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Lesson Title: Maps, Streets and Directional Phrases
Date of Class: 04/30/15
Day of Class: Thursday
Time of Class: 10:00 – 11:30
MC: David
DJ: Jacob
Assistants: N/A
Module: Maps & Addresses
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) = 6
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) = 8Total Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Class started a little late, we had one brand new learner join us. She seemed quite high level, and David had her do some dictations. Our other learner came in about thirty minutes late, a very familiar face, one that I was very happy to see. David and I did some listen & point on a map, some dictation related to addresses and phone numbers, and closed with a fantastic folk song that included some directions in the lyrics.
Date of Class: 03/24/2014
Day of Class: Monday
Time of Class: 12pm-2pm
MC: Graham
DJ: Jacob
Assistants: N/A
Module: Mobile Phones
How Many Learners: 9
Score: 5+3+4+3+2+5 = 22
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Helped Graham out with his first class today! We had a lot of people, and a lot of new faces… actually I think there were more new people than returning! Two of the Ukranians who came at the very end of last Monday’s class were back today. There were also two Spanish speaking women who, I observed last Monday, hovered curiously outside the room for a bit without entering. They joined us today, but one left after about 15 minutes to be with her children; the other stayed. A young woman, who I think was her oldest daughter, stayed with us and helped out a little.Graham got right to work; he had brought his own printouts of the anatomy of a phone, with bigger font than is on the sheets that were already at the library. He had everyone doing listen and point exercises, then writing phrases down from the sheet, and lots of choral response mixed in.
He also had people talk a bit about their phones, pointing to different buttons on the phone and talking about what those buttons do. We had about 15 minutes left at the end, so Graham had everyone say their first and last name, emphasizing the gap between the two names, so that it sounds like two distinct names, and not one long name. He said this was an activity based on feedback from job recruiters in Erie; a very interesting exercise!
Finally, when 3 minutes were left, Graham asked me if this would be my last class. I said yes, and so he had everyone write down “Thank you for everything Jacob, we will miss you, and good luck on your trip!” Then everyone said that out loud. A little awkward, since only one person knew me from my teaching days last summer… but touching none the less.
Date of Class: 03/18/2014
Day of Class: Thursday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: Kalen
Module: Emergency Preparedness
How Many Learners: 3
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
3… is a magic number. For here, anyway. It’s the number we can’t break. I saw, in total, six different people come through this classroom. Some only came here, some came to other sites, and some came once and then never again. We’ll figure this out.I think I gave the best class of the term. It helps having 3 people show up. I did some dictation of emergency supplies, which essentially concluded with non-perishable food – I had the students (and myself and Kalen) come up with examples of non-perishable food, and we wrote them down.
Then we did some TPR with some emergency supplies (drink water, blow your whistle, crank your radio), then more dictation, this time with a first aid kit I bought from Target. I used most of the items from the kit in the “this is an apple” activity, and then we concluded with a little more dictation, because there was only five minutes left. I went a minute over! Whoops!
I definitely got Kalen more involved this class then last class, so I was happy about that. Hope she keeps coming back!
Date of Class: 03/13/2014
Day of Class: Thursday
MC: Barbara
DJ: Jacob
Assistants: N/A
Module: At The Doctor
How Many Learners: 4
Score: 38
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
I still need to work on being an assistant to other people. As Barbara and I discussed afterward… it’s hard for me to watch people and let them… fall, so to speak, if they need to. I gave a little bit more command/direction to Barbara than she felt she needed (and she made it clear to me that I had done so), and I stepped back and little and did more observing.I felt Barbara taught a great class. We met 30 minutes early and discussed the lesson plan she had brought… though again, I should have listened more and probably could have avoided some of the aforementioned issue. She didn’t look nervous (though she said she was), we did plenty of dialogue and dictation practice, and Barbara was wondering at helping out and getting people to work together. Also, Mario bought us pizza! Whoa! Thanks dude!
Date of Class: 03/13/2014
Day of Class: Thursday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: Graham
Module: Mr Fix-It
How Many Learners: 9
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Great last class. We did lots of dictation and TPR, lots of laughter, and Graham was a huge help. I’m really going to miss this class.Date of Class: 03/12/2014
Day of Class: Wednesday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: N/A
Module: Maps & Addresses
How Many Learners: 11
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
I did a silent class today. I did one for a couple of reasons: I think they’re fun, I think they challenge me, I think they’re amusing for the students, and because I’m sick. I wanted to see if it would help for me to use my voice less, because I tend to rely on it to control a classroom.The class found this amusing, but also confusing, and a little frustrating. I had a fully prepared lesson plan, but the transitions weren’t 100% perfect, and I think I showed a little frustration myself. There was a lot of laughter at first, but the mood got a little more serious at times, too.
Around 5-10 minutes til the end of class, some of the students were saying that because I couldn’t speak, and because it was the last class, we should all just go home. I asked them to wait a few more minutes (with a whiteboard), and then I wrote “thank you” on my whiteboard, signed it with my hand, and then said it. Everyone groaned, and one person told me she didn’t like the class because she felt like she didn’t learn much (and because I lied about not being able to speak). Another said she enjoyed practicing sign language. Yet another told me that the Chinese kids I was leaving to teach would be lucky to have me. Lots of mixed messages this evening; however, I think revealing the secret probably wasn’t the best idea.
Date of Class: 03/11/2014
Day of Class: Tuesday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: Kalen
Module: Emergency Preparedness
How Many Learners: 2
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Darnit! Attendance dropped, as M didn’t show up but the other two did. Patrik, Amber and I were all ready for that March attendance boost to happen here… and instead we lost one. But we have no intentions of giving up!It was a little slow because we only had one for the first half hour of class, so getting Kalen involved was a bit difficult for me. But I definitely managed, and when R showed up, it was a lot easier. It’s fun coming up with ways to challenge these much higher level students.
