C4T #3

C4T #3

A JOURNEY IN TEFL
By: Eva Buyuksimkesyan

Post #1
This blog post is about choices. I really liked this post a lot. The teacher writes about after a bad day at school and her lesson for the day not really working or getting through to her students. She went home and brainstormed to have a lesson that her students would enjoy and get them to participate in. This class seemed to have problems with decision making (which ended them up in this class). The teacher figured out a lesson that involved a poem, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. She spoke to the students about choices and the feelings that come with that, other words for road, and lastly went other the poem extensively. The students enjoyed her lesson. They were participating and she could see attitudes change toward the class. She did an excellent job of seeing a problem and became flexible for her students in order for them to benefit in the end. This was a profound post even though it was so simple. It showed me that I need to be aware of my students needs and accommodate towards them so they will be successful in my class.

My Comment:
I am a student at the University of South Alabama, with the intent of graduating with a degree in Elementary Education. This post is fantastic. I believe it takes a great teacher to see the needs of her students and to be flexible and accommodating towards them so they will be successful in the classroom. It's great that your students were so enthusiastic about the lesson plan you set up. It was obviously a boost that they needed. I hope that I will be able to see my students in the same light that you do. It is clear that you go above and beyond since you saw a problem in your students and immediately took the steps into changing their view and attitude toward your class. Thank you for the post!

Post #2
This blog post was a lesson plan idea for a reading activity. I really liked the author's idea! The lesson plan is basically an activity where students are split into 3s. Two of the students will be role playing two characters from the book and the third will take notes and "eavesdrop" on their conversation. This could work really well if every student took the assignment seriously. The author is choosing to do this activity with 12th graders.

My Comment:
I enjoyed this post and idea of a lesson plan. And I think you could do this with almost any grade, obviously having the older grades take on some difficult characters. I can see myself using this lesson (modified) in a kindergarten class! Students will have to roll play characters from certain books I read to the class! Very fun way to show that the students have been paying attention during reading time.