I have relocated

This blog has been moved to http://thinkandteach.wordpress.com/. Stop by and leave a non-spam comment.

Thanks for reading.

The Holocaust

The Holocaust Animoto video.

New DI set-up on my website

I have now create separate pages for each Learning Classroom lesson that I do this year. Click here to check them out. I am also slowly adding books to the booklist.

A Sneaky but Cool Tool

Hopefully the image inserts, okay in this post. If you go to http://www.fodey.com/ you can create fake newspaper clippings to generate discussion with your students (or for whatever reason). I am using the clipping below to begin a lesson about Residential Schools in Canada. The idea is for students to discuss how they would feel if they were told that the way the speak and dress is inappropriate and that they must change according to government policy. Hope it works as planned. I will post next about my second Learning Classroom visit which takes place Wednesday, Oct. 20.

New Lesson Posted

Here is the link for my first DI observation lesson. Feedback is welcome!

http://www.tvdsb.ca/webpages/charris/resources.cfm?subpage=120598

Monday Follow-up

After reading Monday's exit slips, I realized that many students (if not all) really needed more time with the Vimy Ridge topic. We did a read-aloud and viewed the video clip again (it's only about 7 min), then we returned to the prompts. Students then created their foldables to compare Vimy with one other battle that we studied (their choice of Ypres or the Somme). The 3-door foldable is nice because it essentially creates a venn diagram that they can open and close. I also asked that they draw a simple image on the front of each battle's "door" that would remind them of something unique about the battle. I collected the foldables at the end of class.

The more I use exit slips the more I love them; also, I am also realizing that when we "move on" from a topic because we (the teacher) have talked about it, we often leave many of our students in the dust. The exit slip is a nice way to know when to hit the brakes, reverse and try to pick up those left behind (without necessarily repeating the entire lesson).

Monday History Lesson

What follows is a description of the lesson that my Applied Grade 10 History class did today:

1. Question of the Day...each Monday we do a brief 'weekend update' for community building.

2. I returned exit cards that students submitted on Friday. The exit card asked them to identify something they remembered about what Canadians did to help in the war overseas (WWI). They also had to make a comment if possible about how our national identity was changing as a result of our actions in battle. Overall, the exit cards were excellent and they help to remind students what the last topic was.

3. As a class, we revisited the anticipation guide that they completed before completing Friday's graphic organizer about Canadian actions at Ypres and the Somme. We also discussed the information that could go into the organizer.

4. To summarize, students were given 30 seconds to answer a summary question about how our identity was changing as a result of the battles and our actions. I warned them that I would select 3 people randomly, and that no hands would be called upon. Here are some of the ideas that were put forth:

-strong
-brave and courageous
-dependable
-clutch performers
-we have heart

I thought those were excellent ideas and all students were encouraged to make note of them.

5. Students were given 8 prompts or sentence starters that relate to the Battle of Vimy Ridge. They wrote these into their notebooks from the Smartboard. I told them not to write any ideas during the clip because too often important information is missed.

6. Once the clip finished, students met with their "one o'clock" appointment (we use the appointment clock a lot for paired discussion) and to discuss answers to the prompts. As I walked around I noticed that some were struggling to come up with answers so I suggested accessing a text, which many did.

7. We were running short on time, so students were called back to their regular desks. Today's exit slip was this:

Identify one similarity and one difference that you noticed between the Battle of Vimy Ridge and one of the previous battles we studied.

Exit cards were collected and they will be used to determine how much discussion and time Vimy needs tomorrow. Students will be creating a Venn diagram foldable to compare 2 battles; they will also work together to create a simile for our victory at Vimy Ridge.