Lesson 1: Utopia Book

The first lesson was created to introduce the concept of a “Utopia” to students in the form of them creating their own picture book. At the start of class I had students create name placards for themselves while we waited for all of the students to arrive. Then the class went around in a circle and each student stated their name, the grade they are in, and what their favorite animal is. Afterwards I continued to explain to the class what a utopia is and how I wanted them to imagine a fantasy world of their own while being as imaginative as possible. I went on to explain how we are creating a book for them to draw pictures of their utopia in. As I handed out the blank book covers I made I noticed some students were quick to start drawing while others continued to contemplate their world ideas. I tried helping the students that were struggling to imagine their own world by suggesting certain ideas and attempting to help them use their imagination more. While some students came up with quite creative ideas others, particularly the younger ones, were having trouble thinking outside the box and imagining things on their own. This particular problem was one I had not considered when creating this lesson plan so I was not as prepared as I would have wished. I believe the issue might have been that the topic of creating their own world was too broad and I should have outlined some specific imaginary land ideas for them to choose from. Therefore I will be making worksheets that will assist them in creative their own imaginary land for the next lesson. Overall however I think the children did really enjoy creating their own books and at the end of the class they were very excited to show their finished products to their parents. So although there were some issues during the lesson I think the fact that the students created something they were proud of and excited about is what’s most important.