A Superb Day
Teachers, just like everyone else, have good days and not so good days. Some days, we can pinpoint exactly what made it go so well or exactly what tipped the scale in the other direction (even the full moon can have an effect!). Some days, no matter how great a teacher you are, nor how well prepared for your lessons you are, the day just does not go as you planned. Today was not one of those days. Today in fact was an absolutely fabulous day, and I can't really pinpoint the exact reason. Sure, I had my lessons well planned, but they were nothing spectacular. It wasn't that those one or two children that seem to control the mood of the classroom weren't there. I have no idea what it was, but I'll take it. It was a really great Friday!
My first two lessons were with my year 6 English class, and while at times they can be a bit chatty, they truly are a sweet group of kids. They are generally hard-working, thoughtful and curious. I've been having discussions with them one-on-one this week, talking to them about their current levels, their targets and what they can do to improve. I love having, even just a few minutes with the kids one on one. We are talking about persuasive writing right now. We visited a wildlife organization website about dancing bears. (Another teacher had found and suggested this website, which was a wonderful one to bring out the real passion that children have.) These bears are horribly treated and made to "dance" for entertainment. The children, as I was, were horrified by the cruelty that went on with these bears. Afterwards, they made persuasive posters convincing others to do what they could to help the bears. A group of girls called me out of the staff room at lunch today to ask if we could start a school-wide campaign to help the bears. I was thrilled with their passion, so I've told them to do some research over the weekend and we'll talk again on Monday.
Yesterday, last lesson, I taught double digit multiplication to my pupils. They, too, are a truly sweet group, but as I'm teaching a lower set in math, they tend to have trouble staying focused. Last lessons are not the easiest of times to keep their attention, and well, it went horribly. Today, I sat them all on the floor where I had most of them within arm's reach and we tried the process again! They did beautifully! They tried hard and most of them had it by the end of the lesson.
The year 5 English classes are doing short stories this term. We've actually started by watching a very short animated film and sharing our responses to it. We're working on sharing our opinions and even using the thesaurus to make our word choices stronger. "The Piano" is only about two minutes long and we have watched it multiple times in the classroom, noticing different aspects each time. I know it is animated, but I think you, too will enjoy it:
I couldn't watch this film without thinking of the opening scene in Disney's "Up." So, today, we also watched this clip and shared similarities and differences in the mood, atmosphere and plot of the film. Again, I know it is animated, but I know very few people who don't need a tissue at the end of this clip, so if you've got a few minutes, I encourage you to give it a view.
The kids did a great job of using the thesaurus to help them find more meaningful words to capture the emotions they felt in these films.
During form time (like home room), I continued reading Crash to the class. Unfortunately, there are very few form times that are not taken up with other agendas, so it is taking us a long time to finish, but the kids absolutely love it and I'm thoroughly impressed with how much they remember from when we left off before Christmas.
Today was the start of my second term of American Studies Enrichment class, which meant, I got a whole new crop of kiddos today. I've got 21 kids who all seem very happy to be there and eager to learn. They were a pleasure to get to know and I was amazed how many of them the let their true personalities shine through on the first day. One boy was reading a book in the Hunger Games series and I stopped to talk to him about it. I told him how much I enjoyed it and he said, he too was having trouble putting it down. I asked him what he knew about America and he said that Jennifer Lawrence (star of the Hunger Games) was from there. The girls around him giggled and said he was obsessed with her. To which he answered, "I'm not obsessed, I just talk about her everyday, all the time," and he gave a little sideways grin.
Last term, I gave the class a survey at the end of the term to see how much they had learned. This time, I decided I should start with a basic survey so that I could see what they already knew and what they wanted to learn about. A small confession here: their answers were so amusing with the end of term survey, that I sort of just wanted some more silly answers!
So, here are a couple of the questions on the survey and some of the pupils' responses. Please note that the spelling and grammar was not changed from their own handwriting, because sometimes, I think that helps to add to the humor!
What do you know about America?
There is 52 states
lots of gambling in Las Vegas
They have a different language.
It has a lot of girls that do cheerleading and dance.
They have amazing food like TacoBell.
What impressions do you have of America or Americans?
good looking boys
they like food
wierd aksents
They are very rich most of them are nice but thats how they are.
There really cool, and nice they offered me hotdogs when I was in America
America is a load more bigger then England.
there acsent is amazing
I think that some Americans are crazy! Some are lovely, some are normal. It depends.
Next, I gave the kids a map and had them find a state, or in some cases a large city, that started with the same letter as their first name. The kids then had to go around saying their name and "where they were from" and repeat all of those that came before them. We had Katie from Kansas, Dolly from Delaware, Oliver from Oregon, Max from Minnesota, William from Wisconsin, Tia from Texas, Holly from Hawaii and even Brooklyn from Birmingham.
