Quiz #8 yayyy!

Today in class we used the play She Stoops To Conquer to try to help high school students want to understand the play and the topics of the play better. We got into groups of about 5 or 6 and filmed stories or in my groups case we did a kind of documentary style film.
In my group we went around and asked people what they look for in a partner. We did this to relate to the character Kate in She Stoops To Conquer because in trying to find a partner she finds interesting things that men like and dont like about her.

Before we went out and asked people questions
I WONDERED: how people were going to react to us asking them such a random question. I also wondered if our idea was going to even be effective.

I NOTICED: that our class was at first nervous about this activity but by the end everyone was having fun.

NEXT CLASS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO: learning how to teach with even more technology

Have you ever spent time with an adult with a cognitive or developmental disability?
**Yes, I have. My cousin actually has a cognitive disability I grew up with her and she is what inspired me to major in special education.

She stoops to conquer! Quiz #7 continued

The play She Stoops To Conquer is a play with a complicated, convoluted plot based on miscommunication and mistaken identities. It is about a woman ,Kate, who wishes to marry a man who becomes nervous around upper-class woman yet the complete opposite around lower-class women. Kate is an upper-class women so she decides to stoop to conquer and make a marriage to this man possible. She pretends that she is a lower-class woman. After reading the play she stoops to conquer, a comedy by Oliver Goldsmith which premiered March 15, 1773 our class got into small groups and found 5 vocabulary words that would make good vocabulary lessons or a good word search to prepare for students..
Heres our 5 words..
***These words would make a good vocabulary lesson because they are challenging!
*Follies (Line 11)
*Discretion (line 30)
*Pewter Platter (Line 74)
*Superfluous (Line 91)
*Squire (Line 6)

Next we found 5 images that represent the play, or that are from the actual play itself.
One
Two
Three
Four
Setting of the play-London

Next step was to find a song or type of music that fit each characters personality or their intentions in the play...
Hastings:I give Hastings the wedding march song because he wants to marry Constance Neville.


Mr. HardCastle: I give Mr.HardCastle the them song to the very old show Green Acres from 1966. I gave this song to him because he enjoys the rustic life away from fashionable London.


Kate HardCastle: For Kate I give her the song Get Low by T-pain feat Flo Rider because the chorus of the saw say "get low low low low" and thats what Kate does in order to see if Marlow has true feelings for her as a barmaid.

Sir Charles Marlow: For Charles I gave him the song Im in love with a stripper. Its a little dramatic and out there, but it shows that Charles is more comfortable around lower class woman. No offense against strippers as being low class, but that is just a stereotype.

Constance Neville: For Constance I gave her the song Addicted to money by Ludacris and Lil Scrappy because in the play Constance wants to get the jewels that she is heir to so that she can flee to France with her admirer.

Questions:
What kind of activity is this?
** This is an activity that makes us think outside of the box about a play that could other wise be confusing. This activity is helpful to adapt this play for high school students because you can spark their interest by applying songs to each character. You can use 2009 songs that they like and that makes the play seem more interesting and the high school students can see what the characters are like through things in their day and age.
** How does this challenge you?
This challenges us because we have to think outside of the box and use outside resources to understand the play and its characters.

*week 8 post*

What are the top three things you need to know when working with parents?

I always knew that you would need to work with parents one on one about their students but never really thought about how to go about doing that before watching this video in class. Before I watched the video I thought some good things you need to know in order to work with parents were to know how their child is doing in class. Parents like to know how well their child is doing compared to everyone else in the class. Also, You should be understanding about the parent's background, and do not be judgemental unless something is dangerous for the child. Knowing a parent is a certain way(good or bad) should not affect the way you look at their child and teach their child. One last thing that I thought would be good to know when working with parents is you should be very understanding and open to their suggestions and comments.

After watching the video, wadsworth cengage home-school communications-The parent teacher conference, in class on Thursday Oct 22 I have a much better understanding of what parents want out of a parent-teacher conference and what you, as the teacher, have to give to them. I think one thing that is extremely important I learned is you should know how to ask the parents what their student says about school. You do this to get an idea of what the parents thoughts are and what ideas the parent may have already against or for you as their child's teacher. A child can go home and say anything they want and in most cases I think parents believe them. In the video, another good point that the teacher brought up is that as a teacher you should interact with the parents in a parent-teacher conference. It is good to get their feedback and hear what they have to say. You can question them about what they think and then in return tell them what you think. As the teacher in the video said it should be a dialogue back and forth not just you talking. One more thing I learned from this video is that you need to make parents allies and partners. When you are not partners with your students parents, it is not a stable situation for the student.

