In about 6 weeks, we'll be heading home to Canada. That means as a teacher, I am already thinking about "year end" stuff at school.
Since we've taken the curriculum at a greater pace than we would have in a mainstream classroom, we'll be finsihed the Grade 4 program (and then some!) by early April. My plan for the boys during our final month here is to immerse them in an integrated Arts experience, involving a complex team of people we've met here: An actor/dancer from Toronto, a photographer/videographer from Venezuela, a porteno piano teacher.... But before that, I want to spend some time encouraging a little self reflection about what the boys have learned in "school", and how their skills have changed over time.
Their first task was to re-read their last few blog posts, and then revisit 2-3 blog posts from Sept/Oct of this year, and compare their writing. More specifically, I asked them to consider how their writing has changed; what improvements did they observe, and what things do they still want to work on in the weeks ahead?
Simon spontaneously created an Explain Everything slide to describe his findings, and used this to refer to as we met:
Since we've taken the curriculum at a greater pace than we would have in a mainstream classroom, we'll be finsihed the Grade 4 program (and then some!) by early April. My plan for the boys during our final month here is to immerse them in an integrated Arts experience, involving a complex team of people we've met here: An actor/dancer from Toronto, a photographer/videographer from Venezuela, a porteno piano teacher.... But before that, I want to spend some time encouraging a little self reflection about what the boys have learned in "school", and how their skills have changed over time.
Their first task was to re-read their last few blog posts, and then revisit 2-3 blog posts from Sept/Oct of this year, and compare their writing. More specifically, I asked them to consider how their writing has changed; what improvements did they observe, and what things do they still want to work on in the weeks ahead?
Simon spontaneously created an Explain Everything slide to describe his findings, and used this to refer to as we met:
Both boys agreed that in general, their writing had become longer and more detailed, and that they liked writing now, and sometimes wrote without being told to by me. They also agreed that knowing they had an audience motivated them to write more and better (so thanks to all of you who've been leaving blog comments!!!)
Simon said he enjoyed using technology, especially Explain Everything, and liked to create "projects" using this app. He noted that he liked to organize his thinking using the technology. I assigned him this task as a follow up: Research and download the free version of three mind mapping apps, and compare their features. Choose the one you like best to create a mind map.
He's on the couch now, already engaged in the work! (And yes, we'll blog about the results!)
Simon said he enjoyed using technology, especially Explain Everything, and liked to create "projects" using this app. He noted that he liked to organize his thinking using the technology. I assigned him this task as a follow up: Research and download the free version of three mind mapping apps, and compare their features. Choose the one you like best to create a mind map.
He's on the couch now, already engaged in the work! (And yes, we'll blog about the results!)
Alex noted that he is using more headings and subheadings now to organize his writing. He believes that he still needs to practise "thinking like a reader" to ensure he's included relevant details in his writing that will help his readers understand what he is trying to share with them. We made note of this new goal, and posted it on our literacy board.
We're not "done with writing" yet, but we are wrapping up our formal literacy curriculum in order to allow more space for the boys' independent and Arts pursuits in the final month of our Argentinian adventure. My hope is that writing will be one tool they can use effectively and independently to process, reflect on and communicate about this adventure to others.
We're not "done with writing" yet, but we are wrapping up our formal literacy curriculum in order to allow more space for the boys' independent and Arts pursuits in the final month of our Argentinian adventure. My hope is that writing will be one tool they can use effectively and independently to process, reflect on and communicate about this adventure to others.