The last few days have been a bit tough with the murder of a little girl here in Springfield. The alleged killer worked as a paraprofessional in a local middle school, so not only do we have an elementary school mourning the loss of a ten-year-old, we have a middle school where everyone is in shock and questioning that they had a coach who could be capable of such an atrocity. We did spend some time in class talking about it as one student is in a practicum at the middle school. I had a lesson to teach yesterday but I felt I should forego that so we could have a conversation about how to help students when a tragedy occurs. Of course, when it is violent, it is so entirely different than a student dying by natural causes. It's a source of fear and anxiety. I think we came up with some good ideas on how we can help students: try to maintain normalcy, answer questoins as you can, but without going into details, simply say, "I'm so sad" or "I'm sorry."
In the past few weeks, we have looked at the requirements for the microlesson and I have taught two lessons: one on Burke's "Big Idea" and one on digital story telling and how we can focus on a local topic or issue. We also watched one of the videos my students did about poverty and hunger and then we imagined that as the final summative project for a unit. I made a calendar on the board and asked everyone what they imagined my students did for each day of the unit. (I was demonstrating backward design). Of course, my students wanted to know, "Well, how do you know how much time it is going to take?" Well, that is the trick of teaching and after a few years, you begin to figure out how long things might take, but that can change from year to year and class to class. It's just one of those things that you plan ahead and have the plan and maybe you might have to add a day but eventually, you will learn how to pace and time a lesson.
In the past few weeks, we have looked at the requirements for the microlesson and I have taught two lessons: one on Burke's "Big Idea" and one on digital story telling and how we can focus on a local topic or issue. We also watched one of the videos my students did about poverty and hunger and then we imagined that as the final summative project for a unit. I made a calendar on the board and asked everyone what they imagined my students did for each day of the unit. (I was demonstrating backward design). Of course, my students wanted to know, "Well, how do you know how much time it is going to take?" Well, that is the trick of teaching and after a few years, you begin to figure out how long things might take, but that can change from year to year and class to class. It's just one of those things that you plan ahead and have the plan and maybe you might have to add a day but eventually, you will learn how to pace and time a lesson.
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