Well, we are into the heart of the courses. Marks have been submitted for mid-term assessment and the students have settled into the routine of school. Wait, a minute, I've settled into the routine of school. Currently, I have two teacher candidates from Queen's University in Kingston and am handing over the reigns of "power" for three official weeks of learning.
Keen, ambitious and energetic these new colleagues have successfully continued to push the students in their reading. The Renaissance Idol Contest in history was a superb success and the role of art, military and technology are the current themes. One strategy recently tried is the "jigsaw" approach, with a series of reading passages. The students are helping each other in groups on both an article and a video component to these themes. Like the Canadian Geese that are heading south, no goose is left behind. ALL are completing the task and the group is helping everyone in their reading and writing.
The college English is also doing some cool things with a well-dusted collection of Death of a Salesman. The work has been in storage at the school since 1984, but we wanted to see if the students were up to working with some oral presentations; once again, reading as a collective pursuit. So far the students have responded quite well with the play and will be exploring some extended activities such as tableau, role-playing and scene interpretations. Pre-reading activities will include using some songs like Harry Chapin's "Cat's Cradle" to get the students to read into the story and see how it applies or does not apply to today's world. Personally, I am trying to see where the teacher candidate takes the story first. Her sheer energy and love of the work is readily evident.
The workplace students have managed to complete most of their work and are right now in the midst of learning to respect one another. Often the issue of traffic cop seems to be the job rather than educator. Our Board's philosophy of Character Education seems to be a constant issue in this class, where respect and compassion seem to be constantly reinforced throughout any given day. Pre-reading conversations are almost a must before any article or topic is assessed. Today, I discussed the issue of winning a lottery and how each student would spend their winnings. From there we switched into the issues of Squiggee Kids and whether or not they have the right to clean the windows of their cars. Most of the students were still picturing their expensive sports cars and were quite animated about how they would deal with anyone touching "THEIR" vehicle. Character Education once again became a prominent component in the class. Newspaper articles helped reinforce the issue and how it is being dealt with in the province and the city. So on that note, I watch the leaves fall, the weather get colder, the cross country running get more of an edge after school in the blustery winds. The approaching winter beckons and makes me wonder just where did that summer holiday disappear. Until next week.
Comments
|
