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Rebekah McCloy

Dr. Ian Nolte

ENG 419

29 April 2020

Portfolio Reflection/Outcomes Essay

Attitudes Objectives

A1. Short Story Lesson Play Day 2:

This objective requires the teacher to be able to identify the fact that students learn in

different ways. It is of the utmost importance that in the classroom multiple learning styles are

being served every day, so that all students have a chance at a quality education that works for

them. Day 2 of my short story lesson plan properly demonstrates this objective because in it I am

trying to incorporate ideas that benefit the learning styles of all my students. Class starts with a

video relevant to the lesson on dialects in short stories. Another video that serves as the

companion to an article on dialects the students are reading in class is shown later in the class

period. Implementing videos can benefit those who are auditory learners and visual learners.

Hard, tangible copies of the articles and short stories used during the lesson are passed out to the

students, benefiting visual learners. There are class discussions and group discussions, something

that can be beneficial to both auditory learners and kinesthetic learners. Towards the end of the

core instruction section of the lesson, students read a short story that will be discussed the

following day in class. In conjunction with reading the short story, students do a color coding

activity that serves kinesthetic learners and visual learners. I would say that I am distinguished in
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this objective because each of my lesson plans includes activities and teaching tools that can

serve each of the learning styles.

A2. Poetry Lesson Plan:

This objective calls for there to be parallels between the state standards and the learning

objectives, literary works, and approaches used by the teacher candidate. My poetry lesson plan

demonstrates this learning objective, as the learning objectives do make it evident that the

teacher candidate’s desire is to make sure that the students are proficient in their abilities to read

and analyze poetry by the end of the school year. The state standard explicitly states that the goal

is for students to be able to comprehend many different types of literary works by the end of the

year, including poetry. The poems chosen for this lesson plan can be used to teach the state

standard while also staying relevant to the lessons’ main topic, The Holocaust in poetry. The

videos shown were relevant to the lesson topic, and were used as an instructional tool to both

help students better understand the event and to help increase student comprehension of the

poems read. I argue that I have demonstrated this objective well throughout all my lessons and

that I am distinguished in it. My other lessons also connect the state standards implemented with

the learning objectives, literary works chosen, and materials implemented.

A3. Short Story Lesson Plan:

Objective A.3 tells us that teacher candidates should sincerely convey eagerness and

interest in forever continuing to expand their knowledge on different types of literature, texts that

are from other cultures, critical texts, et cetera. My short story lesson plan focuses on English

dialects in literature. It showcases a few different English dialects that can be found in literature

today, exposing students to the fact that while English-speakers speak the same language, there
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are over a hundred different English dialects in existence today. Some, if not all, are presented in

fictional literature, and should be something that students are exposed to. In my lesson, the

students spend a week being exposed to some English dialects that are present in the short stories

that were hand-picked by me. The students also have an intriguing final project for this unit that

has them writing their own short story in an English dialect that is not their own. I contend that I

am distinguished in this objective, as my lesson plans showcase a few different types of

literature. My poetry lesson plan covers the Holocaust in poetry, my short story lesson plan

covers English dialect in short stories (including an audio-short story showcased on Levar

Burton Reads), what was completed of my novel unit (not featured in this portfolio) centered

around Treasure Island, and my drama unit featured Romeo and Juliet. A wide variety of texts

are being taught in these plans, meaning that I have been reading, and will continue to read,

many different types of texts. Teaching multiple kinds of texts also influences the students and

their lifelong reading choices.

A4. Drama Lesson Plan Day 8:

This objective calls for the teacher candidate to have an appreciation for and take notice

of multiplicity in student thoughts, ideas, and understandings. It is important to make sure that

students feel like their voices are heard in some way, as it promotes a much healthier learning

environment for all. I believe that day 8 of my drama lesson plan on Romeo and Juliet takes this

into account. One of the activities on this day has students rewriting the ending of the play. They

have a chance to really show what they wanted to see in the play. This activity has students

feeling like they have the power. Following the activity, the students are to write a freewrite that

details how they felt about the activity and the new endings that they and their classmates came

up with. The freewrite is another chance for students to get to share their opinion. Their opinions
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also have the chance to influence the teacher candidate, as I, if this were being taught in a real

classroom, would consider changing the assignment based on student recommendations. Those

changes could range from a slight alteration in how the assignment is done to scrapping the

assignment in favor of an assignment the students are much more partial to. I believe that I

completed this objective in a distinguished manner, as this lesson, as well as others, allows for

student opinions to be voiced or written. Several of my class sessions end in freewrites. One of

the options that students have is to tell how they felt about the activity they did in class or the

literary work they read. Students have the opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings.

