A COLLECTION OF MEMORABLE / CURRENT LESSONS
These lessons and examples of student creations will give you a glimpse of what it's like in my classroom.
LITERARY STUDIES:
Studying The Giver by Lois Lowry with Poetry, The Harkness Method, Notice and Note Signposts, and The Question Formulation Technique
Recent Harkness discussions focused on:
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- Capitalism breeding "sameness"
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- Wisdom coming from the realization of lies, and dismantling of "truths".
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- The relationship between ones identity and environment.
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- "Reality is pain, but ignorance is bliss"
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- The role of traditions
These conversations reminded me of a poem I wrote when I was in high school.
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MEMORABLE LESSONS
OUTDOOR EDUCATION
Holistic wellbeing is of utmost importance to my teaching philosophy, and I consider outdoor education to be a powerful tool for transformative and memorable learning opportunities. Also, my current place of work does not have a gymnasium that I can use to teach my Physical Education and Active Living courses, therefore, I utilize the outdoors and surrounding community as an extension to our school.
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Click the "Final Hike" button below to see how students selected a local hike (3rd hike of the semester) that fit criteria of distance, elevation, and time that would be our most challenging hike. They were each given maps of the hike with our route outlined, and they worked together to divide the route into sections where each student would become responsible for leading the hike.
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As part of the scaffolding process, students were given a large amount of control over this hike to feel a sense of empowerment, and to apply the real-world process of creating and executing a trip plan with others. My hope is that they will be excited and confident to re-enact this process with their friends and families many times over in the future.
ENGLISH STUDIES 10 FAMILY HISTORY INQUIRY PROJECT
This project coincided with our study of different forms of literature and writing (narrative, expository, interview/script, poetry, diary/memoir). As students gathered new understandings and experiences with each form, they applied their learning by creating a section for this project. Over the 2 week Christmas holiday students conducted interviews with family members and gathered primary sources to bolster their writing.
DISTANCE LEARNING DEMONSTRATION:
Using the "Nearpod" software for engaging distance learning. In this lesson student groups select a Ted-Ed video from a teacher curated list, and add commentary, examples and explanations to the video using video editing software. Student groups also create an online quiz about the most pertinent information in their video presentation.
BLACKOUT POETRY PROJECT:
An introduction to writing poetry for EAL students. It's so common for students to feel like they can't write poetry. There's certainly a reluctance, a discomfort, and uncertainty as to what defines a poem. This lesson is explorative, creative and fun in nature. Instead of "writing" a poem, students are "looking" for a poem within the pages of a book. It allows for a poem to "come to" the students. Eventually, all students complete at least one blackout poem. Each poem then serves as a starting point to discuss our essential questions such as:
What defines a poem?
What are the major themes within poetry?
How do different perspectives result in different interpretations of a poem?
NOVEL STUDY AND COMPARE / CONTRAST ESSAY:
While exploring the big idea, "What Defines the Human Experience?"my EAL Grade 11 English Studies class completed 2 novel studies.
The first novel was The Humans, which illustrates an alien secretly living a human experience.
Then, we read the graphic novel Wild Robot which follows a displaced robot who believes it is one with the other animals and that the wilderness is its' birthplace and rightful home.
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Students then wrote a compare and contrast essay to explore the common and distinctly different emotional experiences the two main characters encountered.
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WRITING DIALOGUE AND NARRATION:
Creative Writing Class (Grade 10)
Class Project: Turning a silent short film into a written short story.
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After learning about plot, conflict, dialogue, and narrative perspectives we studied several short films to scaffold the application of their learning. The final application was to collaboratively create a children's book using a shared Google Slides document.
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Upon completion, we will engage in refining and editing before sharing the story with the rest of the school. The story will be read during our whole-school homeroom time to showcase student learning and to create engaging reading comprehension competitions between house teams.
YOGA & WELLNESS 12
Learning Selflessness and Daily Disciplines
Students each selected a plant that would be kept in the yoga studio. They would care for it. Observe it. Meditate upon it. Reflect on its growth over time. It was a daily target for their love, care and selfless deeds; a metaphor for their growth and connection to nature.
CLASSROOM DECORATION:
Swipe through the photos to see more.
