First lesson of my English Practicum out of the way. Two more to go!
My topic was Ethos, what it is, how it’s used, and how to use it. Link to the activity that I did here.
Activity took three dating profile descriptions from an online dating website and had students analyze them. Students had to write what they thought about the person, and use examples from the text to prove what they thought.
Then, they presented their person and what they thought of them. The students had a lot of fun drawing conclusions from people about what and how they wrote. I did have to emphasize that while we may draw many conclusions about people based on our personal experiences, its important to focus more on what’s in the text rather than our own personal views.
Afterwards, I presented a few questions specific to their upcoming essay, which analyzes a story in both its original and modern versions. Questions are in my linked Google Doc.
I also made a handout for them that had some examples and questions they could ask to examine how their own personal ethos was present in what they were writing.
Overall, I think it went well. Much better than my very first lesson. The activity definitely got them interested, but I think I should create one more academically focused, so they could apply it to their own writing more. I also hadn’t planned out my actual lecture portion of my lesson well enough, so some of what I said wasn’t exactly ‘coherent’.
Next time:
-Direct application of lesson/activity to assignment
-Better notes/planning for lecture
English According to Mrs. De Leon 