Signs of the Apocalypse

My standard week is 2 1/2 teaching lessons, and the last half of the 3rd class of the week, I play a review ppt game with my Ss called Pirates of the Classroom.The Ss really love playing it because it is very interactive and noisy. I also really enjoy this because I can check to see how much input my Ss have retained from my lessons.
As I complete more lessons I change the questions in the game, so my Ss get to see some questions maybe 3 or 4 times sometimes.
Anyway at the end of the 5th lesson there is a chapter review, which I thought they could do together as GW. There was 15 questions and I gave them 3 minutes to finish, and the first team to have everyone in their team answer all the questions would get a 5 point bonus. Telling them this basically served the purpose of focusing their attention on answering the questions.  This worked and they were very studious, but it was interesting to see which students were operating as individuals and which were collective in their attitudes.
This was my low level class and for the entire time that I have been teaching at my school (8 weeks) there have been 2 boys in this class who would never answer a question or talk in English.  When I asked what is the answer to questions 1 and both of their hands sprung up, I almost had a heart attack.  I'm sure that it's been prophesied somewhere that when these boys answer a question in Daniel Teacher's class that this would be a Sign of the Apocalypse. They were confident in their answers because there are 2 smart girls on their team and they had discussed the answers with them before.
It really goes to show how good that "Team Talk Time" works to encourage very shy students to participate :)

Just how C is my I?

This past week marks the first time that I have actually given my students a standardized test. It is the first time that I find out “Just how Comprehensible is my Input”.  I made two tests, one for the two high level classes (A & B classes) and one for the two low level classes (C & D classes).  I made two review sheets and I had a review class and a test class this week.  The C & D classes both had an additional class this week, as a makeup class.  This was a short week because of the Wednesday holiday, so I used this makeup class as a poster making project class, focusing on the material that we had learned in class.  In this way, the students are focused on the TLC but in a more relaxed setting.  

For the C & D classes, the 2^nd page of my review sheet was the actual test.  I gave them a 3 column box of Prefixes, Root Words, and Suffixes.  There task was to choose one of each, put them all together to make a new word (it could be a nonsensical word) and then explain its meaning to me in a sentence.  I wanted to test their comprehension of the bound morphemes that I had been teaching them.  The other question on the 2^nd page was to write a sentence telling me about “planaria” or flatworms that they had studied in their Korean Science class. In class they were very verbal and had many things to tell me about planaria and I thought that this would be a great opportunity to practice their writing skills.  This was a somewhat difficult task for some of my D class students (one girl was in tears at her poor result).  I needed to challenge my C students more, for example “Write 3 sentences telling me about planaria”.  I did tell them before the test that I would be testing them on Capital Letters, Periods, Spelling and Grammar. I wrote “C P S G” on the board before the test and asked my students what that meant and they all knew.

From the tests that I have marked so far, their grammar is pretty bad across the board. Even when the students are given the correct grammar form in the question they will change it to the incorrect form in their answer.  

For example:

“Bacteria are found just about everywhere. They can live in foods, on tables and inside our bodies.”   

Question: Where does bacteria live?

Answer: The bacteria can live in foods, on tables and inside our bodies.

So just how C is my I?  One of my D students asked me during the test asked me “What is planaria?”

His test answer was “I think it is a plant.” This was great grammar, but a completely wrong answer.  This student is active in class discussions, and I had given him this exact question on his review sheet. In my defense, his entire class was disgusted at him for not knowing what planaria was.  After chunking and rephrasing and using visuals and checking comprehension, my question is just how responsible is the teacher for the student who does not study? 

My students did well for the most part, but is that a mark of how good my MIC is or is that a measure of how easy I made the tests?  This test was definitely a learning experience for me.  What did I learn:

1: Put one class name on each test, do not combine the names on the test (eg Class A & B) because the students tell each other the answers.

2. Make the C level test more difficult than the D level test.

3. Focus on correcting grammar form in class

Beware of the Nigerians

I have been teaching about Invertebrates this week and that included jellyfish and sea anemones.  The animal family they belong to is the “Cnidarians” (a silent “C”).   The first time I heard a student say this I heard “Nigerians” and I’m like “What do they have to do with jellyfish?”  I got a kick out of the wordplay (Nigerians - Nigh dare e ans) so I thought I would use it in a review at the beginning of the next lesson.  I wrote up a whole bunch of words and morphemes on the WB so that I could use non-verbal cues to get the students to ask each other questions.  One of these words was “Nigerians?”. 

