I believe that Judy values her students' thoughts, and she encourages positive interaction in her classroom. By having students work in comfortable pairs or trios, students will feel more at ease in sharing and presenting their ideas, which also establishes a positive and non-threatening learning environment. By establishing clear instructions, this lesson seems more like a very creative game versus the traditional lecture/review/discussion. Suddenly students' creative ingenuity is allowed to shine through, and even if a group makes errors - everyone learns!
Judy's lesson is sly because it will fly in under students radar and make learning fun by sneaking in: Students learn a major concept in English: BREVITY! Students will learn that short powerful sentences can maximize meaning. Too often students believe that "they have to write a whole bunch of stuff." This lesson focuses on the essentials. Students will be aware of effective word order, strong word choices (with both verbs and adjectives), review on proper nouns and pronouns, word repetition awareness, "to be" verbs, cliches, and articles.
This is a lesson that could be modified for use in any lesson in any class. I loved it!
I also enjoyed Judy's lesson. I think we could have gone around the table again gushing about it. All praise deserved.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cyndi and Chris! I'm so impressed with the number of ideas presented this morning by the group to expand on the original. This class is so energizing for stirring the creativity pot!
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