A5. Drama Lesson Plan:

This objective calls for the teacher candidate to do further research without being asked

or instructed to do so. This can mean that the teacher looks online or reads other books to gain

more ideas for teaching strategies. I would argue that this is an extremely important objective for

teachers and teacher candidates to follow through with. There is always room to learn, and what

better way to learn about what does or does not work in the classroom than by reading what a

more experienced teacher knows from their time in the classroom. I believe that my drama lesson

plan for Romeo and Juliet encapsulates this objective, for in the creation of this lesson plan, I,

not only used activities from resources provided in class, but I also implanted activities that I

found on the internet that came from blogs and articles written by real teachers about the kind of

activities they found to be useful when teaching Shakespeare. When I used both the activities

from the class resources and from the internet, I took an overall idea, and used it as a framework

for what I actually wanted to do. I altered the activities to fit my lesson and my teaching style.

Additionally, I also adopted and altered a few activities that have been used by some of my

professors at Marshall University. One example of an activity that came from the classroom
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resources that I implemented in my lesson plan was the Biopoem activity. This is one of the few

activities that I did not alter in any way. One example of an activity that came from the internet is

the translation activity on day 7, that calls for students to take a moment or scene from the play

and translate it into either a text or a Tweet. An example of an activity that came from several of

my professors at Marshall University is the freewrite activity. This is an activity that I do at the

end of class every day in this unit and that I use in my other lesson plans as well. I contend that I

completed this objective in a distinguished manner, as it is something that I implemented in each

of my lesson plans, and that I continue to do in normal life. I find that it can be quite useful to

learn from others, particularly those that have more experience in that area.

A6. Poetry Lesson Plan Day 1:

This objective states that the teacher candidate is willing to reflect upon their work and

revise it. Reflection and revision are essential in many areas today, from paper writing to lesson

planning, for it enables you to create the best possible piece of work. I believe that I exhibited

this objective well when working on the first day of my poetry lesson plan. When I first finished

working on this lesson plan day, I sent a copy of it to one of my best friends, who is also in

English 419 this semester. She had already had English 402, so she was more familiar with how

to properly write lesson plans. She gave me feedback on the lesson plan and I went back and

revised it accordingly. Following my submission of the lesson plan, I got more detailed feedback

from you, I reflected on that advice, and I came up with a revision plan that will be implemented

before my submission of my final portfolio. I also will usually send other documents, such as

other lesson plans and summative assessment ideas to the same friend for feedback. I always take

her ideas into consideration, as sometimes a second, more experienced set of eyes can be

extremely beneficial in making my work the best that it can be. Of course, there is always room
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to go, so the reflection and revision process is a continual cycle. Reflection and revision is

essential, and I argue that I have fulfilled this objective in a distinguished manner.

A7. Literacy Philosophy:

This objective state that the teacher candidate must have professionalism, be prepared,

and possess responsibility among other things. It also delves into how the teacher candidate must

love reading, writing, learning, and must care for their students. All of the above qualities are

essential for teacher candidates and teachers to possess. I believe that my literacy philosophy

best shows this. Most of all my literacy philosophy conveys my love for continual reading,

writing, and learning, but I believe that it also shows how much I care for my prospective

students and their educations. In my literacy philosophy I discuss, at one point, one way in which

classic texts should be taught. That section of my literacy philosophy covers how I believe that in

order for students to remain interesting in classic texts, it can be important to supplement them

with more modern texts that the students can better relate too. Of course, any modern texts that

would be used would have to be relevant and involve the same themes and ideas. It is important

that students can see the connection between the texts. I believe that this part of my literacy

philosophy shows that, not only do I care about reading and learning, but that I care about my

future students and their learning experience. I want these students to get a great education and to

come out of their English classes with a love of literature rather than contempt. Of course,

preparedness and responsibility come hand in hand with that, as it is extremely important for the

teacher to have these lesson planned out in advance and to be aware of the texts that they are

going to use. Professionalism is extremely important for teachers. That is something that cannot

be stressed enough. In order to keep the classroom in order, to maintain a healthy environment

and honor, and to keep students’ respect, it is important to be professional. If you are too buddy-
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buddy with your students, it may be harder to keep the class in control, thereby hurting the

learning environment. I contend that this is an objective that I fulfill in a distinguished manner. I

adhere to professionalism, responsibility, and preparedness and I find reading, writing, and

learning to be indispensable.

Content Knowledge and Skills Objectives

C1. Short Story Lesson Plan

This objective calls for the teacher to be familiar with and implement a number of wide-

ranging literary works. I believe that this is a skill at which I am distinguished at. My short story

lesson plan revolved around English dialect in short stories. In this lesson plan, I used a number

of different literary works. This lesson plan included four short stories and an article. One of the

short stories was an audio-version from the podcast, Levar Burton Reads. The other three short

stories were different tonally and they covered three different English dialects. The article is, of

course, a different type of literary work, as it is a non-fiction, slightly more scholarly piece.

Though I was limited by what short stories I could find for free on the internet, I believe that I

did find short stories that were different enough and wide-ranging enough to complete this

objective. I think that it is important to supply students with a variety of different literary works,

as not all students like the same type of literary work. In fact, students seem to learn better when

there are texts that they can enjoy and relate to being taught in the class. Since, as stated

previously, not all students like and respond to the same type of literature, it is extremely

important to teach a wide variety of texts throughout the school year, ranging from differences in

genres (but similar thematically for the unit) to differences in eras. Additionally, students can

gain a deeper understanding of a concept, like different types of English dialects, by reading

multiple different literary works that incorporate the same topic. This is definitely a practice that
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should be prevalent in classrooms. I contend that I completed this objective in a distinguished

manner, as I also tried to implement, in my poetry unit, different types of poems that were about

the same event, the Holocaust.

C2. Drama Lesson Plan Day 9:

This objective requires that the teacher candidate be able to examine and scrutinize a

number of different sources and texts from multiple perspectives. This is something that is

extremely important when doing papers, projects, and other activities that involve the use of

research. It is also essential that teachers pass this skill onto students as early as possible, as it

will be a useful tool for those who choose to go on to a higher education. I believe that day nine

of my drama lesson plan does this proficiently. On this class day, students are having a debate.

This debate requires that they look for evidence in the play that will back up their side. Students

could also, for this activity do a little bit of online research if they have time before the actual

debating starts. Additionally, it is very important that while doing the research, the students

consider what the group on the other side of the debate will argue and how they can counteract

that with arguments of their own. This activity does have students potentially looking at multiple

sources, and it definitely has students taking the time to look at the other side of the story. In

order for the students to argue their case well and win the debate, they must be informed about

all that is going on in the play, and how the other group may use it to their advantage. I believe

that I demonstrate this objective proficiently, for not only are students expected to do this for the

debate, but it is also something that would be done during some group discussions and classroom

discussions.

C3. Short Story Lesson Plan Day 1:

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This objective requires that teacher candidates exhibit their aptitude to implement and

analyze different types of literary terms and literary theories. This is, again, something that is

extremely important to pass onto students, as it increases their knowledge on the subject and can

be quite useful if they decide to further their education. I believe that the first day of my short

story lesson plan exemplifies this objective in a proficient manner. This day of the lesson plan

has students using some literary terms, albeit commonly known ones. The lesson plan has the

class starting with an introduction to English dialect as part of the activating strategy. The

teacher begins the core instruction with an introduction to plot diagrams, meaning that I would

be teaching my students about exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

Students read, in this class period, the short story, “Beyond the Bayou,” by Kate Chopin. This is

a short story that was included because of the English dialect within it. Following their reading

of the short story, the students do an activity where they get into groups of three and identify all

the elements of a plot diagram within the short story. The class then goes on to have a discussion

about the use of dialect within the short story as well as on the plot elements within the short

story. This is a period of the class were students are sharing with the teacher what they have

determined to be the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. In short, I

chose this lesson day because it has the students talking about plot diagrams and the elements

within. This is a use of literary terminology in the classroom, though the terms are of the simpler

nature and are usually taught to students fairly early on. I maintain that I fulfill this objective

proficiently in my portfolio, as other lesson plans also have uses of literary terminology within

them as well.

