are trying to impart, it is imperative that the teacher arranges and organizes the material so that it will be relevant to the student.  The primary goal here is to make the content relevant and interesting to the students first so that they’ll become engaged in the lesson, and then the teacher can bring the lesson back around to technical terminology and the source text to supplement the content.

Criterion A₁ : Becoming familiar with relevant aspects of students’ background knowledge and experience.

Becoming familiar with students’ background knowledge and experience is important because it allows the teacher to tailor her instruction to the fit with what the students are already familiar with.  By knowing what students are already familiar with, the teacher can tap into the students’ prior knowledge and make connections to knowledge they already have in order to help the students’ process and learn new concepts and ideas.

Criterion A₂: Articulating clear learning goals for the lesson that are appropriate to the students.

One of the questions that is heard with great frequency, and often frustration on the teacher’s part, is “When am I ever going to need to know this?”  One way to counter this question is to have clear learning goals that are communicated to the students.  If the teacher has a clear idea of what she is teaching her students and why, then she can communicate that reasoning to her students and being to deflect this difficult question.  If the learning goals can be communicated with clarity and they bear some relevance to the students, then the students are more likely to be interested in the content and willing to engage in the lesson.

Criterion A₃: Demonstrating an understanding of the connections between the content that was learned previously, the current content, and the content that remains to learned in the future.

By making connections to students’ prior knowledge the teacher can enhance learning of the content for the current lesson.  When a teacher works within the zone of proximal development she can drawn on knowledge that the student crialready has, link it to the content of the current lesson, and then give a projection and clues as to how the knowledge learned in the current lesson will apply to future lessons and help students as they move forward in their growth as intellectuals.

Criterion A₄: Creating or selecting teaching materials, learning activities, and instructional materials or other resources that are appropriate to the students that are aligned with the goals of the lesson.

When determining whether or not materials and activities are appropriate to the students and aligned with the lesson there are a few things the teacher must take into account.  First, the teacher must determine if the materials she chooses will appeal to the students interests in order for them to engage with and form a greater understanding of the content.  Second, the teacher must determine what is age-appropriate for her students in part by knowing her students background.  Third, the teacher must determine if the materials she has chosen are the best choice to help convey the content of the lesson.  And finally, the teacher would be wise to have alternative materials and activities arranged for students for whom the materials and activities she has chosen are not appropriate.

Criterion A₅: Creating or selecting evaluation strategies that are appropriate for the students and that are aligned with the goals of the lesson.

The main goal is choose evaluation strategies that are authentic.  The authenticity of the evaluation will help students apply the concepts of the lesson in a manner that will engage all of the knowledge they’ve acquired.  In addition to having authentic assessments, it is important that the students are being evaluated on concepts that directly relate to the learning goals of the lesson.  Meaning, if the concept wasn’t covered explicitly in the lesson, then the teacher should not be asking her students to complete a task on the concept.  Student should not be doing anything wholly new when they are being evaluated.

 

