On Tuesday, since the computer lab was apparently confirmed last minute, Linda and I only went upstairs to put up the sign to ask students to meet us at the Computer Lab on the 2nd floor (the class is on the 7th floor). After everybody made it to the Computer Lab, Linda asked students to turn off their computer monitors for now because she would like to give them some work to do without the use of computer. This was very helpful I think because students could easily be attracted to just search the web, as soon as they're given a computer no matter where they are. So, the first activity was giving the students a sheet with a chart that was titled "Interests, Skills, Abilities, and Personal Qualities," which are the basic things one would put on a resume. Students were asked to come up with what their own interests, skills, etc are. After going through them with the class and asking some students to volunteer to say what they put down, they went on to do the back of the same sheet. On the back, they had to come up with at least two names of occupation, a description of it, and the reasons for their interest in it.
Afterwards, they were asked to go to this website: www.nycareerzone.org In here, they were asked to go to 'my profile' and make an account of their own. Then, they were to do a sort of 'Interests Test'. As the students were doing this, Linda went around to check their work. I also went around to make sure everybody was on the same page. When we both made sure that everybody is doing the test, I found a computer and took the test myself to see what the NYS Department of Labor will say about what occupation best matches my interests. After doing the test, everyone was asked to print their work, 2 copies, so that they could give one to the teacher and hold on one by themselves. Linda then asked them to take a look at all the definitions of the categories and print out a copy of the job descriptions, of whichever occupation they prefer.
At around 8 pm, the students came back to the class. Although two hours of the class were spent in the computer lab, I liked the fact that Linda still left one hour for class-time. She first started talking about 'plagiarism' and why it is important not to do so and how to avoid it. She then asked the students which sections of the occupation 'job descriptions' did they print out. She then gave them another sheet which had questions about paraphrasing and summarizing the job descriptions that they printed out. This, they were asked to do for home work; however, Linda went through all the questions one by one making sure the students know what to do for as home work.
She then asked me to give back the 'What's your passion' responses, which was basically previous home work. I must admit, I had some difficulty handing back the work because I was not yet familiar with every one's names. There must be a 'system' to memorize everyone's names because I even have trouble with people's names when I'm instructing labs. Even until the very end of the semester, there are certain people's names that I have not yet fully memorized.
While I struggled with this task, she asked the students to pair up and work on the reading comprehension questions of 'Bricklayer's Son'. After 15-20 minutes, she asked students to volunteer to share their answers. I really like the dynamic of the class because most students are very relaxed and also respectful to each other. After all, everyone here is an adult. Also, students are very willing to share their personal experiences and not at all shy about it though some were in the beginning. The question that she asked students to concentrate on mostly was choosing a section and in this way, was able to go over the different parts of the text and which section they found most interesting and why. As for home work, she gave them Mike Rose's 'Mind at Work' to read and answer reading comprehension questions.
On Thursday, 07/15, before I taught my first lesson plan, at 6 pm, Linda started the class by going over the Mike Rose article and students were firstly asked to share with the class what they thought of the text. On the board, she wrote down the main ideas with the help of the class. The text was basically the section where Mike Rose went into details about waitressing and valuing the true intelligence that goes behind it. Students who were already waitresses or have the experience of it, especially would give their own views of it. Afterwards, they were handed out an activity sheet which was basically to be done for home work. For it, they had to write about their own occupations that they have now, and just as Mike Rose did in the text, write the tasks performed, the skills needed and acquired, training, etc.
Since Linda had everyone's names memorized, she just asked a girl randomly who was not completely participating (she knew her name of course, where if it were in my case, I would have to say, yes the girl in the back) she also had the girl's job memorized. So she asked the student to demonstrate. Although at first I thought the student may feel singled out or put on the spot, but she was actually more than willing to share her experiences, and that was kind of surprising to me but a very nice surprise of course.
She then asked them to do the rest of the sheet for home work. At 6:40 pm, she asked students to take out their home work from Tuesday, the Paraphrasing and Summarizing exercise that is. Beforehand, she asked me to write on the board the categories (Medical, Trade & Business, and Human Services) of the career goals that students came up with on the first day. Students were then asked to divide up and sit with the people that were in their own career goal zones. Then within those groups, students were asked to get into groups of 2-3 and discuss their summaries. Somebody asked whether they should just be exchanging papers but Linda said that no, they should actually be talking. This is a more activity-based exercise, and by talking students are collaborating more, which is very positive in my opinion.
At 7:03, after student students talked about their work with each other within their own groups, Linda went over what kinds of skills students had to use to do the summarizing/paraphrasing activity by the help of the class of course.
At 7:10 until 8:10, I taught my lesson, which I will have a separate blog about.
Right after I finished my presentation, at 8:12, Linda handed out the actual essay assignment along with other home work for over the weekend to do. She of course went through the work to make sure everyone knows what they had to do (a first draft of the 'professional goal' essay, a side shadowing exercise where they have to write about the process of doing this draft and imagining what an observer would say about their finished work). Then, she gave them a break for 5 minutes.
When they returned, they did Math practice until the end of class time.
It sounds like you are observing a lot of useful teaching strategies in this class. It is interesting to think about how each teaching strategy or classroom activity relates to the specific skills the students are building.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, you may begin to notice overlap between skills and habits for the GED, college and careers.