Micro Teaching Lesson Plan

Lesson: How to fold shuriken (throwing stars)

Objective:  Students will be able to fold a throwing star from a sheet of paper

Practical details: 10 minute lesson, 4 students

Materials needed: one sheet of paper for each person (I will bring an extra sheet for everyone in case they finish early and want to make another); 10 sheets total

Structure:
Introduction (1 minute):
Gauge prior experience with origami and ask if anyone has made a throwing star before (if most of them have, ask about if they have made cranes.  Whichever has more people learning something is the one we will do)
Pass around papers

Instruction (5 minutes):
Lead the students through the origami folding process.   
The first step (tearing the paper in half) is precarious so they need to make sure to crease it very well
Step two: fold one of the halves in half both ways (note we generally keep the color on the outside)
Step three: fold one side up at the half and the other down (note that you need to remember which side you have folded up and which you have folded down) to make a Z-like shape
Step four: repeat steps 2 and 3 with the other half paper, but this time we need to fold the sides in the opposite direction (will make sense with a demo)
Step five: place them back to back in a cross shape such that the sides with openings are facing out (will make sense with a demo)
Step six: fold in the end triangles (it can be a bit finicky) and we are done!

Practice + Closing (~4 minutes):
In this time, students can make a second shuriken with the backup paper (to test if they can do it on their own).  They can also (if there is space in the room) try to throw them.
If there is excess time, students will be asked if they know how shuriken were used, if they think this is the only shape they came in, what they are typically made out of.
If instruction runs over, this section can be dropped

Note: if we end up making cranes instead, the instructions take longer so it will likely fill the ten minutes more fully.  Should there be excess time there, we can talk about how cranes are a symbol of peace and hope due to an atomic bomb survivor who folded 1000 cranes to make a wish for health.