Post date: Nov 26, 2011 5:58:18 AM
Happy Vacation!
Even though we are on a 5 day break, no Friday can go untainted by my weekly email. As always I will try to keep this one short -- since the school week was only two days long, perhaps I can achieve that goal this time.
Yesterday, at our Thanksgiving table, we did a group grace in which each person got to give thanks for something. I had many things come to mind, but what came out of my mouth was a heartfelt appreciation of my job, the families at DCS, and the shared values that hold the community together. I can't imagine a better place and people to spend my working days.
Recap of the (two day) week:
English: On Monday the kids chose a topic about which to do a 20 minute quick-write into their composition books. I read them some samples from a class at Fisher Middle School and then set them free to espouse at will on a topic of their choice. They started up quickly and wrote well. I'm hoping to someday educe from them a comparative level of immediate and sustained productivity in regards to more formal essay writing.
On Tuesday the kids met with their November-December reading groups to set a reading schedule, discuss what they've read in their books so far, and (in some cases) plan the reading of a second book. Starting next week, the kids will be taking a look at the (long) list of reading projects and narrowing down their preferences. The parents who a facilitating the groups are talented and patient. It isn't easy to deal with diverse personalities, reading levels, preferences, and attention spans.
Science: After last week's Age of Sail preparation and trip, coming back to school on Monday and facing the chapter 4 test caused quite a bit of protest from the kids ("you didn't warn us") and rebuttal from me ("let me count the ways"). While I appreciate the discussion that ensued, it bothered me a bit that for every way I've come up with to disseminate information about class assignments and dates, there was at least one kid that used the "that way doesn't work for me" rebuttal to (in my opinion) dodge responsibility and accountability. First I reminded them that we, as a class, had created the reading and test schedule together at the beginning of the unit... "I don't always participate in every class discussion" was the reply. I showed them that I had posted a reminder on the daily schedule a week prior to the test -- "That was a whole week ago" was the reply. I showed them the assignment calendar and do-now sections of my website -- "Your website is too confusing" was the reply. I explained that it was pointed out in the weekly newsletter -- "those are too long, I don't read them" was the reply. Lastly, I referred to the text message that I sent out over the weekend -- "I don't know how to subscribe to those." was the reply. The absurdity of that discussion brought some self-evident issues of ownership and responsibility to light and its positive effects are yet to emerge.
The hands-on activity of the week (and vacation) is a solids-separation lab in which the kids created mixtures of various kitchen or household materials and then gave them to another student to separate. The methods they will use might include filtering, magnetism, distillation, density, etc. I'm hoping for specific write-ups and a set of separated materials brought to class on Monday.
The unit 2 packets (Forces and Motion) have not come back to school for about 8 kids -- please check to see if yours is amongst them. We will build a work packet for unit 3 (Properties of Matter) but since there were only a few assignments, it will likely just go straight to their portfolio folders rather than taking the usual home-and-back path. The current unit (Work, Machines, and Energy) is a great one for students who like to tinker, build, test, and revise.
There I go again, writing beyond my intended constraints. Thanks for reading (if you made it this far), and have a good weekend.
Chris