Well, I'm back. At Indianola that is. I took some time off while the kids went to camp, and oh, how I wish I could have gone, but I digress. I have less time at Indianola left than I would like, but I spent two of my last four days there this week. So until January, there won't be too many more posts. Just this one and the last one.
This week was really great, actually. I really enjoyed being there, I think the most that I ever have. I wish I had more time there, again, because now I am getting way more confident stepping up and having some time with the kids that is led by me. I guess that's how it's supposed to work, right? You get more and more and more comfortable as the time goes one. This week, I directed two activities which I will blog about here. But first things first.
MissTeacher did this great thing in the morning. She's always trying to get the kids on the rug to sit away from people that they are chatty with, and she always says (it's kind of a mantra, actually) "Sit where you can listen and learn." Well, this morning, a kid was arguing with his friend about where he should be sitting, because he knows that he talks to this friend and he gets into trouble. So MissTeacher reminds all of the kids, "Don't feel insulted if someone moves away- they're just trying to sit where they can listen and learn."
One of the very first things that we did Wednesday morning was read the children the story The Composition. I know that Storyman feels as though I shouldn't have started off the drama work by reading the story, but baby steps for me. I still haven't quite let go of the notion that the background knowledge is helpful. I mean, that's all I'm doing, right? I'm scaffolding their knowledge of governments and dictatorships to enrich the drama work. I mean, you can't make lemonade without lemons, right? Actually, I was glad in this case because not a single child knew what a dictatorship was. For those of you who are not familiar with the story, it's about a boy named Pedro who plays soccer and goes to school, and every night his parents listen to the radio. One day his friend's father is taken away to jail by some soldiers and his parents tell him it was because this man was against the dictatorship. Pedro then finds out his parents are also against the dictatorship, and wonders if he can be, too, because he's just a kid. Then a soldier shows up in his classroom and asks each of the children to write an essay on what their family does at night. Pedro writes a beautiful story about how he and his parents play chess every night and then after that he doesn't know because he goes to bed. At the end of the story, his parents share a secret smile and decide to go out and buy a chess set.
During the story, I made sure to always stop and allow for questions, which meant that it took a lot longer, but it was important. The kids had great questions and observations that I will be able to pull into the drama when we start it my last few days at the school. MissTeacher only stopped me once, at the end of the story to tell the kids that they had inferred that Pedro lied even though the author didn't specifically say that. She said that was a really easy inference, and you guys are getting really good at that.
When I asked the kids what a dictatorship was, some of the answers I got were getting closer and closer. "Is it when we start a war?" "It's when then army is the government." (I think that one is really really smart--and it came from a kid who does not ever do well academically). "People go to jail a lot."
Bugboy (the non-writer) has such a wonderful imagination. He is getting better at putting the pen to paper and getting them out, but the stories that he has in his head and so rich with detail and beautiful. He stopped me halfway through the book to say, "Maybe the father is the dictator, and he's trying to trick Pedro." I mean, of course that is not how the story goes, and I'm pretty sure he knew it too, but I could see this alternate story building in his head, and I'm going to remember that when we start the drama.
One thing that was great was that the students wanted to get into the drama right away. Starbright said, "I thought we were going to pretend, like, what if WE were in a dictatorship, what would WE do, like we did with the other stuff." They were kind of sad that we couldn't start right away (of course I was glad because it meant more planning time for me) but we had to move on to another activity. I was really happy that they remembered the last work we did though, and that it had a lasting impression.
Which leads me into Thursday, where we re-staged our tableaux so that I could take pictures and have a record of the activity (more work for my final presentations). We gave the kids 3 minutes to get into their groups and remind themselves of their poses, then we went back into audience mode and I walked around the groups, shooting photos from lots of different angles. For the most part, the kids took it really seriously and we had a lot of fun, too. I also took some copies of their writing samples from that day, and it was the first time that I got to look at them. They were pretty great, and I don't want to share them here just yet, because I am still analyzing them for myself.
