Attached is a copy of my digital lesson plan and lesson plan analysis. While I am content with how I designed this lesson plan, I think there is room for improvement. 

Digital Lesson Plan Analysis 

Introduction

Wanting to teach English Language Arts, I choose to make a world literature tenth grade lesson plan about the book Dracula by Bram Stoker. The goal of this lesson plan was for students to read a passage from the book, summarize it by using the five W’s (who, what, where, when, and why), analyze a theme by dissecting details that support a central idea in a group, and compare and contrast the passage with a scene from the movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It was created as an opportunity for students to practice their reading and analytical skills. As a result, they are expected to become better readers, gain a better understanding of the text, learn how to seek evidence to support a claim, use forums, practice their social skills by working with others, and increase their media literacy skills. Additionally, this lesson plan also followed the ninth and tenth grade outlines for teaching literature such as analyzing a point of view outside the United States, citing strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text is saying, determining a central idea or theme by analyzing its development in details over the course of the text, providing an objective summary of the text, and analyzing a scene in two different artistic mediums. To make the lesson easier, I chose Dracula because it is not just a highly regarded book, but it is also public domain, which makes it accessible to students. If they do not have their hard copy, they can look it up online and access it. Considering that the lesson has an online forum and links to videos and the passage, students would need access to either an iPad or a computer to do the assignment. They would also need an internet connection. Although it is possible they can access the lesson plan through their phones, the format would have limitations since it would be shown on a smaller screen, and it is possible that some schools might have policies regarding the use of phones in the classroom. If they do not have their own computer or iPad, I could see if the school could offer them a laptop or iPad so they can do their assignments and follow along.

Lesson Design and Process

         I built this lesson using Microsoft word and a hyperdoc template, which includes the steps engage, explore, explain, apply, share, reflect, and extend. To make the lesson more engaging, I inserted an image of Dracula near each lesson box to increase visual appeal. Additionally, I focused on using cognitivism, a learning theory that focuses on thought since the assignment required students to read closely, find details that connect to a theme, and reflect on their progress. While designing the lesson, I relied on links to Google Classroom and YouTube to conduct my lesson. Google Classroom was used to create a discussion and question, and YouTube was used to play videos related to the lesson. To make sure each step was connected to the lesson, which was about a passage from the book’s second chapter, I started the lesson by posting a link to a video about the history of the novel’s publication to automatically grab their attention. As a warmup, I posted three questions about the video to start getting them busy. After their warmup, I would have them read a passage from the book and answer the five Ws to summarize the text. By doing the summary first, it would prepare them to practice their analytical skills by finding details that connect to the main idea of the text. Now that they would had studied the passage enough, they would get an opportunity to look at the passage in two different mediums by watching a scene from Bram Stoker’s Dracula and answering how they would change the scene to make it better and more faithful to the text from the book. After finishing, they would answer some self-reflective questions to think about their progress to gain a better understanding of how they feel as readers. Although I had the idea before I worked on my lesson design, I did consider using PowerPoint or Google Slides to create my lesson; however, I noticed many of the lesson plan examples were done my Microsoft Word, and the instructions said to upload the lesson plan as either a Word or PDF document. Just to be safe and make things a little easier, I chose to use Word to design the document. As a result, it did make it a little tricky to design each chart and organize them. The biggest hurdle I had was making sure each image fit each chart without looking awkward or out of place, but though enough cropping, I managed to make the images look proper. Looking back, I think I should have used slides since they work better for images and videos, which would have increased visual appeal. So, next time I work on a digital lesson, I am going to use slides to make my lesson more engaging and make it easier to insert images and videos.

The Student Experience

         The lesson plan would allow students to experience several ways to read and engage with a text. Each task is a step-by-step process where doing one assignment prepares them for the next part of the lesson plan. For example, by finding details that support a main idea in the passage, they would take what they learned from their analysis and apply it to the compare and contrast assignment since they would be familiar enough with the passage to analyze it in a different medium. To show what they learned, the forum in Google Classroom would allow them to post their thoughts about the scene and reply to their peers, which creates a discussion about the text. Additionally, a student that struggles with attention would have an easier time focusing due to the use of videos and images to increase their attention. Unfortunately, the assignment does not give students a choice on what type of task they want to do; however, during the part where they find details that support a theme, they would not be limited to finding one theme. They would be allowed to explore any theme or central idea in the passage as long as they find the details to support it, which would give them some freedom. After that, the question about how they would change the scene from the movie to make it better and more faithful to the book is not limited to one answer, which creates some looseness in the assignment. To support them, the assignment ends with some reflection questions where students are expected to answer honestly about their progress. Having that reflection sheet would allow me to see which students are struggling and how to help them in the classroom.

The Teacher Experience

If I use the lesson plan in an in-person classroom, I will walk around the room to monitor each group finding a central idea. I would listen to what they are saying, ask them some questions, and remind them that help is available if they need it. I would also use the forum to see how much each student understood the assignment, and I would also check the reflection sheets to gain a better understanding of their struggles. If I were teaching remotely, I would require each group to email their analysis sheets to make sure they did the work. However, due to the limitations of remote learning, it would be difficult to know if every student in each group did an equal amount of work. As an alternative, I could ask each group to discuss what central idea they focused on after they turn their analysis sheets in. By hearing students discuss their progress, it might give me an idea on how much they understood the task since they would have to explain what theme they found and the details that support it. In relation to the lesson plan, I would provide feedback as soon as possible by sending an email to each student to comment on their analysis and response to the forum. I would try to do it as holistically as possible by mentioning areas they did well on and areas they could improve on. For this lesson plan to work, it would require a computer, an internet connection, basic knowledge of Microsoft word, a Google Classroom account, and a projector if the lesson is being used inside a classroom. If a colleague wanted to duplicate this lesson, I would send share this lesson plan through email or Google Docs. I think the most vital requirement would be to create their own Google Classroom account if they want to create a discussion forum for their own students.

Reflection

         What makes this lesson distinct from other lesson plans is the use of YouTube and a forum, which are two advantages over a traditional lesson plan. Relying on YouTube makes it easier to engage students in the lesson especially for those that are more visual, and having a forum creates an opportunity for students to show what they learned and interact with their peers. One barrier I did face was that I had to make sure my lesson plan fitted the common core standards, but by reading the requirements, I was able to tailor the lesson to the right grade and make some adjustments to make sure I followed the standards correctly. Regardless of standards, one disadvantage that this lesson plan has is that if there is no internet connection, students would not be able to access the links, videos, and forum. A traditional lesson plan that does not rely on technology could still run a class by relying on worksheets, hardcopies of books, and group discussions. If I were teaching a class and the connection was not working, I would write the questions on the board, have students write their responses on a sheet of paper and have them turn it in. I would also still have them do a reflection, but I would tell them to not print their names to stay anonymous. Additionally, they would not be able to do the compare and contrast assignment without access to the video, but I could assign students a different activity such as having them draw how they interpreted the passage or writing their own Gothic short story and reading it to the class. Despite this limitation, I am content with my lesson plan, but if I had to redo it, I would had used slides to present the material, and I would had offered a choice of assignments for students to work on in class to give them more options and add more variety to the lesson plan. For example, instead of having them work on one passage, I could had gave them the option to choose which passage they would want to work on or come up with more activities such as having a group create a movie like poster based on the book or having them create their own memes to express their reactions to a scene from the book. Considering that this lesson plan has not been used to teach a class yet, I could still amend it to make it more engaging and productive. I also hope to take what I learned from creating this lesson plan and apply it to future lesson plans to be a more effective instructor.