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The title of today’s lesson is “Time to Get to Work.”
Date of Class: September 22, 2015
Day of Class: Tuesday
Time of Class: 12:00 to 1:30 pm
MC: Grace D.
DJ: William S.
Assistants: none
Module: Mr. Fix It
How Many Learners: 11
Materials Status (loyalty cards, alphabet sheets, etc):Self Evaluation
Preparation: Forgot to Show Up (1) vs. Every Hair In Place (10) = 4
Technique: Completely Incompetent (1) vs. Flawless Delivery (10) = 4
Engagement: Snoring Loudly (1) vs. Absolutely Riveted (10) = 4
Connection: Open Hostility (1) vs. Kumbayah (10) = 5
Poise: Charlie Brown (1) vs. Prince (10) = 3
Reflection: “It was ok.” (1) vs. Life-changing Epiphany (10) = 5Total Score: 25
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): This class is growing. Grace used very effectively several standard tools: hammer, pliers, measuring tape and nail along with printed cards illustrating these work categories: plumber, carpenter, housekeeper, electrician. There was repetition (round robin style) for all to participate, then standing up and moving around the room for various positions: next to, behind, in front of. All seemed to join in and participate.
Lesson Title:
Date of Class:8/19/15
Day of Class: Wednesday
Time of Class: 2:30-4
MC:Brooke
DJ:
Assistants:
Module: Health Care System
How Many Learners:5
Materials Status (loyalty cards, alphabet sheets, etc):Self Evaluation
Preparation: Forgot to Show Up (1) vs. Every Hair In Place (10) =7
Technique: Completely Incompetent (1) vs. Flawless Delivery (10) =7
Engagement: Snoring Loudly (1) vs. Absolutely Riveted (10) =7
Connection: Open Hostility (1) vs. Kumbayah (10) =7
Poise: Charlie Brown (1) vs. Prince (10) =7
Reflection: “It was ok.” (1) vs. Life-changing Epiphany (10) =7Total Score:42
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): This session was a little choppy. I was a little off today, and it is so hott out, I feel like everyone was just kind of drained, it was really hard to get energy flowin. I thought having them all practice with a little LEA activity would be good but it was just hard to get them all on the same page- I didn’t structure it very well, and it’s hard to get them to do what i ask sometimes. They all just want to move fast, and just talk and talk without stopping. If they would just slow down and take it all in, they would likely feel more accomplished. That’s something I need to work on with this group. I think I have to really re-train them after how their last classes went. They spent 13 years with the last teacher who likely taught them some habits. Anyways, I think the LEA could have worked if the content was different. We spent so much time on that, that the other main activity I wanted to do just wouldn’t have worked due to timing so we worked a little with the health history form (this also didn’t go very well) and then the audio library… I think they really liked that we did the practice together by calling the number,, finally something felt like it worked well!. Hopefully that resulted in them leavling with a good feeling
Lesson Title:
Date of Class:8/19/15
Day of Class: Wednesday
Time of Class: 12:30-2 (group A)
MC:Brooke
DJ:
Assistants:
Module: Talking with the boss
How Many Learners:2
Materials Status (loyalty cards, alphabet sheets, etc):Self Evaluation
Preparation: Forgot to Show Up (1) vs. Every Hair In Place (10) =7
Technique: Completely Incompetent (1) vs. Flawless Delivery (10) =8
Engagement: Snoring Loudly (1) vs. Absolutely Riveted (10) =7
Connection: Open Hostility (1) vs. Kumbayah (10) =8
Poise: Charlie Brown (1) vs. Prince (10) =7
Reflection: “It was ok.” (1) vs. Life-changing Epiphany (10) =7Total Score:44
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): Had a new learner today, plus the only learner who has come to every class since the start. They were at pretty similar levels so it didn’t throw my plan off too much. Basically, we just did 2 main activities; the first was looking at images and having them practice with ‘what does he/she do?’ and ‘what are they doing’. really good practice for both of them. The rest of the class was spent on little dialogues that might happen with a boss.. we did dictation, choral repetition and then pair practice. Good class! Will look forward to returning in a couple weeks.
