One thing I really like about our middle school is the fact that they do Shadow a Student Day every year. In October they chose one 1/2 day that the school invites parents to school with their child. When Alexis was there I did 6th and 7th grade with her and then was "uninvited" in 8th grade. Apparently it is not cool to have your parent there by then. So I'm thinking this might be the last year I get to do this since Hallie is now in 7th grade. I went with her last year as well. In the 4 years that I have participated in this I've really enjoyed it.
When I was in school it wasn't really "hands on". I really just remember the teachers lecturing and then the students doing work. Usually on our own, but sometimes in a group. Over the 10 years that my kids have been in school I've been so impressed with how much participation students have in their classroom learning environments. They are learning so much more and are much more engaged then I ever was. It's awesome. Today was just another example of this and I'll break it down for you...
Advisory was skipped today due to being on a 1/2 day schedule so:
1st period: Broadcast- Each work station has an iMac that the kids do all of the editing for the shows on. Each group works on a segment of the show that airs on Fridays. Today Hallie's group showed us their latest work and then they were free to roam around campus and work on their filming. So cool! They didn't use this time to goof off, they were serious about their assignment. The teacher made it clear that it is their show not his. They definitely take pride in this.
2nd period: Math- Each table seats 4 students and today was Jeopardy day. The class is divided in 3 rows and each row gets to name their team. Ours was Team Motivation the next row was ##unmotivation and the 3rd was #team3. The teacher was totally cool w/ the hashtags and was apologetic that he was out of fruities to give out as prizes. Each row has 3 tables. Each table works together for the answer. Even us parents got involved solving problems. So much more fun to learn this way!
3rd period: PE- OK not much as changed here. Volley Tennis was the game today. Self-explanatory
4th period: Science- Hallie has the BEST science teacher. She is one of my favorite teachers. Hallie had her last year too. She has an 8th grader herself so she gets kids. The kids go into class grab their netbooks and jot down their homework in their planners and then class begins. Today was writing an hypothesis and then experimenting w/ catching a falling ruler between your fingertips. It was all about how many centimeters it takes before your finger react. It was partner work and the kids had a lot of fun with this. After documenting on paper they transfer to OneNote on their netbooks. I have noticed that most of these kids are the fastest two finger typers around. I wouldn't mind seeing them learn proper typing technique however.
5th period: History- Again they all have their netbooks and ready for work. Each student is working on a travel brochure for Rome and they have to have 5 articles completed by tomorrow (they've been working on these for a few weeks). These kids were really working hard and using the Internet for research. Before all of this though the teacher was telling a story of Attilla the Hun. She was such a good storyteller that I was so sad when she said it was to be continued tomorrow. I wanted more. Thankfully she gave a website to find more of the story. But she has a gift for storytelling for sure!
6th period: English- Now I have to say that Hallie has a very strict and kind of boring teacher. She's probably about ready for retirement but she did give a little of her background and it was interesting. Apparently her family has had land in Virginia that dates back to the American Revolution. They lost some of the their land to a National Forrest and her grandfather is buried in that land. Kind of neat. The kids had great group work in this class too.
All in all was a great day. I love being an observer because I am a GREAT people watcher. It's interesting to see the fashions at school, even with the ridiculously strict dress code.
My positive for the day: Spending time with my sweet girl at school. :)
1 comment:
I agree about how school is more hands on then when we were kids. I observed too, mostly in the math class.. Unfortunately Raquel's teacher is not a full time hired teacher but a full time sub, at the moment. Which is a bit difficult. I did notice the kids, in the back, not paying attention. It wasn't a class that works together but more of a lecture class. I can understand why these kids weren't paying attention..I like the teacher but he's boring. I'd snooze and lose in that class if I was his student. All the other classes were well taught and worked together..I totally loved Science!!! so much fun..
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