Noah Ferris

Josh Swann
EDUC 350
8 Dec 2020
Teacher Work Sample
Part 1: Setting and Context

The School Community

Given the unique circumstances of the semester, its hard to fully grasp every aspect of the

school community. Not only have I not gotten the opportunity to attend extracurricular events,

participate in school life, and spend a prolonged period of time in the building, but because of

that I barely know what its like in the halls and only have a glimpse into the actual classroom.

However, interacting with Lesher students has shown me, regardless of the obstacles, how strong

of a community has been built here. Lesher shares a common language to help direct student

behavior through the concept of ATTENDING skills. This serves as a universal and

understandable reminder for students to be attentive, respectful, and responsible. In my

experience in the classroom, Mrs. Jennings never had to resort to reminding a student of their

ATTENDING skills which I fell further speaks to the strong school community that has been

built.

Lesher’s mission statement is to “develop inquiring, knowledgeable, balanced and caring

students who will help to create a better world through intercultural understanding and respect.”

From what I’ve seen, this is spot on. In the classroom, students are energized and engaged asking

questions, commenting on instruction, and interacting with their peers. In my experience

interacting with them, the majority of students are also passionate about their learning. If I
provided feedback during a long writing project they would often respond with more questions

and thank me for the feedback. This showed me that the students are inquisitive and actually care

about their learning.

In regards to the resources Lesher has to meet it’s diverse demographics, Lesher seems

well equipped to meet their needs with its resource instructors to help with integrated learning

and emerging bilingual students. Teachers at Lesher are able to work closely with them to meet

every individual students need either by developing strategies to help with specific students or

bringing these instructors into their classroom. Students of differing abilities are not ostracized

from the classroom which gives them opportunities of interaction that would otherwise be

missed if they were separated into their own classroom.

Students and Classroom

Again, the nature of this semester has likely affected classroom culture but there are very

distinct and important differences I’ve noticed between remote and in person classes. In a remote

setting, students seemed apprehensive to share and participate, they are reluctant to turn on their

cameras, and it becomes a very teacher heavy classroom. However, once we got into the

classroom it all came alive. Students were eager to participate, they shared their ideas, they joked

with their classmates and seemed happy to be in school. Ultimately, the unique challenges

presented this semester meant Mrs. Jennings focused more on making sure the students got the

most important content from the semester while forgoing some other expectations. Often, just

showing up and doing the work seemed like an impressive feat for some students.

Within the classroom, there’s an array of diversity from demographics to interests to

developmental levels. In the two units I’ve been a part of, this diversity was addressed with
individual choices in student learning. A short realistic fiction story allowed students to write

about what they knew and what they wanted to write about. And the unit they’re on now gives

students choice in the book they want to read. These long form assignments/projects allow us to

work with the students as they progress through it and adjust expectations for each student’s

needs (while still pushing them to grow). For example, one student, Diego, displayed some really

impressive thinking when I gave a lesson on building tension but was slow to start his own

writing often showed more desire to socialize than to write in class designated work time. This

led to individualized feedback that helped him get started and pushed him to where he should be

at a pace that works for both him and Mrs. Jennings. Another student I had the pleasure of

working with is Isabel Viescas Lopez. During the first remote learning portion of the semester, I

held a few virtual study rooms where students could come ask questions and do their work with

me available to offer help when needed. Isabel was one of the students who took advantage of it

and it was great getting to work closely with her to develop her plot diagram and brainstorm her

short realistic fiction. She is a student who is in a strategic ELA class with Mr. Buttice as well as

an ELA class. This shows one of the many ways Lesher works to address students’ individual

needs and help them grow to reach their mission statement.

The physical space of the classroom is another thing that was likely different this year

than any other. Every class had to be set up in a certain way that ensured social distancing and

helped with contact tracing. This also meant that for in person classes I was pushed to the front

right corner of the classroom where I had my own table and Mrs. Jennings was pushed to the

front left corner of the classroom separated by plexiglass to meet her own health needs. Mrs.

Jennings told me that normally her classroom would be much more inviting with groups of desks

and she would be able to move throughout them while they worked. Despite the circumstances,
she still managed to build an inviting classroom through her decorations. On the walls there were

these drawings of her past students that diagrammed their various interests and who they were.

Even though it was a new classroom for her, it felt lived in and welcoming.