Lesson Title: Coming to America
Date of Class: 8/14/14
Day of Class: Friday
Time of Class: 1:30-3:00
MC: Janet
DJ: Brooke (observing)
Assistants: Anh
Module: Visas and Immigration
How Many Learners: 8
Materials Status (loyalty cards, alphabet sheets, etc):Self Evaluation
Preparation: Forgot to Show Up (1) vs. Every Hair In Place (10) = 9
Technique: Completely Incompetent (1) vs. Flawless Delivery (10) = 7
Engagement: Snoring Loudly (1) vs. Absolutely Riveted (10) = 8
Connection: Open Hostility (1) vs. Kumbayah (10) = 8
Poise: Charlie Brown (1) vs. Prince (10) = 6
Reflection: “It was ok.” (1) vs. Life-changing Epiphany (10) = 8Total Score: 46
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): Very nice class today! We had a couple different language backgrounds, and levels were quite varied. We started with just a few learners, but by the end of class, there was good sized group. After the usual alphabet, names and ‘title of todays lesson’ activities, learners were shown a short video titled ‘coming to America’, which set the tone nicely for the rest of class. Bingo was fun and engaging, and I think everyone won somehow! Great vocab and listening practice. Two short dialogues were practiced among the group that were great review for some, but actually challenging (in a good way) for the lower leveled learners. Class ended with a word search activity that the learners were quite engaged with! And a nice after class chat to top it all off. Nice job, Janet! :)
Lesson Title:
Date of Class: 8/12/15
Day of Class: Wednesday
Time of Class: 2:30-4 (Group B)
MC:Brooke
DJ:
Assistants:
Module: Health care System
How Many Learners:5
Materials Status (loyalty cards, alphabet sheets, etc):Self Evaluation
Preparation: Forgot to Show Up (1) vs. Every Hair In Place (10) =8
Technique: Completely Incompetent (1) vs. Flawless Delivery (10) =7
Engagement: Snoring Loudly (1) vs. Absolutely Riveted (10) =7
Connection: Open Hostility (1) vs. Kumbayah (10) =8
Poise: Charlie Brown (1) vs. Prince (10) =7
Reflection: “It was ok.” (1) vs. Life-changing Epiphany (10) =7Total=44
What happened: Two new learners came! One of the regulars had a bad day so she was kind of checked out. BUt I could tell she was paying attention, and wanted to, as she kept helping others with spelling and such. We did 2 of 5 activities that I had planned but it was great because they got tons of practice with pronunciation and writing. Definitely a multi-level group but awesome dynamics. Super fun and helpful with eachother. I know they appreciate the content today and I already pretty much have the next class planned based on what we covered(and didn’t) today.
Lesson Title:
Date of Class: 8/12/15
Day of Class: Wednesday
Time of Class: 12:30-2 (group A)
MC:Brooke
DJ:
Assistants:
Module: Talking with the boss
How Many Learners:1
Materials Status (loyalty cards, alphabet sheets, etc):Self Evaluation
Preparation: Forgot to Show Up (1) vs. Every Hair In Place (10) =8
Technique: Completely Incompetent (1) vs. Flawless Delivery (10) =8
Engagement: Snoring Loudly (1) vs. Absolutely Riveted (10) =8
Connection: Open Hostility (1) vs. Kumbayah (10) =8
Poise: Charlie Brown (1) vs. Prince (10) =7
Reflection: “It was ok.” (1) vs. Life-changing Epiphany (10) =7Total Score: 48
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): Only 1 learner today, the one who has been there from the start. I know she’s loving all the support and attention. We practiced with some pretty basic quesitons related to her work; How long have you worked here? How many hours a week do you work? Do you work days or nights? what shifts do you work? Did you work yesterday? Are you working tomorrow? Do you ever work overtime? Do you get paid vacation? Do you get sick time?
