Suitable Educational Focus for a Mini-Lesson
Creating suitable lesson topics that can help children learn important basics of social activity and interaction is an imperative aspect of adaptation in society. The Hallo-Wiener, written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey, is suitable for K-3rd graders to read and can be completed in one class. In addition, the topics covered in this work should contribute to the development of children of the necessary abilities for social adaptation and acceptance of diversity, as well as unique opportunities.
Developing a Mini-Lesson
The Strategy Provided in the Book as an Instructional Tool for the Mini Lesson
An example of a strategy or skill that can be found in a book and used to create a teaching tool for students is the use of personal otherness that a person or society considers a disadvantage as a benefit. For examples from the book, look at pages 23 to 28, which reveal the climax of the story about Oscar the dog, who was overly elongated (Pilkey, 1999). These pages contain examples that can help teach students about inference and fact vs opinion.
As one can see in Picture 1, the book can be used on these two pages to show students, using the example of Oscar, the dog, how they can turn any aspect of their activities or appearance into features that can promote inclusion. In addition, it will be possible to explain to children that society is diverse and that this factor is positive and should be supported.
Student Learning Objective for the Mini Lesson Skill
The purpose of education is to teach children to correctly perceive their own and the characteristics of other people. To meet the Oklahoma State Standard 8: Independent Reading and Writing goals for grade 3, students will be required to engage in active listening and interpretive learning (Oklahoma Education, n.d.). This standard provides sufficient justification for conducting educational activities using selected material that can help students improve their self-awareness. Additionally, the skills developed in the context of this lesson can provide students with a thorough understanding of society and proper interactions between people.
Pre-Reading Activities and Discussion
Before reading to children, teachers can prepare a unique work that will help them better understand the meaning of further education and what lessons they can learn from the subsequent analysis of the situation described in the book. Involving and keeping children interested is an essential part of the educational process. In this regard, it is necessary to address different sensory senses that can help students better understand the contents of the book. For this purpose, a book with illustrations was chosen, which will facilitate the assimilation of information in a more comprehensive manner. The book and its main content could be introduced by explaining the meaning of the main plot and how its interpretation can help children in the future.
To activate previous knowledge, it would be possible to address certain aspects, such as children’s previous communication experiences and the characteristics they see in themselves. In this regard, the purpose of reading would be to learn to understand and respect diversity in society. In order to carry out this activity, it will be necessary to provide students with the necessary vocabulary with which they will be able to operate in the future during their education. In this way, particular words can include public terms that relate to self-awareness, the definition of a cultural layer, and the designation of objects that students could hear from reading the book.
Teaching children key vocabulary can be done with the help of auxiliary video lessons that can provide comprehensive knowledge about any aspect that will be provided for study. In addition, an important element in the context of learning new words can be a word game, which is aimed at increasing children’s awareness of a particular area of knowledge and improving their ability to create associations.
Mini Lesson Steps
- Mini Lesson Step 1: Familiarize children with the basics of inference and comparison of facts. This can be achieved by explaining how essential elements can help them in future activities.
- Mini Lesson Step 2: Providing students with examples from the chosen book. They will include situations of the protagonist Oscar’s thought process and how it helped him in making friends and improving his social activities (Pilkey, 1999).
- Mini Lesson Step 3: Drawing conclusions about the story by writing a short essay about what the children learned from the lesson.
- Mini Lesson Step 4: Monitoring the progress that students make in relation to the material received. The practical part is for students to interact with each other, identifying their unique traits.
- Mini Lesson Step 5: Monitoring and assessing mastery of the skill will be done by keeping notes on each student as they are observed in future classes.
Conclusion
Determining a mini-lesson plan based on reading an instructive story is an important element of pedagogical activity that can provide children with a better understanding of how they can use their abilities. Mechanisms for drawing conclusions based on the material presented are important so that children can subsequently perceive important information based on the experience gained in the lesson. This will help them in developing sufficient competence in the areas of activity that they will study. In addition, an essential element of achieving a mini-lesson is assistance in the formation of awareness and the ability to draw conclusions and study facts.
References
Oklahoma Education. (n. d.). Oklahoma Academic Standards. Web.
Pilkey, D. (1999). The Hallo-Wiener. Scholastic.