Thursdays are pretty low-key, because first most of the kids are gone for choir and right before recess (which is when I leave) we have book buddies, so the kids are all sitting and reading with their buddies from the other class. But one thing that I did in the morning with the boys that I thought was pretty cool was we drew seven boxes on the rug with chalk (this was my idea, with tweaks from MissTeacher). Then I made sheets of paper with the numbers 1-9 on them. THen I made long slips that said "Ones, Tens, Hundreds, Thousands, Ten Thousands, Hundred Thousands, and Millions." I gave each boy a number and a place value, and had them get in order for me so that all their places were in the right order. Then I had them tell me how much the number they were holding was worth according to what place it was in. Afterwards I gave each boy a new place value and had them choose where in the seven spots they should stand. Then I said, "If you were a three, how much would you be worth?" We did this for about 20 minutes, until I was pretty sure everyone understood place value, and then they did a little worksheet. Only one boy is having trouble still--and MissTeacher worked with him while I checked worksheets. It's times like these that I'm really glad I will never have to teach math like this. I just can't wrap myself around how to explain something that I've always understood for the longest time.
I reviewed the last three kids this week, so that's all 26, if you look back over the blog.
Maia is about a 3 for me. She's sensitive and thoughtful and peaceful. She has clear interests, but sometimes when I watch her with her friends, she is being overshadowed by the bigger personalities a lot. She sometimes fades into the background if we're not careful.
Roswell (7) is bright, bossy, and a great teacher's helper. She knows when to socialize and when to buckle down, and she is pretty laid back, but stands up for herself when it is needed. I think she tries to "fit in" with a few girls that take advantage of her brightness and use her for answers sometimes, but I'm not sure. They all hang out together even when they're not doing work, but there's a weird group dynamic when she's involved.
Artiste (2) is the last student to review. She turns in painstakingly perfect work, but she takes FOREVER to finish things. MissTeacher has spoken to me about her, and she is decidedly gifted and perfectionistic, but she needs to add some speed to her work without losing the accuracy. She needs to become more efficient. Her work is always very well done, though.
Okay, see you in the next blog!
This week was really great, actually. I really enjoyed being there, I think the most that I ever have. I wish I had more time there, again, because now I am getting way more confident stepping up and having some time with the kids that is led by me. I guess that's how it's supposed to work, right? You get more and more and more comfortable as the time goes one. This week, I directed two activities which I will blog about here. But first things first.
MissTeacher did this great thing in the morning. She's always trying to get the kids on the rug to sit away from people that they are chatty with, and she always says (it's kind of a mantra, actually) "Sit where you can listen and learn." Well, this morning, a kid was arguing with his friend about where he should be sitting, because he knows that he talks to this friend and he gets into trouble. So MissTeacher reminds all of the kids, "Don't feel insulted if someone moves away- they're just trying to sit where they can listen and learn."
One of the very first things that we did Wednesday morning was read the children the story The Composition. I know that Storyman feels as though I shouldn't have started off the drama work by reading the story, but baby steps for me. I still haven't quite let go of the notion that the background knowledge is helpful. I mean, that's all I'm doing, right? I'm scaffolding their knowledge of governments and dictatorships to enrich the drama work. I mean, you can't make lemonade without lemons, right? Actually, I was glad in this case because not a single child knew what a dictatorship was. For those of you who are not familiar with the story, it's about a boy named Pedro who plays soccer and goes to school, and every night his parents listen to the radio. One day his friend's father is taken away to jail by some soldiers and his parents tell him it was because this man was against the dictatorship. Pedro then finds out his parents are also against the dictatorship, and wonders if he can be, too, because he's just a kid. Then a soldier shows up in his classroom and asks each of the children to write an essay on what their family does at night. Pedro writes a beautiful story about how he and his parents play chess every night and then after that he doesn't know because he goes to bed. At the end of the story, his parents share a secret smile and decide to go out and buy a chess set.
