Week Eight: Interactive Learning

December 6th- December 10th 2010

The main focus for this week was expository writing. The students learned how to explain a process in writing using the appropriate transitional words and fillers. I wanted to make the lesson exciting and interactive for the whole class so I decided to introduce the lesson by teaching the students how to bake a cake. I brought the supplies/ingredients needed to bake a cake and wrote out the steps on large strips of paper. The students put the steps in order on the chalkboard and came forward to perform the designated step after he/she placed it correctly on the board. The students really seemed to enjoy the activity and were eager to participate.

After the cake was prepared and ready to bake, we looked over the steps listed on the chalkboard. We then spent time discussing how these steps could be put into paragraph form (introduction,conclusion,your own details, etc). Students were then asked to use these steps to write a paragraph explaining how to make a cake. After correcting the paragraphs, I reviewed the concept with the students and discussed the general errors I found when correcting their work. I shared a few examples to show the students what was acceptable and what did not fully meet the requirements. Students were then asked to correct their paragraphs and resubmit them.

I did not give grades for the cake baking paragraphs, but instead used them as practice. The students were then asked to write an instructional paragraph on how to prepare their favorite dish. I reminded them that they must explain the process thoroughly, as though I had never heard of or made the dish before. This allowed me to see how well they understood and could use expository writing. I decided that I would assess them on their favorite dish paragraph after giving them one chance to make corrections. I found that most students understood the lesson on expository writing well, but simply just needed a little more practice with it. We spent the remainder of the week building their skills and reviewing expository writing. They were also able to do some peer editing which helped many of them to see the errors they were making. Overall, I think this was a successful lesson and I used a fun and effective way to get the students to understand the concepts.