Mini-Lessons
"Mini-lessons are a part of the writing workshop curriculum that provide quick, targeted instruction. Mini-lessons are not abbreviated full-length lessons. They include all the elements of good lessons. Mini-lessons give students a chance to practice and share in a public forum."
Introduction to Mini-Lessons
Mini-Lessons is a great learning strategy that was practiced during my ENG 3580 course. There are many elements that are required when planning out a mini-lesson such as creativity, plans, objectives, strategies, timing, standards, etc. All of these elements were practiced during my mini-lesson presentations to prepare me to be a Language Arts and/or writing teacher. There have not been many times that I have been able to practice a mini- lesson, so this instructional tool was extremely applicable to my future profession. As an Elementary teacher, there will be many times that I will need to quickly instruct my students, so it is important that I learned how to execute a mini-lesson.
Below is copies of my mini-lessons and reflections that were required elements in this project.
Copies of Mini-Lessons in Final Form
Mini-Lesson #1:
Mini-Lesson #1 is based on the standards for Personal Narratives for an upper elementary grade level. However, this lesson can be modified and/or adjusted to fit the individual needs of any grade level that focuses on the importance of descriptive words in narrative writing.
This mini-lessons is my favorite lesson that I produced during my ENG 3580 course. My mini-lesson allows students to think imaginatively and creatively by learning with visuals. The creativity and visuals were easy to obtain from the class after reading passages from Alice and Wonderland, a commonly known children's tale. The learning objective was tested through formative and summative assessments.
Mini-Lesson #2:
Mini-Lesson #1 is based on the standards for Argumentative Writing for an upper elementary grade level, specifically a 6th grade class. However, this lesson can be modified and/or adjusted to fit the individual needs of any grade level that focuses on the importance of organization. This lesson is more structured and concrete than the personal narrative lesson; therefore, this lesson uses less creativity. This lesson was a great learning opportunity because it really showed me that I need to continue to incorporate creativity into upper elementary grade levels, while using "structures." Many teachers fall into this tragedy while using the standard 5-paragraph structure for writing, but I now know what I need to watch out for.
Even though structured writing is not my favorite, it is still a required component of the curriculum. Many times teachers think that structure is bad, but I presented my students with many structural options to allow them "wiggle-room," while organizing their writing with charts.