Jennifer Niskanen's Sample Lesson Plans
I created these lesson plans when I was on a teaching placement at the high school level. I used them with a grade nine advance class. I have since used in with both an advanced and a general level grade ten class. These lesson worked very well with all of these classes.
General Goals: Students will demonstrate their creativity and their writing skills. Students will practice co-operation in a group, activities that include both writing and oral communication. Students will demonstrate the various steps of the writing process. Students will apply the concepts of utopia and distopia. Students will expand their appreciation for short stories.
Target Population: Grade 11, Advanced English
Designer: Jennifer L. Niskanen
Evaluation: Students
will participate in the creation of a rubric that will be used to evaluate
the final product of this assignment.
| 1. Lesson Title/Focus:
Elements of a good short story and rubric creation. |
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| Specific
Expectations: Students will: -explore the elements of a good short story using stories they have read. -express themselves orally in small groups and/or to the class as a whole. -co-operate together with their peers and with the teacher to create a rubric that will eventually be used to evaluate the final product in the world creation assignment. -clearly understand how the final draft of their world creation assignment is going to be evaluated. |
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| Students will be given time to free write about what they feel are the elements of a good short story and how they feel fiction should be evaluated. | 10 min |
| Students will discuss their ideas with their tribe (group of four) and they will create a list of what they feel should be evaluated when marking the final draft of their short story. They will write their ideas on a large piece of chart paper with coloured markers. They will also note how important the various items are and how much they should be worth. The teacher will have a similar piece of chart paper prepared that includes aspects of plot, atmosphere, character, tone, and setting, as well as ideas on how they will construct their story. | 20 min. |
| Each group
will choose one representative to present their ideas and to participate
in the rubric fish bowl. The teacher will act as both a participant
and a facilitator in the discussion. Groups may call a time-out
to confer with their representative or to exchange their representative
for another student. One student will also be chosen to act as
neutral chair person. They will act as a mediator and encourager,
and they will be responsible for making sure everyone has a chance to speak and to be listened to. One student will also be chosen to act as a secretary. The teacher will use these notes to create a rubric using the ideas presented in the discussion. |
30 min.
and 10 min. for a teacher-led debriefing to summarize the points made during the class discussion. |
| Assessment/Evaluation
Tactics -The free-writing will be evaluated for completion as an in-class writing activity. -Students will also be evaluated for group participation. -Every student throughout the year will have the opportunity to participate in a fishbowl in some capacity. They will receive a mark for oral presentation. |
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| 2. Lesson Title/Focus:
Brainstorming Individually and in groups. |
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| Specific
Objectives: Students will: -demonstrate their understanding of both utopia and distopia by creating at least three ideas for worlds. -develop an appreciation for diversity by sharing ideas with their classmates. -demonstrate the first step in the writing process by creating a mind map of at least one of their ideas. -expand on their original ideas. |
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| Students will separate a large piece of paper into four. Students will be given time to free-write about an idea that could eventually be developed into a short story about a utopia or distopia. Students will write about one to three ideas for worlds in each section of the paper. | 10 min. |
| Students will discuss their original ideas with their tribe (group of four). Expansions on their original ideas will be written on the back of the page throughout the activity. | 40
min. (10 min. per person in the group) |
| Students will complete their three ideas and create one mind map that includes aspects of plot, atmosphere, character, tone, and setting as well as ideas on how they will construct their stories. | 20 min. |
| Students will write a reflective journal about how their idea developed and specific writing goals they wish to pursue in this assignment in the fourth square on their piece of paper. | 5 min. |
| Students will draw a picture that represents their world. | If
they finish early and for homework |
| Assessment/Evaluation
Tactics -The free-writing and reflective journal activity will be evaluated for completion as an in-class writing activity. -The mind map will be included in the process mark for the world creation writing assignment. -The completion of their picture will be an important part of the following class. It will be checked for completion and students will be given a homework mark. It will also receive a process mark for the world creation assignment. |
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| 3. Lesson Title/Focus:
World Diversification And Conglomeration |
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| Specific
Expectations: Students will: -develop an appreciation for diversity by sharing ideas with their classmates. -demonstrate the first step in the writing process by creating a mind map of at least one of their ideas. -expand on their original ideas. |
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| For this activity two students from one tribe will be asked to join two students of another tribe. They will be asked to present the pictures that represent their world to students of the other tribe. Students will then be asked to create a universe that includes all the worlds of the new group. They must examine together how these worlds would interact in both the past and present. | 50 min |
| Students will
be given a sheet of paper that they will divide into four.
They will each fill in a section of the sheet briefly explaining
the role of their world in the universe and how their world relates
to the other in their group. |
10 min. |
| Students will
then create a mind map for a story in which a member of their world
visits that of another group member or in which a member of another
group member’s world visits the world which they have created.
The mind map will include aspects of plot, atmosphere, character,
tone, and setting as well as ideas on how they will construct their story. Students will then be asked to create a first draft of a short story using one of their mind maps. |
15 min. and/or for homework |
| Assessment/Evaluation
Tactics -The picture will be evaluated as part of the process mark and its completion will be a homework mark. -The sheet of paper that they fill in as a group will be evaluated for completion as an in-class writing assignment. -Students will be evaluated for group participation. -The mind map will be evaluated as part of the process mark for the creation of worlds assignment. |
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Visitors Since March 8th, 2001