Critique on Sample Lesson

Once reading and visualizing the lesson plan I can say it is a well thought out interactive lesson. It involves reading, writing, speaking & listening and language.  The students will have to read a book based on the Berenstain Bears, write a poem as a class and then turn it into a performance to present.

This lesson aims to get the students thinking creatively, focus and understand the text in order to develop the poem as a group. As well it made the reading insightful because they had to think while reading.  After reading the story she showed the class her poem and ask them questions on what they thought about it and words that were used. At this point I will change one thing and that is writing the poem in front of the students so they can see how it is done and explain as I go. I do understand why she didn’t because she wanted to see the questions the students will ask and what they gathered from the poem. However my opinion is to do it vise versa.

In the second session she reviewed a concept of Found Poetry and ask students questions if they knew of any other poems. In this session students were able to read another book and record words and phrases in groups. By doing this students were communicating and sharing ideas with one another. Eventually creating a class poem together. To change up the lesson I would have had three different groups create a poem and a performance. This would have shown a better outcome of how each group grasp the concept of Found Poetry, as well show how creative can each group can get.

Session three was based on reflection, getting ready for the presentation, focusing on oral presentation and to practice. This is great because it gives students a chance to express their feelings about the performance, adjust last minute changes to any work and as well make their performance great by practicing. She also provided a rubric that students can later use to reflect.

Session four was presentation to family and friends. Students knew what to do and showed how they worked together as a team to others. I like that she gave them the rubric at the end to share their thoughts and reflection. Especially when after a performance happens you can see if it turned out to be the way you planned it to be or what changes could have been done.

Overall I think this is a good lesson and any teacher can use it in different ways to adjust the students in their classroom. As mention it also brings together the ELA instruction in the classroom.