Group learning, team teaching, and collegial collaboration are a crucial part of teaching. Facilitating student learning calls for a deep understanding of the group learning process. Thus a primary objective of English 480 is for all of us to develop and practice our collaborative knowledge and skills. Preparing teaching units will require extensive time and effort including wide reading, library research, writing, group discussion and decision making, and assessment activities. All students are expected to take responsibility for group work while cooperating with others in a professional, mutually respectful, supportive, and critically reflective way.
For this assignment, students/groups are responsible for creating a teaching unit using an assigned book. They are also responsible for seeking out additional reading material and for developing class activities, assignments, and student evaluation tools. Teaching in this class should have the highest, broadest, and most ethical expectations, be directed to the needs and interests of the learners, and involve the best pedagogical practices.
These units are not intended to be "practice" teaching where you try to create lessons appropriate to secondary students and your classmates try to "guess" how secondary students might respond. Instead, this is real teaching where your students are your colleagues, all aspiring teachers just about to enter the profession. You have an opportunity to significantly influence their understanding and approach as classroom teachers.
Perhaps to a greater extent than in any class you have previously taken, you will be responsible for the learning of your classmates. What do they most want and need to know? How can you create active learning experiences that will facilitate their understanding of how to teach literature? How can each group challenge itself to provide us with innovative and meaningful content and learning experiences?
II. Expectations:
Again, you will be working in one of six groups that focus on one of the following themes:
Group #1: "Gender”/Halse’s Speak.
Group #2: “Sexual Orientation and Acceptance"/Yamanaka’s Name
Group #3: "Race, White Privilege, and the African American Experience”/Myers’ Monster.
Group #4: "The Native American Experience”/Alexie’s Lone Ranger
Group #5: "Human Rights & the Third World”/Menchu’s I Rigoberta
Group #6: "Literature and Socioeconomics”/ Ehrenreich’s Nickel & Dimed.
As a student/teacher, you are responsible for learning your topic well and, then, as a collaborative group, carefully deciding how to limit and focus in order to be most effective. Don't ask yourself, "What does the professor want us to do on this topic?" Ask instead: "How do we think we could we best prepare students in this class to be teachers on this topic?"
You may want to give your unit a new, more focused title. I recommend that each class meeting also have its own title or subtitle and that the logical development from one class meeting to the next is explained on the syllabus. While very interesting class activities and readings may spring to mind at first, it is better to start by establishing learning objectives and then developing activities and reading that will best attain those objectives.
To repeat: you must base your three day unit on your assigned book and assigned social justice topic. Beyond this, you will be expected to seek out additional books, essays, articles, websites, videos, etc. that are deemed relevant to your teaching.
Also, it is fair to expect 480 students to read at the rate of about a novel per week. It is also fair to expect that given sufficient advance warning students in this class can rent and view commonly available videos outside of class time.
Moreover, you and your group will be responsible for creating
evaluation tools/assessments. Don't forget: there is another grade attached
to this assignment, the "Collaborative
Group Teach: Student Assignments" grade.
If groups want students to purchase your syllabus/course packet, additional books and/or teaching material, you need to approve all material in advance with the professor. Don't be afraid to ask classmates to purchase books or materials that are likely to be of professional value. English 480 is clearly one of the most important classes in preparing teachers for their profession and developing professional knowledge and acquiring materials and personal libraries are part of getting ready to teach English. Try not to exceed a $20 budget, but remember that for those of your classmates on tight budgets there are options they can look into, including borrowing materials from libraries, sharing with other class members, reading literature straight from the web, etc.
III. Lesson Planning:
When planning, you and your group should draw upon Webb and Christensen's books and additional resources to promote a better understanding of some of the critical issues surrounding your particular book and social justice issue.
Although some time will be given in class to “plan,” you and your partners will most certainly need to use outside time to prepare.
During the three days, I will certainly be looking for more than lecturing. Certainly, you need to deliver the content, but you must find a creative way to do so. Consider using: “essential questions”; reader-response questions; film/video; “pencil-in-hand” note-taking strategies; quizzes, outside reading assignments, etc. Just be creative and be prepared to “run the classroom.”
