Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
About Me
- Dr. Susan Ferguson
- I teach English Education, Foreign Language Education, and ESL Education, and I advise STEM Education Majors at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama--and I LOVE IT! I love to invite others to find the poet that is within them--I am certain a poet lies within each of us!
Hi.
ReplyDeleteThis week has flown by. My students seem to be enjoying my lessons; however, I still feel, at the end of the day, as if I have forgotten something - or someone - along the way. I am also stressing about an exam I have this week in my online course. I do not think I like taking online classes. Does anyone have any words of encouragement for me regarding cyber school? I sure could use them about now!
Hi Peeps,
ReplyDeleteNothing much to report this week. The students took a test (multiple-choice, scan tron) on Monday and then made get well cards for a classmate who is having a brain tumor removed. The significant is found in the insignificant- Remember that Rachel, Brad, Sarah, & Paige? Wednesday was club day so all of the class periods were short. Friday, the students read a story and had to answer questions about it. I was really itching to jump in and take over the lesson, but didn't! I have amazing self control LOL! I wonder why my teacher hasn't figured out that there are less behavior problems when the students are engaged with the lesson, rather than being required to sit quietly and do busy work? I hope you all have a great Mardi Gras!
Ladies,
ReplyDeleteThe field trip with my eighth graders to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival was fun as well as enlightening; I never knew how much planning and preparation went into what seemed to be a relatively easy trip. The students are currently researching and designing PowerPoint presentations on their assigned concentration camp in conjunction with this quarters novel. I am currently planning a "Google Lit Trip" lesson for next week on the novel that incorporates Google Earth. I recommend that everyone take a look at http://www.googlelittrips.org for some very interesting and interactive instructional ideas. Danielle, how could I forget Roland Barthes? I have to laugh every time I come across a Bic pen.
What a great break. Three days with nothing to do but grade descriptive papers and make a quarter ending test. Since we have always had CRT's, I forgot how to actually make a comprehensive test, what a shame. I'm sure it will come back to me soon.
ReplyDeleteEvery week should be like this!!! 5 days off and then to work for two days...that would be the life!
ReplyDeleteOh, Brad, the field trips have become absolutely ridiculous! They make it so hard for people to try to do something fun, simply because of all the red tape. At my school, we have this rather large packet that has to be filled out, submitted and approved before any of the real work even starts...
Good luck trying to take your kids somewhere.
First of all,
ReplyDeleteBrad, did I read that correctly? Assigned concentration camps? Do I want to know? Ha ha. I am glad to see you taking part on field trips with your class. It seems like I grow closer to the students each day.
Thankfully, this week was the last week of recruitment! I still only had five students in one of the periods though. The teacher was also gone, so the substitute let Ursula and me do the teaching. We actually used FLY SWAT!! I was so happy to finally find an excuse to use the game. The kids seemed to love it, and let me just say that they definitely knew the definition of pandemonium was "wild uproar" by the end of the game. For those of you who have not heard about fly swat, it is a review game that you play with two fly swatters, and the students have to swat the correct term on the board after hearing the definition. My students were very competitive. They were even threatening to beat each other up if one of them missed a point for their team!
As far as Roland Barthes goes...
I caught my little sister (who is in 6th grade) using the word "random" profusely. I pulled her aside and I said, "Why don't you try THIS word instead..."
I laugh every time I hear the word aleatory come out of her mouth now.
Paige, what a coincidence, I used FLy Swat this week too! I just knew that the kids were going to be so excited to do it, too. It was on synanyms and antonyms (they had to swat the syn.or ant. or a particular word.) I worked really hard on it and even made the PowerPoint in hot pink so this class of seventh grade girls might find something interesting for once. I showed enthusiasm when introducing it and even let them form teams and take score. Do you think they were interested? Maybe 20 out off everybody--which is like 60. I required everyone to participate, otherwise no one would have. Some girls actually just stood there and never even looked at the board. What brats! But hey, I guess that's middle school for you. Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying.
ReplyDeleteI am certainly interested in what you have to say about online courses. My ESOL program is going to be a fully online program. I like to hear about what's positive and not so positive about online courses.
ReplyDeleteMichael, you coud just assign essays. That's the easy way out...except for the grading :)
ReplyDeleteYou could also assign a culminating portfolio project.
Have we talked about "I Never Saw Another Butterfly"?
ReplyDeleteHey guys!
ReplyDeleteThis week was a pretty good week for me as well. I taught another lesson, this time on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I had the students write tabloid articles about the story, and they actually did a pretty good job. I was, however, amazed at the grammar and spelling errors. One girl wrote "threw the door" and she is in 12th grade Honors! I know that this is something that I am going to have to get used to, but it is very disheartening. Brad, I am jealous that you go to go to the Shakespeare Festival. I can just imagine the planning that goes on. Paige, Ursula, and Rachael: I loved reading about your "Fly Swat" game. Don't get discouraged, Rachael. Just wait until they get in high school and they really won't be interested in anything!
So, even though I teach 10th grade, I think I will have to borrow that "Fly Swat" game. If there is one thing I learned last year, it's that the adage "Keep It Simple, Stupid" really does apply. (I've modified it to be "Keep it simple, keep it stupid"--but either way works! :P) I'm really interested in the Google Earth activity. I found one that I am going to use with Elie Wiesel's Night; the google trip follows Elie's trip from the ghetto in Romania to Buchenwald. The link is http://web.mac.com/jburg/GoogleLit/9-12/Entries/2006/9/30_Night_by_Elie_Wiesel.html, if you are interested.
ReplyDeleteYou all seem to be having a lot of really good experiences. Keep up the good work!
This was a defining week for Paige and I. Friday the teacher was out so we did an imprompt lesson for 2 class periods. There weren't many students due to this being recruitment for the school. Paige played her famous Fly Swat game with vocabulary words and literary devices we made up. They seemed to have enjoyed themselves the few who were able to play. A very awkward moment happened when Ms. Brown the vice principle walked in. It was a good thing we were doing book work at the time.
ReplyDeleteBerkleigh, I took a online class once at another university and it was awful. However, I took one at South this past summer and I love it. Well, I have not heard anything about the study aboard trip and my principal has been out of the office. Everything is normal in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteI have taken a few online courses and loved it! You can go at your own pace as long as you get the requirements in when they are due. The only thing that I did not care for was the timed test. As soon as you begin a test, you have one hour to complete it. I am the type of test- taker who usually takes up the entire time and tries to go back over questions to make sure I had the correct answers. Overall, I loved not having to drive to the campus and I enjoyed working on the material at my own pace.
ReplyDeletePlanning for 2 grade levels is killing me. I don't have a room so my stuff is literally scattered in 7 different places in the school! I feel very disorganized and wind up staying until 6:00 most nights just to gather up the things I need and have a little quiet time in the workroom to use the computer and spread out at a table. It's practically impossible to use an overhead projector or LCD projector because that involves checking them out, pushing them from room to room around a huge campus 4 times a day, while I'm also pushing my cart and a cart with workbooks, dictionaries and novels. Sorry everyone; I'm worn out. I'm at a great school and it's heaven compared to where I was before.
ReplyDelete