"The difference between school and life? In school you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson."-- Tom Bodett

Pre-Service Teaching: Altoona Area High School, Fall 2008

Lesson #1 - Create Your Own Scarlet Letter

This lesson was my very first lesson taught so it helped myself develop confidence teaching, create a positive first impression, and begin to earn my students' respect.

Assignment Sheet
Example Letter Papers
Lesson Reflection
Artifact Analysis

Lesson #2 - Theme Development in Macbeth

This lesson gave me practice in commencing and organizing class discussion and developed my stance as a teacher who focuses a lot of student understanding on media connections.

Assignment Sheet
Lesson Reflection
Artifact Analysis

Lesson #4 - Trial Debate: Macbeth vs. Lady Macbeth

This lesson gave me experience with a student-led classroom setting, developed my classroom management skills, and really was the turning point of my pre-service teaching experience.

Lesson Reflection

Lesson #5 - Grammar Using the Past

This lesson gave me practice in teaching grammar, developed a better understanding of how high school grammar should be taught, and allowed myself to show my students that I used to be in their shoes to create connections.

Lesson Reflection

Lesson #6 - Writing Scary Stories

This lesson allowed me to teach the importance, strengths, and enjoyment level of Creative Writing and developed my relationships with the students.

Sample Student Stories:

"A Vampire's Journal"
"Flowered Curtains"
"Halloween Story"
"Haunted House"
"Stimulus Lost"
"Would You Believe It?"

Lesson Reflection

Lesson #7 - Neighborhood Map

This lesson allowed me to try out the Neighborhood Map activity on a new group of students and developed my relationships with the students even further based on childhood stories from my past.

Lesson Reflection

Lesson #8 - Peer Editing

This lesson showed my love of helping students with their writing and developed my skills on how to teach grammar in a hands-on manner.

Peer Editing Sheet
Lesson Reflection

Lesson #9 - Sonnets

This lesson was very fun to write up and teach, especially because it allowed me to be myself and show some of my humor to the class while still remaining serious in my presentation of the material.

Sonnets PowerPoint

Lesson #10 - Understanding Sonnets Using Lyrics

This lesson was one of my favorite lessons that I taught mainly because it allowed my students to be creative by using known texts such as popular lyrics in today's music.

"Shoot Me Down"

Lesson #11 - Apples to Apples Sonnet

This lesson was my favorite lesson taught because it helped me develop and highlight so many key traits of my teaching style including: creating connections, developing student-teacher relationships, and just plain old having fun while still addressing all the goals of the lesson.

Assignment Sheet
Artifact Analysis

Original Student Sonnets:

"Henry VIII"
"Bill Gates"
"Handcuffs"
"Steven Spielberg"
"Global Warming"
"Opera"
"Weapons Dealer"
"State Fairs"
"Parenting"
"George W. Bush"
"Ticks"
"Vietnam War"
"Spam"
"Nine Iron"
"Lollipops"

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