Thursday, January 28, 2010
I have been out of the loop for a week or more now. All kinds of things have been going on at my house and to my body. To say I had an intestinal virus this past week would be putting it mildly. As I was slowily recovering here at home, I would think of ideas to bring some of the things I am reading about in Kajder's books into my classroom of 6th graders. Here I am trying to get them to correctly write a 5 paragraph composition to get ready for their PASS writing test in March, and I am reading that there are many wonderful ways to get students to express their ideas by different visual presentations where sometimes a paragraph is not found. What a world we live in! I loved someone's blog I have been following that told about how she taught a particular student to always be prepared because technology not work or it may mess up on the day you are presenting your project. She actually wrote in cursive on her board instead of using the Smart Board for a lesson because the technology was not working. Her point was to the student to always be prepared with a backup in case things don't work, and you have to know the basics-not just the fancy ways to present information. So my students are going to learn the old-timey way as well as some new fangled ways to present information.
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I have had to learn that lesson the hard way too. Once I was to give a presentation and the organization promised to provide the LCD projector and screen. When I got there, the projector didn't work or the person didn't know how to work it. Finally I got someone to make a copy of my outline to give to everyone. The next year, the same thing happened but this time I was prepared and made overheads to use with an overhead projector that I had seen the year before. Now I put a lot of my presentations online and give people the address of the page so they can find it.
ReplyDeleteI think we all have learned the hard way. Even when I write a blog post I write it in Word or Google Docs first. The more experience you have using technology the better it gets.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are feeling better...
I am so glad that you are feeling better. We definitely take our good health, when we have it, for granted. I spent this past weekend with other English teachers across the state at the SCCTE conference in Kiawah. After your mention of the 5-paragraph essay, it made me think of a comment that the presenter from USC Freshmen English classes said. The hardest thing they had to confront in Eng. 101 and 102 is to get students OUT of the 5-paragraph essay habit. We all work so hard to help these students get past the state standards at given points only to find out that some of what we do has to be rearranged for the next step in their "growth and development."
ReplyDeleteI was sick this past week too.. I wonder if I had the same thing as you, I had really sharp stomach pains for like 4 days, and the doctor said it might be an intestinal virus!
ReplyDeleteI for sure take my health for granted, I really need to start living a more healthy lifestyle..
Good post!