First day at St. Thomas' High School
We left home at 6:50. Most of us just walked to the car but someone rollerbladed in his new rollerblades...
The first lesson starts at 7:55. Every lesson lasts for 50 minutes and each student has 6 periods/day and two breaks , one for recess (15 minutes) and one for lunch.
The first lesson starts at 7:55. Every lesson lasts for 50 minutes and each student has 6 periods/day and two breaks , one for recess (15 minutes) and one for lunch.
When we arrived at the classroom, Ms. Madison Green, Mr. Glenn Katz's student teacher, was already there; they used the time before the lessons to catch up, revise and plan this week. They are both very professional and devoted to their jobs so it was a real pleasure to observe and listen to them prepare things.
First lesson: Grade 9 English (7:55-8:45). 27 students
At 7:50 a soft bell rang ( they should copy this at my school, where the bell is terribly noisy). The students came into Mr. Katz´s class, lowered the chairs from the top of the tables and took a seat. The atmosphere was really relaxed.
Then the Canadian anthem played and everybody stood up to listen to it - some just listened, others also sang but everybody was respectful.
The students are reading a novel, "Monster", by Walter Dean Myers - they read it in class; they plan to do it over 4 weeks. The activities in the class are designed to make sure everybody understands the story, and to teach the students to think critically. The students were paired randomly and shared a Chrome book - Chrome books are kept in a cupboard in the room.
Their first task was to answer 12 questions about the story, using Socrative; they enjoyed working on it trying to finish first, but they also started to prepare a different activity which involved having their fingerprints of their index fingers and thumbs on a blank piece of paper - and they thought it was fun, messy but fun. These fingerprints will be enlarged for the next lesson and they will write a significant piece of the novel on the lines in their fingerprints.
Shortly before the bell rang, the class was dismissed but the students waited by the door quietly talking to the teacher and to each other. This happened in every lesson: a quiet welcome and a quiet good bye - a few minutes to relax and make things go smoothly
This was the same lesson as the one with the group before but this class was much more active ( could it be because they had just had lunch?). Madison made sure they all understood the story through summaries of the different parts, remembering what had happened so far, encouraging them to make predictions about the next act, and asking them to write notes either on their in-class writing books or on their home notebooks.
First lesson: Grade 9 English (7:55-8:45). 27 students
At 7:50 a soft bell rang ( they should copy this at my school, where the bell is terribly noisy). The students came into Mr. Katz´s class, lowered the chairs from the top of the tables and took a seat. The atmosphere was really relaxed.
Then the Canadian anthem played and everybody stood up to listen to it - some just listened, others also sang but everybody was respectful.
The students are reading a novel, "Monster", by Walter Dean Myers - they read it in class; they plan to do it over 4 weeks. The activities in the class are designed to make sure everybody understands the story, and to teach the students to think critically. The students were paired randomly and shared a Chrome book - Chrome books are kept in a cupboard in the room.
Their first task was to answer 12 questions about the story, using Socrative; they enjoyed working on it trying to finish first, but they also started to prepare a different activity which involved having their fingerprints of their index fingers and thumbs on a blank piece of paper - and they thought it was fun, messy but fun. These fingerprints will be enlarged for the next lesson and they will write a significant piece of the novel on the lines in their fingerprints.
Second lesson: Ethics Class (28 students)
The students did some presentations of videos or some role play about different topics related to the internet: plagiarism, cyberbullying, sexting...This was not in Mr. Katz´s classroom.
The next project for this class will be related to the elections in Canada (next October 19, 2015): for the next three weeks, these students will run a campaign and make a video about one of the issues politicians are talking about these days (the environment, health, pollution,taxes...); they will present these videos to their classmates and they will vote for the next prime minister of the class.
Third lesson: Grade 7 English (29 11-12-year-old students)
The lesson today consisted of reading and understanding Act 2, Scene 2 of "A Midnight´s Summer Dream" - which they expect to fully read in over 6 weeks - and start "Alice in Wonderland" afterwards. Different students read different parts of the play while the others followed the story in their books. The language is not easy for students this age but they all knew what was going on and could write a prediction of what was going to happen.
Fourth lesson: Grade 7 English (30 students)
This was the same lesson as the one with the group before but this class was much more active ( could it be because they had just had lunch?). Madison made sure they all understood the story through summaries of the different parts, remembering what had happened so far, encouraging them to make predictions about the next act, and asking them to write notes either on their in-class writing books or on their home notebooks.
Fifth lesson: Grade 9 English (30 students) (13:35-14:25)
These students are reading Ray Bradbury´s "Farenheit 451"; they read it at home but they also read tough pieces in class. After some critical thinking about certain parts of the story, students were asked to write a diary entry which included the following: a topic sentence, a supporting one that included a quote, and a concluding sentence. They had to type 150 words in their Chrome books by the end of the class.
That was the end of the school day but the Spanish teachers were picked up at our schools and taken to a meeting with the Lester B. Pearson School Board. This meeting was very brief but very formal.
Some Spanish teachers used the opportunity to share experiences and complain about... well, let´s leave it at that...
Some Spanish teachers used the opportunity to share experiences and complain about... well, let´s leave it at that...
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