teaching them and writing lesson plans
my kids have to take a district "benchmark" test. i've had it for about 2 weeks, and i've spent almost the whole time prepping them for it--we did informational materials, today we did a total fly-by on theme, and we are studying some vocab words for the test. it's a 50 question test--they do 25 questions tommorow, and 25 questions on thursday. it's hard. and i haven't taught everything that's on it. but i have done a lot more.
so, i wanted to comment on writing lesson plans. today we studied theme. i had this worksheet photocopied for my students. another teacher made it, and i gave it a perfunctory glance on friday before i left school. i figured i'd review it this weekend. last night i knew i would be teaching theme, and i was just going to jump in with this worksheet without doing any intro. all of a sudden i had a light go on in my head like "oh, i have to somehow introduce theme--it will be so much of a better lesson if i do." i brainstormed a little and lit on the idea of theme songs. class began with the theme song to "Cops"--you know, the one that goes "Bad Boys Bad Boys, watcha gonna do, watcha gonna do when they come for you?"
the kids almost died, they got all excited and totally into it. then i gave them the definition of theme, and then we talked about the "Friends" theme song--"I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to fall, I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too....blah blah blah." you know how it goes.
and all of a sudden, they were into theme, and i was into theme, and they listened to me paraphrase these fables and they were totally into it. basically it all just kicked butt. AND they totally rocked the exit slip at the end of class--that was the most satisfying part. yay me! go me! and...i have to give a lot of credit to my TFA program director on this one, because she and i had a great conversation about really having a solid objective that i tie to everything. we practiced the objective in 2 different ways in class, and then we did the exit slip which was a lot like how we practiced. it rocked, basically.
good first day back after a three day weekend. even if the rest of the day isn't awesome, this morning really made my day. of course, they are my favorite class.....shhhhh, don't tell. :-)
so, i wanted to comment on writing lesson plans. today we studied theme. i had this worksheet photocopied for my students. another teacher made it, and i gave it a perfunctory glance on friday before i left school. i figured i'd review it this weekend. last night i knew i would be teaching theme, and i was just going to jump in with this worksheet without doing any intro. all of a sudden i had a light go on in my head like "oh, i have to somehow introduce theme--it will be so much of a better lesson if i do." i brainstormed a little and lit on the idea of theme songs. class began with the theme song to "Cops"--you know, the one that goes "Bad Boys Bad Boys, watcha gonna do, watcha gonna do when they come for you?"
the kids almost died, they got all excited and totally into it. then i gave them the definition of theme, and then we talked about the "Friends" theme song--"I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to fall, I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too....blah blah blah." you know how it goes.
and all of a sudden, they were into theme, and i was into theme, and they listened to me paraphrase these fables and they were totally into it. basically it all just kicked butt. AND they totally rocked the exit slip at the end of class--that was the most satisfying part. yay me! go me! and...i have to give a lot of credit to my TFA program director on this one, because she and i had a great conversation about really having a solid objective that i tie to everything. we practiced the objective in 2 different ways in class, and then we did the exit slip which was a lot like how we practiced. it rocked, basically.
good first day back after a three day weekend. even if the rest of the day isn't awesome, this morning really made my day. of course, they are my favorite class.....shhhhh, don't tell. :-)
posted by Allyson B. at
10:10 AM
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