ST Blog – Week 15

Resources:

• 2011 by Hoyle
• Factcheck.org
• Snopes
• Trump Articles (Thumbs up and Thumbs Down)
• Google Timelapse
• Lonely Planet
• Metrocosm Video
• Technology Video – “Supersized Earth” https://docur.co/documentary/supersized-earth-a-place-to-live
• Videos about Trump
  • Thumbs Up http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/04/22/corey-lewandowski-president-trump-accomplishments-first-100-days
  • Thumbs Down https://safeshare.tv/x/3u0M4syuNo0

 

Lessons Taught:

• Example of geography and climate of New York City
• Trump Debate Challenge v. Miss Menard
• Subbed one day – video about technology, claims about Trump’s first 100 days

 

Thoughts I Had During the Week:

• Using Hoyle’s 2011 was really neat, because it’s futuristic predictions both matched up and didn’t match up to our lives today.  It fostered some great discussions and students were really into it.
• CT used great real life example when talking about wants versus needs – his water suit. Actually brought it in. Kids thought it was cool. Nice to be able to make connections to real life
• With springtime, coming back from vacation — classroom management was a bit tricky at times.  CT had to really make a statement early in the week to dial students back in – “How do you want me to remember you?”
• One student has been having an extremely difficult time dealing with her mother’s death – for months it’s been a struggle to even have her in class. Teachers and administrators on the same page about being firmer with her, but it’s gotten really hard – it’s turned into babysitting. I understand that it’s important for her to be in the classroom learning with her peers, but she refuses to do anything and is distracting to everyone else in the class and bringing a few others down with her.  School isn’t the best environment for her to be in, but there aren’t really other options.
• Debate Challenge with Miss Menard – challenging the reigning “smartypants” of the classroom.  I prepared two opposing claims for Trump’s first 100 days, and students could choose to take me on for either claim.  First class – they didn’t refute my claim, but shared their own claims – I won the debate (voted by CT and para).  Second class – went really well.  They challenged me on a lot of my points, and I wasn’t sure how to respond on some of those challenges. One student who is super politically charged was able to keep herself composed and rational which was great. No vote happened, we “tied”. It was a really great example for students to see how to make a claim and support it with evidence.
• CT is planning a sendoff for me (only a little while longer!), calling it “Operation Baller”, sending me out of the classroom sometimes so they can prepare. 🙂

 

 

Teacher Meme of the Week:

ST Blog – Week 14

Resources:

• NY Times Videos https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/10/8-compelling-mini-documentaries-to-teach-close-reading-and-critical-thinking-skills/?_r=0
• Naviance (Goal-setting)

Lessons Taught:

• Survey mini-lesson
• Sovereign State Challenge: Hunger/Famine
• Reflection of Game – Are rewards what motivate humans?
• Racism video and discussion

Thoughts I had during the week:

• Walking students through goal-setting – can be tedious, but important for them to know what kinds of goals to set and to set realistic goals – those that are achievable
• For Sovereign State Challenge, we really let go of the reigns and let students just play the game. It was interesting to see how it developed, what ideas students came up with, and how they interacted with one another.
  • War broke out (like the game “Risk”)
  • What happened in one class was different than what happened in another (the first class “saved” the second class from having to take action on the hunger challenge)
• Having students reflect is so important – reflection should have their own thoughts and opinions but should also include evidence. In this Sovereign State Game, students could use evidence from their discussions on Chatzy, from the materials in their folders, and their flowcharts
• The last day before a vacation is tough to plan – kind of have to back off and do something that is engaging but not too heavy.  With the 7th grade, I had a “heavier” video and discussion for students to engage with, whereas the other two videos were “lighter” – it’s important to have that balance any day, but especially on the last day before break.

Teacher Meme of the Week: