Poca High School, Mr. Donalson, Mrs.

Lusher, Grade 10 Language Arts, Short Story Elements

Stephanie Kesler
Dr. Blackwell
Education 316
14 April 2015
Lesson 2 Formal Critique
1. Planning
The parts of my planning that were most helpful included taking the time to write out my
lesson plan, creating the quizzes that I used to asses learning, and reviewing my PowerPoint
slideshow before presenting it. I implemented ways to challenge the higher order thinking skills
of my students by asking them to apply the elements of short stories to the text they had just read
that week, Julius Caesar. The students had to consider the plot, themes, static and dynamic
characters, setting, and various other elements of Julius Caesar.
Next time I teach a lesson, I will be sure to spend more time reviewing the material I am
presenting. Mrs. Lusher said that I needed to work on pronouncing some of the terms more
clearly. Spending extra time reading my material may have fixed that problem. I also want to
focus my next lesson around group work so that I can get some experience in that area, for my
first two lessons I have solely focused on independent work. My CSOs fit into my lesson plan
and directly reflected what the students would be gaining from my lesson. They were asked to
interpret and apply new knowledge to older material and determine figurative meanings of new
ideas and terms.
2. Implementation
The activity portion of my lesson went very well, the students worked quietly for the
most part and did well on their quizzes. As mentioned earlier, the portion of my lesson that
needs revision is my preparation time. I should have spent more time reading and
pronouncing the words to make sure they were correct and clear. My objectives and
strategies were appropriate for the age group because I based my objectives and strategies off
of 10th grade level state and national standards. The time factor was not a problem for this
particular lesson, however I can see how when I expound on ideas for the students during my
presentations, it takes up more time than planned. I felt that there was enough time for me to
present the needed material and enough for the students to do work wise.

Poca High School, Mr. Donalson, Mrs. Lusher, Grade 10 Language Arts, Short Story Elements
Regarding the working and seating arrangement, everything went smoothly. Mrs. Lusher
rarely has a problem with where students are seated in her classrooms. I was able to follow
through with my closing of the lesson, but I can see how in the future I may fade away as
more important matters arise. For example, I am more concerned about student questions that
getting in my exact closing statements. Regarding my own presence, I was rooted into one
space throughout the presentation and did not spend too much or not enough time presenting
the material. The students seemed to understand the material and did well on their quiz.
3. Clarity of Presentation
This is one area that I hope to gain more experience in as I begin to teach more.
Mrs. Lusher told me that I need to work on properly pronouncing some words. I also feel
nervous as I am teaching, but can already see myself growing in confidence from my last
lesson. I would like to become more energizing, being passionate about my topics will
allow this sort of change in my teaching. I did include a practical variety of visual, oral,
and auditory means of delivery. I showed the students the PowerPoint, spoke to them
about it, and allowed them to work with the material on their own during the quiz.
Since I have presented numerous PowerPoints before, I felt comfortable using the
technology and do not need practice in that area. I also do not use pet phrases that I am
aware of. Overall, I felt that I spoke clearly enough for everyone to hear and that the
material flowed well for the students to learn from. My presentation was successful
because from the quizzes I graded, the students learned the required material.
4. Attention to Individual Differences
As far as individual differences, I can say that this area may also need some work. I could
look for more ways to appeal to various learning styles for my lessons. However, as I mentioned
before, I did use various means of lesson delivery including, audio, visual, and oral. Each of
these methods touch on varying learning styles.
5. Focus on Relationships and Student Response
The students and I related to each other well. They were not afraid to ask
questions and to answer the ones I presented them with during the lesson. The students
seemed with me and enthusiastic while I was teaching. Luckily, the students freely
answered my questions and I did not have to invent ways to get responses out of them.
The students were not allowed to work with one another for this assignment but they

Poca High School, Mr. Donalson, Mrs. Lusher, Grade 10 Language Arts, Short Story Elements
were all very respectful of me and each other during my lesson. One weakness of my
lesson was that there were no opportunities for the students to work together and some
students were more dominant than others. I could change this in the future by allowing
group work and calling on each student for answers at some point in my questioning.
6. Planning and Implementing Higher Order Thinking Skills
I provided opportunities for analyzing to help my students to create new insights
for their learning by asking them to tie the lesson I taught them back to Julius Caesar
which they read that week too. I provided opportunities for my students to make
decisions and problem solve in this same questioning fashion. The lesson did not allow
opportunity for providing my students with chances to apply ethical, personal life, or
their technological skills to the material. The lesson may be tweaked in varying ways to
allow for such opportunities however.
7. Assessment Measures Student Learning
I did plan to include diagnostic and formative assessment during my lesson. Prior
to the lesson, I asked students to consider the text Julius Caesar and asked them
questions about the text. During the lesson, I continued to probe students and ask them to
carefully consider how Julius Caesar incorporates the different elements of literature.
After the lesson, the students completed a quiz and showed their mastery of the material.
Overall, my lesson allowed students to learn about elements of literature. Based
on their quiz scores, I know that they understood and learned from my lesson. From
myself, I learned that I need to spend more time preparing so that I can more adequately
teach and relay the needed information to my students. Again, I enjoyed the experience
and can only get better with time if I keep putting forth interest and effort to do so.