November
17th and 19th: Presenting our lesson plans
In
class on the 17th, two groups presented their lesson plans. One
covered the way that Earth revolved around the sun and caused the changes of
seasons, while the other lesson taught about various holidays celebrated around
the world. For both lessons we were given the chance to make art and learn
about ways to incorporate our lessons into the classroom. Dr. Johnson critiqued
as they went along, and people in the class gave positive feedback to the
presenters.
On the 19th,
my group and I presented. Before us another group presented about the symbols
and history of Native Americans, and showed us ways to make paint and colors
from various natural resources (such as grass, roots, and berries). We were
then given the chance to carve our own Native American symbols (or symbols that
we felt best represented us) into a piece of carving pad. Then we picked one of
the nature based colors to fill in the carving.
For our lesson plan we
focused on Winter Holidays around the world and the traditions of various
cultures around the world. We used countries such as Ethiopia, Iran (Persia),
Australia and China to emphasis and show the different ways of celebrating the
holidays. It was a lot of fun creating the PowerPoint and showing the different
foods and decorations these countries used. It was also a lot of fun to compare
them to our traditions here. We set up 3 different stations to highlight and
emphasis the lesson: a station to make holiday cards with various greetings in
foreign languages; a station to create an ornament; and a station to draw something
that symbolized the holidays for you.
It was brought to our
attention that this lesson would need to be tweaked so that we could include
students with different backgrounds, or for those who do not celebrate the
holidays. I could see how this could pose problems, but I also believe that if
you set up your environment in your class as one that is warm and accepting to
all students (like a judgement free zone) then kids will not feel so
self-conscious and aware of their differences, or view their differences as a
hindrance. I also believe that you have to find appropriate and engaging
activities for students who do not celebrate holidays, and do not make them
feel like they have to justify or explain their reasoning behind why they do
not celebrate.
All in all though, it was
a fun lesson plan and I am happy that we are now done with it J.
Celeste, I enjoyed reading your blog and sitting with you this semester. You shared in depth reflections remembering many details about our discussions that I had skipped over. You have good insights and input. One especially was on Oct. 29th when we discussed how education majors are often seen as taking the easy way to a degree, an easy profession with months off at a time and the saying, which makes me vehemently angry- “ Those that can’t do, teach” uughh! This we all disagreed with of course, and Dr. Johnson made the point about always advocating for our profession, passions and rights! We need to make sure that society sees the importance of our positions and change those biases.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I wanted to comment on was what you said about the Disney discussion; it was awkward and you were “hiding “ in the corner with the clay wheels! About that discussion and many others we had I think you have extremely valid and poignant comments that you often keep to yourself. Although I have seen a change from Dr. Pratt’s class last semester to Dr. Johnson’s, that you do speak up more and with more confidence. I hope throughout your next few years you gain an even stronger voice and are able to feel more at ease with speaking in public because you have great things to offer.
I look forward to keeping in touch with you through the years as we both go on to teach. I know you will be an excellent special education teacher as you are sincere and honest and have a huge heart!
Your watercolor painting about a personal experience was great- that must have been such a difficult time, losing friends and being sick for so long. It is great for you to be able to reflect on difficult times as you will be able to relate to your students and have experiences to share to show how you were able to move past this and continue on to make new friends.
I hope you enjoy your winter break, and good luck next semester.