Field Experience

Day 5 Week 1 Great Gatsby Unit

Quiz on Chapter 1-2 Reading

Show PowerPoint on color connotation

Introduce Chapter 4 Vocab & Study Guide Questions.

Assign PowerPoint presentation topics & essays.

Field Experience

On Day 5 of my Lesson Plan, I gave the Reading quiz from the Great Gatsby.  Students spent more time than I had anticipated on the assessment (35 minutes)  The quiz was based on Chapters 1 and 2 of the novel. The questions were multiple choice and were taken from the study guide questions.  Since students needed extra time on the assessment, I had to adjust the lesson for the remainder of the period.  

After introducing Chapter 4 Vocabulary and Study Guide questions, I reviewed student reactions to the assessment. Students admitted to only skimming the text to find answers to the homework, and found the quiz to be more in detail than they had anticipated. Upon hearing this I decided that we should review Chapter 3  in detail and discussed key quotes and passages.  I had assigned the reading and Study Guide questions for homework, but upon hearing that they had not completed all parts of the reading, I felt that it served no purpose to assign a new chapter when everyone was behind. We read in class after discussing Chapter 3 study guide questions and postponed the Power-Point presentation on color symbolism to next week. Students found the reading to be advanced, and the words to be difficult. During the reading fluency assessment, I noticed that most students struggled with the reading, and often needed reassurance or help in sounding out multi syllabic words.

For future reference I would probably review some of the questions in advance to prepare students for the assessment, and do a homework check at the beginning of the class to see their progress.  Next week students should have read through chapter 5 and will have had a chance to chose one of the writing prompts for their essays. Student reaction on the Color Symbolism seems to be favorable. They find that Fitzgerald was very detailed and used many colors to express the tone and mood of the characters and their surroundings.  Interestingly they began to compare the recently released movie to the book, and the directors use of colors throughout the film.