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Saturday, June 25, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Keep Reading!
Hello readers!!
Although we have made our return to America we encourage you to keep reading the blog. We are going to catch up on the lesson plans that we have yet to post and then every student has been assigned to write a final blurb about the trip.
Watch this while you wait!
South Africa Video!
Although we have made our return to America we encourage you to keep reading the blog. We are going to catch up on the lesson plans that we have yet to post and then every student has been assigned to write a final blurb about the trip.
Watch this while you wait!
South Africa Video!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Day 6! The second week!
Back to Jenna and Laura!
Reflection:
Today the professors switched schools so LaJerne came to our school. In general, the day went really well. The class listened really well and behaved like angels. We started the day with a review game, which Jenna did outside the classroom so Laura could rearrange all the desks. In our school, the desks use to be arranged by ability level but we decided to mix the groups so they could help each other and learn from each other because each excel with a different skill.
After rearranging (which the learners hated) we wrote sentenes. We were pleasantly surprised with how well the students did with this activity and wrote the sentences on the board because they were all so good. This demonstarted to us the mastery of the 10 vocab words and meant we could finally move on to the next story.
Next, we wrote a story as a class. We have done this once before but this time we had them use some of the vocab words. We were once again, amazed by our students' creativity and loved their story about a dog name Bamjogile, a wizard, and the magic bone.
Then at tea time, we were specifically advised to focus more of our attention on the visual learner. This meant incorprating our objectives into our classroom by placing them on the board as well as writing down all directions on the board. We thought we were doing so well that this criticism was hard to take, but we can see now that it really did have an impact in our classroom and we are thankful for it.
We ended the day by finishing our story and having them copy it into their portfolios. This way they can keep it forever!
...Overall, we are still impressed every single day...we love our students...we still aren't leaving. (DON'T MAKE US PLEASEEEEE!)
Peace, Love & Lion cubs
Jenna Way and Laura
Lesson plan:
Objective: Learners will be able to create a collaborative class story given the WWW strategy and usnig three vocab words.
Criteria for Sucess (Students)
- Match vocab on board
- Write 10 sentences usnig vocab words in coorperative learning groups.
- Review WWW
- Write final class story
- Read "Yeh-Shen"
Criteria for Success (Teachers)
- Regroup students in coorperative learning groups
- Motivate by putting exceptional studetn work on the board
- Model by writnig class story with WWW on board
Assessmnt
Pre: Vocab matching
Formative: question WWW while writing class story
Summative: 10 sentences using vocab worsd
Closure
Read "Yeh Shen" while thinking about WWW
Reflection:
Today the professors switched schools so LaJerne came to our school. In general, the day went really well. The class listened really well and behaved like angels. We started the day with a review game, which Jenna did outside the classroom so Laura could rearrange all the desks. In our school, the desks use to be arranged by ability level but we decided to mix the groups so they could help each other and learn from each other because each excel with a different skill.
After rearranging (which the learners hated) we wrote sentenes. We were pleasantly surprised with how well the students did with this activity and wrote the sentences on the board because they were all so good. This demonstarted to us the mastery of the 10 vocab words and meant we could finally move on to the next story.
Next, we wrote a story as a class. We have done this once before but this time we had them use some of the vocab words. We were once again, amazed by our students' creativity and loved their story about a dog name Bamjogile, a wizard, and the magic bone.
Then at tea time, we were specifically advised to focus more of our attention on the visual learner. This meant incorprating our objectives into our classroom by placing them on the board as well as writing down all directions on the board. We thought we were doing so well that this criticism was hard to take, but we can see now that it really did have an impact in our classroom and we are thankful for it.
We ended the day by finishing our story and having them copy it into their portfolios. This way they can keep it forever!
...Overall, we are still impressed every single day...we love our students...we still aren't leaving. (DON'T MAKE US PLEASEEEEE!)