MDT Day 2: AU ’09

Multi-Day Teach Day 2: AU ’09

Subject Area: English 11/12 – Contemporary Lit

Title of unit (of which this lesson is a part): Women & Men & Relationships

Lesson Title: Understanding and Writing Parody

Purpose/ Goals	Students should be able to use tone effectively in their own writing.  This skill will help them to use their writing to achieve their goals.  If they can effectively use tone, then they will be able to influence their audience to feel and react they way they want.  They also need to understand how the author can use certain words in order to manipulate his or her audience into feeling a certain way about a subject matter.
Objectives:	I can identify tone and tone words in a piece of text.   I can explain what a parody is and give examples. I can use tone words in a piece of text to make it more descriptive. I can explain how word choice affects the overall tone in a text.
National & Ohio Standards	What are the specific national (professional organization) and/or state standards, key ideas, performance indicators, and major understandings that you will address in this lesson? Explain how this lesson meets these standards in a brief narrative.   Writing Applications Benchmark -       Write responses to literature that provide an interpretation, recognize ambiguities, nuances and complexities and that understand the author’s use of stylistic devices and effects created Students will be writing a response to a piece of text that provide and reinterpretation of the text by changing the original tone that was intended by the author.  They will be keeping specific traits of the original stylistic devices and effects to maintain an homage to the original. Writing Process Benchmark -       Use a variety of strategies to revise content, organization and style, and to improve word choice, sentence variety, clarity and consistency of writing. Students will be exploring how word choice effects tone in a piece of writing.  They will experiment with changing the tone of a text by manipulating the word choice. Writing Conventions Benchmark -       Demonstrate understanding of the grammatical conventions of the English language Students will be writing a parody of a poem or article using standard conventions of English spelling and grammar. Communications Oral and Visual GLI -       Evaluate how language choice, diction, syntax and delivery style (e.g., repetition, appeal to emotion, eye contact) affect the mood and tone and impact the audience. Students will be examining how word choice can influence their audience Reading Applications: Literary Text Benchmark -       Analyze how an author uses figurative language and literary techniques to shape plot and set meaning. Students will be looking at tone words, and how the word choice of a piece of writing can influence the overall meaning of the piece. Reading Applications: Informational, Technical and Persuasive Text Benchmark -       Analyze an author’s implicit and explicit philosophical assumptions and beliefs about a subject By analyzing tone students will begin to understand how to determine the author’s implicit assumptions and beliefs -       Analyze the features and structures of documents and critique them for their effectiveness The tone of a piece influences the way an audience responds to it, and thus how effective the author is in communicating his meaning.  Students will be focusing on tone and how it influences meaning in this lesson.
Assessment	Summative   The summative assessment will take place at the end of the lesson
	Summative   I will be assigning the students a creative writing assignment that will assess their understanding of parody and ability to incorporate tone words into their writing in order to convey an overall tone that is different than the tone of the original piece they’re parodying.  The specifics of the requirements for the assignments are laid out in the rubric. Formative I will be asking for student input through the lesson to help determine if I’m conveying the concepts clearly enough.  This will let me know if they know enough to answer questions.  If no one volunteers answers, then I will first try to reframe the question and ask specific students for input.  If they still don’t seem to understand the concept, I will try re-explaining the material, and then continue by putting them in groups to work. When students are working on their writing assignment, I will be circulating and checking in to see how individuals are coming along.  If any students are having trouble I will help them to look through their packet to find tone words they’d like to replace.

Community Knowledge and Experience:	Students will have been working on tone in the previous lesson, and have probably experienced parody before.  I will try to tap into this knowledge of what parody is by giving a few examples of my own that they may recognize (Men in Tights, Weird Al) and then asking them if they can think of any examples.
Procedures including:   • Opening •Activities • Closure	Opening: (2-3 min)   Bellringer: Vocab Builder (2-3 min) -       Student will present their vocab word to the class Activities: (43-61min) Overflow from Yesterday: -       If needed finish up presentation of poem strips from yesterday Parody Examples: (5-7 min) -       Ask students to think about what they know about Twilight. -       Play Twilight Remix trailer and discuss how it changes the way the audience is supposed to feel about Edward, ultimately mocking the original. Defining Parody: PowerPoint (3-5 min) -       Hand out guided notes worksheet. -       Ask class to define parody.  I write it into the PowerPoint on the Smart Board.  Then I bring up the formal definition of tone. -       Ask class to explain how parody is used and to give possible examples.  I write it into the PowerPoint on the Smart Board.  Then I bring up the formal explanation of how parody is used, and some of my own examples. Explain Renaissance: (3-5 min) -       Briefly explain that the Renaissance was the rebirth of Greek ideals, and a rebirth of art and culture. -       Address how poets and playwrights competed for prestige and often wrote letters to each other and responses to each other’s work. Read “Passionate Shepherd & The Nymph’s Reply”: (2-4 min) -       Tell students that I’ll be showing them some examples of what they can choose to do for their creative writing assignment. -       Hand out worksheet with poem’s side by side, and ask students to get out their tone word packet from yesterday. -       I will read through both poems. Discuss Tone and Parody in poems: (5-7min) -       After I have read through both poems and I will then ask students to take a minute or two to find words that help to convey the overall tone of the poem.  I will then ask students to share with the class some of the words they came up with. -       We will then discuss how the word choice helps to convey the differing views on love, and how the response poem functions as a work of parody on the original.  Some questions I will use to scaffold this discussion are: What is the tone in each poem? What specific words are used to convey each tone? How does “The Nymph’s Reply” respond to or make fun of the original poem? Read “How to be a Good Wife” and “…Romantic Husband”: (5-7 min) -       Hand out a copy of the “How to be a Good Wife” article and read aloud. -       I will engage students in a brief discussion about stereotypes of women.  The prior knowledge from this discussion will draw from the current unit that the students are working on.  Some questions I can ask are: What is the relationship between the husband and wife? What is the relationship between the wife and children? What is the relationship between the husband and children? What are the expectations for the wife? What are the expectations for the husband? -       I will put up a copy of “How to Be a Romantic Husband” on the Smart Board, tell students this is a previous year’s paper written by a student, and I will read it aloud. Examine student model: (5-7 min) -       I will ask the class to give me examples of tone words in the student paper that help to contrast it with the original article. -       We will then discuss the student model’s merits as a work of parody.  I will guide the discussion with some of the following questions: How does the tone of the model differ from the original? What are some of the descriptive words that help shift the tone? How does the model flip the expectations of the original?  What are some specific examples of this? Explain Writing Assignment: (5-7 min) -       I will ask students to get out the song or poem I asked them to bring in as homework for today. -       I will tell students they have a couple of options for their creative writing assignment.  They will be writing either a response poem, or re-writing the “How to be a Good Wife” article.  They will need to get their original piece approved by me if they choose the poem/song option. -       I will hand out the rubric and descriptive sheet for the assignment.  The assignment will be due on Thursday. Option 1: -       Students can write a response to the poem or song they brought in.  They can also write a response poem to certain poems from the current unit in the text book: The Garden of Love (pg 382) An Ancient Gesture (pg 383) One Art (pg 387) Her Kind (pg 389) Down-hearted Blues (pg 406) My Love Swears That She is Made of Truth (pg 413) To A Stranger (pg 418) Option 2: -       Students can re-write the “How to Be a Good Wife” article Present Ideas: (10-12 min) -       I will give students a few minutes to brainstorm ideas for what they want to do for their creative writing assignment. -       I will then have student come to me to get their idea approved and send them down to the computer lab (where Deb will be) to get started writing their assignment. Writing Lab: (remainder of 4th period) -       In the lab, after everyone has run their idea by me, I will be circulating and making sure students are staying on task. -       I will be helping students who appear to be having trouble with the assignment.  I will direct them to look at their tone words packet and identify words in the original piece to replace. Closure: (1 min) -       I will dismiss students from the lab and remind them that their assignment is due on Tuesday.
Resources	What texts, materials/resources, websites, and equipment will you need? How will you access and/or distribute them? -       Copies of Readings – available as handouts -       Smart Board – in classroom -       Computer lab
Applications, Connections, Extensions	I way to make connections to future lessons would be to address how tone is used in speeches (such as political candidates and agendas) so that students can be more aware of how the media and other sources are trying to affect them.  It’s also important for student to be able to use tone to persuade their audience to agree with them whenever they’re trying to use language to get what they want.  If students know that the language they use and the word choices they make will affect the outcome of their appeal, they will be more empowered.
Inclusive Instruction	I will be modeling or showing examples of every activity so that students can hear the activity being described as well as see it done before they make an attempt at it.  I am also giving students a couple of choices for their final writing assignment so that they can choose a topic that is relevant and interesting to them, as well as at a reasonable level for them.

