Just for fun...

I forgot all about these videos!  Back in November we tried that activity Jeff had us try with the tape on the floor...here is my class attempting to squeeze into different sections of the box...pretty funny!

Up and Down

First of all, the Amazing Race geography worksheet was a success!  Everyone was completely engaged as it was a competition!  In pairs, they had to do some searching on the maps to find locations and they had to talk to each other to figure out some of the answers.  Even JT was working hard!  Unfortunately, when they received their prizes for first, second, and third place, I was angry as all I got was "Is that it?" and no one said thank you.  That always makes me wonder why we even bother sometimes?!?!  I will post videos/pictures of this assignment very soon.

Second, the English project I was referring to in my last post has me stumped.  I am now working on the same project with my other three Immersion classes and I still have about eight options (I removed the journal and the letter or e-mail).  I'm finding that the students are STILL way more concerned with the drawing part or the constructing part, and they are forgetting about the only part that I will be marking...THE CONTENT!  I don't know how to get through to them! 

Third, JT is not loving our map placemat project.  I had to move him today because he was talking too much and wasting time and he just sat there and did next to nothing.  I think it's time to get some new ideas to try out.  He did, however, study hard to re-write a poetry quiz on which he originally got 4/20 (so unfortunately, the poetic devices flyswatter game we played didn't help)...BUT it was almost all because his mother wanted him to re-write, not because he cared about improving his mark.  He studied hard, with flashcards this time, but still only managed a 10/20.

Small Update

I can't believe I haven't blogged in such a long time!  I don't have all that much to report at this point since we have been back from our holiday.  Before the break, we were working on the Religion unit in Social Studies.  The unit Jeff helped us plan went pretty well...most of my students were quite engaged in the videos and activities we prepared for them.  Unfortunately, when it came time to do the actual project, they wasted a lot of time, some of them plagiarized, and a lot of them payed no attention to the criteria.  I did get most of them handed in though, including JT's. 

I was also working on an English project for The Outsiders and decided to give my students about 10 different options.  They had a lot of fun with it and many of them did an excellent job!  Some did get too caught up in the aesthetics and forgot about the content...that is still a problem that I continue to work on.  JT also handed this project in on time.  It is progress, but he continues to rush through the work and disregard the criteria. 

I just introduced the same project in my immersion classes so we will see how it turns out!