Today was weird class for me.  I felt as though I was rushing but that things were taking forever.  Was it a wrinkle in the fabric of the space-time continuum?

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

I’m not sure.  What I am sure of, however, is that we did accomplish the following things in class today:

Administrivia

• Lit Circle Double Entry Journals were due today
• I collected the outstanding Lit Circle novels
• I enthralled Joe with a Lion King See ‘n Say.  Check it out:

Calendar

I highlighted the following upcoming in-class items of interest:

Tuesday, 18 March 2010: Information Literacy Workshop

• 1:30 to 3:30 (class ends early this day)
• PON F in the DLC (DIgital Learning Center)
• Please bring a fully charged laptop

Tuesday, 23 March: LLED Unit Plan Due Date

Please bring a hard copy of all the required elements to show in class and hand in afterwards. Those elements are:

• Unit Outline
• Resource Evaluation Sheets X 5
• Introductory Lesson Plan
• LA-based Lesson Plan

Here are the task outline (with a description of the task criteria) and the UBD planning template I showed in class:

• LLED 320 Unit Plan Task Handout- 2010
• LLED 320 Unit Plan UBD Template – 2010

In addition, here’s a sample of how to complete the Resource Evaluation sheets:

• SAMPLE LLED 320 Unit Plan Resource Evaluation Sheets

Introducing the Class

We met three middle school students and considered how Lit Circles in particular might or might not work for them in an LA class.

Active Participation – Physical: Drama Games

We got the blood flowing by playing two drama games.

Evolution

Here are a set of instructions for Evolution from the Improv Encyclopedia:

Have the group in a circle. Everyone starts out as an egg and places their hands above their head and together so that they look like an egg. When you say, “Go,” each person will find another egg. Once they find that person, they will then farkle (Rock, Paper , Scissors). The loser stays an egg and the winner becomes a chicken, placing their arms as wings and making chicken noises. The chicken then looks for another chicken while the egg looks for another egg. When you win as a chicken you become a dinosaur, placing your hands out and roaring like a dinosaur. If you lose as a chicken you drop back down to an egg. Dinosaurs then find other dinosaurs, where they will play to become the ultimate people. Ultimate people put their hands over their heads like superman and look for others like them. If you lose as a dinosaur you go back to being a chicken, looking for other chickens. If the Ultimate person loses to another Ultimate person they go back to a dinosaur, and if they win they stay as ultimate people.

I learned about Evolution when I played it in a drama workshop.  The handout from that workshop contains another set of instructions for Evolution and is linked below:

• Drama in the Classroom Activities

Bus Stop

Here’s an improv classic!  It’s described in The Jamestown Press article “Kids get laughs while learning basics of improv” by Lanette Spranzo, as are the 3 key rules of improv.  Here’s a PDF of the article for your reference:

• Kids Learning Basics of Improv Article

Active Participation – Intellectual: Concept Attainment

I used the following PowerPoint slideshow to introduce the complex teaching strategy of Concept Attainment (sometimes called the Yes / No Game).  Here’s the presentation:

• 2010 LLED 320 Concept Attainment PPT

Here’s the data set on a literary term that I used in the middle of the presentation:

• 2010 LLED 320 Data Set on Conflict

… and here’s another data set on Fact and Opinion:

• 2010 LLED 320 Data Set on Fact & Opinion

Suprisingly, YouTube has a few videos on the topic.  For instance, here’s a data set on renewable and non-renewable resources:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vihCWCIobOg&NR=1[/youtube]

Here’s another on totalitarianism, a theme in the novel 1984:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jPHzkbvaEQ[/youtube]

If you’re keen to play with CA on your prac… and I strongly suggest you do, here are some data sets I’ve used in my classroom over the years to help stimulate your thinking about the possiblities:

LA

• Poetic Devices Met-Sim-Pers Yes No Game Data Set
• Attention Grabber Yes No Game Data Set
• Alliteration Yes No Game Data Set
• Persuasive Speech Topics Yes No Game Data Set
• Disagreeing Agreeably Yes No Game Data Set

MATH

• Fractions Yes No Game Data Set
• Negative #’s Yes No Game Data Set
• Powers of 10 Yes No Game Data Set

HACE

• Short-Term Goals Yes No Game Data Set

Here’s a visual data set similar to the Triuns one that you could use to intro the topic of CA with your students:

Finally, here’s the Bennett reading I mentioned in class.  It will give you a deeper understanding of how you can use CA effectively in your classroom:

• CA Reading Package from Bennett’s Beyond Monet

SCETS

We ended off class by completing the evaluation of my teaching in LLED 320 this term.  Thanks again to Andrea for collecting and delivering the forms.

See you on Thursday in the DLC at 1:30.

– Lawrence