Rachael, Jonathan, Vivian, Liz (both finished), Grace, Ruby and Stephanie have all started typing their stories on the computer. I've posted their work on today's log (https://sites.google.com/site/isisgradetwo/home/class-log/february232011). As I have said before, this process is part of the editing process for most, but for Rachael I am hoping it is part of the writing process. Sean and James are working well. Joy and Iro need to start again, they are not using their plan to write their draft, and it is the only way I know to get them to expand their writing. I'm not sure what Eric's problem is, but he is not writing.
In math, the students are working on timeline problems and most are able to do it, but it is difficult and they will need to have more practice. Stephanie and Rachael will benefit most from more practice.
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Monday, 21 February 2011
February 22, 2011
Today's English class went very well. Jonathan, Vivian and Liz have done excellent work and are progressing well. Rachael is progressing well, but the way she is engaging in the process means that she is limiting, rather than expanding her views. I am monitoring her and hope that typing will allow her to add details. Grace, Ruby and Stephanie are doing good work, but they are doing it slowly, patience is required. Sean and James are writing, but they have started over, so I will need to help them. Iro, Joy and Eric will need to start again.
In math we are continuing with timelines and time problems. Some are slower than others, but everyone seems to be getting there.
In math we are continuing with timelines and time problems. Some are slower than others, but everyone seems to be getting there.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
February 17, 2011
Today in English class we presented our stories so far. I was hoping for the students to provide some feedback to their peers, but this did not happen too much, Sean and Rachael were able to add some comments. I was able to give some suggestions. I hope students take these on-board and use these to write a second draft. Some students are able to write more complex stories than others, with Vivian and Liz doing good work, Stephanie, Grace and Ruby are writing complex stories as well, but it is taking them a long time to get the words down. Rachael enjoys this exercise, Jonathan does well, but needs time to think, and Sean continues to show his reflective abilities by decided to write a new story. Belle surprises me with the way she tries to do well.
In our UOI class, we started to work on the title of our unit, "A Sense of Place" and the students are making a poster about their favourite place. As the unit progresses some students may be able to take this up as a project (either a poster with information, or a presentation). Table B show good negotiation skills when the girls wanted to do a house, and the boys wanted to do a park. I told them they needed to persuade the others. Instead they reached a compromise, and decided to do a Park House.
We also had Jane, a Korean from 6R come to answer students questions. The students enjoyed asking her questions and documenting the answers. I think they like learning how to say things in Korean, especially as Chris is from Korea. They asked Jane to ask Chris some things. We will need to do some reflection about Jane's talk in our next class, we also need to do some preparation for the email and survey to Japan (it was good to see that Joy asked when we were going to do that, THAT'S PROGRESS!
In math class we continued working on timelines. I overestimated their abilities. Last class we did a timeline without any instruction, and the class did very well, so I thought this time I would just need some minor instruction, however I found that the students had trouble accurately representing time on the timeline. Next time we will need explicit instruction on how to represent time on the timeline.
In our UOI class, we started to work on the title of our unit, "A Sense of Place" and the students are making a poster about their favourite place. As the unit progresses some students may be able to take this up as a project (either a poster with information, or a presentation). Table B show good negotiation skills when the girls wanted to do a house, and the boys wanted to do a park. I told them they needed to persuade the others. Instead they reached a compromise, and decided to do a Park House.
We also had Jane, a Korean from 6R come to answer students questions. The students enjoyed asking her questions and documenting the answers. I think they like learning how to say things in Korean, especially as Chris is from Korea. They asked Jane to ask Chris some things. We will need to do some reflection about Jane's talk in our next class, we also need to do some preparation for the email and survey to Japan (it was good to see that Joy asked when we were going to do that, THAT'S PROGRESS!
In math class we continued working on timelines. I overestimated their abilities. Last class we did a timeline without any instruction, and the class did very well, so I thought this time I would just need some minor instruction, however I found that the students had trouble accurately representing time on the timeline. Next time we will need explicit instruction on how to represent time on the timeline.
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
February 16, 2011
We started the day by reflecting on yesterday's session in the computer lab. Will need to make sure that reflection is part of the daily process. Then we worked on Mr. Men and Little Miss books. It's just the first draft and some students are working well (Vivian and Liz, Rachael (she works well on her own) and some students are not working to their potential (Grace, Stephanie and Ruby in one group (Ruby is a disruptive influence in a group), Eric and Jonathan working individually). Sean and James are producing things, but it will need more work. Belle is doing quite well, but Iro and Joy will need some support. The problem with helping Joy is that she doesn't say anything or do anything, so I don't know how to help her. They need to finish illustrations tonight, so that they can present their first draft to the group tomorrow.
