My second 8 weeks of student teaching semester were spent at Lutheran High School West in Rocky River, Ohio. It was an incredible experience that I will always remember and keep close to my heart. During my time at Lutheran West, I spent most of my time teaching freshman English, observing other teachers, and participating in the chapel praise team.

While teaching 4 periods of freshman English, I had the opportunity to teach research techniques and papers and a unit that I created about Identity. In the unit I developed, I incorporated a play by my cooperating teacher, “Saturday Morning Sinners”, “The Necklace”, and “Sherlock Holmes: The Man with the Twisted Lip”. I used these pieces to lead the students in a discussion about how the issue of finding who you are is popular in literature. I facilitated discussion about where the identities of the characters were found. I taught about irony, point of view, and symbolism within the unit in relation to the stories. I had the students do writing journals before class to practice literary devices and explore their own identities. I utilized Quizziz and Kahoot to facilitate review and Peardeck to incorporate technology into our discussions. The following are a few of my PowerPoints from the unit as well as links to the review games I created: Literary Devices, Writing Journals, Quizizz, and Kahoot. 

Not only did I get the opportunity to teach these students, but I also got to build so many relationship that I pray will last a lifetime. I felt like family the minute I walked in the door and loved every minute of it. At the end of my experience, I asked a few students to write reflections about my teaching.  One of the biggest struggles for the students was how to spell my name, but I think it makes the letters look more authentic.

Ashley Hernandez, Amaya Caraballo, Connor Krohn

 Lutheran West had an amazing impact on my teaching and my life. I thank God for this experience and can’t wait to see how what I learned helps me in the future.