I've black-barred my self-imposed "black-barring rule." By that I mean... I don't like placing black bars over my students faces to shield their identities because it also shields their expressions. So I'm not gonna do it. Hope I don't get sued. Good thing parents of my students don't know about this blog. VERY good thing... the more I think about it.
So... as promised, here is my blog post of The Teaching Project.
I'll start by saying that my sweet friend Lana has offered me the use of her camera during this sad time of mourning for my old one. It literally popped in my hand and then refused to turn on. So sad. (That should explain why my pie cupcake pictures are so blurry and/or dark… I haven’t yet mastered the use of her much cooler Canon camera. Mine was cheap, but I had it figured out.)
So I’ve scrounged for these pictures which I had saved on my school computer. I am absolutely in love with them because they depict my students (MY students) explaining, re-explaining, singing, and chanting the VERY concepts I have spent two years teaching them.
My students taught classes ranging from kindergarten up to 4th grade and had the same students for one full week. MANY came to me at the mid-week point asking,
“HOW do we get them to settle down?!”
“Come come my ducklings… I’ll teach you the ways,” said I.
Oh its so good to see them experience my same daily frustrations... when you can’t teach the material because everyone’s talking!
Some of them had “gifted” classes. Others had “inclusion” classes (which is where they stick the smarties and those with learning disabilities all together.) Boy was THAT interesting! some groups of my students had all their plans laid out and walked in on Day One to find out, “These kids don’t respond to direct instruction.”
They had to modify… get them into small groups… incorporate songs… change their teaching styles. Good stuff.
Numbers #1-20.
This little girl was eager to show off her skills but got tripped up somewhere around "trece." (13)
Probably the craziest thing was seeing my students imitating many of my own mannerisms and teacher quirks. I guess I’m not shocked… I’m the only Spanish teacher they’ve ever had. But when one of my students called out a kindergarten boy who wasn’t joining in repeating the new words… “Pepe… I don’t see you participating.” I thought I might die of inner giggling.
The best part… the sweetest part… was the tender attitude each of my students took on when put in the “teacher” role. Some of these kids I’ve never seen shed the hard exterior or the “I don’t care” attitude… but here with these kids, they were gentle, understanding, smiling, patient, helpful, and proud. THEY knew the answers! THEY could help explain. THEY got to watch with glee as the lightbulbs went off for their students.
When they filled out their reflection sheets after the week was over, I got the following responses:
What was your favorite or least favorite part of this experience?
“seeing the wheels spin and click when they get it.”
“(least favorite) not having enough time each day”
“interacting with the kids”
“seeing their compassion for learning Spanish!” (honest to goodness answer)
“hearing all their funny answers”
“My favorite part is being around the kids. My least favorite part is… I didn’t have one.”
“(least favorite) not being able to do it every day."
A kindergarten group during their "Days of the Week" lesson.
You can see big bad Carlos behind them.
Another group did an animal lesson.
This precious angel wanted to be "el gato."
1 comment:
Looks like an extremely successful project to me!
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