In math class, we were presenting our timelines. All the students had trouble organizing their presentations, omitting an introduction. They all had trouble with using appropriate gestures. Many had trouble adding duration (e.g. I watched TV for 1 hour) and making sentences (using "I washed my hair at 7pm" rather than, "7 washed my hair"). In terms of drawing timelines, Grace wrote hers right to left and Jonathan did not use uniform time durations.
In math class, we were presenting our timelines. All the students had trouble organizing their presentations, omitting an introduction. They all had trouble with using appropriate gestures. Many had trouble adding duration (e.g. I watched TV for 1 hour) and making sentences (using "I washed my hair at 7pm" rather than, "7 washed my hair"). In terms of drawing timelines, Grace wrote hers right to left and Jonathan did not use uniform time durations.
February 15, 2011
Today was more troublesome than yesterday. We continued an activity that we started last semester, however some students had left their material at home, some had lost it, some decided to try something different, everyone is at different levels of completion. I'm not really sure how to help them. I am supporting the students who need help but I feel at the moment that I would just like the process to be complete.
In maths class we talked about time, I taught them some new words (decade and century) and the students referred to the dictionary to confirm another word (millennium). I then read a story (literacy listening skills; Vivian and Rachael did well) and we then did a timeline together. For homework, the students are going to draw a timeline and use it to tell a story. The students are familiar with digital and analogue clocks. Showing another way to represent time gives them a better understanding of time. The timeline is great because the idea of time being represented as length means students have a better understanding of duration. The activities have a real literacy aspect as well.
The problem came with UOI. I modeled the "Think, Puzzle, and Explore" thinking engagement. However, when students were asked to apply this to the central idea of the UOI, they had difficulty. I will need to find questions to support their enquiry, and I will need to break the concept of the central idea into manageable parts.
When it came time to make questions for our guest speaker, Jane from grade 6, the students started slowly, but improved over the course of the lesson. The questions, with a little rewording from me, are:
1.Why does Korea have this stuff?
2.What Korean food can we buy in Taiwan?
3.Why did you come to Taiwan?
4.What Taiwanese food can you buy in Korea?
5.What did you think about Taiwan before you came here?
6.What things are the same between Taiwan and Korea?
7.Do you think it is easy to learn Chinese?
8.Is it easy to write Korean? Can you teach us how to write something?
9.Do you grow chilies in Korea?
10.Do you prefer school in Taiwan or Korea?
11.Do you like Taiwan?
12.Is Kimchi very spicy?
13.Do you think Taiwan is a good place?
14.Why are Korean products, like food, expensive in Taiwan?
15.How did you learn English?
16.Can you teach us how to speak some Korean?
17.How long does it take to fly Korea?
18.Why do Koreans eat kimchi?
19.What are the best places to go in Korea?
20.Do you have fun at ISIS?
The real problem came when we went online to search for answers to our questions. I modeled the process, but I will need to have the students reflect on what went wrong with their search. Then I am going to have to show them how to make good search questions. We also need to look at our question and the type of information or evidence we expect to get. Are we looking at facts or opinion? What are the sources of this information? I will model the process with one student's research question. I am also going to have to meet with each student (once a week, checking UOI notebook) and help them plan their inquiry, asking these types of questions (e.g. type of information, fact or opinion, alternative research questions). I could also have a researcher come in and talk to the students about inquiry.
In maths class we talked about time, I taught them some new words (decade and century) and the students referred to the dictionary to confirm another word (millennium). I then read a story (literacy listening skills; Vivian and Rachael did well) and we then did a timeline together. For homework, the students are going to draw a timeline and use it to tell a story. The students are familiar with digital and analogue clocks. Showing another way to represent time gives them a better understanding of time. The timeline is great because the idea of time being represented as length means students have a better understanding of duration. The activities have a real literacy aspect as well.
The problem came with UOI. I modeled the "Think, Puzzle, and Explore" thinking engagement. However, when students were asked to apply this to the central idea of the UOI, they had difficulty. I will need to find questions to support their enquiry, and I will need to break the concept of the central idea into manageable parts.