How many hours did you work last week? How many will you this week?. She definitely needed the do/are practice so we really focused on this for a while, repeating and answering in the negative form too. Then, per her request, we came up with a dialogue for her to practice if she doesn’t get paid this Friday for extra hours she worked a few weeks back. She explained to me what happened in Spanish, we wrote some info down, then I helped her come up with a good summary of what happened. Another leaner came in towards the end to say that she wants to come to classes but can’t until school starts back up as she is the primary care giver of her grandchildren and needs to be there to cook for them before work. Hopefully more will come soon!Lesson Title:
Date of Class: 8/5/15
Day of Class: Wednesday
Time of Class: 2:30-4 (Group B)
MC: Brooke
DJ:
Assistants:
Module: Health Care System
How Many Learners:3
Materials Status (loyalty cards, alphabet sheets, etc):Self Evaluation
Preparation: Forgot to Show Up (1) vs. Every Hair In Place (10) =8
Technique: Completely Incompetent (1) vs. Flawless Delivery (10) =6
Engagement: Snoring Loudly (1) vs. Absolutely Riveted (10) =6
Connection: Open Hostility (1) vs. Kumbayah (10) =7
Poise: Charlie Brown (1) vs. Prince (10) =7
Reflection: “It was ok.” (1) vs. Life-changing Epiphany (10) =7Total Score:41
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): Well this class was a bit more challenging. I wasn’t feeling super confident with my plan, even tho I spent a long time planning… maybe that was the problem, I over planned! It was just tough as I wasn’t sure what to focus on. This module has so many possibilities and without knowing the group too well, it was hard to decide what to focus on. I was thinking more like how to deal with insurance and understand terminology with health care stuff (deductibles, copays, etc..) but actually once we got to talking at the beginning of class, it seemed like they were all pretty clear on what their health plans consisted of. So, I asked several questions to try to get to the core of what they really need to practice. It seems like it’s more about making appointments and filling out the forms and talking about symptoms while they are at the doctor. All of them said that they don’t make the calls for the appt., they have someone else do it for them. IT’s also tough because they all have pretty good comprehension but as soon as they start speaking fast in English, I can barely understand what they are saying due to pronunciation. So I tried to structure the conversation we were having and had them write down various questions and practice with their answers. This part went pretty well. Then I had them practice a short dialogue with describing symptoms, which also went pretty well tho I wish I had made the symptoms a bit more complicated (they were familair with most of the terms). We then did a cloze activity which involved someone describing their problem with migraines. It had a lot of descriptive words in it so I thought it would work well, and while it was ok, there was just something that wasn’t working, I couldn’t really figure out what it was but one thing I realized is that I think they would rather write than read and listen. I have some ideas for next class based on how this one went, just need to figure out how to make it a little more fun, there aren’t many game like activities to go along with this one so I’ll have to get creative.
Lesson Title:
Date of Class: 8/5/15
Day of Class: Wednesday
Time of Class: 12:30-2
MC:Brooke
DJ:
Assistants:
Module: Citizenship
How Many Learners:2
Materials Status (loyalty cards, alphabet sheets, etc):Self Evaluation
Preparation: Forgot to Show Up (1) vs. Every Hair In Place (10) =8
Technique: Completely Incompetent (1) vs. Flawless Delivery (10) =7
Engagement: Snoring Loudly (1) vs. Absolutely Riveted (10) =8
Connection: Open Hostility (1) vs. Kumbayah (10) =8
Poise: Charlie Brown (1) vs. Prince (10) =7
Reflection: “It was ok.” (1) vs. Life-changing Epiphany (10) =7Total Score:45
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): Well, at least one more learner came today with a whopping total of 2! We spelled eachothers names, during this I realized that Lorena was struggling with letters so I took out an alphabet sheet to work with. Even tho Jany was more advanced than Jany, and knew all the letters, for the most part, it was still effective and fun. We did listen/find of states with a US map, then practiced with capitals. Since Lorena chose Citizenship test last week, the focus today was on the geography portion of that. So I took some questions from the actual test to practice with (for ex. which ocean is on the west coast?). We also looked at a map with the main rivers in US, talked about which ones are the longest, and that led into a comparison activity.. since we only had about 15 minutes left at this point so I didn’t want to just switch to a different topic. They definitely needed the practice so all worked out well. As I Was about to do a fun spelling bee activity for the last 5 minutes, Lorena asked if she could ask me something which she had written down so she would remember how to ask for it. She wrote “I would like to switch the topic to ‘talking with the boss’. I took a moment to explain to the other learner that we had voted on topics and Citizenship is the one that was chosen. When I asked more information, Lorena gave an example like ‘I worked 40 hours but only got paid for 32”. I’m not sure if maybe this actually happened to her or if she was just giving an example. So we’ll switch topics for next week, the other learner said it’s fine too.