Date of Class: 03/11/2014
Day of Class: Tuesday
MC: Jacob
DJ: Robert
Assistants: Graham
Module: Nutrition
How Many Learners: 11
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Um, wow. Does this count as a 10? Most of you reading this already saw it on Facebook, but after class today, my students made me wait a few minutes before going down to our coordinator’s office, where they had prepared a feast in my honor. Tons of Mexican food and drink in honor of the second-to-last class of the term (and of my teaching there, for now).What a nice class for Graham to have his second observation during! (Is that a proper sentence?)
Date of Class: 03/10/2014
Day of Class: Monday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: Ruby
Module: Shopping
How Many Learners: 16
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Nice big class today! It was a bit of a slow start, with only 4 people coming on time, but we definitely filled out the tables quickly!I brought a ton of materials, fliers, brochures, coupons, and I passed them around after some dictation. Then I had everyone write and practice a dialogue where they ordered Chinese takeout off a menu I brought in. One of the students said she wished I had gone over ordering a pizza instead, and that we should do that next class… unfortunately there won’t be a next class! Not until April… But it’s definitely a great idea to consider!
Date of Class: 03/06/2014
Day of Class: Thursday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: Kalen
Module: At The Doctor
How Many Learners: 5
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Nice class today. I was very happy to have Kalen show up for her first observation, and she had a lot of fun!We did some listen & point with the medical history checklist, then some dialogue dictation & practice. After that, I had them describe what one of the learners was wearing, and then did “touch your…” for the last few minutes. I had a few minutes to spare, so I had them stand up and do some different things with a “can you” context (Can you touch the sky? Can you raise your shoulders?).
Date of Class: 03/05/2014
Day of Class: Wednesday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: N/A
Module: Maps & Addresses
How Many Learners: 8
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Smaller class than usual. The weather outside is pretty awful, so I blame that. The energy level was also a bit low among the learners who came… so I did my best to add what I could. I dictated some location descriptions (across from, between, next to) and some examples (M is between J and L) and had them practice that. Then, I did cardinal directions, cardinal numbers, and some more difficult cardinal number examples (22nd, 101st, 54th, etc).Finally, and this is probably one of my favorite activities, I had them write down “turn left,” “turn right,” “go forward,” “stop,” and “turn around.” I asked one student to stand away from his chair, and I directed him back to it. I then went around and did this a few more times, having one person directing someone else back to his or her chair… one thing that amuses me, is how people always understand the necessity for a stop command, to keep them from running into a chair or a table… this is a concept that, in other contexts (such as programming) can be very difficult to understand. That ended the class.
Date of Class: 03/04/2014
Day of Class: Tuesday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: N/A
Module: Emergency Preparedness
How Many Learners: 3
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
The same three as last week! Hooray!This group is becoming a lot of fun, mostly because they are very quick and comfortable with writing, so you can dictate really long strings of dialogue really easily. It’s hard to feel like I’m keeping them fully engaged… everything seems too easy for them.
I had them write down their name, address, phone number and location (address of the school), and then flip over their notebooks and repeat all that information. After that, I did some listen & point with a list of common household chemicals that are poisonous, and did some dictation using a household hazards list. Finally, I dictated a very simple example 911 conversation and had them practice that with each other.
What amazed me though, was that last week at Lynch Meadows, part of one of the homework assignments I was given was a crossword puzzle… I didn’t use it in class (though it might have worked… maybe), but one of my students had actually solved all but one word on the puzzle over the weekend. I showed her where the last answer was, and she finished it! Wow!
Date of Class: 02/27/2014
Day of Class: Thursday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: N/A
Module: Homework Helper
How Many Learners: 5
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Two of the learners here were people who have also been coming to Lynch Wood – how exciting!On top of that, I asked Mario for some kindergarten and 5th grade worksheets – and he came through in spades! There were three different 5th grade assignments, and one kindergarten assignment where the parent was supposed to help the child write his or her name clearly.
I used a reading assignment for some listen and point, and two different math assignments for a similar exercise, but I also did choral response (three point oh times two point six equals what?). I was pretty surprised to find exponents on a piece of 5th grade math homework! I used that for some choral dictation as well, at the end of the class.
Date of Class: 02/06/2014
Day of Class: Thursday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: N/A
Module: Talking With The Boss
How Many Learners: 15
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Wow! I think this was the biggest class of the whole term… I wish more of these people had kept coming!I forgot to post this initially because I was sick, and I was told that my class that night was cancelled… this was right as the snow was beginning to fall. When I was told my class was sick, I immediately went home and went to sleep, and forgot all about this! Oops!
Looking at my lesson plan, it’s kind of funny, because there’s stuff written here that I remember doing (constructing “have you” and “can you” sentences) and things I don’t remember doing at all (a dialogue where I’m asking if someone can trade shifts with me). I do remember doing some TPR involving hand waving, shaking and bowing, though,
Date of Class: 01/30/2014
Day of Class: Thursday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: N/A
Module: Talking With The Boss
How Many Learners: 13
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Wow! 13 people today. Lots of new faces, and lots of returning ones… today I kept it simple, I had people practice “can” and “can’t,” then dictated a very curt request (give me that pencil) and a much nicer one (may I please have a pencil?).After that, I dictated a time off request to see the doctor, and then I did some TPR asking if people could or couldn’t do thing like raise their shoulders, bend their knees, touch their toes, etc.