2nd Formal Observation: Active & Passive Voice

I waited until the very last minute to schedule my 2nd formal observation. Luckily, my supervising instructor was available, and I was able to throw together a lesson on active and passive voice. This was a topic I didn't feel 100% comfortable teaching, so I figured it would be a perfect learning opportunity. I went through my normal lesson plan preparation routine (which consists of doing lots and lots of research to ensure that I fully understand the concept and have enticing ways to teach it), and here is what I came up with:

I started by showing my students the quote, "'I must do something' always solves more problems than 'something must be done.'" We briefly discussed the universal truth of the quote as a brief introduction before moving on to my real hook. I showed the students gif files and asked them to answer the question, "What just happened?" by writing two sentences- each with a subject I had provided.

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Subject #1. The balloon

Subject #2. His face

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Subject #1. The raccoon
Subject #2. The cat food

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Subject #1. The trash truck

Subject #2. The trash

I then had the students share some of their examples. We sorted their answers by whether the subject had been the one acting in the sentence or the one being acted upon. Then, I introduced how active voice is demonstrated when the subject is the one acting, whereas passive voice is when the subject is the one being acted upon. I also think it helped that I used the example of kicking. I would do a karate kick to show myself as the acting subject, and I would cower to show myself as the victim being acted upon. I also included lots of examples and humor to help them make connections.

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To further help them understand, I found the following video clip:

For the remainder of the class, we went over examples of passive and active voice, talked about when to use them and when not to, and I had them create their own passive and active sentences. I got a lot of great ideas from this website. Finally, I had them take a passage that was written entirely in passive voice and rewrite it in active voice as an exit ticket strategy. From this, I was able to tell to what extent each student had grasped these concepts. I talked with the students who had errors and got them sorted out too. So far, it seems like they got it. I've been bringing it up everyday since then to make sure it's set in their minds.

Well, five down, one to go! Can't believe I'm almost done...