The ghost whispers in my ear: A Steemhomework lesson plan

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This is a nice way to start off the class in light of the Halloween season. It requires one or two students who are willing to go along with your plan. This lesson has been carried out in different ways, however, for the purposes of this lesson, this lesson plan would be a writing lesson and is contextualized to the theme of the recent Halloween season.

As such, this is how the lesson will be implemented.

Introduction

First off, the teacher calls two students before the class starts. The teacher will tell the two students that the teacher will enter into the class telling every one that a ghost is currently in the class. The teacher will tell the two students, who are the accomplice that they will become the proof that there is a ghost whispering in the teacher's ear. The proof is that one student will leave the room while the teacher will remain in the room. The students of the class can point to any object.

The teacher will then call the student to come back into the class. The student will then have to guess what item in the entire class was selected. Unbeknownst to the class, every time the teacher points to something black, the item after that black item is the correct answer.

After the teacher has briefed the two accomplices, the teacher will then enter into the class and greet the students and introduce the students to the ghost who has joined them. The students will be skeptical and the teacher will tell the class that to prove this, he will ask for a volunteer. This is when the accomplice would 'volunteer' himself/herself. The teacher will ask the accomplice to leave the classroom.

The teacher will then ask the class to select any object. After the selection, the teacher will then call the accomplice to enter into the classroom. To start off, the teacher will point to other objects that are wrong, it is important that all items before the black item is wrong and the student should answer 'no', or else this activity would end rather early. After the teacher points at the item after a black item, the accomplice should answer 'yes', indicating that that is the item selected.

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As this is being done, the class will be rather puzzled and this allows the teacher to transition into the lesson, which of course would include revealing how this entire plan was executed.

Activity

The teacher can drop hints throughout the lesson by making statements such as:

It is all in the color.
I think it is 'black magic'.

Eventually, some students will get it and test their theory to see if it is right. This is a teaching opportunity as it allows the teacher to transition into a particular format of writing a mystery. The format that can be illustrated through the game in the introduction is the mystery component, whereas the format that can be illustrated through the teacher dropping clues later to help the students guess is the signs that point to a solving the mystery.

If the students however are not able to guess how the teacher is able to execute the prank as mentioned in the introduction, it is advisable that the teacher tell the students at this stage how it is being done. Hopefully, the students will be 'mind=blown' by the answer.

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This format can be used for the students' writing task. The teacher can draw on books such as Sherlock Holmes as examples of such format. The teacher can then task the students to write about a story, starting with the mystery then the hints that led to the characters of the story solving the mystery.

If the class taught is a class whereby the students are weak in the language, it is advisable to provide the necessary vocabulary to support the writing. In addition, if time is limited, the teacher can convert this activity into a group activity. This can be done where students co-write the essay on a large piece of paper before presenting it at the front of the class.

Conclusion

The lesson should end with a recap of the format and the vocabulary taught. This lesson has been carried out in an adult ESL class and the students enjoyed the mystery. Of course, caution is advised with younger students as some (at least in my culture) are particularly sensitive towards ghosts. As such, this lesson should be implemented in classrooms where the students are of an older age.

I hope this lesson has been helpful, I believe that fun games before the lesson begins are the key to keeping the students engaged. From my experience, I've seen that classes that start well, generally end well. Do let me know in the comments below on how you would modify this after Halloween is over.

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