Blogs

4-6 year olds with Ms. B

9:30-11:30 class

9:10, I walk in at the same time as one of the girls and her mom. 2 more girls arrive within five minutes.

Ms. B (tired, not quite ready for the day), was not happy about the girls arriving so early. She’s not a babysitter, she doesn’t get paid to watch the kids until 9:30, and she’s not responsible for them until then. She is also often doing prep during that time, which means not being in the classroom the entire time, which doesn’t allow her to watch the kids fully.

Ms. B says we should send a message to the parents for next week.

Kids draw when they come in.

Focusing on artist Gene Davis today

Black paper, Ms. B prepped with lots of cut up colored paper

Ms. B starts out by making sure they all put them vertically (very vertically) and right next to each other. Encouraged patterns, hidden, changing, no patterns, etc.

Thought Ms. B seemed to really want them to be “perfect”, the kids took some liberties to make them unique and different, which made me really happy. Ms. B seemed totally okay with they way they came out.

(Later on, when the parents arrived, Ms. B was telling one mom how she really likes her students to be creative and open with their art…Maybe that is her ideals, but it doesn’t always seem to me like she embraces this fully.)

Snack and story time

Ms. B suggested I come up with the lesson for next time! Calder? Mobiles, figures

K-2nd grade with Ms. A

New term (2nd session)

5 kids usually, only 2 today

(T and R, brothers, from last term), (A, from last term) (D and L, sisters, NEW)

D and L (younger), only 2 who weren’t in the class last term, but they both use to go to Ms. A’s class for two year olds when they were younger.

Both girls have light brown/blonde curly hair.

D older, more talkative, asked lots of questions.

L asked some, but was often looking to her sister.

Ms. A told me their mother was from Spain and that they spoke Spanish at home, though their father couldn’t speak it.

Today: Clay fish (circle fish)

(Sketch of project steps)

For this activity, Amy brought in clay, circle and flower cutters, forks, rolling pins, wooden clay tools, and little cups of water.

First, the clay was handed out and we started banging it, flattening, etc. Ms. A asked D and L why they thought we did that. They made a few guesses, and then I jumped in and explained how it was to get the air bubbles out so that they wouldn’t explode in the kiln. Then Ms. A introduced the project.

Demo: cut 2 circles, close together (sketch), cut line across to make 2 tail pieces (sketch), score tail and combine (sketch), score circles, but tail between and combine (sketch), then make fish face: put line, push hole through for eye (sketch), scales: use finger to push in, tail: lines, etc.

Here is the link to my inquiry project:

 http://prezi.com/_5bxmjewqcgt/ebonics-and-spoken-word/?kw=view-_5bxmjewqcgt&rc=ref-1780966

Today was my last music-reading mini-course of the semester, and it was certainly mini, with two of four students present. I wonder if the two that didn't show even knew it was the last class. I'll email them later. Although it was a little rushed, I taught just about everything I needed to teach in this mini-course. They didn't learn all their intervals, and although I suggested they work on the last few on their own, I'm pretty confident that they will not. One said that he is going to start taking piano lessons again, though, and I think my class will be useful for that. If I had known, I might have focused less on skills that would be useful mainly for singers (namely, intervals.) This was my most reliable student, having missed only one class. I feel like they all did pretty well; none stuck out as especially quick but I'm sure they could all pick up music theory again should be wish to pursue it further. The people who missed classes will have missed some other relatively important concepts; I could schedule a make-up, I guess. But the concepts are quick and simple; and frankly they probably know enough by now to be able to learn the music that was assigned in chorale.

Learning isn't only about receiving material, but also about being able represent that material in new and interesting ways. Sites like Prezi and Spicynodes offer presentation methods that are web-friendly, open to collaboration, and "read" in more interactive ways than traditional presentation methods.

Resources covered:
Prezi
Spicynodes

Prezi's presentation method is based on the idea of "zooming," which allows user to brainstorm in a more natural, fluid fashion and then easily convert their thoughts into a presentation. Prezi suggests a variety of classroom uses, including more engaging teacher lectures and class collaboration.

Spicynodes also provides a more visually dynamic way of presenting information. In particular, Spicynodes is a great tool for concept mapping in the sciences, and for students to create their own maps of ideas for more effective studying. While the Spicynodes interface can be overwhelming at times, its capability to keep multiple "nodes" on screen simultaneously is useful for mapping complex ideas. Spicynodes also suggests classroom applications, including some sample lesson plans for teaching using Spicynodes.

One of the advantages of educational technology is that it creates new spaces for interactivity and collaboration. These three resources allow students to think through texts together, share their ideas, and even work through problems in a collective workspace. While all three are different, and target slightly different populations, together these three OERs provide a range of tools for educational collaboration using blended learning technologies.

Resources covered:
VoiceThread
Twiddla
Classroom Salon

Yesterday, the site supervisor was not at Wordsmiths. She had another commitment this entire week, so she’d emailed me and several other interns beforehand to let us know. In the email, Mariah had said that we should use the time-out discipline structure as needed, and had told us to call her if anything went awry.  Since I knew she’d given keys to other people, I assumed she had just included me on this list so that I’d be prepared for the situation.

When I arrived on Wednesday afternoon, there were 2 other interns there. They told me that they had been there on Monday and Tuesday as well. I suggested that we go outside first, since it was nice out; I remember thinking that, when I was there 2 weeks ago, it might have been night to get some of the kids’ energy out before making them sit down and do work. Both interns disagreed with me—they said that the kids had “gotten better” in the past weeks, and they wanted to stick to this routine.

In this situation, I felt that I was more like a “volunteer” than an “intern”—I definitely did not feel that I had the authority to make decisions that would affect the schedule. I wanted to, but deferred to the interns’ decision. However, I think that these other two girls were also unsure of their authority; they didn’t want to deviate from the normal programming, even if it could be a positive experiment. 

OERs offer student writers an opportunity to learn from each other in ways that a traditional classroom setting doesn’t always allow. These resources include tutorials, interactive exercises, and examples of peer-reviewed work, and digitized reference guides designed to help students become more effective - and more comfortable - as writers.

Resources covered:
A Writer’s Reference
Perdue University’s Online Writing Lab
Writing Spaces
Classroom Salon

A few years ago, I signed up to get email updates from Sophia.org, a site that compiles online tutorials and resources for both students and teachers. Today's email: Do you know your learning style? Find out using SOPHIA's learning preference assessment. Take our two-minute adventure and you'll be on your way to making the most of your learning potential.

So of course, I took it. While I think my learning style is slightly more nuanced than their response, it was fun to reflect on the kind of teaching that I respond to..