C4. Poetry Lesson Plan Day 1:

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This objective has the teacher candidate showing an aptitude to research literary works

and the allusions and context within, while also keeping the literary criticism in mind. The

teacher candidate needs to be able to apply these skills to instruction and reading. I believe that

day one of my poetry lesson plan demonstrates this objective proficiently. My poetry lesson plan

was written on poetry about the Holocaust. On this particular class day, following the

introduction strategy (video of Dr. Seuss’ The Sneetches), students read the poem, “Refugee

Blues,” by W.H. Auden. They are, following the reading of this poem, to analyze the poem using

a poem analysis worksheet that is provided by the teacher. This is an activity that is done

individually prior to the students breaking off into small groups of four to discuss their findings.

This is a good chance for students to discover some elements of the poem they may have missed

during their reading and analysis. Students have the chance to learn from each other and discuss

their analyzations during this time. Then, the students come back into a class-wide discussion,

where each individual group shares their findings and analyzations with the entire class. Again,

this is another opportunity for the students to learn from each other, as they work to figure out

the various elements of the poem, including the context. I believe that my portfolio exhibits this

objective in a proficient manner throughout, this lesson plan being one example of it.

C5. Literacy Philosophy:

This objective is basically calling for teacher candidates to exhibit the different ways in

which to read texts. I believe that my literacy philosophy is an example of how a reflect this

objective in a proficient way. My literacy philosophy is primarily about the importance of

reading and how different methods than the traditional may need to be used when teaching

literature in class, so that literacy can be promoted. After all, student literacy is essential. In my

literacy philosophy, I point out that it is okay to teach the traditional texts and books, for they do
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still serve a purpose. However, I continue on to promote implementing more modern texts as

supplementary texts, so that students can read works that they may relate to better, or may find to

be more intriguing. Any modern texts that would be used as supplementary texts would have to

include the same themes and ideas as the main text, and would have to work well in the unit that

is being taught. My main point here, is that there are many literary facets through which students

can learn. Classic texts of all genres are important, but it is also important to let students read

texts of all genres that they are relatable for them. Otherwise students are likely to lose interest in

the material. The idea is that the students will realize how essential literature is and how

intriguing it can be. There are many ways in which that can be done. I believe that I covered this

objective with proficiency throughout my portfolio.

C6. Drama Lesson Plan:

This objective entails that teacher candidates must make evident a capability to compose

efficacious pieces on literary works and a desire to improve compositions on literary works. This

is a significant ability to pass on to students, as those who are planning on furthering their

education will need to be able to do this. I believe that my drama lesson plans on Romeo and

Juliet fulfill this objective quite well. In my Romeo and Juliet lesson plans, I have the students

completing freewrites at the end of each and every class session. These freewrites are a chance

for the students to give their opinion on that day’s reading, and sometimes is used as a means to

have students answer questions about the play. This is a short, low-stakes writing assignment that

can help the teacher to understand where exactly the students are at. As the lesson plans went on,

the freewrites often required a more detailed response about either the text or, if it was an activity

day, the activity the students were to have been working on. Additionally, my drama lesson plan

has several small, also low-stakes, writing activities that are used as activating strategies. These
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are also used as a way to see where students are at in a way that is fun and entertaining for them.

These activating strategies often have the students completing activities that involve the text and

the characters within it in some way. I maintain that my portfolio shows me to be distinguished

at this objective, as this kind of writing is something that I have made an effort to include in all

of my lesson plans and activities.

Pedagogical Knowledge and Skills Objectives

P1. Drama Lesson Plan Day 5:

This objective has the teacher candidate conveying their abilities to pick literary works,

create clear-cut objectives, and create and prepare great activities and assignments for students,

so that students can better meet the objectives provided. I believe that I have demonstrated this

objective in a proficient manner, as seen in day five of my drama lesson plans on Romeo and

Juliet. This day of lessons fits this objective because the objective I have created for it has

students, through the activity of the day (the Biopoem), trying to understand and analyze the

characters of the play, so that they can, in turn, better understand the play as a whole. While the

literary work, Romeo and Juliet, was picked out for me, the rest of the plan was created by me.

