tcssRobertSmith

back to personal pages As a student, I learn best by having conversations about different topics such as literature and history. I enjoy the Socratic style conversations in a classroom because I believe it forces the student to rely on their own thoughts and abilities to come up with information instead of having knowledge funneled in and memorized. I hope that I can successfully apply this style of learning in my future classroom.  As a future teacher, I would like to know my student's different styles of learning so I can better get through to them in the classroom. I would also like to know the different interests that my students have outside of the classroom so that I can better keep them intrigued during lessons. Before Bloomsburg, I lived in Bensalem PA. At Bloomsburg, I am majoring in Secondary Education English Right now, I’m most interested in Rock Climbing, White Water Kayaking, Good Movies, Good Books, Back packing and Traveling. My favorite musical artist is The Avett Brothers. My favorite movie is Hook One thing I like to do in my spare time is rock climb, and back pack. When it comes to technology, I’m most comfortable with…(put X next to all that apply) X Microsoft Word

X Microsoft Powerpoint X Email X Cellphone X Text messaging Taking cellphone pictures Taking cellphone video Taking cellphone audio Video editing X Blogging or Social Networking (e.g., Facebook) X Making websites

My favorite teachers were the ones who had great conversations in their classrooms. But I didn’t like classes in which you had to memorize a lot of facts or do busy work. In this class, I’m most nervous about doing well and being creative. In this class, I’m most excited about being more comfortable when getting into a high school classroom. If there’s one thing you should know about me as a student, it’s that I will always do my best and do all of the work that needs to get done. If there’s one thing you should know about me in general, it’s I love to have fun. **__ Rationale __**

 For my Unit, I am going to go with my original idea for our collaborative project and do “The Hero’s Journey” as it relates to the book //Walk Two Moons//. Through this unit, students will be introduced to the process that a hero goes through in their transition from innocence to experience. I will then relate this process to the trials that Sal has to face in the search for her mother in //Walk Two Moons.//  The first reason I believe that this is a great idea for a lesson plan is that the Hero’s Journey is an important process to understand since it is seen in many different pieces of literature and can help students out with understanding a wide array of texts. I believe that all students should have at least a light grasp of Joseph Campbell’s study on the monomyth and //A Hero With a Thousand Faces.// Through this unit, I will be able to incorporate some excerpts from Campbell and also some graphic break downs of what they hero’s journey entails.  The second reason that I chose this as my unit plan is that fact that //Walk Two Moons// is a pretty easy book for students to comprehend, so they won’t be too caught up on plot twists and will be more interested in the deeper themes. Also, this is a much more approachable book than epic poems that could otherwise be used to teach the same lesson. I think that this book would work perfectly in an **8th or 9th grade** classroom.  In addition to the study from Joseph Campbell and the book by Sharon Creech, I plan on incorporating other types of media to help the students understand the hero’s struggle and try to get them to identify the Hero’s Journey in other mediums such as film and music. I think that this will be a fun and intriguing lesson, and each of the students will walk away with knowledge of Campbell and the satisfaction of having understood a good book on a deep level.  **__Guiding Questions__**  What is a hero? What qualities do they have?  What would a failed hero be? What qualities would they have?  How can the hero’s journey relate to the life of an adolescent? Could the journey of an adolescent relate to the journey of someone like Ulysses? **__Summative Assessment__**﻿﻿My summative Assessment will be in three parts.1. For the first part, I will assign the class an essay that will answer the question "What makes Sal a Hero?" In this essay, students will be expected to touch on at least five different ways that Sal's story directly reflected the Hero's journey. In addition to this, each student's paper must also, in some way, incorporate the works of Joseph Campbell. In completing this essay, it is expected that students will show an understanding of all of the major points that were examined in this unit (Hero's journey, "A Hero With a Thousand Faces", //Walk Two Moons).// This paper will be due on the day of the final test.2. My second way of assessing the students will be through a visual representation of the Hero's journey in comparison to Sal's adventure. For a completed project, I would expect studets to have some type of circular representation of The Hero's Journey and then pictures, either drawn or printed, of the point at which Sal went through each step of her journey. This will be due the day after the students finish reading and can be completed as the class progresses through the story.3. My final way of assessing my students will be an exam at the end. This exam will consist of come multiple choice questions and a few short answers. It is the purpose of this test to check that students read and comprehended the text and the theories discussed. **__All important Standards__**1.2.8 A Read and understand essential content of informational texts and documents in all academic areas. 1.3.8 A Read and understand works of literature. 1.4.8 B Write multi-paragraph informational pieces (e.g., letters, descriptions, reports, instructions, essays, articles,  interviews). · Include cause and effect. · Develop a problem and solution when appropriate to the topic. · Use relevant graphics (e.g., maps, charts, graphs, tables,  illustrations, photographs). · Use primary and secondary sources. 1.5.8 Write with a sharp, distinct focus. · Identify topic, task and audience. · Establish a single point of view 1.5.8 C Write with controlled and/or subtle organization. · Sustain a logical order within sentences and between paragraphs using meaningful transitions. · Establish topic and purpose in the introduction. · Reiterate the topic and purpose in the conclusion. 1.6.8 E Participate in small and large group discussions and presentations. · Initiate everyday conversation. · Select a topic and present an oral reading. · Conduct interviews as part of the research process. · Organize and participate in informal debates. My Personal Unit (1st five lessons)

= My Final Unit Plan!!!! =

Gatsby formal Journal entry


Collaborative Lesson Review U