Tag Archives: Weekend Rating

The Final (Practicum) Countdown & MIAB Speech Analysis Tasks Gallery Walk: Update for Monday, 4 October 2010

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NOTE: You’ll get so much more enjoyment out of this post if you read it while the music from this video plays.  Trust me.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyggY_R3jU8&p=61349DCC17CB1C98&playnext=1&index=55[/youtube]

Clock Partners

Clock Partners are a great way to set up partnerships in a classroom setting.  It gives students some choice over who they will speak/work with for a given activity while speeding up the partner finding process.  Here’s the Clock Parnters sheet I handed out for you to record your appointments.  There are instructions for the activity on the back of the page:

Weekend Rating

We found our 6 o’clock partner (I think) and rated our weekends… positively, on the whole.

Pre-Prac Prep Wrap Up

Improv

In a nod to my weekend – I went to see live Improv with Ryan Stiles and Greg Proops of Whose Line Is It Anyway? fame – we did some improv to get our brains working this morning.  We started with “Hey, what are you doing?” and progressed to One Word Story.  Directions for these activities and many, many more can be found in the online Impvov Encyclopedia.

A video clip with hilarious highlights from one of Richard Simmons’ visits on WLIIA? is below.  Watch at your own risk!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTxkxG3DF4k[/youtube]

Protocols

Please observe the following protocols when you arrive at the schools:

  • Arrive by 8:30 am
  • Check in at the office and meet the secretaries
  • Expect to wear a Visitor Badge to identify yourself as a guest in the building
  • Smile and make eye contact with students you meet
  • After OKing it with the classroom teacher, interact with students as they work
  • Use the Staff Washrooms
  • Bring a journal and take notes in it about what you see
  • Have fun!

SA Expectations

A lot is expected of you during practicum.  You can expect your SA to support you as you grow into a dynamic beginning teacher, mind you.  Below is a list of the type of assistance your School Advisor should be offering:

  • Get to know your teacher candidate. Endeavour to create a warm, friendly working relationship.
  • Learn specific strengths and needs of your teacher candidate. What does s/he need to know and understand about you and your classroom to help ensure a successful working partnership?
  • Be a listener: Be empathetic, patient, and encouraging. Provide opportunities for your teacher candidate to discuss what was learned in coursework on campus.
  • Introduce your teacher candidate to your class as a “teacher.”
  • Help your teacher candidate become a welcome and participating member of the school staff.
  • Maintain open communication and consultation with the faculty advisor.
  • Ensure that the match between your teacher candidate and yourself and your class is appropriate. Raise any concerns with the faculty advisor and/or school coordinator at the earliest opportunity.
  • Provide opportunities for your teacher candidate to become familiar with the school and district personnel.

If you feel your needs for support in the classroom aren’t being met, please advise me as soon as possible.

Teacher Presence – Introducing Yourself

As a dress rehearsal for tomorrow’s meetin’ and greetin’, I asked each TC to:

  • State the name they want to go by in the classroom
  • Give a brief introduction of themselves

EDUC 315 Task Expectations

Journal: Bob and I are asking you to keep a journal of your thoughts as you tour the school and, eventually, as you work with your SA on 6 consecutive Tuesdays starting on 19 October.  Here are some observation tips that will help you focus your classroom viewing:

Lesson: Also, at some point, you will need to teach (a minimum of) one lesson.  The what and when of this lesson will be worked out with your SA.  We’ll be covering a lesson planning format soon in class.  We ask that you please email a lesson plan to us 24 hours in advance of your teaching and that you send us a copy of your reflection on the lesson, too.

Me In A Bag Gallery Walk

There was great diversity in the post-speech analysis products on display in class this morning.  We viewed them with a Gallery Walk strategy and I collected all the pieces at the end.  It was a bit hard to hear the songs, so I’ll take time next class to play them for the whole group.  Also, next class we’ll consider the benefits and drawback of differentiating end products in your middle level teaching.

That’s a wrap.  I may bump into some of you in the morning as I visit various schools firming up the placements.  Of course, I’ll see all of you in the Montgomery Middle School Library at 1:30 for a debrief of the morning’s happenings.  (I promise to not make any mention of M. Night Shyamalan’s movie The Happening, if you don’t.  Here’s a way better Happening from The Pixies that I’d be more than happy to talk about:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWNm1ZF8wwg[/youtube]

Later alligators.

– Lawrence

Is Teaching For Me? & Name-Based Intros: Update for Monday, 13 September 2010

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Weekend Rating

We started class with Weekend Rating, a process that involved rating your weekend from 1 (the worst) to 11 (the best).  The rating scale is based on a classic scene from my favourite film, This is Spinal Tap. Here’s the scene:

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

This writing about weekends reminds me of a funny skit from SNL’s Weekend Update hosted by Dennis Miller.  In this skit Victoria Jackson unveils her movie rating system and rates the film Three Men and a Baby:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdLg2gavvQA[/youtube]

I don’t think we’ll be adopting Jackson’s rating system anytime soon!

Is Teaching For Me?

After considering moments when you felt most like a teacher, I noted that the overarching goal of the program is to answer the question “Is Teaching for Me?”  Hopefully, over the course of the year, you’ll have many moments where you feel a lot like a teacher and those moments will lead you to conclude that teaching is an excellent career choice for you.

Name Interviews and Introductions

To get us started – and model the name info sharing process – I talked a bit about my name, Lawrence Delmar Holbrook.  Here’s the PPT slideshow I used to support my short presentation:

After that, I partnered you up using the Random Reign of Terror cards – a set of playing cards with a name of each class member on a different card.  Partners interviewed one another about their names and then, when called upon, introduced their partner to the class with one or two interesting facts about one or more of their names.

Administrivia

We went over the following items:

Course Outline and (Projected) Calendar for EDUC 310 / 316: I’ve tried to emphasize those things that you expressed interest in learning during a previous lesson and create a logical sequence for addressing each course’s objectives.  Here are the outlines and the calendar for your reference:

Ropes Course: In past years the MY cohort has visited the UBC Ropes Course as a team building activity.  I asked you to consider if you would be interested in taking on this challenge again this year.  Most folks indicated they would be and I have booked the venue from 1:30 to 4:30 on Tuesday, 28 September 2010.  More info to follow.

Factors That Influence How We Teach Tasks: Today was the due date.  I thanked you for handing them in on time via email.

E-Coach Applications: Please complete the form, get me to sign it, and submit it to John Yamamto in TEO.

Flash Drive to Future Classes: We will be filming speeches in upcoming 310/316 classes.  Please have a flash drive handy so you can save a copy of your videotaped speech on it.  You should get a drive with a minimum of 2GB storage space.  At the moment, you can get a 2GB drive for $10 at London Drugs or for 4GB drive for $12 at Future Shop.

My Job, Your Job

Working in groups of 4 I asked you to outline the job of the students in EDUC 310 & 316 classes.  Furthermore, I wanted you to indicate what you thought was the job of the instructor in class.  This is an effective way of getting all learners to consider their responsibilities.  When all the ideas are colleated in a middle school setting, it’s a good idea to have the students look them over, adapt or remove any that don’t seem totally reasonable, and then get the students to sign off on the “rules.”  Then, when you see a student off task or behainvg inappropriately, you can ask him or her what their job is right now and refer to the My Job, Your Job chart that’s posted in the classroom.  Here’s a handout with some more info on the activity:

That’s all for today.

Cheers,

– Lawrence