I have this problem with lesson plans, where I write it out but it looks sloppy and hard to read. No problem when they're just for me...but this one is for an interview. Any tips on making it nice and neat? Here is the sloppy part...it's for a 6th grade reading intervention lesson, for a student with decoding problems. I don't know anything more than that...other than the lesson is supposed to be 50 minutes. It's just to talk about, not to actually teach. Tips are welcome on making the lesson better, but I don't have a lot of time! Procedure: 5 Minutes – Making Words (see attached) 5 Minutes – Discuss work from other classes. Where is student having trouble? Where is she having success? How is school going in general? 5 Minutes – Sight words. Start with list of high frequency words. Student reads words until she makes 5 mistakes. Teacher makes cards for each word, and student reads them (as well as her previously obtained cards). If the student reads the word correctly on the first try, the teacher puts a pencil mark on the back of the card. Once the student has five marks on a card, the word is considered “graduated”. If a student has marks on a card, but makes a mistake, the marks are erased. 10 Minutes – Introduce vocabulary words (blunder, cancel, continuous, distribute, and document). Each will be on a card. Student will label her white board slate 1 through 5. Teacher will read each word aloud. Student will mark a 1, 2, or 3 for each word: 1 if she has never heard it before, 2 if she has heard it but isn’t sure what it means or what it looks like, and 3 if she is familiar with the word and uses it. Teacher will then show the cards to the student, reading each word aloud. Student will then read each word from the cards. If the student reads the word correctly on the first try, teacher will mark with a pencil on the back of each card. If the student reads the word incorrectly, teacher will help the student analyze each word to figure it out. Student will then identify any known phonemes or affixes in the words. Finally, student will use each word in a spoken sentence. 5 Minutes – Introduce C-rule. Say, “English seems pretty crazy, right? Well, there are all sorts of rules we can follow to help us understand how to pronounce different words. Like, for example, you remember what we learned about the letter e on the end of a word, the magic e rule? Well, here’s another.” Show c-train card. “I know it’s cheesy, but it helps you remember: when the c is followed by an i, e, or y, it will almost always go /s/. But when it’s followed by an a, o, or u, or another consonant, it will go /k/. Take a look at your vocabulary words. Do you see the two c’s in cancel? Do they prove me right or what?” Have student identify where she sees the letter c in the other four words. Write some nonsense words on the white board and ask the student to pronounce just the c’s. Ask her how this might help her in figuring out words in the future. 10 Minutes – On level reading. Using a book on the student’s reading level, student will read aloud to teacher, with teacher asking questions for comprehension. Student will identify words with c’s and determine whether the c says /s/ or /k/. 10 Minutes – Writing. Student will create two new words, one with hard c and one with soft c. She will write down their meanings, and then use each in a sentence. Teacher will then have to determine the meaning from the sentence.
Are you required to script out your instructions? I realize it's helpful for some/most people, but whenever I write instructions, I never say them how I write them. That's just a pet peeve of mine, though. If you're going to keep them, I would consider rephrasing some of the instructions. At one point in time, you wrote that you're going to say, "Does that prove me right or what?" I wouldn't exactly feel comfortable saying that as a teacher, nor do I think I'd be comfortable if a teacher said that to me. I totally agree with what Ms.SLS said about arranging the plan like an outline. I think it just looks cleaner and helps me digest information quickly. I really like the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 activity. I've never heard of it before but it's a pretty awesome way to gauge familiarity with vocabulary words.
Thanks for the help, everyone! Going to print now...I am going on vacation and have my interview the afternoon of the day I get back. MLB711, I like to write out what I might say, to give an idea how the instructions would play out...and of course, I would only say "does that prove me right or what?" if the situation warranted it. This is for a one-on-one with a sixth grader, so some humor is necessary...=) I took it out, though.