Lesson Title:N/A
Date of Class: 7/29/15
Day of Class: Wednesday
Time of Class: 2:30-4 (group B)
MC:Brooke
DJ:
Assistants:
Module:N/A (first day, focus was on a curriculum vote)
How Many Learners:3
Materials Status (loyalty cards, alphabet sheets, etc):Self Evaluation
Preparation: Forgot to Show Up (1) vs. Every Hair In Place (10) =8
Technique: Completely Incompetent (1) vs. Flawless Delivery (10) =8
Engagement: Snoring Loudly (1) vs. Absolutely Riveted (10) =8
Connection: Open Hostility (1) vs. Kumbayah (10) =7
Poise: Charlie Brown (1) vs. Prince (10) =7
Reflection: “It was ok.” (1) vs. Life-changing Epiphany (10) =6Total Score:44
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): Fortunately, more learners came to this class! 3 women from Laos who have been woriking there for 12, 22, and 25 years. Their levels ranged from intermediate to high-intermediate depending on the skill area. We started off with names, then what’s your job title, what do you do, talked about the distincition between the 2. They practiced with writing and pronunciation. Also practiced, how long have you worked here, I have worked here…
Then we did LEA activity, I read mine first, then Noy, Phensy, Sommay. They all copied the structure of mine, none of them made tons of errors, but at least one or 2. We corrected as a group, then I had them re-read with corrected version. They were all pretty short, this took up majority of class. Then we did curriculum vote and that was it! Health care system is what they chose.Lesson Title:n/a
Date of Class: 7/29/15
Day of Class: Wednesday
Time of Class: 12:30-2 (Group A)
MC:Brooke
DJ:
Assistants:
Module: N/A (first day, focus was on a curriculum vote)
How Many Learners: 1
Materials Status (loyalty cards, alphabet sheets, etc):Self Evaluation
Preparation: Forgot to Show Up (1) vs. Every Hair In Place (10) = 8
Technique: Completely Incompetent (1) vs. Flawless Delivery (10) =7
Engagement: Snoring Loudly (1) vs. Absolutely Riveted (10) =8
Connection: Open Hostility (1) vs. Kumbayah (10) =8
Poise: Charlie Brown (1) vs. Prince (10) =7
Reflection: “It was ok.” (1) vs. Life-changing Epiphany (10) =6Total Score: 45
We did names, then I asked her a few questions about her life just to assess her level, we did what do you do? Then we practiced with some numners/ ordinals, I realized she needed help with 15/50 and then we did some ordinals which was completely new to her. Then I read my ‘about me’, she wrote, her writing is pretty good, everything else low-intermediate. Then she told me a story, made lots of mistakes. We corrected them then did the vote, she asked me to repeat several of the questions I asked her, or just words in general so she could write them down. Had a real hard time with ‘daughter’. She picked citizenship as the module.
Lesson Title: Declaration of Independence
Date of Class: 7/18/2015
Day of Class: Saturday
Time of Class: 2:00 – 3:30pm
MC: Patrik
DJ: Priya
Assistants: Salomon
Module: N/a
How Many Learners: 8
Materials Status (loyalty cards, alphabet sheets, etc): N/aSelf Evaluation
Preparation: Forgot to Show Up (1) vs. Every Hair In Place (10) = 4
Technique: Completely Incompetent (1) vs. Flawless Delivery (10) = 5
Engagement: Snoring Loudly (1) vs. Absolutely Riveted (10) = 5
Connection: Open Hostility (1) vs. Kumbayah (10) = 6
Poise: Charlie Brown (1) vs. Prince (10) = 7
Reflection: “It was ok.” (1) vs. Life-changing Epiphany (10) = 6Total Score: 33
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): So this is the summary of today’s class, hopefully in the right order. Patrik started the class with a small dictation exercise and then moved on to the alphabet sheet. Next we learnt everybody’s names, followed by another dictation and choral response activity. We then did, a listen and find activity with the Declaration of Independence. We finished with an entertaining listen and do activity.