Peace, Love & Lion cubs
Jenna Way and Laura
Friday, June 3, 2011
Day 5- The last day of our 1st teaching week
Class Objectives:
-Learners will be able to use vocabulary words from "The Black Cow" given an assessment with 75% accuracy
- Learners will be able to write a story as a class using the parts of the WWW What=2 How=2 strategy.
-Students will use knowledge to play games
Warm Up:
Students will stand be directed to follow the teacher in movements and gestures in order to warm up and begin the day.
Review:
-Class Story
Students will be divided into 7 groups. Each group will be instructed to create a sentence using their assigned part of the WWW W=2 H=2 strategy. A volunteer from each group will read and the story will be written on the board
-Vocab Assessment
Post vocabulary test will be orally given to students as one group.
Guided Practice:
-Finish reading second half of "The Black Cow"; allow students to alternate reading aloud.
Circle vocabulary words
Independent Practice:
Finish writing sentences on vocabulary cards
Assessment/ Closure:
-Vocabulary Game- one guess per team(4); teams enact movement for the word
-Matching game- Students match WWW W=2 H=2 categories with parts of "Albert the Fish" and "The Farmer's Story"
Reflection:
For the end of our week, my partner (Carlyn) and I wanted to be able to round our week out by finishing the story, finishing our vocab cards and having a day of review and action. However, we can not always plan for the innevitable turn-arounds in life such as illness. In our best attempts to allow for the students who fell ill to heal and recover they stayed home today. So the biggest challenge of the day was being able to accomplish the set goals and apply the knowledge we've been gaining in the classroom without the assistance of your partner. Although it proved difficult to adjust from 2 teachers to one, I was glad to be able to carry on sucessfully with the assistence of Professor Rick and Jess. Because some student teachers were gone, we re-arrangend our time frames and took out our final hour of instruction. This caused me to reaarange my goals for the day in order to complete the most important activities. I was very excited to see the students bring together the knowledge they had gained all week and create a short story. I also really enjoyed their enthusiasm in demonstrating their knowledge in our vocabulary game. Althogh today was a hectic friday in the classroom, we were still able to accomplish our class story, reading the rest of "The Black Cow", our vocab game, along with several other action ativities such as "the brain dance" which the students really enjoyed. In the end of the day, I have learned that even though we may put time and effort in to planning out our day, we must still be able to roll with the punches and remember the reason why we are here, remember that its about the students and how they can get the best out of each day. I can't wait for monday morning to start a new eek and a new lesson :-)
-Annette :-)
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Oh yeah, we're in Africa.
Throughout the trip, many of us (myself included) have come to comment that often, it does not feel like we are in Africa. We are home. We've come to be a real family here, with Miss Christine's house being our home. There we share naps (& blankets!), plan lessons together, laugh, and share the highlights from our day. And lets not forget the fabulous dinners we all swarm over (sorry mom, but I don't think your cooking is going to taste quite as good after this trip). I am becoming unable to realize what my life would be like without these girls-- they are truely my new sisters.
As much as this place has come to feel like home, there have been a few moments that have made us stop and realize, "oh yeah, I'm in Africa." We experienced a few of these "Africa moments" today. The first came this morning at tea time in school at Samuel Ntsiko. A couple of us wanted to wash up before eating, only to find that the school had no running water, and had not had any for at least as long as we have been in SA. In order to wash our hands, we had to "pre-soap" and then have a buddy pour water out of a basin for us so we could rinse off. As the school also has no heat, you can about imagine how great it feels to have the freezing water poured on your hands. "Will you be my tap water?" has been the question of the day. As I am posting this post now on Thursday, I am happy to add that there is now running water in the school.
Our other "Africa moment" came as we tried to leave our house Tuesday evening. As we went to walk down the driveway, we had to wait a moment as we were blocked in by a couple of donkeys. Only in Africa would we have for the donkeys before we could leave our home. Of course, the donkeys are mild in comparison to the cows & goats we drive past everyday as we drive to school.
Hopefully, we will continue to experience more of these moments as we continue our trip here in SA. I'm sure I can speak for everyone when I say they are moments we will never forget.