MDT Day 1: AU ’09

Multi-Day Teach Day 1: AU ’09

Subject Area: English 11/12 – Contemporary Lit

Title of unit (of which this lesson is a part): Women & Men & Relationships

Lesson Title: Tone Words

Purpose/ Goals	Students should be able to use tone effectively in their own writing.  This skill will help them to use their writing to achieve their goals.  If they can effectively use tone, then they will be able to influence their audience to feel and react they way they want.  They also need to understand how the author can use certain words in order to manipulate his or her audience into feeling a certain way about a subject matter.
Objectives:	I can identify tone and tone words in a piece of text.   I can use tone words in a piece of text to make it more descriptive. I can explain how word choice affects the overall tone in a text.
National & Ohio Standards	What are the specific national (professional organization) and/or state standards, key ideas, performance indicators, and major understandings that you will address in this lesson? Explain how this lesson meets these standards in a brief narrative.   Writing Process Benchmark -       Use a variety of strategies to revise content, organization and style, and to improve word choice, sentence variety, clarity and consistency of writing. Students will be exploring how word choice effects tone in a piece of writing.  They will experiment with changing the tone of a text by manipulating the word choice. Communications Oral and Visual GLI -       Evaluate how language choice, diction, syntax and delivery style (e.g., repetition, appeal to emotion, eye contact) affect the mood and tone and impact the audience. Students will be examining how word choice can influence their audience Reading Applications: Literary Text Benchmark -       Analyze how an author uses figurative language and literary techniques to shape plot and set meaning. Students will be looking at tone words, and how the word choice of a piece of writing can influence the overall meaning of the piece. Reading Applications: Informational, Technical and Persuasive Text Benchmark -       Analyze the features and structures of documents and critique them for their effectiveness The tone of a piece influences the way an audience responds to it, and thus how effective the author is in communicating his meaning.  Students will be focusing on tone and how it influences meaning in this lesson.
Assessment	Summative   The summative assessment will take place at the end of the lesson
	Formative   I will be asking for student input on an example task after I have modeled a task.  This will let me know if they know enough to answer questions.  If no one volunteers answers, then I will first try to reframe the question and ask specific students for input.  If they still don’t seem to understand the concept, I will try re-explaining the material, and then continue by putting them in groups to work. When the student are in groups I will be sitting in and listening to their conversations as they engage with the material and begin putting it into use.  This will allow me to gage where the students stand in their understanding and judge whether they are yet able to work alone, rather than in groups.