There are a couple of activities present in this lesson plan. It begins with, as an activating

strategy, the students creating another character obituary. This character obituary revolves

around Juliet’s faked death. Following her faked death, which is believed real by all but Friar

Lawrence, what would her family have written in her obituary? The students spend the first few

minutes of class taking part in this activity and sharing their responses. The main activity for the

class day has students creating a Biopoem. This activity has students, with the help of worksheet

that lays out the formatting, creating a biographic poem for one of the characters in the play.

Students can use the text if they are having trouble coming up with material to include in their
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Biopoem. After all students have completed their Biopoem, they will all share what they have

written. This is a great activity that I got from Mary Ellen Dakin’s, Reading Shakespeare with

Young Adults. These activities help the students to meet their lesson objective in a fun, yet

educational way. I uphold the belief that my portfolio exhibits this objective in a proficient

manner.

P2. Drama Lesson Plan:

This objective has teacher candidates assigning a wide variety of activities in order to get

students to complete assignments collaboratively and individually. I believe that my drama

lesson plans on Romeo and Juliet fulfill this objective, as throughout the plans many different

activities are used and implemented, all for the purpose of helping students to better read and

understand the play. Some of these activities are done in groups or partners, while others are

done individually. This lesson plan had my prospective students writing character obituaries on

multiple occasions, a fun way to research characters a little more in-depth. My lesson plan also

had students writing Romeo and Juliet related memes, bumper stickers, a comic strip version of a

moment in the play, Biopoems (mentioned in an earlier section), Shakespearean insults,

translating a moment from the play into a text or a Tweet, a one-entry illustrated dictionary, and

a tabloid headline and short article about an event that happens during the play (National

Enquirer-esque). Additionally, this lesson plan also had the students rewriting the ending of the

play, taking a Kahoot quiz on the play, having a class-wide debate, writing freewrites, and

beginning the video project that is their summative assessment. This set of lesson plans is full of

interesting activities that students will find to be both fun and, for the most part, intellectually

beneficial. Many of these activities have the students analyzing the text in some way, thereby

increasing their knowledge of the play itself. These are interesting activities, and most are
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completed in partners, allowing the students the chance to work collaboratively with others,

without feeling like they are working in groups that are too large. When the students work on the

character obituaries, the freewrites, the play ending rewrites, the tabloid headlines, the

Shakespearean insults, and the Biopoem, they are working independently. Students also

complete the Kahoot quiz independently. All other activities have the students working either

partners or groups, the former being the one in most prevalence throughout the plans. I will

reiterate the fact that I believe that my portfolio exhibits this objective in a distinguished manner.

P3. Short Story Lesson Plan Day 2:

This objective calls for the teacher candidate to teach a wide variety of activities in order

to best assist students in reading multiple texts a systematic, logical manner that allows for

analysis. I believe that day two of my short story lesson plan exemplifies this objective in a

distinguished manner. This particular day in my short story lesson plan involves much

discussion, but it also involves the use of two videos and Kahoot. One article is read by the

students during this class period, with the purpose of helping students to better understand

dialect, as that is the main focus of this lesson plan. During this lesson, the teacher introduces

three more narrative elements, setting, character, and theme. These narrative elements are

incorporated into the following activity, as students are then supposed to read, “Only the Dead

Know Brooklyn,” by Thomas Wolfe and complete a color-coding activity (borrowed from

Gallagher). This color-activity involves the students highlighting the parts of the story they

understand well in one color and the parts they are confused about in another. Additionally, the

students are to underline the characters, circle the setting, and write the main theme in the white

space at the bottom of the last page of their printed out copy of the short story. I argue that this

lesson plan day and my portfolio comply with this objective in a distinguished manner. My
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activities are fairly interesting and educational on this class day, and students have the chance to

read multiple texts on this lesson day, one fiction and one a nonfiction, more scholarly source.

This allows for student comprehension to increase, while also providing them with interesting,

relevant classroom activities.

