Poetry+Reflection

The second lesson this semester I also co-taught with my field partner. We did a lesson on poetry. At first, my partner and I were extremely confused on what we should teach the children. We then asked our cooperating teacher who narrowed our thoughts and led us in the right direction. Once we sat down to write the lesson, it went smoothly. The most difficult part was finding poems that corresponded to the figurative language we were discussing. Being an English double major, I found it fun to teach a lesson on poetry.

Teaching the lesson went extremely well. The students came to the carpet and participated when asked questions. While our cooperating teacher was in the room, the students were quite and well behaved. They only became chatty when, during the guided practice, we were creating a poem together. The students were able to pick out the figurative language in all of the poems that we showed them and also explain what the figurative language was. The students seemed to be enjoying the lesson.

When my partner and I arrived at school in the morning, our cooperating teacher told us we should create a poem and show it to the class so they more thoroughly understand the activity. We had to come up with a poem on the spot while we were teaching, which was the most difficult part. My partner and I decided to come up with a topic and have the students raise their hands to help us create the poem. Although it was spur of the moment, this worked extremely well. The students were excited to write a poem and had many ideas.

The biggest problem with student behavior was when we were writing the poem with the class on the smartboard. Our cooperating teacher stepped out of the room for a minute and the students began to chat. Previous to our lesson, our cooperating teacher told us we could take a letter away from the students, which was her form of discipline. My partner and I did not think the class would be bad and we would have to. We did have to take away a letter, however, during the guided practice. I gave the students a warning but they did not believe a letter would actually be taken away. When I took the letter away, the room was silent. The students then saw that we, too, could discipline them as their teacher does. This was a huge teaching moment for me.

During the independent practice, students seemed extremely excited to write their own poems. They wrote about all different topics and came up with great figurative language to convey their meaning. It was our intent to have the students type their poems on the computers but the computers could not connect to the network. Instead, we had students write their poems on a sheet of paper next to the original they were basing their poem on. They were then told they would type their poems at a later date. This was a good teaching time, also, because we had to fine-tune our thinking right on the spot.

Overall, this lesson helped me to see what it is like for teachers to have to improvise. Normally I need time to think about what I want to do, but this lesson made me realize that I cannot take my time when teaching. Decisions need to be made quickly and carefully.