Drew Zailik's Educational Portfolio
Teaching Skills
1. Teaches based on planned lessons
2. Provides for individual differences
3. Uses motivational strategies to promote learning
4. Engages students actively in learning
5. Uses a variety of effective teaching strategies
6. Helps students develop thinking skills that promote learning
7. Monitors student learning
Riding the Wave...
Surfing a wave is the most rewarding, exciting, and most personally satisfying feeling in the world. A surfer becomes part of the wave, he becomes part of another world; his heart races and his mind is elevated to another level of happiness. This exhilarating state is reached after catching a wave and riding it. A good teacher needs to exhibit the same passion a surfer has for riding waves, only with students. Reaching a student and allowing him or her to see the same passion you have for teaching and learning is the most personally satisfying and rewarding experience.
Alexander Pope: "The Rape of the Lock" and the Mock Epic
This lesson is one that I am very proud of. It was part of my "satire" unit. I was able to incorporate footage from the "Lord of the Rings" movies, which was a great motivational tool for my students. I gave them a brief summary of "The Rape of the Lock" through a "10 mintue worksheet" I created, which required students to read the quotations aloud. I used scenes from the movie to display stereotypical characteristics of epics. I showed them clips from the movie, and after the students had a visual of the scenes, we discussed how "The Rape of the Lock" was satirical using a worksheet I designed.
Samuel Coleridge and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
This is another lesson I designed that I am very proud of. It is part of my unit on Romanticism. It incorporates a number of motivational strategies and teaches to a number of different types of learners. Students not only read through "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," but listen to the poem on an Audio CD, as well as following along with a slideshow of Gustave Dore images which parallel the text. I also designed a number of "stopping points" throughout the text in order to make sure my students were kept on task. The lesson incorporates music as well as film. I showed them clips from "Pirates of the Caribbean" in order to illustrate the concept of a cursed crew.
This is another scaffolded lesson plan that I designed which incorporates a number of motivational and diverse learning strategies. Students studied the poetry of Emily Dickinson and worked in groups to analyze and dissect the dense language of Dickinson's poetry using an activity sheet I designed. There was opportunity for students to be both analytical and creative in their work, as the lesson employs interpersonal and intrapersonal strategies.
To view Units and Interactive Powerpoints I designed, click here.
© Drew D. Zailik 2007