P4. Short Story Lesson Plan Day 3:

This objective states that the teacher candidate must improve upon their assessment

methods in order to better learn how well the students are accomplishing their learning

objectives. I believe that day three of my short story lesson plan deals with this objective in a

proficient manner. The learning objective on this class day states that the basic goal is for the

students to, through reading short stories and articles, become exposed to multiple types of

literature so that they can increase their comprehension levels. The formative assessment

methods for this class day involve the teacher observing students while they are in small groups,

having class-wide discussions, and assigning homework, so that she can better understand where

they are at, comprehension-wise. The students also take a dialect quiz, though that is more so

they can see where the computer thinks they are from based on their dialect than for the

identification of comprehension skills. Additionally, throughout this lesson day, the students are

exposed to a short story and an article. The students work with, “Only the Dead Know

Brooklyn,” by Thomas Wolfe, through the reading and annotating of an article related to the

short story. The students are also given a copy of, “Enter a Dragoon,” by Thomas Hardy, as it is

the short story they will be reading for homework. Students are also to write a 2-3 paragraph

analysis on the short story for homework, as it is important to assign writing homework along

with reading homework, as it increases the chances that the student read the assigned reading. I

believe that my work shows that this objective has been demonstrated proficiently, as my lesson
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plans involve assessment tools along with interesting activities and readings that ensure the

learning objective is achieved.

P5. Drama Lesson Plan Day 9:

This objective ensures that teacher candidate is tying in assessments, activities, and

assignments to the learning objectives. I argue that day nine of my Romeo and Juliet drama

lesson plans does just this. The learning objective on this day of my lesson plans basically states

that the main goal for the students is to study Romeo and Juliet so that they can gain the

information necessary to hold a debate on the play, with the goal being to win. This class day,

following the activating strategy, is all about the debate that the students will be holding that day

in class. The students will have time to study the play and other sources (if they wish), keeping in

mind what the opposition may argue. It is important for the students to try and come up with

good counterarguments to the arguments they assume the opposing sides may have. The goal is

to stay one step ahead of the opposition. Once the time allotted for debate preparation is up,

students will have several minutes to debate on the topic provided by the teacher. The teacher

has to make sure that the students are fulfilling the learning objective in this activity through

some sort of assessment. In this class, the teacher will mainly be relying on observation, as she

will be watching and taking notes (mentally) as students prepare and argue for their case. The

teacher can also assess the students through the freewrite that is assigned at the end of the class

session. In short the activity that is present must be assessed by the teacher to ensure that the

learning objective that was brought into fruition by the state standard is being fulfilled by the

students. Again, I must state that I believe my work to satisfy the objective in a distinguished

manner.

P6. Drama Lesson Plan Day 8:

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This objective calls for the teacher candidate to have researched and implemented

teaching resources in a willing manner. I believe that I have completed this objective in a

distinguished fashion, citing day eight of my Romeo and Juliet drama lesson plans. This lesson

plan’s activating strategy has the students creating, in partners, a one-entry illustrated dictionary.

The activity requires the students to pick one of the vocabulary words from the master list of

vocabulary words, and define it, provide two synonyms for it, use it in a sentence, and have

present an illustration that properly depicts to word. This is an activity that I got from Mary Ellen

Dakin’s, Reading Shakespeare with Young Adults, and then adapted to suite my purposes. This is

one of the resources that was used in this class. I found the activities in it to be interesting, so I

adapted a couple of them to suite my purposes. This was one of them. When it came to

implementing resources that I found on my own, one can look to the main activity for this class

session. In this activity, students have the task of rewriting the ending to Romeo and Juliet.

Students write a few paragraphs that detail how they would change the play and why. These

paragraphs should include whether Romeo and Juliet were deceased at the end of their version of

the play. If so, how did they come to their demises? What happened to Paris? Did Friar

Lawrence take altered actions, thereby shifting the ending of the play? This activity is followed

by a time where students share their altered endings with their neighbors and then, if they so

desire, the entire class. This idea came from my own research, as did many other small project

ideas in the lesson plans. I got this activity from a website article written by a real teacher who

was sharing some of the great activities they had used in Shakespeare units in their classroom. I

did, however, alter the idea to suit my purposes and the play. I think that it is important to do a

little research when it comes to activity ideas. There are teachers who have been at this for

decades, and know far more about teaching Shakespeare than I do. Therefore, when they publish
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their ideas in order to help other teachers, it can be insightful to read their findings, and learn

from them. I believe that this is an objective that I completed in a distinguished way, as, not only

does this lesson plan day exemplify it, but many other lesson plan days throughout all my lesson

plans do as well.

P7. Short Story Lesson Plan:

This objective calls for the teacher candidate to compose lesson plans that are clear,

concise, and are appropriate for the designated grade level. I believe that my short story lesson

plan characterizes this objective in a distinguished manner. My short story lesson plan

incorporates detailed instructions on each of the five class days within it, providing clear

instructions that would be easy for substitute teachers to understand and carryout if needed. After

all, the goal is to write lesson plans that are detailed enough to where anyone could teach them.

This lesson plan, in addition to containing detailed instructions, also includes questions that

could be asked, on each day, during the different instructional points of the class period, as well

as differentiated instruction and a contingency plan. I would argue that this lesson plan is also

grade appropriate. It has a central theme of the English dialect in short stories, pulling in the

teaching of narrative elements as well. Additionally, this lesson plan includes four short stories

that are age appropriate, as the lesson plan is meant to be taught to tenth graders. None of the

short stories have a great deal of profanity or other distasteful elements that may not be school

appropriate or age appropriate. I carefully read through each story checking for such items.

When it came to picking out the short story that I would assign the audio-version of, I went

through several short stories on Levar Burton Reads to find a short story that both included an

English dialect that is not indigenous to this area and had no profanity. Additionally, the subject

of English dialects is not one that would be triggering to some students. It is a fairly safe topic of
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discussion. I would argue that this objective is one that I fulfill well in my portfolio. My lesson

plans are all detailed with clear instructions, and are age and school appropriate, therefore, I

contend that I do meet this objective in a distinguished manner.

P8. Short Story Lesson Plan Day 5:

This objective requires that the teacher candidate be able to teach in a fruitful, productive

approach while in a setting that is replicated. In a way, each of the lesson plans that we create is

for a “simulated” setting, as these lesson plans are not built with any specific classroom in mind.

Therefore, it is normal to conclude that, as long as the lesson plans appear to be effective, they

meet this objective requirement. I would argue that, providing day five of my short story lesson

plan as evidence, I have met and fulfilled this objective in a distinguished way. Day five of my

short story lesson plan begins with the students completing a fun, yet educational activity. This

activity has the walls laden with poster board labelled with the different narrative elements. The

students, in small groups, are to go around the room, sticky notes in hand (provided by the

teacher), and post under each narrative element where they saw that element in the short story

the listened to on Levar Burton Reads for homework the night before. After all the notes are

posted, each group will defend their responses. Following this, students will, in the same groups,

have a discussion on the short story they listened to for homework. This discussion is to focus on

the dialect in the short story as well as anything within the short story that the students may have

been confused about. Next, there is a classroom discussion on the short story and the dialect

within. Students will then freewrite on the narrative elements that are in the short story, also

commenting on how Levar Burton’s narration impacted them and their attitudes towards the

short story. There is then a discussion on the freewrites as well as a wrap-up discussion on

dialect in the unit. I think that this is a lesson plan that has the opportunity to be impactful and
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help students to learn. Additionally, I think that since the plan is a clear, detailed plan, it is

appropriate for a “simulated” setting, making this objective one that I claim to have fulfilled in a

proficient manner.

P9. Poetry Lesson Plan

This objective has the teacher candidate exhibiting how willing they are to reflect upon

their lesson plans and their critical elements, and revise as necessary. I am under the impression

that I fulfill this in a distinguished manner, as shown through my poetry lesson plan. To begin,

my poetry lesson plan is one that I was sure to have a friend read over prior to my submission of

it. This friend helped me to see some of the areas in which it needed to be improved. Following

her helpful feedback, I edited my lesson plan accordingly, taking her advice well into account.

After all, she has much more experience in lesson plan writing than I do, having taken ENG 402

already. This, being my first methods course, was one of the first classes in which I had to do any

lesson plan writing. I had written a couple of one-day lesson plans for other classes previously,

but I had never had a class where one of the main aspects of it is lesson plan writing until ENG

419. Therefore, I felt, and still do feel, that feedback from a good friend and peer who has more

experience in the area, can be quite helpful and enlightening. My first submission of my poetry

lesson plan, though improved upon my first draft, still had a few places in need of major

revision, as instructed by you. I have edited the lesson plan for a second time according to the

instructions you left for me. There is always room for improvement, and in the case of my poetry

lesson plan, there was a great deal of room for improvement. The most important takeaway from

this is that I did reflect upon my lesson plans and the comments that I received from others, and I

then decided to revise my lesson plan accordingly and quite willfully. I, therefore, believe that

this is an objective that I satisfied in a distinguished manner.