“If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”
Thursday I spent the day working with the students on their demonstration speeches, a unit which I introduced on Wednesday. On Wednesday I demonstrated to the students how I wanted their speeches to look, and what information they should contain. We spent most of Wednesday brainstorming ideas and talking about what sort of format a demonstration speech usually follows. So, come Thursday, I explained to the classes how to make an outline. I've asked that they hand in an outline the day before they present their speeches so as to accomplish three things: 1) I want to know that they've prepared themselves for their speeches, and have thought through all of the information which they must mention 2) The outlines are serving as an assurance of practice for the students. By writing out the outlines, I know that the students must think through the supplies which they need to mention and the detailed procedures which they need to describe. & 3) The knowledge of being able to create a solid and detailed outline is a skill which these kids will need in high school. So, we spent a good deal of Thursday working on outlines.
I also had the students sign up for presentation times and topics on Thursday. This took some creativity on my part, as far too many of the students were unable to create their own ideas. "Do you know how to braid hair?" "No" "Do you know how to play Crazy 8's?" "No" "Do you know how to make a paper airplane?" "No" "Do you know how to tie your shoes?" "Nope" Needless to say, after finding topics for 100 students, I was feeling as though all of my patience and creativity had been sucked dry... for one day. I was surprised by some students' ingenuity, however. With topics like "Rigging a Tri-Pod" or "Counting to 10 in Korean," some of the students certainly surprised me with their ideas and skills. I look forward to seeing the speeches next week.
Thursday evening the student teachers were required to attend a Career Day informational meeting. While I'm excited to help out with the activity, as it sounds like a positive opportunity for the students, I'm not especially excited about the concept of having to miss an entire day of teaching in order to tally the ballots of this Career Day. I feel as though I've been working hard for four years in order to reach this time of student teaching, and in all honesty I'm not being allowed a huge amount of time to actually teach. Three months is not a lot of time, especially when you factor in at least a couple weeks of observing, and while I'm happy to volunteer in school activities, I'd rather be spending time directly working with the students.
I also had the students sign up for presentation times and topics on Thursday. This took some creativity on my part, as far too many of the students were unable to create their own ideas. "Do you know how to braid hair?" "No" "Do you know how to play Crazy 8's?" "No" "Do you know how to make a paper airplane?" "No" "Do you know how to tie your shoes?" "Nope" Needless to say, after finding topics for 100 students, I was feeling as though all of my patience and creativity had been sucked dry... for one day. I was surprised by some students' ingenuity, however. With topics like "Rigging a Tri-Pod" or "Counting to 10 in Korean," some of the students certainly surprised me with their ideas and skills. I look forward to seeing the speeches next week.
Thursday evening the student teachers were required to attend a Career Day informational meeting. While I'm excited to help out with the activity, as it sounds like a positive opportunity for the students, I'm not especially excited about the concept of having to miss an entire day of teaching in order to tally the ballots of this Career Day. I feel as though I've been working hard for four years in order to reach this time of student teaching, and in all honesty I'm not being allowed a huge amount of time to actually teach. Three months is not a lot of time, especially when you factor in at least a couple weeks of observing, and while I'm happy to volunteer in school activities, I'd rather be spending time directly working with the students.
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