We began our week exploring more of our book, 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make. Specifically, we read the first 15 pages or so of the first chapter, School. The focus is on staying on the high road and seeing it through. at times you feel like you're preaching to the choir, but it's worth stressing the importance of staying in school.
The second part of the week we had two rotations. Mr. Pitts was in charge of one and I the other. When with Mr. Pitts, students took a survey and participated in a webquest type of assignment. The survey gave students their personality type and possible majors related to their type. Then they went on to find more information about majors and careers. They looked at unemployment rates and found colleges that offered their majors.
When they were with me, we worked on our social network on ning. First they wrote a blog about all of the things they've ever wanted to be when they grew up. They were required to have at least one embedded hyperlink. Then I asked them to go over to the forum section and respond to my question about their favorite part of junior year so far. If they had time, I encouraged them to respond to another forum.
Friday was our second service Friday. We returned to the same locations that we were at the Friday before. The highlight of the day for me was reading a story to one of the kindergarten classes. It was also very nice to pick up each location and be back at school in plenty of time to catch the buses. We have four service Fridays left, the second and third Fridays in October and November.
I can't wait to see what this week brings!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
How can a short week be so long?
Last week was technically a short week, but boy it didn't feel like it! We blitzed on Tuesday, which means before lunch we had seen all classes. They were quick thirty minute classes, but it worked out better to keep things together. We mostly just worked on our 6 Goals for the 6 Decisions and updated our planners.
The second class of the week, we started by organizing our binders. We're only half way through the first 9 week grading period and already notebooks look like an Office Max exploded. We sorted through and put everything in its place. The next part of class consisted of tallying a weeks worth of out of school behavior. Everyone, myself included, logged a weeks worth of activities when we're not in school. We then took time to categorize those activities and total the hours spent doing various things. I collected these for a future lesson.
Then we read "School vs. Education" by Russel Baker. It's a satirical piece that questions what it takes to become "educated". We then had a good discussion about how one becomes educated and the control we have over our education. We talked a bit about attitude and desire being the key difference between going to school and getting an education!
Friday was September 11th, the anniversary of a travesty. It was also the National Day of Service and Remembrance. I was glad that our first service Friday was on the National Day of Service. At the end of the day, most everyone seemed to have had a good time. There were definitely quite a few students on my bus who were very excited about their day. And we made it back to school in time for the buses, so it was an awesome day!
The second class of the week, we started by organizing our binders. We're only half way through the first 9 week grading period and already notebooks look like an Office Max exploded. We sorted through and put everything in its place. The next part of class consisted of tallying a weeks worth of out of school behavior. Everyone, myself included, logged a weeks worth of activities when we're not in school. We then took time to categorize those activities and total the hours spent doing various things. I collected these for a future lesson.
Then we read "School vs. Education" by Russel Baker. It's a satirical piece that questions what it takes to become "educated". We then had a good discussion about how one becomes educated and the control we have over our education. We talked a bit about attitude and desire being the key difference between going to school and getting an education!
Friday was September 11th, the anniversary of a travesty. It was also the National Day of Service and Remembrance. I was glad that our first service Friday was on the National Day of Service. At the end of the day, most everyone seemed to have had a good time. There were definitely quite a few students on my bus who were very excited about their day. And we made it back to school in time for the buses, so it was an awesome day!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Progress report? What? How did we get half way through the grading period?
I'm still trying to figure out how we've got to the midterm point? Wow what a ride! This past week was good.
Mr. Pitts led a journal on a quote that tied back to Dead Poets Society. We then discussed how it applied to the movie and our lives. Then we reviewed The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by discussing them. We then had a chance to get a broad overview of The 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make. The decisions are School, Friends, Parents, Dating & Sex, Addictions, and Self Worth. We'll start with School! What are going to do about it! We answered some brief questions about each of those 6 decisions in our journals.
The second part of the week Ms. Brody came in and talked about University visits and our trip to UNC-G. I made a few announcements about college classes and the magazine sales. I handed out the rubrics for the finding my place Friday collaboration and for the Essential 55 presentations. Then Mr. Pitts led the class through an activity writing SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely) Goals linked to the 6 Decisions. The goals will be placed in or on the students' binders.
Friday was a whirlwind University visit to UNC-G. It was a short visit, but a good day. We got to explore a little, got an awesome group picture, ate all we could eat, and roamed around campus a bit more before heading home. My group found the meditation room...the Zen garden was full of rocks, but the room was pretty cool. On the ride home, the bus I was driving tried to die...repeatedly. Nevertheless, the kids were awesome, and we had a fantastic day!
Mr. Pitts led a journal on a quote that tied back to Dead Poets Society. We then discussed how it applied to the movie and our lives. Then we reviewed The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by discussing them. We then had a chance to get a broad overview of The 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make. The decisions are School, Friends, Parents, Dating & Sex, Addictions, and Self Worth. We'll start with School! What are going to do about it! We answered some brief questions about each of those 6 decisions in our journals.
The second part of the week Ms. Brody came in and talked about University visits and our trip to UNC-G. I made a few announcements about college classes and the magazine sales. I handed out the rubrics for the finding my place Friday collaboration and for the Essential 55 presentations. Then Mr. Pitts led the class through an activity writing SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely) Goals linked to the 6 Decisions. The goals will be placed in or on the students' binders.
Friday was a whirlwind University visit to UNC-G. It was a short visit, but a good day. We got to explore a little, got an awesome group picture, ate all we could eat, and roamed around campus a bit more before heading home. My group found the meditation room...the Zen garden was full of rocks, but the room was pretty cool. On the ride home, the bus I was driving tried to die...repeatedly. Nevertheless, the kids were awesome, and we had a fantastic day!
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