Lesson Title:N/A
Date of Class: 6/24/15
Day of Class:Wednesday
Time of Class: 9-11:45 (with 10 min break)
MC:Brooke
DJ:
Assistants:
Module: In the kitchen, with a twist of nutrition
How Many Learners:4
Materials Status (loyalty cards, alphabet sheets, etc): there are plenty of alphabet sheets and attendance. We aren’t using loyalty cardsSelf Evaluation
Preparation: Forgot to Show Up (1) vs. Every Hair In Place (10) =8
Technique: Completely Incompetent (1) vs. Flawless Delivery (10) =8
Engagement: Snoring Loudly (1) vs. Absolutely Riveted (10) =7
Connection: Open Hostility (1) vs. Kumbayah (10) =8
Poise: Charlie Brown (1) vs. Prince (10) =7
Reflection: “It was ok.” (1) vs. Life-changing Epiphany (10) =7Total Score:45
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): Things actually went really well given that it was only the 2nd day at a new site. Only 4 learners came, but the ones who were there were great. It was a nicely multi-leveled class, 2 learners were pretty advanced in writing skills, though their speaking and comprehension were closer to intermediate. 2 learners were at the lower level on all skill levels. They were great about working together, and very eager to learn. It was a little hard to get the energy up but during certain activities, I was able to get it up there, and especially during the ‘this is a what’ activity, there was much laughter. I think we picked the right module, they loved learning the vocab words for kitchen items, and the kitchen verbs (cut, slice, peel, etc..) We explored nutrition labels briefly and one learner requested we do more of that next week, at least so they can better understand the labels. They had a lot of nutrition knowledge, I was pleasantly surprised. We did a good amount of writing throughout, which they all appreciated (tho 2 struggled with). my timing was a bit off and although I wanted to end with a song, we didn’t have time so I just started a new activity involving the kitchen items i brought it. We didn’t finish it but I got creative with ending class in a way that wasn’t so abrupt. I really do think they will all come back, I would be surprised if they didn’t.
Date and Location of Class: June 19, 2015
Day of Class: Friday
Time of Class: 1:30-3 p.m.
MC: Arien Lorenzo Vento
DJ: Jane McIver
Assistants: Brooke Stady (observing), Matt Dennis
Module: Civic English—13 ColoniesHow Many Learners: 6
Score: 43 (Preparation: 6; Technique: 7; Engagement: 7; Connection: 8; Poise: 7; Reflection: 8).
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
This class began at 1:35. We had 2 new learners. After warmup activities plus lesson title dictation the Declaration of Independence was passed out and a document search ensued. We then saw a music video of “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World”. Part of the song was dictated. A brief TPR (standing physical exercise) followed and class was dismissed at 3:05 p.m.
Date and Location of Class: June 3, 2015, Rockwood Library
Day of Class: Wednesday
Time of Class: Noon-2 p.m.
MC: Jane McIver
DJ: Jane McIver
Assistants: Barbara McCanne
Module: Nature—Birds
How Many Learners: 6Score: 38 (Preparation: 6; Technique: 6; Engagement: 7; Connection: 7; Poise: 6; Reflection: 6).
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
This class began around 12:11, due to no learners arriving until that time. We had 1 new learner. Warmup activities were followed by title of today’s lesson dictation, then round robin about whether learners will come with us next week to Nadaka Nature Park. Several said they would come. Document search of the bird brochure was a big hit. “Little Birdie” was great fun to sing and the learners enjoyed singing to Jane’s accompaniment on the ukulele. She tried to show the Pete Seeger video on her IPad but the video would not play. She realized much later that she was probably not connected to Rockwood’s wireless network. After a short period of physical exercise the class ended at 1:55. There was much camaraderie and several learners helped each other.
Date and Location of Class: May 13, 2015, Rockwood Library
Day of Class: Wednesday
Time of Class: Noon-2 pm
MC: Krysie Bright
DJ: Jane McIver
Assistants: Barbara McCanne, Kenzie CottyModule: In the Neighborhood—Insects
How Many Learners: 8
Score: 38 (Preparation: 5; Technique: 6; Engagement: 7; Connection: 6; Poise: 6; Reflection: 8).
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
This class began and ended on time. Lesson title dictation followed Alphabet Listen & Point and Yell & Spell. Jane brought 5 fake insects which were incorporated into the lesson. Every learner identified each insect, then passed it on to the next learner. After a short stretch break (Total Physical Response, TPR), a round robin followed. The learners asked each other if they had ever eaten a bug. A couple of short stories about people eating bugs were dictated. There was a lot of laughter and camaraderie in this class. The learners were very engaged in encouraging and helping each other. Several learners want to return to class on Friday, if their work schedules permit.