July 15, 2008

Today was the first day I got to lead a lesson for the whole day. It actually wasn't really that difficult, considering we're supposed to be following the Voyager lesson plans (which I'm still not a fan of). This day's proposed lesson plan was a bit odd, considering it called for the teacher to bring in "traditional" ancient Egyptian food--lentils, fish, among other things that I don't think I can be expected to provide. Instead, for our "food lesson," I chose to have the students make their own Egyptian meals with some construction paper we had in the room. As we had learned, I avoided showing them what the food was "supposed" to look like; rather, I drew the kids' attention to the illustrations in the book, saying, "This is how the authors of the book decided to draw the food. You can draw it any way you want; it doesn't have to look exactly like the picture here." Some of the kids seemed to enjoy the activity, while others (Ahmed) claimed that they were bored and wanted to go to lunch.

I led the reading circle today, as well. Once everyone got settled, it was relatively smooth sailing. Once when I noticed that the kids were getting antsy, I got everyone to stand up and "shake out their legs." It seems that short, two-minute breaks really do pay off--especially when you consider how much longer it would take were the children just sitting there agitated, not paying attention. I know I would probably feel out of it, too.

Throughout the entire thing, I tried to keep Jojo involved wit the group discussion after I was done reading. Ms. von Furt said that I did a good job of making sure he was participating, but aside from giving him the opportunity to make comments, I'm unsure as to how constructive that was. Like previous times, I would ask a question ("What did Egyptian children usually eat?"), and the class would respond. Pretty much everyone was able to answer me, even Kevin! However, when I called on Jojo, he said something unintelligible. I said, "Thank you Jojo. Now, can anyone expound on what he was saying?" Granted, the word "expound" is too difficult for the grades we're working with, but I think the vagueness actually helped keep the discussion going. The other kids just assumed it mean "Let's continue," which we did.

Overall, I think this day went quite well.