I’ve just been offered my first teaching post in the UK (finally - yay!!) and go in to teach my first lesson on Thursday as a way of getting acquainted with some of the students and staff.
As most of the school will be going to the local theme park I want to have a fun day with the kids left behind (for whatever reason).
I’ve thought about the following lessons:[ul]
[li]Origami - Cranes perhaps and a discussion of culture and the meaning/symbolism of whatever we make[/li][li]Paper Aeroplanes (with a flying contest and prizes after) - discussing lift and other aerodynamic properties[/li][li]Native American Culture - either petroglyphs (cave drawings etc. with the kids doing their own) or a bison exploration discussion (what all can you get from a bison?) I am Native American BTW[/li][li]Making Rainsticks with a discussion of the culture surrounding these[/li][li]Making a Culture Pizza - compare/contrast American and British cultures (becomes a tell me about you and I’ll tell you about me type of thing)[/li][/ul]
So, what do you think? There will be a mixture of years 7-9 so must be a fairly adaptable - but not too simplistic - project lasting for about 45 minutes.
What else do you think would make a fun project/lesson?
I always got a kick out of that when I was that age. My daughter (11) thinks it’s pretty cool. We gave her an Origami book when she was around 8 and she didn’t stop folding paper until all the squares that came with the book were gone.
Congratulations, Washte! I note no one’s said that yet, unless someone sneaks in while I’m composing/submitting this post and says it, but I was first.
As for what to do with the kids, and what to teach them, I’m no teacher, but your proposed lesson plans seem like good ways to teach the kids about different things. What kind of theme does the local theme park revolove around? Maybe you could teach them about that. (if it’s a nature park, teach them about that; science, teach them about it in general; etc.)
Teaching kids about different cultures sounds good to me. We do live in a multi-cultural world, after all. Teaching them to understand and appreciate diffeent cultures, and how they realte to thier own culature, is one of the most important lessons you can give a child, in my opinion. (hey, it’s a lifelong lesson, but if the seeds can be planted while they’re still relatively young, hopefully they’ll always be interested in some way where culture is concerned)
Congratulations, Washte! I note no one’s said that yet, unless someone sneaks in while I’m composing/submitting this post and says it, but I was first.
As for what to do with the kids, and what to teach them, I’m no teacher, but your proposed lesson plans seem like good ways to teach the kids about different things. What kind of theme does the local theme park revolove around? Maybe you could teach them about that. (if it’s a nature park, teach them about that; science, teach them about it in general; etc.)
Teaching kids about different cultures sounds good to me. We do live in a multi-cultural world, after all. Teaching them to understand and appreciate diffeent cultures, and how they realte to thier own culature, is one of the most important lessons you can give a child, in my opinion. (hey, it’s a lifelong lesson, but if the seeds can be planted while they’re still relatively young, hopefully they’ll always be interested in some way where culture is concerned)
I have to agree about airplanes, kids that age love to make things which actually work. And for that age, at least for me, Origami always angered me when I would miss a fold and embarass myself by asking for the teacher to show me where I screwed up. I know making airplanes is along the same lines, but not nearly as fold intensive as origami. Besides, the airplane also allows for a competition if you need to extend the time.
If you hold a “farthest free form plane” then you get to see the creativity of kids. When I was… 12 I think - my scout troop held one. Me being the rule bender I was, put a few coins in the middle of the provided sheet of paper and balled it up. Who needs wing when the mass will carry it farther than all the other planes? Not me! Too bad I was disqualified for using unprovided material… In any case I had a lot of fun with that type of stuff.
Thanks Flamsterette_X and ronin for the congrats. I am very jazzed about it all as teaching is one of my life’s passions.
Hubby suggests a bit more clarification on the ages here as years ‘7-9’ were actually grade levels, not ages of the kids - sorry for the miscommunication. It is very similar to the States, and after a chat with some of the staff, I will mostly have ages 13-15 (US - 8th and 9th grade).
Essentially this is to be a 45 minute lesson/project so that my teaching style can be observed (basically to make sure I don’t freak out in a classroom scenario type gig). It also is to introduce me to some of the kids and staff (who will be observing).
Being an American teaching in the UK, culture discussions will be very easy to do. also, the cultural differences in the UK are more than I expected so I find it rather interesting as well.
The local theme park is called ‘American Adventure’… I went last summer and though it is much like a county fair rather than a theme park (albeit a bit larger), it made a fun day out.
As for the aeroplane making I thought that a chance to throw things - probably eventually at each other - was a good idea.
Hubby suggested a discussion regarding American/British stereotypes of each other (an expansion of the cultural pizza project). I tell them what my notions of the UK were and they tell me what thier ideas of the US (or say a state ie. California) are. We then work out which ones are accurate, how each came to be (via which media - tv, movies, etc.) and how we can stamp out the ignorance of the stereotypes and such. I like this idea but don’t think I can manage to keep this to just 45 minutes.
I’ve a couple days to think about things and prepare, so keep the ideas coming… please
Your husband’s idea is a good one, but if you can’t keep it to 45 minutes (and you’re supposed to), maybe you should consider only focussing on one aspect of the discussion. Maybe if you just focus on two or three of the stereotypes that you have about the UK (or that they have about the States in general), and work out which ones are accurate. Of course, you can always add more aspects to the discussion if you find yourself with additional time on your hands.
I did the culture pizza project. There were 10 students, 1 teacher and the deputy headmaster (VP if you will).
Felt like I was sinking fast after the intro but did not stop or quit. Just tried to modify what I had to try to get the kids interested. Even though they were year 9 mostly (13-14 years old) ‘culture’ was completely foreign to them.
I had 2 fellas throw fits when I asked them to stop chatting - throwing chairs on their way out the door saying how “effin stupid this whole effin thing was…” I just took it in stride and continued on.
I made a poor assumption that the students in the UK - in general - were at or at least near the same level as similarly aged students in the States. Whether it was the socio-economic background they belong to, or perhaps just a poor assumption on my part, the project did not go as planned and anticipated.
I apologised afterward to the deputy and other teacher present, but was told by both that it went quite well. I was able to get a couple of students to do, and communicate, more with me than with any other teacher thay’ve had.
Anyhoodle…
After some chatting I was offered a contract for this autumn to head a special pilot program that addresses students with attendance issues. Small groups. Lots of individual attention. Sounds interesting to me.
Not Origami. We did that with kids that age for a book called “the paper crane” a couple of summers ago, even the older ones (10+) found making the paper cranes very difficult.
