QCR52C
Literature Reflection
& Practice
Semester 2
Tutor: Mr. Ken Mizusawa
During QCR52A Literature Reflection and Practice, I
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Implemented two Literature lessons applying pedagogical and assessment principles
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Demonstrated skills of text selection and materials development.
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Critically reflected on the significance of teacher identity and how this informs practice.
For the microteaching assessment, I selected Jean Tay's Boom, an O-Level text, so I would be be better prepared to teach local dramatic texts.
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For a Secondary 3 Express class, I selected the following lesson objectives:
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(LO2.1d) Analyse the different values attached to recurring symbols in Boom’s setting and atmosphere.
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(LO 2.4 b) Examine the impact on readers / audiences by analysing these different values.
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My essential question for Boom was:
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Why are there different values attached to “home” in Jean Tay’s Boom?
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Hence, this lesson sought to answer the question:
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How do the objects and/or places in the play symbolise multiple values?
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My lesson plan can be found here.
My main success in planning and enacting this lesson was in the use of a virtual tour of Zion Mansions on the Deck.Toys platform (https://tinyurl.com/zmansiontour).
Learner profile: My target students are proficient in basic literary analysis, although they lack the life experience to fully appreciate Tay's play and make text-to-world connections.
Hence, the virtual tour is designed to help students visualise the setting / atmosphere that Boom gestures towards. Students can click through each room and find objects tagged with significant quotes, such as the fig tree in the figure below:
In addition to enabling students to interact with objects in order to make text-to-world connections, they also develop a spatial understanding of the set. By juxtaposing quotes from different characters regarding the same object, students can explore how each object / place has several competing symbolic meanings.
The feedback from Mr Ken Mizusawa in the following areas was extremely helpful:
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I initially wanted to categorise this lesson under 'Theme' in the five Areas of Study. Mr Mizusawa directed me to think instead of Setting and Atmosphere. This was useful in making what could be an abstract discussion into one rooted in the objects within the text, and to capture how central they are to Boom as a play. He suggested that I could sharpen my focus on symbolism and objects.
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For lesson preparation, I would improve on the use of instructional strategies by refining the strategy I used to analyse symbolism. Mr Mizusawa and my peers observed that the ‘ABC’ strategy of analysis had too many working parts, particularly the extra (and unnecessary) ‘C’ step of having to explain the connotations.
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To improve both lesson enactment and assessment and feedback, I would ask more open rather than closed questions. Mr Mizusawa’s observation was disarmingly spot-on: “Sometimes your questions are targeted, sometimes you’re cryptic: where students need to get in your head and think the way you are thinking”. This reminds me to use questions to intentionally open discussions, rather than try to “short cut” the learning process by asking questions with only one or two possible answers.
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