Rockwood Library (Rockwood Cluster) – Fall 2013

Forums Past Tense Journal (Classroom Log) Rockwood Library (Rockwood Cluster) – Fall 2013

Viewing 8 posts - 31 through 38 (of 38 total)
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  • #415
    WebMaestrex
    Keymaster

    Date of Class: 11/20/13
    Day of Class: Wednesday
    PI: Patrik
    SI:
    Assistants: Linda
    Module: Supposed to be Measurment, but ended up creating a lesson about Thanksgiving
    How Many Learners: 7
    Score: 6+5+4+6+4+4=29
    What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): There were a lot of doing things differently here – I got the module out of order with measurement, and then I decided to cancel the classes for Thanksgiving.. and actually spent time at the beginning dictating what the schedule would be to make sure we had the time to explore. Learned something from Linda about Canadian thanksgiving, and she’s becoming a real asset in the class.. her intuitions about where to fit in are getting right on, and she used her computer to back me up with my weak one. We watched a piece from a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and I knew it rocked the group when Linus asks “What are you gonna do for Thanksgiving Charlie Brown” and he replies “My mother and dad and Sally and I are going to my grandmother’s for dinner” – the reduced language being used, right there in front of them made the point to the everyone in the room: our focus on accuracy of Standard Written English will prevent learners from connecting with our culture. Poise was not so good, because tech problems; engagement was weaker than it could have been.. but really can see the connection happening between folks. One learner expressed about another – she’s my inspiration, I keep coming because if she’s coming (an older Romanian speaker) – I can keep coming.

    You cannot buy this kind of magic.

    #416
    WebMaestrex
    Keymaster

    Date of Class: 12/2/13
    Day of Class: Monday
    PI: Patrik
    SI:
    Assistants: Melanie, Karen
    Module: Happy Holidays
    How Many Learners: 3
    Score: 5+6+7+6+5+6= 35
    What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): I wasn’t sure how it was going to go today after taking off the holidays, and the weather getting colder, but we had 3 folks come, and it was very nice. One learner had had her wisdom teeth removed, such dedication! I had come from another meeting at Hartley elementary, and a great meeting, and we got two americorps volunteers in the room (three actually, but one couldn’t stay) – and it was really cool to kind of work one on one with them. Hoping that will turn into something ongoing and expansive!

    #417
    WebMaestrex
    Keymaster

    Date of Class: 12/3/13
    Day of Class: Tuesda
    PI: ML
    SI: Zadok
    Assistants:
    Module: Holidays
    How Many Learners: 4
    Score: 44
    What happened: One new good-natured student plus Zadok, who isn’t normally at our class, brought some new energy- especially to the names and the role-playing/dictation- so that was a bonus. I found myself unexpectedly nervous that Zadok was attending- not shaking and sweating nervous, but just in a way that focus too much on my ill-prepared lesson plan, thus causing me to stumble a bit through my transitions and dictations. In the end though, class went relatively well. I brought in some real-world Christmas things (lights, wrapping paper, ornaments, etc) and did some vocabulary work with that. As is often an oversight of mine, we could have definitely worked on pronunciation and practice more for each word before diving further into pointing and asking- Zadok had some great suggestions for that in the future.

    #418
    WebMaestrex
    Keymaster

    Date of Class: 12/4/13
    Day of Class: Wednesday
    PI: Patrik
    SI:
    Assistants: David, Linda
    Module: Happy Holidays
    How Many Learners: 6
    Score: 5+5+6+6+5+6=33
    What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): I was very happy to see everyone come back – one of our learners with the swollen mouth looks much better.. but almost everyone today didn’t come on Monday, so we’ve got our full crew! David and Linda were also a really sweet addition – and they both celebrate Hanukkah, so they had a lot to add to the class, and spontaneously sang Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel!

    #419
    WebMaestrex
    Keymaster

    Date: 12/2/13
    Day: Monday
    PI: Lorraine
    SI/assistant: Todd
    Module: shopping
    Learners: 4
    Score: I didn’t do a score
    What happened: I’m on my phone so I won’t go into detail but it went well overall.

    #420
    WebMaestrex
    Keymaster

    Date of Class: 12/9/13
    Day of Class: Monday
    PI: Patrik
    SI:
    Assistants: Karen & Kathy
    Module: Happy Holidays
    How Many Learners: 6
    Score: 3+6+5+5+5+6=30
    What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): lovely group, with one new person – who was rather advanced. Nice to have Karen back and Kathy was a little nervous and taken aback.. but very open and helpful. Lots of interesting things today. One of my favorites was the explicit trying of colloquial gonna (what are you gonna do for Christmas) and bringing out the English speakers responses. There was a new version of an activity that I liked, and wnat to explore more that went like this:

    Hey, Karen

    Hey, Patrik

    Guess What?

    What?

    Veteran’s Day is November 11th!

    Oh really! I didn’t know that!

    I think there’s a lot to explore here.

    One piece that didn’t work as well is that one of the learners who is a regular, was feeling very spotlighted and reacting nervously. I don’t think it was enough to make him not come back.. in fact, he was pushing really hard. but I could just see him getting nervous. There are probably several factors here, but I hope he will continue to try, because he can clearly do learn, though he is shy and soft spoken.

    #421
    WebMaestrex
    Keymaster

    Date of Class: 12/10/13
    Day of Class: Tues
    PI: ML
    SI: Jacob
    Assistants:
    Module: Holidays
    How Many Learners: 7
    Score: 40
    What happened: This class was great!- I went outside my comfort zone and tried teaching a song- specifically the first verse of Silent Night. With Zadok’s initial suggestions, and Jacob’s help during, it went really smoothly. We listened to the song, there was dictation, repetition, writing, speaking the lyrics and singing. I think Students enjoyed it. . .I know I did much more than I thought! And, it went quicker than expected which allowed room for the final activity- we passed around some pre-wrapped little gifts and did some dictation/dialogue/writing/speaking practice around giving/getting/opening gifts. It too went well, I thought. During this activity I used another of Zadok’s suggestions- to dictate to the directions before doing them. (i.e. Pick a present, pass it to another person), etc. It helped the students a lot, I think. Overall, the class (and Jacob, of course), had great energy too!

    #422
    WebMaestrex
    Keymaster

    Date of Class: 12-9-2013
    Day of Class: Monday
    PI: Todd
    SI:
    Assistants:
    Module: Review
    How Many Learners: 4
    Score:
    What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): We basically did a review of things we had talked about the last couple months. A lot of question and answer between students and a dictation. We had 3 students who have been consistent attendees, plus a fourth came for about 45 minutes-she seemed eager to come back next month. Dedicated students, as it was icy in the area.

Viewing 8 posts - 31 through 38 (of 38 total)
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