I took the maps away and gave the kids paper, pen and glue and instructed them to make a map of the USA. They did not have to create all 50 states, just a general outline, and they could label specific things that they knew where they belonged. Here is what they came up with:
My first two lessons were with my year 6 English class, and while at times they can be a bit chatty, they truly are a sweet group of kids. They are generally hard-working, thoughtful and curious. I've been having discussions with them one-on-one this week, talking to them about their current levels, their targets and what they can do to improve. I love having, even just a few minutes with the kids one on one. We are talking about persuasive writing right now. We visited a wildlife organization website about dancing bears. (Another teacher had found and suggested this website, which was a wonderful one to bring out the real passion that children have.) These bears are horribly treated and made to "dance" for entertainment. The children, as I was, were horrified by the cruelty that went on with these bears. Afterwards, they made persuasive posters convincing others to do what they could to help the bears. A group of girls called me out of the staff room at lunch today to ask if we could start a school-wide campaign to help the bears. I was thrilled with their passion, so I've told them to do some research over the weekend and we'll talk again on Monday.
Yesterday, last lesson, I taught double digit multiplication to my pupils. They, too, are a truly sweet group, but as I'm teaching a lower set in math, they tend to have trouble staying focused. Last lessons are not the easiest of times to keep their attention, and well, it went horribly. Today, I sat them all on the floor where I had most of them within arm's reach and we tried the process again! They did beautifully! They tried hard and most of them had it by the end of the lesson.
The year 5 English classes are doing short stories this term. We've actually started by watching a very short animated film and sharing our responses to it. We're working on sharing our opinions and even using the thesaurus to make our word choices stronger. "The Piano" is only about two minutes long and we have watched it multiple times in the classroom, noticing different aspects each time. I know it is animated, but I think you, too will enjoy it:
I couldn't watch this film without thinking of the opening scene in Disney's "Up." So, today, we also watched this clip and shared similarities and differences in the mood, atmosphere and plot of the film. Again, I know it is animated, but I know very few people who don't need a tissue at the end of this clip, so if you've got a few minutes, I encourage you to give it a view.
The kids did a great job of using the thesaurus to help them find more meaningful words to capture the emotions they felt in these films.
During form time (like home room), I continued reading Crash to the class. Unfortunately, there are very few form times that are not taken up with other agendas, so it is taking us a long time to finish, but the kids absolutely love it and I'm thoroughly impressed with how much they remember from when we left off before Christmas.
Today was the start of my second term of American Studies Enrichment class, which meant, I got a whole new crop of kiddos today. I've got 21 kids who all seem very happy to be there and eager to learn. They were a pleasure to get to know and I was amazed how many of them the let their true personalities shine through on the first day. One boy was reading a book in the Hunger Games series and I stopped to talk to him about it. I told him how much I enjoyed it and he said, he too was having trouble putting it down. I asked him what he knew about America and he said that Jennifer Lawrence (star of the Hunger Games) was from there. The girls around him giggled and said he was obsessed with her. To which he answered, "I'm not obsessed, I just talk about her everyday, all the time," and he gave a little sideways grin.
Last term, I gave the class a survey at the end of the term to see how much they had learned. This time, I decided I should start with a basic survey so that I could see what they already knew and what they wanted to learn about. A small confession here: their answers were so amusing with the end of term survey, that I sort of just wanted some more silly answers!
So, here are a couple of the questions on the survey and some of the pupils' responses. Please note that the spelling and grammar was not changed from their own handwriting, because sometimes, I think that helps to add to the humor!
What do you know about America?
There is 52 states
lots of gambling in Las Vegas
They have a different language.
It has a lot of girls that do cheerleading and dance.
They have amazing food like TacoBell.
What impressions do you have of America or Americans?
good looking boys
they like food
wierd aksents
They are very rich most of them are nice but thats how they are.
There really cool, and nice they offered me hotdogs when I was in America
America is a load more bigger then England.
there acsent is amazing
I think that some Americans are crazy! Some are lovely, some are normal. It depends.
Next, I gave the kids a map and had them find a state, or in some cases a large city, that started with the same letter as their first name. The kids then had to go around saying their name and "where they were from" and repeat all of those that came before them. We had Katie from Kansas, Dolly from Delaware, Oliver from Oregon, Max from Minnesota, William from Wisconsin, Tia from Texas, Holly from Hawaii and even Brooklyn from Birmingham.
I took the maps away and gave the kids paper, pen and glue and instructed them to make a map of the USA. They did not have to create all 50 states, just a general outline, and they could label specific things that they knew where they belonged. Here is what they came up with:
 |
| Some chose to be creative and just include what they knew about America. |
 |
| This received the most accurate award! |
I have no doubt that there were many contributing factors to my superb day, and I do hope the kids enjoyed it as much as I did, but I'm not sure exactly what it was. I just wish I could bottle it up and keep it to ensure that everyday is a superb teaching AND learning day.
I've just checked and it is a new moon. I wonder if new moons have the exact opposite of full moons in the classroom? Hmmm...
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