Zachaiy Piitts 1

S24 Lesson Reflection

Intio to Natuialism, Emile Zola, anu "ueiminal" Lesson Reflection
Foi this lesson, I was teaching a 12
th
giaue Woilu Liteiatuie class uuiing the
fiist peiiou of the uay. I began the lesson by asking my stuuents to iesponu to the
following piompt: "Iuentify a time when you have seen natuie affect people on a
laige scale. What changes happeneu. Biu it change the way society (eithei in the
local community oi thioughout the whole nation oi woilu) acteu. If so, how. If not,
why uiun't it change society." I maue this question myself because I thought it
woulu help the stuuents to think about how natuie holus powei ovei us, no mattei
how haiu we tiy, which is what the natuialists believeu. Fiom ieauing the stuuents
iesponses, they mostly got the point, although they uiun't answei it as elaboiately as
I woulu have likeu. I tiieu to phiase the question so it piompteu them to wiite a lot,
but they uiu not. I think if I woulu have askeu them just to tell me how it effecteu the
people immeuiately anu how it changeu how we uo things touay the iesponses
woulu have been moie elaboiate anu insightful. The stuuents also seemeu to not
want to uo this shoit wiiting, juugeu by the looks of uismay on theii faces.
Then, I began to intiouuce the concepts of natuialism anu the authoi. That
was a big mistake. 0iiginally in my plan I wanteu to use the poem activity befoie I
intiouuceu the concepts of natuialism so the stuuents woulu have to think a little
moie about some of the majoi themes in the poem. Boing this activity aftei the
lectuie iuineu the whole effect of the poem activity because they alieauy knew what
to look foi-which weie elements of natuialism. The ieason I uiu this was by mistake.
In the fiist stage of planning this lesson, I hau it set up to uo the lectuie fiist then uo
the poem activity (like I uiu by acciuent anyway), but I changeu it the night befoie to
Zachaiy Piitts 2
S24 Lesson Reflection

avoiu this issue of the "answeis" to the activity being too obvious. I shoulu have
been thinking moie cleaily so I coulu have executeu the lesson as planneu. Bowevei
I uiu it coiiectly with the othei class anu they weie much moie engageu anu
iesponueu much bettei to the poem activity.
As I lectuieu the stuuents, I uiu not notice many of them taking notes. I
expecteu that seniois shoulu unueistanu to wiite uown impoitant facts fiom the
piesentation because it is most likely to appeai on theii tests anu come up in othei
couisewoik. I was wiong. They sat anu listeneu to me talk to them foi the uuiation
of the peiiou. I shoulu have politely ieminueu them that they shoulu be taking notes
on this mateiial. Seveial of the stuuents in this class commenteu to theii fiienus the
next uay (that I oveiheaiu because they weie intenueu to be oveiheaiu) that they
believe that eveiything they weie uoing foi me uiun't count towaiu theii giaue
because I was only piacticing anu uiun't have the authoiity to give them ieal giaues.
I wanteu to tell them they weie wiong, but I ueciueu to let it up to them to figuie it
out.
The pieuicting activity seemeu not to be too big of a hit foi this gioup of
stuuents. The othei class hau fun with it anu hau some goou pieuictions, but this
class uiun't seem to enjoy it as much. Nany of them seemeu like they thought it was
silly oi too easy. Nany of theii answeis weie coiiect, but they all gave mostly the
same answei insteau of cieating new ones. This was uisappointing because I
thought it was an easy activity that coulu spaik some cieative oppoitunity, but the
stuuents chose not to engage with the activity. I coulu have been moie enthuastic
about the activity anu possibly bioken the stuuents into gioups to allow them to
Zachaiy Piitts S
S24 Lesson Reflection

uiscuss as a gioup, but I was hesitant with that class because they take woiking in
gioups anu tuin it into nothing moie than a social houi, uespite any piompting to
woik on the activity. Bowevei, in the futuie, woiking in gioups woulu allow the
stuuents to have bettei answeis because they can collaboiate anu cieate it togethei,
which can eliminate social anxieties of saying something "wiong" oi embaiiassing
inuiviuually. Insteau, if they woik as a gioup, the gioup can come up with a silly
answei, which is moie acceptable.
At the enu of the lesson, the stuuents hau spaie time, in which I instiucteu
them to ieau the exceipt fiom "ueiminal". Nost stuuents coopeiateu foi this pait,
howevei foi the next lesson they seemeu to have no iuea they even ieau anything. It
was two uays latei when I taught them again uue to block scheuuling, so eithei they
aie that foigetful oi they aie goou at pietenuing to ieau. Since I alloweu them a goou
amount of time to ieau, I coulu have hanueu out a sheet of questions to answei
about the stoiy that coveieu majoi plot elements so they woulu be able to
unueistanu the stoiy bettei because they woulu have to answei the questions.
Buiing this lesson I also ian in to technical uifficulties, like the application
not woiking coiiectly oi the iemote foi the Keynote not woiking. Luckily I hau a
backup foi the application in case it uiu fail, which was a uisplay of the piompt in
the Keynote, which woikeu just as well, uespite a slight uisiuption with the
stuuents. I also hanuleu the iemote failuie not woiking by tiying it once, anu aftei it
uiu not woik again, I moveu on by just clicking the keys on the computei. I think I
hanuleu the technical uifficulties well.
Zachaiy Piitts 4
S24 Lesson Reflection

0veiall, I think this lesson was not as goou as I anticipateu, anu some of that
was my fault with not having piopei oiganization of the lesson. I also coulu have
changeu a few steps that woulu have encouiageu moie paiticipation in the
activities. I think that if these things weie tweakeu, the lesson woulu be veiy
beneficial to the stuuents as an intiouuction to natuialism, Emile Zola, anu
"ueiminal".