~ Jess
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
First Day Finally @ Kenton-on-Sea
Daily Objective: Students will be able to initiate an understanding of the WWW, What=2, How=2 strategy by defining the question words “who,” “when”, “where”, “what” and “how” through stories and dance.
Introduction/Warm-up:
Dance circle- students introduce themselves by saying their name and doing their favorite dance move
Pass out materials to create nametags
Administer pre-assessments while students are working on their nametags
Developmental Activities
Introduce “who”, “when”, “where”, “what” and “how” in Xhosa and English.
Explain question words through personal experiences: “Who are you? Kathryn! When? Right now! Where? Kenton on Sea! What? Teaching! How? Having fun!” Have students give their own examples of before and after school.
Instruction of “who, when, where, what and how” song and dance.
Direct Instruction/Modeling
Presentation of story “Albert the Fish” – work with students to identify the question words in the story. Act out story to encourage comprehension.
After identifying question words in the story, choral read with entire class while everybody acts out the story.
Closure
Review of the “who, when, where, what and how” song and dance.
Have students teach us their own song and dance.
Reflection
Kathryn: I cannot imagine today being more heartwarming, wonderful or special. One of the most memorable moments of today was how well the students responded to song and dance when it was tied to their academics. From the very beginning, the students were very comfortable in the dance circle and were very excited to learn the “who, when, where, what and how” song and dance. I was thoroughly impressed with how well the students responded to all of the activities- even administering the pre-assessments was enjoyable because it gave us the chance to individually talk with each student, have them teach us how to say their names, and see what they could do. When we had the students apply their newly learned question words to “Albert the Fish” they really seemed to get it. We acted out the story together and by the end many of the students were out of their seats acting out being a fish, a worm, an icy pond, etc. Afterwards, we gave them the chance to teach us one of their dances and Nadiera: the dance they chose was their ABC step! I cannot wait for tomorrow to continue our instruction!
Austen-Monet: Coming to South Africa has been nothing less than a dream come true. Ever since I was a preteen I've had the burning desire to pursue a career in social activism with a special focus on the social advancement and economic empowerment of members of the African Diaspora. Today, I finally put my theorizing aside and teamed up with a great teaching partner to put my long held philosophies into practice. Needless to say, enacting social change was a lot different from theorizing about it from the comfort of the high tech, wide-aisled Goucher library. Yet and still the outcome of our first class was simply remarkable! The enthusiasm of the students could be felt from the moment we walked into the room until the very end of the day. They remained fully engaged as we transitioned from activity to activity and it was great to see their little faces light up as we clapped our hands, stomped our feet, and did our dance for the ice breaker exercise. Although they were eager to come to the front and demonstrate their knowledge of the "Who, When, Where, What, How" strategy it was clear that their favorite part of the lesson came when we incorporated it into a song and dance to get them moving around the room. While the students may have struggled with translating Xhosa into English during the pre-assessment, the thoughtfulness of their countenances spoke volumes about the intricacies of their personalities and the depth of their intellectual capacity. For a people with so little financially, their willingness and desire to give of themselves in time, energy, and effort inspires me to work harder at being the change I wish to see in the world. I have found that the only upside to mass poverty and injustice is the strength and resilience it cultivates within the souls that gracefully overcome it. So many lives were sacrificed to give each one of these children a chance at an equal education. The fact that I am able to assist at all in helping to carry out the dream of their fearlessly strong-willed ancestors gives me an indescribable sense of fulfillment. The beauty of this journey is something that cannot be fully expressed. It can only be experienced and this experience is truly one I will never forget.