When it came time to make questions for our guest speaker, Jane from grade 6, the students started slowly, but improved over the course of the lesson. The questions, with a little rewording from me, are:
1.Why does Korea have this stuff?
2.What Korean food can we buy in Taiwan?
3.Why did you come to Taiwan?
4.What Taiwanese food can you buy in Korea?
5.What did you think about Taiwan before you came here?
6.What things are the same between Taiwan and Korea?
7.Do you think it is easy to learn Chinese?
8.Is it easy to write Korean? Can you teach us how to write something?
9.Do you grow chilies in Korea?
10.Do you prefer school in Taiwan or Korea?
11.Do you like Taiwan?
12.Is Kimchi very spicy?
13.Do you think Taiwan is a good place?
14.Why are Korean products, like food, expensive in Taiwan?
15.How did you learn English?
16.Can you teach us how to speak some Korean?
17.How long does it take to fly Korea?
18.Why do Koreans eat kimchi?
19.What are the best places to go in Korea?
20.Do you have fun at ISIS?
The real problem came when we went online to search for answers to our questions. I modeled the process, but I will need to have the students reflect on what went wrong with their search. Then I am going to have to show them how to make good search questions. We also need to look at our question and the type of information or evidence we expect to get. Are we looking at facts or opinion? What are the sources of this information? I will model the process with one student's research question. I am also going to have to meet with each student (once a week, checking UOI notebook) and help them plan their inquiry, asking these types of questions (e.g. type of information, fact or opinion, alternative research questions). I could also have a researcher come in and talk to the students about inquiry.
Monday, 14 February 2011
February 14, 2011
Today was an interesting day. The first day of the new semester, first day of the new approach. 15 students with one absent (Vivian). I asked the students to write notes about their holidays and present the information orally.I only got to listen to 1/2 of the class, tables A and B, will need to hear the other two tables. They all still just answer the question. Will have to find an approach which will encourage them to give better responses. Maybe along the lines of what I expect, with a group discussion of the type of responses they need to give in grade two.
The math class was excellent. We played a game to practice multiples of 3. We called it "BOOM", everyone sits in a circle, calling out the numbers in order. Instead of a multiple of 3, you call out "BOOM". I think we can play games more often to check understanding. It was done in English, so we need to play it again in Chinese to test results, but it looks like Iro (maybe Joy and Belle too) need more practice at this. (Chris didn't participate).
In the UOI class, we deconstructed the central idea (The development of a global perspective is support through the understanding of our place in the world and the relationship with others) and students wrote their own version of the central idea. After a few moments to think about possible responses, I modelled one possible response. This prompted the other teams, with Team B getting some good ideas (Rachael mostly, Ruby supported; Jonathan and Eric had difficulty, however Eric was able to recall the meaning of some of the words from the original central idea). Team A (without Vivian) struggled to develop something. Liz works well with Vivian, and seemed to be annoyed that Grace especially was not able to fill this role. I guess she needs that creative/productive spark.
Tr. Sophia said that Team D did well in developing a Central Idea (it was in Chinese, I don't understand) and that their product demonstrates a clear understanding. Team D are going to struggle this semester without Gallant. Team C did produce something today, which displayed an adequate understanding of the principle. This is an important step forward for my most oral team.
The math class was excellent. We played a game to practice multiples of 3. We called it "BOOM", everyone sits in a circle, calling out the numbers in order. Instead of a multiple of 3, you call out "BOOM". I think we can play games more often to check understanding. It was done in English, so we need to play it again in Chinese to test results, but it looks like Iro (maybe Joy and Belle too) need more practice at this. (Chris didn't participate).
In the UOI class, we deconstructed the central idea (The development of a global perspective is support through the understanding of our place in the world and the relationship with others) and students wrote their own version of the central idea. After a few moments to think about possible responses, I modelled one possible response. This prompted the other teams, with Team B getting some good ideas (Rachael mostly, Ruby supported; Jonathan and Eric had difficulty, however Eric was able to recall the meaning of some of the words from the original central idea). Team A (without Vivian) struggled to develop something. Liz works well with Vivian, and seemed to be annoyed that Grace especially was not able to fill this role. I guess she needs that creative/productive spark.
Tr. Sophia said that Team D did well in developing a Central Idea (it was in Chinese, I don't understand) and that their product demonstrates a clear understanding. Team D are going to struggle this semester without Gallant. Team C did produce something today, which displayed an adequate understanding of the principle. This is an important step forward for my most oral team.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)