​Katherine Chandler Callicutt

 

Overall, I felt very happy about how my mini-lesson went.  I really enjoyed the topic that I was teaching about, and I felt like it was very relevant to the overall unit of argumentative writing.  I did feel like I was very shaky throughout certain parts of the lesson, though.  I get very nervous in front of people, and I felt like at times this was very obvious.  So, I had to stop and take a breath and get back on track.  This is definitely something that I will have to work on considering I will constantly be in front of people when I become a teacher.  Something that I worked on addressing since my last mini-lesson was circulating throughout the room.  I tried to do more of that this time, but I found myself feeling incredibly awkward.  I will need to get used to doing this as it is an important part of monitoring student progress. 

            The peer feedback was incredibly helpful in improving my lesson plan.  There were a few concerns that were repeated throughout a majority of the peer feedback sheets.  One main concern was that there were not enough transition words listen on the worksheet.  I definitely think this is a legitimate point, and I would definitely implement more of these words if I were to do this activity again.  I struggled with finding a happy medium between trying to put way too many words on the handout and not putting enough.  I definitely understand that I leaned towards the “not enough” end of the spectrum.  I also think that I could have expanded the categories that I listed on the handout.  This would not only add in more possible words to use, but it would also give students the opportunity to use these words in a different way.  A few of the feedback sheets dealt with the actual application of transition words.  First, it was recommended that I talk about exactly when transition words could be used in a full-length paper.  I recognize how important this is as it is ultimately the main aspect of the lesson.  It is important to not only teach what these words are, but to also teach how these words should be used so that students are not just using them inappropriately.  Another suggestion was that I talk about the frequency at which these words should be used.  This is important because these words can definitely be overused and this could ultimately ruin a paper.  Another concern related to this is the appropriate spacing of transitions throughout a piece of writing.  Finally, group work was a huge suggestion throughout the peer feedback sheets.  Specifically, a peer editing activity was suggested.  One really good point was that this would keep students accountable to actually adding in those extra transition words.

            There are a number of things that I would do differently if I were to teach this lesson again.  First, I would definitely improve the worksheet by adding in more categories of transition words and more of the transition words themselves.  I would also talk more about how transition words should be used and how often is appropriate to use them.  I would also implement a group activity.  For instance, I may have the original pre-write done individually.  However, the part where the argument was changed could be done differently.  I would have students trade papers with another student and then students would add in the transition words to the other person’s paper.   Then, they could talk as partners about how their arguments changed and then we could discuss this as a class as well.  Finally, I would definitely work on my comfort level in front of the class so that I could talk without being as shaky and unsure.