Austen-Monet: Coming to South Africa has been nothing less than a dream come true. Ever since I was a preteen I've had the burning desire to pursue a career in social activism with a special focus on the social advancement and economic empowerment of members of the African Diaspora. Today, I finally put my theorizing aside and teamed up with a great teaching partner to put my long held philosophies into practice. Needless to say, enacting social change was a lot different from theorizing about it from the comfort of the high tech, wide-aisled Goucher library. Yet and still the outcome of our first class was simply remarkable! The enthusiasm of the students could be felt from the moment we walked into the room until the very end of the day. They remained fully engaged as we transitioned from activity to activity and it was great to see their little faces light up as we clapped our hands, stomped our feet, and did our dance for the ice breaker exercise. Although they were eager to come to the front and demonstrate their knowledge of the "Who, When, Where, What, How" strategy it was clear that their favorite part of the lesson came when we incorporated it into a song and dance to get them moving around the room. While the students may have struggled with translating Xhosa into English during the pre-assessment, the thoughtfulness of their countenances spoke volumes about the intricacies of their personalities and the depth of their intellectual capacity. For a people with so little financially, their willingness and desire to give of themselves in time, energy, and effort inspires me to work harder at being the change I wish to see in the world. I have found that the only upside to mass poverty and injustice is the strength and resilience it cultivates within the souls that gracefully overcome it. So many lives were sacrificed to give each one of these children a chance at an equal education. The fact that I am able to assist at all in helping to carry out the dream of their fearlessly strong-willed ancestors gives me an indescribable sense of fulfillment. The beauty of this journey is something that cannot be fully expressed. It can only be experienced and this experience is truly one I will never forget.
Monday, May 30, 2011
First Day of School...well...kind of
I woke this morning READY to teach, but that doesn't mean that my stomach wasn't in knots. "Today will go ok," I kept repeating to myself; that phrase shaped my day.
We are mastering Dr. Cornish time; we arrived at the house 5 minutes late and had enough time to collect our things. Dr. Cornish (Ms. Frizzle), loaded us onto the magic school bus and yelled "seat belts everyone!" as we sat, anxiously, awaiting our first day as REAL, LIVE South African teachers.
When I heard the gears spinning in the car, I thought it was the nerves upsetting my stomach.
"I have no power" Ms. Frizzle said. Were we talking philosophy now? Power from where?
"phrrroooooooooooooo" the car went. Downhill, we went. "I can't shift!" Ms. Frizzle said, "we can't teach!" we yelled!
Luckily, we realized that the gears were not engaging BEFORE we traveled the 30 minutes to Kenton On Sea (the rural school) and were able to make it back to Grahmstown (downhill, thank the Lord).
We waited in the car while Dr. Cornish called the car rental company--the highlight of that phone conversation was when we heard her say, "I am well, but my car is not".
Also luckily, our friends at Samuel Ntsiko (the township school) allowed us into their classroom, where we were able to help, observe, and enjoy the students. We will be back their tomorrow, as it takes 24 hours for a new rental car to arrive (some things don't change).
More tomorrow! Hey Dayna! I listen to Taylor Swift here and think of you (I'm going round and round, but I belong with you!).
-Bianca
We are mastering Dr. Cornish time; we arrived at the house 5 minutes late and had enough time to collect our things. Dr. Cornish (Ms. Frizzle), loaded us onto the magic school bus and yelled "seat belts everyone!" as we sat, anxiously, awaiting our first day as REAL, LIVE South African teachers.
When I heard the gears spinning in the car, I thought it was the nerves upsetting my stomach.
"I have no power" Ms. Frizzle said. Were we talking philosophy now? Power from where?
"phrrroooooooooooooo" the car went. Downhill, we went. "I can't shift!" Ms. Frizzle said, "we can't teach!" we yelled!
Luckily, we realized that the gears were not engaging BEFORE we traveled the 30 minutes to Kenton On Sea (the rural school) and were able to make it back to Grahmstown (downhill, thank the Lord).
We waited in the car while Dr. Cornish called the car rental company--the highlight of that phone conversation was when we heard her say, "I am well, but my car is not".
Also luckily, our friends at Samuel Ntsiko (the township school) allowed us into their classroom, where we were able to help, observe, and enjoy the students. We will be back their tomorrow, as it takes 24 hours for a new rental car to arrive (some things don't change).
More tomorrow! Hey Dayna! I listen to Taylor Swift here and think of you (I'm going round and round, but I belong with you!).
-Bianca
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