Teaching Unit (Multicultural Literature)
You're going to teach the class a story out of the purple "World Literature" textbook.
You may work in groups of up to three. You'll be in charge for one class period (at least 60 minutes) and will need to fill-up that time with meaningful activities (see below). You'll talk with me to get my approval and some tips/ideas several times throughout the process.
Steps:
Required Components of Your Lesson:
Suggested Roles for Group Members:
If you want to determine specific roles, here are a few suggestions:
Choosing a Story:
You may work in groups of up to three. You'll be in charge for one class period (at least 60 minutes) and will need to fill-up that time with meaningful activities (see below). You'll talk with me to get my approval and some tips/ideas several times throughout the process.
Steps:
- Choose a story and come tell me the title and page number. If someone else has already chosen that story, you'll have to choose a different one.
- After I've approved it, email me the title of the story and the names of your group members.
- Read the background pages at the beginning of that unit; that will be about eight pages, including things like "The Land and Its People."
- Read the page called "Before You Read" at the beginning of your story.
- Read the story and make sure you understand it. At least one of your group members will need to talk it through with me so that I know your group understands the story. If you don't understand it, I'll help clarify it.
- Decide how you'll do each of the Required Components below and come talk with me about your plan.
- Design the actual presentation (PPT, posters, website, etc.) and show them to me beforehand.
- Choose your day to teach the class.
- Get it over with.
- Post "I'm done!!!!!" on several social media sites with the hashtag #Jisthebestteacherever.
Required Components of Your Lesson:
- Background for the unit, taken from the book and extra online research (at least five minutes, probably more)
- Background for the story (at least two minutes)
- A "focus activity," like a journal or brief class discussion to get us thinking (at least five minutes)
- Pre-teaching any necessary vocabulary
- Time to read the story during class:
- Silently = Three minutes per page
- In small groups = Three minutes per page
- The class taking turns to read aloud (but no one has to read if they don't want to) = Five minutes per page
- Your group members taking turns to read aloud = No time limit, because you might want to stop and discuss things as we go, like I often do when I'm reading to the class
- A class discussion with guided questions, like we've done after reading chapters (at least 10 minutes)
- A quiz (one minute per question, so at least five minutes)
- A related activity (at least 10 minutes)
- Playing a game from that culture
- Watching some related videos online
- Learning a song from that culture
- Eating something from that culture that you brought and explain to the class
- An art activity related to that culture (if you supply the materials)
- A class discussion or debate related to the story
- Anything else you get my approval for
Suggested Roles for Group Members:
If you want to determine specific roles, here are a few suggestions:
- You could have one person be the "liaison" with me, meaning that s/he is the one who comes to talk with me about the story, the plan, the activities, etc.
- You might agree to have one or two people be the presenters. If so, those people should do less of the preparation work, because everyone should do the same amount of work.
- You could have one person be in charge of the stuff before the reading, another be in charge of helping the class understand it during the reading, and another be in charge of the activities after the reading.
Choosing a Story:
- Don't just choose the shortest one, because that will end up being more work for you.
- A good length is about four pages, but it can be more than that.
- Choose one that sounds interesting so you enjoy reading it and teaching the rest of the class about it and so they enjoy your teaching day also.
