Randoms

Categories: s1 and s2, Rivers
The last couple of posts have been heavy going, but it's not all been soul searching. I had a fantastic fun period with two s3 classes today, which came from absolutely nothing. We are pushing hard to get through the rivers content just now, courtesy of death by powerpoint. I really dislike using powerpoint often in class, but they are helping us catch up a little. In the first lesson, I was covering a class for another teacher, and wasn't really sure where they were at, so we abandoned slides and used the random name picker to check on understanding. We fired all the terminology that the class should know into the name picker and then just really went with this. We had explanations of river transportation which would have involved (fictional) injured students being dragged by their heels from the room (!), which sounds silly, but really helped illustrate traction :) We did back to back/quick on the draw activities, thought about aerobics, played a pass-it-on name game and generally got through a load. In my other class, which is my regular s3, we had the slides, but what I love about this class is their constant questions. Some of the class are a great foil for injecting humour into the lessons, but without the learning suffering. I also love the image that students have of teachers. I was asked today if I stop and tell my own kids how waterfalls were formed when we pass one in the car :)
I will probably have Miss Armstrongs s2 tomorrow, and thought we could maybe use 'Cars', erm, borrowed from my son, as a good starter for Hot Deserts, which I think the class are now doing. It would be good to look at the way the film represents the landscape and even the settlements/inhabitants in the desert, and whether this challenges any pre-conceived ideas. I'd also like to teach this class the round of Dubai lessons that we did last year, as I co-op two days a week in here. Right, off to prepare for s1 Computing now- tomorrow, e-safety, and an introduction to the internet. Maybe they should teach me?