Second week at 79th street school

My second week at 79th street school was actually better than my first one. The students seem better behaved today except for a few outbursts of anger and talking. One of the most talkative students, carlos, was out sick and you could feel a completely different atmosphere in the classroom. The affect that the absence of one student has on this classroom was absolutley astonishing to me. The students were completely different when they did not have Carlos constantly talking to him. Since I go to my Learn and Serve placement at noon, the students are already starting to get burnt out from being at school. The whole time I am there they just want to leave and complain. At one point two of the students got into an argument and one ended up storming out of the classroom swearing and kicked the door open and ran out. These children all seem very angry. The teacher pretty much ignored the situation and let the counselors talk to him which I think was a good thing to do so that it did not interrupt the other students and the lesson she was teaching. I think the teacher does allow certain behaviors to be looked over because these are things that the students can not help doing. By not drawing attention to these certain behaviors, the students actually end up getting back to their seats more quickly knowing that the teacher is not going to give them all the attention. When it is time for the kids to work on worksheets, they have a choice of either working with myself, the teaching aid, or the teacher. They choose who they want to work with and where they sit. There are different tables around the room so they can get up and move to them. I think it is good to get them out of their seats and let them be able to decide where they want to work instead of always telling them what to do. This method of getting them to work on their worksheets actually works better than telling them what to do because they get excited to pick where they sit and who they work with. Then in turn, they get excited about the work. One thing that still bothers me when I am in the classroom is they talk about drugs all the time. Today they actually took a pencil and pretended it was a needle and put it up to their arm. It was kind of disturbing to see that a 5th or 6th grader even knew what that meant but it is definately opening my eyes to what is out there.

*Quiz Week # 7*

In week 7 we had four different activities that we were instructed to do. One was the portfolio Assignment Activity, she stoops to conquer, podcast perfection, and metaphor madness and mayhem. The activity that my group was assigned to was the podcast perfection.
What kind of activity is this?
This activity is completely different than any activity that I had ever done before in my college career. This activity takes you out of your comfort zone and makes you have to to think outside of the box. We had to pick 5 of our own personal pictures and record our voice telling the story of the pictures. It was very interesting but a really good way for us to get uncomfortable but in a good way to grow and continue to learn in different ways.
How does it challege you?
This activity challenged us because at first we were really embarassed to be doing it. We did not want to "talk to our computers" in front of eachother and were embaressed to make up stories about our pictures. Even though we were embarrassed we learned that this is a great tool and something that young children would love to do. Kids love to hear their own voices when they are young, but when we grow older we become more aware of our dislikes.
What background knowledge are you using to complete this activity?
In order to complete this activity you need to obviously know how to use your computer technology, and to know the story of your pictures.

First day at Learn and Serve 79th School 10-14-09

<----I hope my class learns to raise their hands more often! My first day at my learn and serve site was definatley an interesting one. My classroom is labeled special ed. and consists of a small group about 8 or 9 students ranging from 4th to 6th grade. They are all boys. At first, the group seemed quiet, laidback but I was proven wrong at that assumption. The teacher started reading to them and they managed to sit in there seats, while wiggling and sometimes talking, they colored and drew pictures as she read. None of them seemed the least bit interested in what she was reading to them. A positive reinforcement though was that the teacher gave out "fake money" to the students that sat well in their seats. It was her way of silently letting them know they were doing well at being quiet. I noticed that the teacher in my learn and serve classroom is very good at giving the students silent cues. If the students start to get out of hand she will give individual kids looks, or touch their shoulder to let them know she is watching them and knows what they are doing. The students tend to get up out of their seats and never raise their hands when they talk. I have a feeling that is something the teacher has given up on, or these are not things that are priorities to her at the levels that they are at now. Next was math time when I actually could have some one on one time with the students. It was very difficult to get them to concentrate. They feed off of eachother and when one talks that gets the other to talk. In order to get these kids to concentrate you have to have them completely one on one with absolutley no distractions. They swear, punch, and disobey rules constantly. I can see how the teacher could get easily frustrated with this group but it is going to be very interesting and educational to see more ways of helping these kids learn.