Community Knowledge and Experience:	One of the ways to explain tone is by asking students to think whether or not they’ve ever been told “Now don’t you take that tone of voice with me!” by their parents or caregivers.  I can ask them to connect to their own lives to see if they can figure out the meaning of tone.  By putting some of the lesson into kid-speak, and talking to them on their level, I think I can help them to understand the concepts more fully.   I also will be asking them to create their own interpretation of a bland poem.  This will let them put some of their own voice into their work.  I will be asking them to bring in a poem or song that they enjoy and can connect to as homework for the next day.  This choice in what they want to bring in will allow them to hold some stake in their learning.
Procedures including:   • Opening •Activities • Closure	Opening: (2-3 min)   Bellringer: Vocab Builder (2-3 min) -       Student will present their vocab word to the class Activities: (34-49 min) Defining Tone: PowerPoint (3-5 min) -       Hand out guided notes worksheet. -       Ask class to define tone.  I write it into the PowerPoint on the Smart Board.  Then I bring up the formal definition of tone. -       Ask class to explain how tone is used.  I write it into the PowerPoint on the Smart Board.  Then I bring up the formal explanation of how tone is used. -       Hand out packet of descriptive words and remind students to hang on to this packet for tomorrow. Model Finding Tone Words: Endymion Spring (3-5 min) -       Underline tone words in the text on the Smart Board, and describe how they portray the gloomy tone. Class identifies tone words: Oliver Twist (5-7 min) -       Ask students to take a minute or two to find tone words in the next text.  Then ask for volunteers to come up and underline tone words on the Smart Board.  If no one volunteers, then call on students. -       Ask students what they think the overall tone of the passage might be. Model Poem Strips (3-5 min) -       Show students how I can look in the packet of descriptive words to change the bland poem into something more flavorful. -       Write new version of poem up on the Smart Board. Class Poem Strips (12-15 min) -       Have the class count off into groups of 6 and then hand out a bland poem stanza to each group.  Each group will need to designate a leader to focus and guide the group, a recorder to write down the poem on the group’s sheet and on the Smart Board, a speaker to present the stanza to the class, and 2 word finders to search the packet for appropriate vocabulary. -       Groups 1-3 will be making their bland happy and exciting; groups 4-6 will be making their poem sad, gloomy, and dull. -       Students will be given about 10 minutes to work on improving their stanza.  I will be walking around and sitting in on each group for a minute or two at a time. -       At about the 10-minute mark I will instruct students to begin writing their stanzas on the white boards.  I will have marked out where each group should write their stanza. Read Class Poems (3-5 min) -       I will begin by reading the original bland poem.  Then I will ask the speaker for each group to read their stanza.  Groups will go in order. Discuss how word choice can change tone (5-7 min) -       I will ask students how word choice can affect the overall tone of a piece of writing.  In order to scaffold this I will ask some of the following questions: What are some contrasting words between the happy poem and the sad poem? Why did you choose this word to add to your poem instead of another that carries the same tone? How did you specifically make the two poems you created differ in tone? What would changing this word do to change the tone of the poem? Possible Overflow: Peer-editing -       I will ask groups to revise each other’s poems (1&4, 2&5, 3&6), so that they will be revising the same stanza, but the other tone. -       I will then ask groups to share their revised pieces. Closure: (4-6 min) Briefing for Tomorrow: (2-3 min) -       Tell students that tomorrow we will be talking about parody and begin experimenting with tone in their own original writing. Assign Homework: (2-3 min) -       Ask students to bring in either a poem or a song that uses a specific tone, such as a love song, a ballad about adventuring, a sad song, or a scary poem. -       Remind students that it needs to be school appropriate. -       Tell students that the text they bring in should be between 20 and 50 lines long. -       Remind students to bring their descriptive word packet back tomorrow.
Resources	What texts, materials/resources, websites, and equipment will you need? How will you access and/or distribute them? -       Copies of Readings – available as handouts -       Smart Board – in classroom -       Poem strips – available as handouts -       Whiteboard & markers – available in classroom
Applications, Connections, Extensions	I will be following up this lesson by having them complete a writing assignment that includes tone words to convey a meaning.  I will also address how tone is used in speeches (such as political candidates and agendas) so that students can be more aware of how the media and other sources are trying to affect them.  It’s also important for student to be able to use tone to persuade their audience to agree with them whenever they’re trying to use language to get what they want.  If students know that the language they use and the word choices they make will affect the outcome of their appeal, they will be more empowered.
Inclusive Instruction	I will be modeling every activity so that students can hear the activity being described as well as see it done before they make an attempt at it.  I will also be putting the students into heterogeneous groups so that students can see as many viewpoints as possible, in addition to letting them work within their zone of proximal development.  I will be moving through these groups to listen in and help out where I’m needed to guide students toward understanding.