Fun Learning Experiences

Observed lesson: Modelling Equivalent Equations

• Last night, I notice that my bottom models had the same amount of boxes. I thought this was strange considering the fact that my teacher had recommended the anchor chart to me. 

Guitar Guy

• While I was conferencing with my university supervisors, my students went to see a guest speaker who talked to them about tone and beat. He showed the students the difference that tone and beat can make by making the students' stories into impromtu songs. He chose 2 of my students. I heard that both of the personal narratives made great songs, but everyone in my class that I talked to about the activity agreed that the baseball personal narrative was the best. The students said that the story was great and that they felt emotions/ getting emotional. 
• The teachers were unhappy because some of them have seen him 3 times and he apparently does the same routine every time. During the afternoon bathroom break, I had the students to use thumbs up/thumbs down to show me if they enjoyed the speaker. Most of the students loved him, some students even gave him two thumbs up. I asked the students if he inspired them to write more (thumbs up/down) and they put their thumbs down. This speaker did not seem to serve his purpose, but the students loved him and he built their self-esteem/confidence. I am not sure if the experience is worth the time and money, but the time and money were not truly wasted on him. 

Viewing the School's Indiana Display

• Because we are studying unit one in social studies, which focuses on Indiana's culture, I decided to use the end of the restroom break to activate prior knowledge and to get the students excited about the unit. I also know that the students will have a trifold about a famous hoosier due in May. I had the students quietly gather around the display case as I quickly talked about almost all of the items in the case. The students were most excited to hear that Michael Jackson was from Indiana; I didn't even think that they would know who he was. The also liked hearing about Orville Reddinbocker. 

Social Studies Activity

• Today, we tried to ease the students into the jigsaw method. We assigned each group one of the four people that were featured in the social studies book. They had to discuss who their person was, who they represented, and what they believed should happen to Lake Michigan. At the beginning, some of the groups were confused, but they were able to get through it. The question about where they were from threw them off, so we explained that they could be from an organization, such as the EPA. I helped talk one of the group through the process of finding out how their person felt. I asked them what they wanted and the group began by answering with almost exactly what the book said. I asked them why she may have believed that. After around four questions, the group finally got to the point that she did not want any factories built near the lake because so many billions of dollars had just been put into cleaning up and protecting the water and wildlife. 
• When my teacher asked the students who one of people that wanted to build the factories on the lake to promote jobs reminded them of, quite a few of my students answered with Donald Trump. That was not the correct answer, but it was funny. 

Writing Progress

• 1 student is still working on the graphic organizer, 8 students are working on the draft, 6 students are ready to have an editing conference, 6 students are revising, 9 students are publishing or have already submitted their papers. 
• I will provide bonus journal prompts and morning work for the students who have already published. 

Clipping Up

• I clipped up a lot of students before lunch. I was really proud of their behavior. After lunch; however, they were very talkative. 

Writing Sub Plans

• I wrote sub plans for tomorrow. I decided to write them as an outline because they were mainly for me. My teacher taught me that subs like to have a chart to make the information less overwhelming. She ended up copying and pasting my plans into her template. Creating the sub plans was not as bad of an experience and I had expected. But, it may have been worse if I had not been the one to teach. It still takes me a long time to write a proper lesson plan.