My A level students came in…..

T: S1 please ask S14 What are …..(pointing to the word). (S14 was a little confused but proceeded to answer the question) 

S1: What are Nigerians?

S14: “They are jellyfish and sea anemones” 

T: (making a game show buzzer noise) “ahhhhhh” Thanks for playing

Ss: ahhahahahhaha

T: Does anyone know what Nigerians are?

S7: People from Nigeria???

T: That’s right, (pointing to the world map in the classroom) and what word should be up on the board?

Ss: Cnidarians

The Ss really got a big laugh out of this, so I repeated this with my B level Ss and I got another big laugh J  

I’m feeling good about myself.  I want to encourage my students with wordplay and I want them to have fun in my class.

I repeated this again with my C level Ss.  I got a laugh but also a few confused looks.

S1: Teacher why did you write that on the WB?

T: because it sounds like “Cnidarians”, and I was testing you to see if you could see the mistake

S1: ohhh  (quizzical look)

I repeated this again with my D level Ss and a few got the joke, but the poor student who tried to answer the question, lost face, and I felt like crap.  I shouldn’t have done it. It wasn’t my intention to embarrass anyone, but that’s what happened. My normally very enthusiastic student, became disappointed and it’s my fault.

I learned a lesson that day. Especially with the lower levels, don’t try to be too clever, just give it to them straight.   So take my advice and “Beware of the Nigerians”.

Drinking Flatworms and One Hole Digestive Systems

I have to give the students a homework paper every week that is a kind of review of the whole lesson in the book.  The problem is I give them the homework on Wednesday and I don't finish teaching the lesson until Friday.  My kids were complaining that I was giving them homework questions on stuff they hadn't studied yet, so with that in mind,

Goal #1 was to do a quick overview of the vocab words in my first two classes, thus giving the Ss the knowledge they needed to answer the questions.

Goal #2 was to not focus on all the details in the book, as there are a lot, and I could totally get bogged down in all of this, and it would be a long hard slog for the Ss and that's no fun :(

Goal #3 Was to declare war on all one-word answers :)

As this was the first day of the month, it is National Change Your Seat Day.  This is both the most sought after day and also the most hated day of the month.  Ss beg to change their seats all month, and then when I change them they say "Oh no Teacher!!!  Why this seat????  I don't like her/him!!"   Not my favorite day, but a good opportunity for me to bust out that K-pop anthem "I don't care air air air air air'

Lesson Topic: Invertebrates and Symmetry

 I started out using a ppt with "Symmetry is........." and a picture of 3 flowers cut in 2, 6 and 12 pieces.  I was pleasantly surprised that even my lower level students were able to piece together an explanation (equal parts).

From Symmetry to Asymmetry to Bilateral Symmetry etc etc.    I introduced "Prefixes, Root Words and Suffixes" and asked what "A-" at the beginning of "symmetry"  meant, and once again they got it :)  Yay Team!

Secret Weapon #1 - I knew that the Ss had studied "Planaria" or flatworms in their Korean Science class, so they had lots of information to tell me about this.

My next slide was Bilateral Symmetry  Bi- means 2,  Lateral means "side" so.......Bilateral Symmetry is '2 equal sides."  I showed them a butterfly with a dividing line, then I showed them a picture of planaria.

They recognized it straight away, and I asked them to tell me what they knew about planaria. It was awesome.  Everyone had something to say, and then one student would "notice" the connection between planaria and bilateral symmetry. I would quiet the class down, ask that student to share his/her findings with the classroom and watch the lightbulbs turn on over their heads :)  YAY!!   

One student said planaria lives in clean water, so I went over to my desk,  and picked up my cup and drank some water. 

T:  MMMMMMmmm  yummy planaria. Did I just drink planaria???  

Ss: Nooooooooo!!!! 

(well at least I hope not).  Planaria is a flat worm and I asked them to look in their books and tell me why they would not want to be planaria. 

S:  "Ewwwww teacher, planaria only has one hole in their body, so food goes in that hole and waste comes out that same hole!" 

T:......and on that note students, I hope you have a yummy lunch!!

I like grossing my Ss out :)

Scorecard on my goals

Goal #1 - All my classes went well except for one really noisy class, whose student population are constantly interrupting me to ask questions to gain points for their team - Reading of the riot act commences next class.

Goal#2 - I did okay with my skimming the important information but I need to always be aware of this, to not get bogged down - it is sooooo easy to do

Goal#3 - I fought some good battles and won a lot.  I will continue the fight.