Description of First Microlesson 

"For me, passion means not only a passion for my subject matter but for the human endeavor of learning. "            --Carol Rodgers, "Voices Inside Schools"

For something that was hatched in my head, I thought my very first microlesson--on showing students how to enjoy their writing more and become better at it through the use of rhetorical devices--went well. I think rehearsing and preparing materials were invaluable elements of success. Still, in the beginning I could definitely sense my own nervousness and performance anxiety. This anxiety, together with the amount of talking I was doing in the first few minutes, combined to make this probably the weakest portion my lesson. (I didn't ask my students, but my guess is they were the least engaged at this point.) In the future, I'd like to be more calm and assured and make the jump from lecturer to facilitator more quickly and smoothly.

When I was able to get to the point in the lesson where the students were called on to actually do something, I think I finally achieved some instructional momentum. That they were able to find these rhetorical devices themselves must have validated the material to them. What I was telling them, they now realized, wasn't some abstract concept with no application, but as real as the text in front of them. For my part, having them correctly identify the same rhetorical devices I had on my own was very satisfying. It was the highlight of my lesson, proving to me that they had learned something and that I had been able to impart it. It was something like the feeling you get when the plane is thundering down the runway and you have some doubt about the truths of aerodynamics. Then, the plane lifts and you are airborne. Magic. This is how I felt. One more thing: choosing a funny text was a  good idea. Hearing my students' laughter proved they were enjoying themselves, and that made me glad for picking the selection I did.