Dr. t. lee
Grade 6 Class Composition-
The Pyramids at Giza, Egypt Lesson
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Lesson Introduction
The class composition activities provide an opportunity for grade 6 students to engage in whole-class instruction and guided practice with the writing process. My Georgian co-teachers routinely skipped the class composition activities in the English World books; this means that Georgian students are missing out on essential writing development skills that are needed to communicate in our global community. Because the students had no prior experience with writing paragraphs, the class composition independent practice homework assignment was augmented to one paragraph instead of four paragraphs.
Lesson PowerPoint
Figure 30 contains the instructional PowerPoint for this lesson. Details about the instructional context are contained in the PowerPoint.
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Figure 30. Class composition: The pyramids at Giza, Egypt PowerPoint.
Teaching in Action
It is important that students have the opportunity to practice the writing process in class as well as independently. The following are examples of some of the feedback provided to students in class and on their homework assignments.
In-Class Feedback
Most of the students did well on the in-class composition. However, some had to be reminded to use commas to set off conjunctive adverbs used as transitional devices (see Figure 31) and/or to indent/maintain proper formatting throughout their composition (see Figure 32). These two performance factors are indicators for future lessons if instructional integrity was maintained following TLG volunteer departure.
Figure 31. In-class composition student work with feedback example A.
Figure 32. In-class composition student work with feedback example B.
Independent Homework Feedback
It is important that students not only participate in collaborative writing practice, but also that they are provided with opportunities to independently apply their writing skills. The English World workbook provides some extra practice with writing skills when it is modified to meet student needs. Figures 33 and 34 demonstrate the use of the workbook for independent writing practice.
Figure 33. Independent homework with feedback example A.
Figure 34. Independent homework with feedback example B.
Connections to my Teaching Philosophy
This lesson connects to components 5 and 7 of my Teaching Philosophy. In this lesson students not only gained the experience of writing a class composition, but they learned about the steps of the writing process. Additionally, students received direct instruction on the components and format of a proficient paragraph. It is important to practice writing skills in-class with teacher and peer support, but it also important to apply learned skills independently via use of the workbook or other structured assignments.
Assessment of Student Learning
Feedback to students in this lesson and other writing lessons was rich in detail. Proofreading marks were used to assist students with identifying areas where their writing conventions needed improvement (see Figures 31 and 32). When students struggled to meet instructional goals, detailed written and verbal guidance was provided to assist them with meeting instructional goals (see Figure 33); in addition, the problem of plagiarism and students copying work from one another was addressed as needed and will remain something of great importance for Georgian educators to address systematically (see Figure 34).
Assessment of Teaching
Student surveys were administered so that learners could provide an assessment of my teaching. These surveys were the second that the students had ever been asked to take. A survey was also provided to my co-teacher to solicit their input about my teaching.
Student Feedback
Figure 35 provides examples of completed student surveys from this lesson; Figures 36-38 summarize the data from student surveys. Qualitative survey data included the following comments: “I like transition words. This lesson is interesting,” and “I really liked my English lesson. I learned how to write a proficient paragraph.” The students all agreed that they learned more about the writing process and using transition words from the lesson; the vast majority agreed that they learned more about writing a proficient paragraph in the lesson. This indicates a need to be more explicit about the terms “proficient” and more fully defining paragraph for some of the students; perhaps more visual representations could have been shared. Overall, the students respond very well when classroom environments are consistent and detailed teacher feedback is provided.
Figure 35. Grade 6 class composition examples of completed student surveys.
Figure 36. “I learned more about the steps of the writing process” - grade 6 class composition lesson student survey.
Figure 37. “I learned how to write a proficient paragraph” - grade 6 class composition lesson student survey.
Figure 38. “I learned how to use transition words” - grade 6 class composition lesson student survey.
Co-teacher Feedback
Figure 39 is the completed co-teacher survey for this lesson. My co-teacher strongly agreed that students learned the steps of the writing process and collaborated to write a paragraph as a class composition; she agreed that students learned about paragraph structure. Qualitative data from the co-teacher survey included the comment: “It’s useful for students how you explain the lessons.”
Figure 39. Co-teacher survey for grade 6 class composition lesson.