Also, avoid the "I'll do the first day, then you do the second, then you the third, etc." approach to this assignment. Each should be actively involved during all three days of the teach. Collaborate and look for ways to truly "work together" not only on planning the lesson, but also on delivering the content. Do note: I plan on helping each group with the content, teaching strategies, or materials: It is here where your group get’s to probe deeper into literature/reading related to your assigned social justice issue.
When preparing, make sure to keep the following specific requirements in mind:
Students will be expected to create a syllabus/course packet, teaching activities, and reading/homework assignments. Before each unit begins student leaders need to provide the class your syllabus/course packet for their unit which explains the focus of the unit, the learning objectives, reading assignments, materials that need to be purchased, and clearly spells out what reading/ assignments/ homework is expected, when it is due, and how it will be evaluated.
A rough draft of the syllabus needs to be approved by the professor at least two days before it is handed out to the class.
There is no make believe; there is no fictive audience. You will teach to a college audience. Treat them as students, not as teachers-to-be.
Your lesson plan
is to cover three full class sessions, approximately one hour and fifty
minutes per class. It is assumed that the unit will include reading, writing,
and reflect critical pedagogy. The unit should have a natural beginning, middle, and an end: it should NOT be a loose collection of activities. There must be a clear plan; everything must connect and reflect a gradual progression toward an ultimate goal.
You must include
a daily schedule and include specifics when it comes to a “before
the unit” (pre-reading/prior knowledge) lessons/activities; “during
the unit” activities/lessons; and “after the unit” evaluative
activities or exam(s).
You are responsible for making your assigned book's content a component of your three-day lesson. Consider the content of the textbook as a starting point. Your challenge is to embellish/develop the book's content in a way that reflects the social justice nature of your assigned topic as well as the social justice nature of this course.
Your syllabus
should include additional readings and/or additional scholarly readings related
to your book/critical issue/theme. Figure on including
3-5 excerpts into your packet to enhance your presentation of the issues
you wish to address in class. You might, for example, use a few excerpts
from House on Mango Street to discuss issues of gender or minority. You could use Slam poems, rap music, lyrics, YA novel excerpts, newspaper articles, selections from People's History of the United States, Adbusters, etc. You might be providing additional poetry; you might require that students read a collection of short stories. You may even require that students purchase additional books for the class. Regardless, each group is responsible for utilizing a variety of resources that take the class beyond the textbook and into even more thoughtful, critical directions
Make clear the
teaching sequence and the order of activities/events i.e. ITIP (anticipatory
set, objective, modeling, monitoring, guided practice, independent practice);
or ROPES (Review, Overview, Presentation, Exercise, Summary).
Your syllabus/course packet will
have include a title, grade level, goals & objectives, accommodations,
materials, extensions, and assessments.
Your goals and objectives should be aligned with the Michigan Standards
and Benchmarks for the English-Language Arts. Choose benchmarks that
show you are meeting these standards and type them out in your packet.
Your plans must
communicate to others. Your plans cannot be brief or telegraphic. When
you have more experience and less obligation to show others about what
you are planning to do in your classroom, you will likely produce plans
that are less-detailed. However, that is not the case with this assignment.
Make your plans highly-focused, well-organized, cogent, and written
in a style that facilitates the reader’s grasp of your intent and
meaning.
Speaking of “later on in your career,” it is quite
probable that you will develop your own format for your lesson plans,
which is fine. For the sake of this assignment, however, I require that
you stick to this lesson plan format.
Lastly, the lesson
plans must make use of references (support) that are informed and relevant;
be free from glaring and distracting errors, whether spelling, grammar,
sentence structure, etc. When you document your sources, I expect you
to use M.L.A. format for the “Works Cited” page.
III. Final Thoughts/Summary:
As you plan and create your syllabus/course packet keep in mind that the best learning happens when teachers allow students to perform, move, speak,
analyze, draw, observe, discuss, etc.
For each unique activity that
you ask your classmates to perform, type up a sheet that explains the
activity. This includes hand-outs that you may give to your students
as well. Teachers always love walking away with a great activity. Provide
clean copies so that you and your classmates can copy these for your
future students.
Clearly indicate in your
syllabus/course packet: the homework
that your classmates are responsible for. It is expected that you assign
your classmates work to complete outside of the class period. Make sure
as well that these assignments work to enhance the lessons and activities
you teach the next day.
Further, do not shy away from technology. In fact, it is EXPECTED that a technology component
is in your your teaching unit. This can be accomplished in a number
of ways: you might refer your classmates to teaching webquests, websites,
professional reading on the web, etc. You might also assign your classmates
to analyze websites, participate in confer questions your group writes,
post assignments on-line, create a powerpoint presentation, etc. In
your teaching packet, you should include the URL's you wish your classmates
to visit along with any prompts, activities, etc. related to the technology
task.
At the very least, your group will be expected to post at least ONE NICENET QUESTION. You cannot post more than THREE.
Visual and media texts
that create interest and variety in your teaching are required. But beware: though
showing a 2 hour (or even 30 minute) movie is not an option. Consider using quick video clips as discussion starters, preparatory sets,
or visual aids. Also, consider using colorful overheads, recorded
music, TV clips, DVD's, advertisements, artwork, etc. in your teaching
unit.
Lastly, clear, evaluative rubrics
are necessary for any assignment you will be assessing. Include these
rubrics in your course packet. Again, no surprises: make your expectations clear to your students.
IV. Assessment and What it’s Worth: Among other things, you and your partners will be assessed on, among
other things:
To what degree does the group use its teaching strategies, approaches,
etc., to deal with the assigned topic? An effective “teach”
should target “higher level” thinking and not simply settle
for strategies relying solely on rote memorization or student “regurgitation.”To what degree is the group prepared or organized? The group should
appear ready; it should appear that the group has a plan and does not
appear to be “winging it.” Moreover, the group should use
time effectively, and all members should be equally involved – members should not appear unsure of their duties/responsibilities/content. To what degree does the group handle the assigned content? The presentation
should reflect deep analysis of the given content; content/discussion
should not be handled in a general, trite, or ordinary way.
To what degree does the group should
provide thoughtful, additional resources that connect with the topic/assigned
reading, etc.? The group must provide additional literature/reading experiences
and connect this material to the issue.
This assignment is a GROUP grade, meaning each person will get the same grade. But, if it is glaringly apparent that someone within the group is not actively assisting or participating in the critical nature of the lesson(s), I do reserve the right to alter grades. NOTE: there are NO MAKE-UPS FOR THESE PRESENTATIONS. You must be here. If not, you lose the grade.
"Group
Teach" Rubric.
When evaluating the three-day lessons, the following criteria will be considered. An "A" group teach would likely look like this:
The group presenting the material obviously meets and exceeds all of the assignment’s
criteria. Clearly, the group is
prepared to teach the assigned unit; from all three days -- start to finish -- the
group effectively deals with the material in a rich, thorough
manner. The group clearly has a plan; its syllabus reflects careful thought and planning; lessons are highly detailed; the syllabus includes daily goals and objectives, outside readings, clear directions, additional resources, etc.; ultimately, the syllabus is professionally crafted, and reflects a great deal of thought for the assignment.The group's approach to the three-day lesson is highly creative and thoughtful; the teaching strategies, approaches,
etc., help to make the material understandable; the content “comes
to life,” and teachers effectively connect the three-day lesson to the
students in the room as well as to language arts teaching as a whole. For each of the three days, the group/teachers succeed at eliciting higher
thinking – they do not settle for “rote memory,” simple
lecture or “student regurgitation.” The teachers make good
use of outside resources; outside
handouts/literature/reading is plausible, makes senses, and fits with the overall investigation/discussion/analysis of the assigned topic. Overall, the group effectively uses its time; all group members appear equally
involved in the teaching experience; delivery of the message/issues/material
was handled expertly.
Start to finish, the presentation enhanced the product
and the information; it was engaging and carefully crafted, and this “teach” serves as a model for others to see; there is simply no question that the three day lesson meets and exceeds all expectations.
A "B" grade means that the group might meet the requirements, but still lacks in some of the more critical areas reflective of "A" quality work; a "C" grade likely meets some of the criteria/requirements, but leaves too many questions regarding planning, content, approach, etc.; a "D" grade likely reflects considerable problems and/or poor quality of work, planning, etc.