Tell Me About Yourself Lesson Reflection

March 18, 2013

Tell Me Who You Are Lesson Reflection 

The objective of my lesson was for the students to have an opportunity to write with a specific audience in mind while providing me with the opportunity to get to know my students. I am very pleased with the results of my lesson. 

I began by talking with the whole class about what makes each of us unique. They brainstormed what makes each of us different from each other. We talked about our appearances our families and our interests and hobbies. After this short discussion We briefly talked about how to format a letter with the date, greeting and closing. I explained what I expected from the students and wrote on the board what they were writing about. 

I then gave the students 15 minutes to write their lessons before a few students shared what they wrote. I did have one student who was not engaged in the lesson. He chose to be distracting to his classmates and not do the work. I found that when I sat in a chair near his desk he stopped distracting his classmates although he did not complete the assignment. Based on my observations of his during the afternoon I spent in the classroom I think he was struggling overall throughout the day staying on task and that it was not just my lesson that he was struggling with. 

One of the things that I like about this lesson is the versatility of it and the possibility for future uses. By developing letter writing skills students have a wide door or opportunity open to them. In her book Black Ants & Buddhists Mary Cowhey writes about helping her students deal with tragedy. She writes about helping them understand and cope when something tragic happens that affects her students whether it happens right in their school or somewhere around the world. One of the things her students did to help them deal with tragic events was write letters to those affected or to survivors. The letter writing helped students express themselves and begin to wrap their minds about very difficult situations. Being able to write a letter can be a skill that is useful throughout a child’s life, it is also a skill that continues to develop over time and this lesson is a small part of that development. 

If I were to reteach my lesson I would lengthen it to include more discussion about letter writing format. I have revised the lesson plan to include this because after reflecting on the lesson I believe it is an important piece that should have played a more important role in my first presentation of this lesson. I would spend some more time on writing format and have a discussion about how writing letters is different than other kinds of writing students typically do in the classroom. I would also have the students do pre-writing planning before beginning to write their letters. 

Overall I am very pleased with my lesson. The standard I was planning for was about students having multiple opportunities to write and I provided one more opportunity for that while focusing their writing on one specific audience, me. I found that most of the students were engaged and seemed to enjoy the lesson as well which is a plus. I am pleased with my lesson outcomes.