Class Activities (3/31)

Today was the third group presentation. Cora, Aleah, Taylor, and Amanda presented on Self-Identity. I thought there last activity was something I could use in my future instruction. The activity required you to respond "yes" or "no" to a series of questions. Once you completed this, you crumpled up the paper and threw it to the middle of the classroom. Once everyone completed this, each student picked up a random paper. We then divided the room by "yes" and "no" responses to see how the majority of the class answered each question. This was beneficial so it was completely anonymous, but we still got a general idea of why the majority of the class answered to different questions. NICE JOB!

Today was also our second literacy circle meeting. It was interesting to reflect and see how my group members were making connections with the book. Next week is the last week of meeting which is really exciting to be able to answer some of the first questions we posed with having read the entirety of the book. Also next week we will have our Wikis completed which is basically a media driven book report.

Class Activities (3/17)

Today was the first day of literacy circles. My group had a great discussion highlighting some of the main points of the book as well as predicting what will happen next in the book. In our literacy circle, one of our group members gave a one minute summary of the book to the rest of the class. This was a great activity to give the entire close a snapshot of our individual books because we are not all reading the same books.

John, Sam, and myself did a rock, paper, scissors, cheer energizer before the break. This was an energizer that helped keep increase the energy in class. Us, as college students, really enjoyed the game so I can only imagine how effective this energizer can and will be in my future classroom.

Lastly, our class made some awesome Imovie trailers. This was an engaging strategy that incorporated technology into the day. It gave students the ability to be creative and tell a story. I particularly enjoyed this activity because it was FUN! Learning does not always have to be serious, and I would be willing to say that I learn most when I am having fun. Showing off everybody's videos to end the day was a great way to wrap up class!

Happy Spring Break All!

Sports Illustrated Vignette

Class Activities (3/10)

We had our first group present on sexuality. Sexuality is a tough topic to talk about especially with your peers. I really liked how this group incorporated humor into their presentation to lighten the mood, but at the same time hit the really important topics to talk about. They talked about the stigma around sexuality and gender and how there are three totally different views that have taken shape in society. Additionally they talked about why it is so important to see a person as a person, not necessarily as a female or male. Giving students chances to develop and not pushing them one way or another. NICE JOB Kevin, Amy, and Vinnie.

One of my favorite activities in during the class period was the values word sort. It was really interesting to compare with people in my group of what they valued in comparison and contrast to what I valued the most. "Competitiveness" was one of my core values which did not appear in any of my group members top values. We had a discussion of why this maybe was true and talked about some of their top values. This was a great activity to find something about yourself and to continue to work on your self value.

Stand in Silence was another activity that we did in class. This was another activity that could be incorporated into a bullying unit. I liked how their was no comments allowed so feelings were not hurt and that the activity moved along quickly. It did not give students a chance to look around and see how other students were reacting to the prompts. Also the prompts were written in a way that was very broad so students could not pick out why students were either sitting down or standing up which made this a very solid activity.

Class Activities (3/2)

The newspaper clipping summary activity was a great way to make learning FUN in the classroom. It added a creative element to the writing and although it was a summary writing activity, it did not feel like we were writing a "summary". This was in large part due to my group was playing the role of a newspaper in delivering the news of Cole which added another element to the writing because we were attempting to make our news article appealing to the general audience and not just stating boring facts.

The frozen moment activity is one that I have done before in my Theater 336 class. It is always fun to see how different groups portray different aspects of a book or whatever the task may be. Once again the creative element comes into play, and this is a great way to add collaboration into the classroom. This is a great method of learning for our artistic and visual learners in the classroom.

The polarized debate activity once again was one that I have seen used in my previous education courses. It is always interesting to see who takes the lead roles in scenarios such as this one that was performed in class. It is a great way to work on language skills and also the ability to express in words what is on your mind. This is one of the more challenging things that I have been working on in my personal life. Being able to express yourself clearly is such a crucial skill in life. This activity gives students practice with this skill.