Lesson Plan with Feedback
Reflecting on this lesson, I was excited by the enthusiasm my students showed toward the personal narrative excerpts. Some were eager to point out their own writing, but most focused on what they liked about what their classmates had written. Students responded to excerpts that were related to their own experiences and paid closer attention to specific word choice and other stylistic aspects of the writing than they tend to do when we do a close reading of a published text. It seemed to add personal relevance to the reading and writing processes. Thus, bringing in student work as an example of successful writing was effective in helping them learn to read as writers and write as readers. Furthermore, it contributed to an overall positive learning environment. Moving forward, I would like to return to this strategy in order to develop student self-awareness and make my lesson plans increasingly student-centered.