During the story, I made sure to always stop and allow for questions, which meant that it took a lot longer, but it was important. The kids had great questions and observations that I will be able to pull into the drama when we start it my last few days at the school. MissTeacher only stopped me once, at the end of the story to tell the kids that they had inferred that Pedro lied even though the author didn't specifically say that. She said that was a really easy inference, and you guys are getting really good at that.
When I asked the kids what a dictatorship was, some of the answers I got were getting closer and closer. "Is it when we start a war?" "It's when then army is the government." (I think that one is really really smart--and it came from a kid who does not ever do well academically). "People go to jail a lot."
Bugboy (the non-writer) has such a wonderful imagination. He is getting better at putting the pen to paper and getting them out, but the stories that he has in his head and so rich with detail and beautiful. He stopped me halfway through the book to say, "Maybe the father is the dictator, and he's trying to trick Pedro." I mean, of course that is not how the story goes, and I'm pretty sure he knew it too, but I could see this alternate story building in his head, and I'm going to remember that when we start the drama.
One thing that was great was that the students wanted to get into the drama right away. Starbright said, "I thought we were going to pretend, like, what if WE were in a dictatorship, what would WE do, like we did with the other stuff." They were kind of sad that we couldn't start right away (of course I was glad because it meant more planning time for me) but we had to move on to another activity. I was really happy that they remembered the last work we did though, and that it had a lasting impression.
Which leads me into Thursday, where we re-staged our tableaux so that I could take pictures and have a record of the activity (more work for my final presentations). We gave the kids 3 minutes to get into their groups and remind themselves of their poses, then we went back into audience mode and I walked around the groups, shooting photos from lots of different angles. For the most part, the kids took it really seriously and we had a lot of fun, too. I also took some copies of their writing samples from that day, and it was the first time that I got to look at them. They were pretty great, and I don't want to share them here just yet, because I am still analyzing them for myself.
Thursdays are pretty low-key, because first most of the kids are gone for choir and right before recess (which is when I leave) we have book buddies, so the kids are all sitting and reading with their buddies from the other class. But one thing that I did in the morning with the boys that I thought was pretty cool was we drew seven boxes on the rug with chalk (this was my idea, with tweaks from MissTeacher). Then I made sheets of paper with the numbers 1-9 on them. THen I made long slips that said "Ones, Tens, Hundreds, Thousands, Ten Thousands, Hundred Thousands, and Millions." I gave each boy a number and a place value, and had them get in order for me so that all their places were in the right order. Then I had them tell me how much the number they were holding was worth according to what place it was in. Afterwards I gave each boy a new place value and had them choose where in the seven spots they should stand. Then I said, "If you were a three, how much would you be worth?" We did this for about 20 minutes, until I was pretty sure everyone understood place value, and then they did a little worksheet. Only one boy is having trouble still--and MissTeacher worked with him while I checked worksheets. It's times like these that I'm really glad I will never have to teach math like this. I just can't wrap myself around how to explain something that I've always understood for the longest time.
I reviewed the last three kids this week, so that's all 26, if you look back over the blog.
Maia is about a 3 for me. She's sensitive and thoughtful and peaceful. She has clear interests, but sometimes when I watch her with her friends, she is being overshadowed by the bigger personalities a lot. She sometimes fades into the background if we're not careful.
Roswell (7) is bright, bossy, and a great teacher's helper. She knows when to socialize and when to buckle down, and she is pretty laid back, but stands up for herself when it is needed. I think she tries to "fit in" with a few girls that take advantage of her brightness and use her for answers sometimes, but I'm not sure. They all hang out together even when they're not doing work, but there's a weird group dynamic when she's involved.
Artiste (2) is the last student to review. She turns in painstakingly perfect work, but she takes FOREVER to finish things. MissTeacher has spoken to me about her, and she is decidedly gifted and perfectionistic, but she needs to add some speed to her work without losing the accuracy. She needs to become more efficient. Her work is always very well done, though.
Okay, see you in the next blog!
posted by Jennifer Martin at 9:31 AM
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