Topic and Rationale

Frankly, there weren’t a whole lot of varied strategies and assessments used in the

classroom this semester. During my time with Mrs. Jennings class this semester they finished

one unit have and just started another. The first one is the realistic short fiction that I have

mentioned a few times prior. This unit was broken into two parts. The first part had students

familiarizing themselves with the genre by reading various stories and then answering some

questions to ensure that they understood what they read. Interspersed through various mini

lessons, students also learned about literary devices, what they are, and how to use them. After

this part, students were given an assessment on literary devices used in the stories—this meant

students need to combine their learning by applying what they learned about literary devices in

the mini lessons to the short stories they’ve discussed in class. The second part of the unit was a

long form writing assignment in which students would build their own realistic short fiction.

Every day had a mini lesson that would address some aspect of their story that they should

include and then gave them time to write. These mini lessons were given through basic

presentational instruction.

The entire realistic short fiction unit is a great example of the assessment informing the

instruction. The final assessment was the student’s own realistic short fiction story and every

lesson and day of the unit led to them being able to write their own. Students first become

familiar with the genre, they become familiar with writing conventions, and then they learn
various techniques and ideas that they should apply to their story. If students paid attention and

learned the content then that should show in their final story.

Teaching Experience: Lesson Plan

Teacher: Noah Ferris (Under Mrs. Jennings) Date: 10/29/20
School: Lesher Middle School Grade Level: 7 Content Area: English
Title: Increasing the Tension Lesson #: 1 of 1
Content Standard(s) addressed by this lesson: (Write Content Standards directly from the standard)
3.a: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective
technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences. (CCSS: W.7.3)
3.a.ii: Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences,
events, and/or characters. (CCSS: W.7.3b)
3.a.vi: Use stylistic techniques (for example: alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhyme scheme, repetition);
figurative language (for example: simile, metaphor, personification); and graphic elements (for example:
capital letters, line length, word position) to express personal or narrative voice.
Inquiry Questions:
How can I engage my reader by developing tension throughout my realistic short fiction?
Concepts and skills students master:
Show Don’t Tell - Be able to use descriptive language to show the reader the action rather than simply
telling them.
Bloom Sentences - Increase descriptors, figurative language, and details in key moments in the story.
Evidence Outcomes: (Knowledge/ Skills, Lesson Objectives)
Every student will be able to
3.a: Develop their narratives by increasing the tension and making their story more engaging through
newly learned techniques.
3.a.ii: Extend their descriptions in the story the increase engagement and develop their narratives
3.a.vi: Incorporate figurative language to develop their blooming sentences.
Assessment of Evidence Outcomes:
Class discussion about their bloomed sentences and later assessing if their realistic short fiction project
incorporates the elements discussed in the lesson.

Planned Lesson Activities (next page)

Activity Name Should be a creative title for you and the children to associate with the activity.
 “Increasing the Tension: How do I keep my readers on their toes?”

Approx. Time How long do you expect the activity to last?

20 min + rest of the class for writing

Anticipatory Set Show an example of “Show Don’t Tell” with a short clip from the movie Wall-E and ask students
to look for world building. In the clip, there is no narration and dialogue so students will have to
deduce parts of the world through visuals alone. (3 min)

Teaching/ Introduce the anticipatory set and play the first 2 minutes of Wall-E. Following the video,
Presentation: introduce the concept of “Show Don’t Tell” and ask students: From the short clip, what are you
able to infer about the world in Wall-E even though there was no narration or dialogue?
(Bloom’s Higher Order Analysis)
-Direct instruction Explain how the intro ties into the lesson for the day: Even with no narration or dialogue, you
are able to grasp a lot of details about the world. This is essentially the concept of show-don’t-
tell, instead of just telling your audience what happens, it’s much more interesting to show them
Move through the slides showing examples of how it is incorporated after each one. I will go
through the examples and demonstrate for the class how to get their through using the given
techniques. For example, the bloomed sentence slide has the seed sentence and the bloomed
sentence. I need to show how you get from the seed sentence and fully bloom it by expanding
on the descriptions, adding figurative language, and increasing the tension.
Each slide that shows how you would use the technique is also followed by asking the class how
they could use the technique: What are some better descriptors than happy, sad, cold, etc? How
would you bloom this sentence? How can you increase the tension of this action? (Bloom’s
Application and Synthesis [creation])
These questions are meant to grasp students’ understanding of the lesson.

Teaching Strategy: Guided synthesis and application of techniques, work through various blooming sentences with
Guided Practice students in slides, then let them do a worksheet with more examples on their own helping
& students as needed--since its virtual it is harder to see exactly what they’re doing without
Differentiation invading their space or being isolated at my computer looking at their documents.

Teaching Strategy: Students will independently practice the techniques from the lesson as they finish working on
(Independent their realistic fiction short story. They will have about two weeks following the lesson to fully
Practice) incorporate these ideas into their essay and are expected to do so.

Closure Answer any questions remaining questions up to this point.

