Monthly Archives: December 2009

That’s a Wrap on Term 1: Update for Wednesday, 2 December 2009

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The end of the 310/316 term was today and we went out with a bang.  Here’s what shook down:

Lee & Shabtika’s Microteaching Presentation

Thanks to Lee and Shab for their tips on How to Decorate a Christmas Tree.  A very timely topic indeed.

Here’s a YouTube clip of the song that served as the lesson’s mental set / hook.  In this clip, Ernest interprets “Oh, Christmas Tree” while in the throes of saving Christmas.  There’ll be no confusion over the lyrics in this version, I swear:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ycfuj5y7qds[/youtube]

Shep’s Classroom Management Primer

Shep presented some ideas to consider as you hone your approach to managing a classroom.  In addition, he highlighted a few tried and true tactics that you can use during your 2-week prac.  Among them are:

  • Setting clear expectations
  • Using a clear signal for attention
  • Wait time
  • Proximity
  • Developing a commanding teacher presence
  • Monitoring and giving feedback

You can check out Shep’s PPT presentation in its entirety here (Please note that I had to modify the Slide Design on this presentation in order to shrink the file size from a inexplicably weighty 6.7 MB to a measly 304 KB, as the larger file would not upload to the blog):

Managing in Learning Environments

2-Week Practicum Unit Plan Due Date

The due date for your 2-week unit plan and the first 2 full lesson plans is Monday, 7 December 2009. Please email this draft version of your unit to your SA and FA on or before the due date.  Shep and I will read your unit and provide you with some feedback on it.

Enjoy your break.  We look forward to observing you teach on the 2-week prac in January.

– Lawrence

Poetry Resources – R – Us

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Seeing as some of you are working with poetry during your 2-week practicum, I thought I’d help you out with some resources.  The PDF files are too big to email to individual people so I figured the next best thing to do was to post them on the blog.  Here they are:

Cow Poetry

A great introductory activity for a poetry reading unit.  The activity is described in The Poet’s Craft Unit Ideas PDF but here’s the handout to support the activity:

Cow Poetry Handout

Cut Up Poetry

Another fun poetry intro.  This one’s active, too (but a bit messy):

Cut Up Poem Directions

Poetry Unit Ideas

A collection of excellent ideas related to the study of poetry.  They’re designed to be used with the textbook, The Poet’s Craft, but are adaptable to any text and any middle grade:

The Poet’s Craft Unit Ideas

The Poet’s Craft Sample Unit

A sample unit developed using ideas from the file posted above.  This gives you a sense of how you could put a poetry unit together:

The Poet’s Craft Sample Unit

The Poetry Playoffs

Looking for a great way to get your students working with and listening to great poetry?  Try is activity.  It takes a long time – it’s modeled after a single elimination tournament like the  NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, after all – but it is a lot of fun.  Here’s some files I’ve used as I ran the playoffs in my classroom:

Poetry Playoffs Task

Poetry Playoff Bracket

Poetry Playoff Poems

In addition, here’s a rubric I’ve used in the past.  It could use some tweaking – I haven’t used it in about 5 years – but it gives you a sense of what one could look like:

Poetry Response & Recitation Rubrics

You should also find these resources very helpful.  Here’s a link to the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) website’s page on how to organize the March Madness Poetry Tournament.  Also, here’s a file of information on how a variety of teachers have used the Poetry Playoffs in their own classroom (this file is also a link at the bottom of  the March Madness Poetry Tournament page):

March Madness Poetry Tourney Examples

That should be enough to get you started.

Cheers,

Lawrence

FoE Events & Opportunities

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Two items of note with respect to goings on in the Faculty of Education for your edification.  One helps you do good for others and the other could bring some good to you and your school during the long practicum.  Here goes:

CITE Cohort’s “Gifts of Hope” Holiday Initiative

Please see the image below for details on this very worthy cause:

UGMflyer

BC Field Trips Competition

The BC Field Trips Organizing Committee is pleased to announce a $500 prize towards a field trip project organized, supervised and delivered by a teacher candidate in his or her practicum school.  Please read the following application form to get all the details. Applications for the prize are due on Friday, 2 April 2010.

If you are interested and have an idea for an outing, please feel free to talk with Shep or I if you think that would be helpful.

Here’s the form:

BC Field Trips Competition – 2010 – Final

You’re up to date in the world of sports.. so yes, here’s another set of bloopers for your viewing pleasure:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKWNPB2Vcnw&feature=related[/youtube]

– Lawrence

Visiting Hours – The Sequel: Update for Monday, 30 November 2009

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The unit plan doctors had their visiting hours today… and speaking of visiting hours, here’s the poster from the 1982 movie Visiting Hours (Tagline: There is no known cure… for MURDER), a film whose VHS box I loved but that I’ve still never seen:

visiting_hours

OK, where was I?  Oh yes, unit planning.

Shep and I hope the conversations were fruitful and we encourage you to email us with questions or thoughts as you work on your plan over the next week.  A reminder that the UBD unit planning template and the first two lessons of your unit are due via email to both your SA and FA on or before Monday, 7 December 2009.

Seeing as assessment is a key piece of any teaching endeavour, I’ve included a link to the BC Ministry of Education’s Performance Standards documents.  According to the Ministry website:

“The BC Performance Standards have been developed for voluntary use in BC schools. They describe the professional judgments of a significant number of BC educators about standards and expectations…

The standards focus exclusively on performance assessment. In performance assessment students are asked to apply the skills and concepts they have learned to complete complex, realistic tasks. This type of assessment supports a criterion-referenced approach to evaluation and enables teachers, students, and parents to compare student performance to provincial standards.

The BC Performance Standards are intended as a resource to support ongoing instruction and assessment.”

In these PS documents, you will find rubrics for assessment and sample tasks with marked pieces of work in the following areas of learning:

  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Numeracy
  • Social Responsibility
  • Information and Communications Technology Integration
  • Healthy Living

Good hunting (that’s for all you BSG fans out there!)

– Lawrence