Approach to Teaching: Lesson Plan

My Approach to Teaching and the Lesson Plan Built Around It

Brittany Eastham

Professor Rapley

College of Western Idaho

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Important Factors

As a teacher, I want my students to look at learning in a new, fun way. I want to be that

teacher that students love because I can teach them without boring them. I have sat in classes

where the teacher just lectures and runs through a PowerPoint, reading a paragraph on each slide

and does not bother to elaborate. These are the classes that kids struggle in. The ones that

students dread going to everyday. I want my students to look at learning in a new light and

maybe, I can teach them ways to help in those classes they dread.

Instructional Approach

I plan on using a more facilitator approach when teaching my classroom. Doing this will

allow me to focus on my students and their needs and learning rather than just the material and

their grades. I think what you teach is incredibly important. What I choose to teach can help my

students learn or it can cause them to become bored and not listen. Because of this, I want to give

my students freedom to choose. If I want my students to read something that is non-fiction, I

would give them several options to choose from. I can ask my students what they would rather

do, a science project or reading out of a science textbook. Most of the time, students are going to

pick a project over textbook readings. I want to do several fun projects to teach because I know

kids don’t have a very long attention span. Textbooks cause students to lose interest quicker than

anything else. Keeping my students engaged in what I am teaching is my priority and allowing

them the freedom to choose what interests them, is how I plan on doing that.

Use of Technology

I prefer little to no technology when I teach. I have seen some classrooms that use a lot of

technology and others that do not use any at all. There have been good and bad outcomes for

both. When I start teaching my own class, I am only going to use technology when I find a good
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reason to. Watching videos to teach a lesson, I find to be a good use of technology as long as it is

not overdone. Videos allow for the students to learn something from somebody else and not just

from me; it is a new perspective. Also, I find more students are engaged during videos. Because

of this, if I were to find something that worked well with the lesson I am teaching, then I will use

it. It is the same with other forms of technology. I will use it if I feel it will be helpful. I grew up

in an elementary school that could not afford much technology, so I was taught without it. I feel

as if the way I taught then, was perfect. It allowed for everybody to work together as groups and

everybody was engaged in conversations. I want to keep the kids “in real life” so to say. I do not

want my students to be learning from iPads and not wanting to talk to their peers.

Lesson Plan Reflection

Both my first lesson plan and my final lesson plan were implementing the idea of

working as a group to gain a higher understanding of what I want the students to learn. I believe

my approach stayed the same for the most part. Learning the three approaches to teaching, I was

easily able to see what type I lean towards. This is why both of my lesson plans carried the same

ideas. With this final lesson plan, I wanted to implement more choices and more fun. As a kid, I

was not a fan of building sentences and finding Parts of Speech. I know many kids aren’t, so

finding a way to make it fun and interactive was a must. By creating groups and assigning

different tasks, it allows for many ways of learning this lesson. If a student does not understand it

in one group, maybe they will be able to with a different assignment in a different group. This

also takes me away from lecturing and allows the students to show me how they learn. It gives

me time to evaluate the best methods to teach each individual student. This is an important thing

for my approach on teaching; I want to teach in a way that benefits every student and not just the

majority.
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Brittany Eastham
10 December 2019
5th grade English

Materials:
- Classroom sentence patterning chart
- Group sentence patterning charts
- Stapled chant sentence strips
- Handout of the “The History of the Jack-o-Lantern” print out
- Handout of simple/compound review sheet and mini pocket chart
- Spooky Story rubric, student writing journal, transitional phrases
- Artwork canvas, crayons, black paint, brushes, glue sticks, tape to transfer image,
wooden scratch dowels

State Standards:
- ELA.05.L.01
- ELA.05.WR.02

Lesson Objectives:
- At the end of these rotating team tasks, students should have a much stronger
understanding of Parts of Speech. The students took a pre-test and at the end of this
narrative writing unit and tasks students should have a much deeper understanding of the
Parts of Speech and show great growth on the post-test that will be given. The art piece
fits in well because of its theme and students are going to understand positive and
negative space.

Differentiation/Accommodations:
- Parts of Speech wall in place for visual aid
- Classroom sentence patterning chart to refer to
- Color coding system in place for students who are still struggling with identifying parts.

Engagement:
- By implementing fun aspects to the group project like the art project or the jack-o-lantern
reading, the students will be more engaged in the group project.
- Students should be asking themselves if they understand Parts of Speech fully and are
ready to take a test on them.
Exploration:
- Team Tasks:
A. Creators-Sentence Patterning Chart: Students will work together to fill in various
Parts of Speech words on a group chart and then transfer those words to a bigger
cooperative classroom chart.
B. Makers- Parts of Speech Chant: students will be creating a chant using various Parts
of Speech. Sentence strips will be given to them to transfer words and create a chant.
C. Identifiers- Students will read a passage “The History of the Jack-o-Lantern” and
identify some of their favorite Parts of Speech while reading. When they are done,
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they are going to answer comprehension questions about the non-fiction story. They
will identify and highlight the words as they complete this task.
D. Writers- Students will each create their own simple and compound sentences and
place them into a mini chart. Extension for this activity will be to stretch their
understanding into complex sentences using prepositional phrases.
E. Finishers- Students will complete their story and use the given rubric to write down
their chosen Parts of Speech words as outlined in the rubric.
- When teams finish, they will work on their choice of either their art piece or narrative
writing piece.

Elaboration:
- Students will be able to gain a better understanding through working with a group and
gain higher knowledge of Parts of Speech and simple/compound sentences from getting
several different opportunities for practicing and understanding.
- Building sentences and being able to identify Parts of Speech is carried on through all
grade levels and is necessary for understanding more difficult, higher level concepts.
Evaluation:
- Parts of Speech pre and post-tests to measure effectiveness and understanding of lesson
- Testing through the use of questioning, observation, discussion, and handout completion
will be used throughout the tasks to evaluate student understanding