A Great Lesson

This week, I followed up the nouns from last week with a lesson on singular and plural nouns. This time, I had the students pass out the two-sided, dry-erase paddles, dry-erase markers, and paper towels. They were not permitted to have anything on their desks with the exception of those items, and a privacy folder. The sentences were displayed on the SmartBoard, and I used the “reveal” option to only show the part of the page I wished them to see.

This time, the class had averaged a 95% on their assignment! I think this was due to the fact that each of them was being held responsible for their participation in the lesson. While we did the activity as a whole group, I was able to assess their learning individually, because they had to provide individual answers. Not having anything else on their desk prevented them from being distracted by something else on the page in the text. If they did not have out pencil and paper, they could not begin to work ahead. The privacy folder made them give me their own answer, rather than their neighbor’s.

I felt really good about the lesson right after teaching it, but was nervous to “get my hopes up” after last week’s common/proper noun disaster. After grading their papers, I felt like I had a better handle on how to get their attention with language, even as abstract as it may be for them. Currently, I am trying to figure out other ways to teach those lessons in that style, but without the paddles. For now, the kids love them, but I fear there will come a time they will grow bored. This lesson has showed me that no matter what resources are used, the ultimate concern is how engaged each child is throughout the lesson, rather than how engaged one child is per problem.