15.1 Best Lesson Conducted (Jean - pardon the length)

I conducted a form of Writers Circle activity for a fairly motivated Sec 3 Express class in a neighbourhood school. There were two objectives to the 1-period lesson, that

1. Students will be doing collective, organised brainstorming and planning for their info report, and
2. Students will produce material for their written assignment from the first objective.

Students were introduced to an info report scenario, taken from the 1999 November ‘O’ Level paper. I went through the task requirements (producing an info sheet for a school excursion) and highlighted four specific categories for students to brainstorm over. Each group then collected a set of handouts– each set with four handouts of different categories, along with guiding questions and instructions. They were then charged to take a sheet each and take 3 minutes to ‘dump’ as much info, vocabulary and phrases on that category as possible (e.g. educational value of the excursion site). before swopping their papers round, like in the game of ‘Heart Attack’. The process continues every 3 minutes, and by the end of approximately 12 minutes all four sheets are filled with points and information for their homework assignment.

This activity is a directed form of Writers Circle; only instead of verbal discussion, students compile their ideas in a written stack of notes to which they will refer when writing their situational essay. Process Writing is what underpins this activity. It is, in essence, collaborative brainstorming and planning; both of which are integral to the process writing model.

Students responded well to this activity because instructions were clear, management routines were well-delineated, and the task was manageable with sufficient scaffolding and explicit guiding questions. Yet, the activity also gave students freedom to generate their own points, with each member being able to contribute varyingly to different segments. The activity was therefore student-centered and students were largely independent. Students took ownership of the project and were very much motivated and on-task.

By the end of the lesson, students were tasked to transfer all notes onto an individual graphic organizer, which they then fasten together with the final report. The graphic organizer handout is therefore the final product of the lesson, and the largest indicator of whether the lesson has been successful.