 Recap the lesson by going over show-don’t-tell, blooming sentences, and developing action and
how they are used to increase tension in their story. Also remind students that they should
only apply these ideas in critical moments in their story before setting them off to write.

Materials Slide Presentation

Worksheet (digital)
Students need their laptops (expectation)

Accommodations To modify: If the activity is too advanced for a child, how will you modify it so that they can be su
&
Modifications If the activity is too advanced, focus on having the child replace and add existing words in the
sentence with more expressive ones (refer to chart in the slides if applicable)

To extend: If the activity is too easy for a child, how will you extend it to develop their emerging
What accommodations will need to be implemented and for what students?

If the activity is too easy, ask them to incorporate more figurative language in their bloomed
sentences. Instead of having them simply use various descriptors, develop them into metaphors
or similes.
Assessment Long Term: Students’ realistic short fiction project will develop tension throughout by blooming
sentences in appropriate places and incorporating the principles of “Show Don’t Tell.”

Short Term: Students are able to complete the bloomed sentence activity and share their
work with the class.
 Post Lesson Reflection
1. To what extent were lesson objectives achieved? (Utilize assessment data to justify
your level of achievement)

During the short term assessment (end of the activity), the students were able to share their
bloomed sentences and showcased their ability to expand with various descriptors, details, and
figurative language.

2. What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would you make if you were to
teach again?

I would include examples of how to incorporate figurative language into a blooming sentence.
I would alter the slides to make it more accessible and engaging by reducing word count and
adding more pictures.

3. What do you envision for the next lesson? (Continued practice, reteach content, etc.)

Students are currently in a progressing unit in which they develop various aspects of their
realistic short fiction. Each lesson builds on their creative writing ability. The next one will be
similar in structure but about writing their falling action.

Narrative Reflection
The lesson I gave was on narrative tension in the realistic short fiction unit. It was a mini

lesson that had already been planned by all the teachers doing the same unit. This meant that I

didn’t want to deviate too far from the slides that the teachers had planned because of the

possibility that the students I teach might miss some critical information. At the same time, it

was just a mini lesson that lasted the first 20 minutes of class and left the rest of the time for

writing—this was the case for every lesson in the unit. That said, I’m happy with the additions

and changes I made. I added a more gripping and interactive anticipatory set and incorporated
more moments of student interaction. I think starting with a movie clip was a nice difference for

the students and they got to see the technique we would discuss being used in something

instantly recognizable. The discussion that spurred from it was pretty much what I expected it to

be, I asked students what they were able to gather about the story from the clip with no dialogue

and they responded with an abandoned world, polluted environment, and a sad mood. This

transitioned really well into explaining the concept of show-don’t-tell. I was also impressed with

how well students responded to the questions I posed. I asked how they would bloom a given

sentence and their responses were much more intricate and detailed than I expected.

If I were to teach this lesson again, I would want to build it from scratch rather than

making modifications to a premade lesson. While including the same content, I would try to

incorporate more class discussion and groupwork. In a COVID scenario, groupwork might be a

little hard but I could put students into shared google docs similar to breakout rooms where they

could collaborate on bloomed sentences. For groupwork in a normal scenario I would have

groups of students look at different sentences and workshop blooming them together. This would

take the place when I just asked students how they would bloom a sentence during the

presentation—turning the question into a bit more involved activity that would get everybody

involved without having to be called on. I would also change the worksheet, when they practice

blooming sentences I would have liked to be able to circulate without having to social distance—

to replicate this in COVID I could have had them do the worksheet through google classroom so

that I could hop on to their document and give them progress feedback. However, in the

discussions I had and the questions I ask I think I cemented that facilitating class discussion is

where I’m strongest and what I want to lean into as an educator.

 As far as classroom management goes, there wasn’t any need for intervention. The

students were already really well behaved and participated plenty. I think the preestablished

classroom culture made classroom management really easy for this lesson. But this also means

that its something I need a lot more work on because I haven’t gotten much practice with

classroom management in a professional setting, especially in regards to behavioral intervention.

Its also where I have the most anxiety as an educator. It’ll be hard to work on however, because I

know the theory on classroom management, I’m just not well practiced in it. What I can work on

more, however, is finding more strategies in facilitating small and large group discussions. This

could be strategies to steer a discussion back on track, correct wrong answers/lines of thought

without putting the student down, reaffirming student voice and individuality, and more ways to

ask questions to draw more out of the students.

While I’m happy with how my lesson went, I feel its unfortunate that I wasn’t able to do

the lesson the exact way I would have liked. At the same time, adaptability and working within

the bounds you’re given is an unavoidable part of teaching and something that I need to get used

to and get better at.

Field Notes: