Ode Peom Lesson Plan
As a student-teacher at Radio Park Elementary, all the 5th grade teachers bestowed upon their mentors, including myself, the oppotunity to teach any poem we would like to the students from each classroom. This meant, each day I went to a different 5th grade classroom to teach the type of poem I chose to base a lesson off of.
For my lesson, I chose an Ode poem, in which the students would choose a special individual or animal as the topic of their Ode. For this particular lesson, I had adjusted it 3 times as I realized what was helpful and what was confusing for students. By my last lesson, I felt that I created a lesson that could support each student while they worked independently. I did this by providing background information in the beginning, walking students through a step by step brain storm that could be directly applied their poems, and then having a fill in the blank Ode poem posted to their classroom where they could access and edit it. If they did not finish the brainstorm, it was okay, because it just provided a start to them thinking about what they were going to write. I also provided my own example of an Ode Poem, which I used the fill in the blank scaffold to write it. Once they began writing, it was clear that everyone was moving at different paces. Some were done before others and if they finished they had two choices which were to wrote another one or read independently. Others were taking longer, and I made sure to check-in with them and give them support when needed. Eventually it was almost the end of the class period and the teacher and I agreed that we should have students who felt comfortable sharing to share which definitely got more students feeling more excited and proud of their poems.
Independent work does not mean, let the students go on their own, but to monitor them, check-in, encourage them to ask for help when needed. I also think providing the guided brainstorming, an example poem, and a fill-in the blank ode poem supported students by maximizing their time to think creatively rather than having to write a whole poem from scratch.