We had MCAS this week which meant that I did not have my 4th period class. So, naturally, I planned nothing for that class. Well, Wednesday, admin decided to release the students back to class because so many of them finished. What period did they come back? 4th. I am always impressed by my improv skills because I tap danced my way through that 45 minutes.
2. What happens in your classroom...never remains in your classroom.
Just be careful when giving advice to students. When you say, "keep this between you and me," they hear, "Thanks for the advice. I'll spread the word to everyone I know until someone inevitably hear the wrong thing and pisses them off and then they come to speak to you about something you never said. Have a good one, Mr. H!"
3. Mini-lessons can be the best!
I did a lesson this week on developing claims from factoids. I modified this lesson from my friend, Kelly Gallagher. I provide the students with a factoid and they develop claims based on that fact. For example, "The year the first woman was elected to the Senate: 1922." Students would then try to infer from that piece of evidence and write claims based off of that. Honestly, I did not think much of it. Man, the kids had a great time doing it. We'll see how it translates to their research projects.
Here's to the long weekend!
Dan, I didn't realize your periods are 45 minutes! I would LOVE to see a post about your schedule and how you get everything you want done in that time frame! To me, that seems like just enough time to start!
ReplyDeleteI love the second one. I will for sure be keeping this in mind. And I am definitely going to be doing "micro-teaching" in my future classroom (Thanks, Roopsi!)