Spreadsheet Assignment

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http://library.thinkquest.org/J0110054/
(found through http://www.suelebeau.com/spreadsheets.htm)

First of all, I couldn't look at this website for very long because of the super bright yellow background... It seemed like they had considered several different subjects for excel. There are three options for English: create a spelling test that the computer will mark; create a vocab assignment with vocab words on one side and definitions in the other; and a book-list checkout sheet. With the exception of the online spelling test, these activities seem way too simple, and it seems like Excel wouldn't really be necessary here. It also looked like most of these activities were for elementary students.
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http://www.microsoft.com/education/lessonplans.mspx#Arts/Design

I couldn't find much in here for Excel, and when I found Excel activities they were almost all for math/science types of lessons. The only one that was remotely close to an English lesson suggested that we should create a timeline for Barrack Obama's life. You could easily adapt this to be an author or a poet, but I think it's a shame that they are all geared towards the more science-based classes. There were no art lesson plans either. Big fail!
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http://www.internet4classrooms.com/technology_tutorials/graphic_organizer_files_excel_topics_technology_tutorials.htm

Finally! A website that shows some useful activities for English classes (still working on art...). The site suggested using Excel for making a story web:

The website also suggests using Excel for things like Venn Diagrams, which can be useful for things like novel studies. Again, it also suggests using excel for timelines.

We have a winner!
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According to the interwebs, there is currently no place for Excel in the art classroom, and very few reason why it would be in the English classroom, too.

I think if I were trying to find some way to use Excel in art, I would try to implement it into a critique. Using a rubric created on Excel, students could go in and give feedback (even grades) to their peers.

For English, I like the idea of doing a story web, as well as the Venn diagram, and I'm curious to learn more about the self-grading spelling quiz. Excel could also be very useful in an ESL classroom for certain matching vocab activities. In addition to these, I would consider using Excel for lit. circles if students were interested in tracking their, and their groupmates, pages numbers, etc. It could be a useful way of keeping everyone on the same page (pardon the pun...). The last idea I can think of for English would be to create a class graph of which works of literature they liked best: basically a survey. They could give books/authors/poems a grade, and then the results can be made into a graph to learn about what students are enjoying in the class or not. This way it could also be anonymous.

Excel in the Art/English classroom! Who knew?!

Observation Observations (finally).

I think I've officially put this off for long enough...

Overall, I had a great time on my observation. I met some great (and some not-as-great) teachers, learned a lot about the realities of dealing with ~30 rambunctious teenagers, sat through awkward lunches in the staff room, and got to teach a couple times.

Originally I had planned to go to Penticton Secondary School, and stay at my sister's house a few blocks away. However, I ended up being placed in Summerland Secondary School. At first I was feeling a little apprehensive about the situation, but it turned out to be a really great tight-knit little school.

I didn't have a lot of structure, nor did I have a mentor teacher. However, the English department head kind of took me under her wing, and helped me out a lot whenever I had questions (or got lost).

I ended up following her English 12 class while they did a short story unit. On the second day she asked me if I would be interested in teaching a lesson, so I went about planning to teach irony (my second biggest English-nerd pet peeve). It was a little nerve wracking, but the lesson went over fairly well. The students were pretty well-behaved, and my only real problem was that I ended about 10 minutes short, and wasn't really sure what to do with them (I just got them to silent read).

I also spent a lot of time attending Bridge classes. Summerland has a program for grade nines who are referred from middle school as students who may not be suited for regular grade nine academic classes. These students typically have behavioural problems, and many of them have learning exceptionalities as well. All of these referred students take their grade nine academics together, in the same room, with the same teacher. Needless to say, it seemed like quite the challenge. However, the teacher was amazing! She did a great job of keeping the students under control and at least partially focused - a huge task for a group of students with a wide variety of needs and abilities. I found it incredibly inspiring to see her work with these kids, and it made me seriously consider the option of pursuing a masters for special ed - something I hadn't really considered before. I spoke to her a bit about her "strategies", and she said that she really tries to push to build self-esteem. There was very little scolding for bad behaviour, and most of the class was centered around positive reinforcement. For example, in English Bridge, the teacher generally reminded the students that they would be allowed to read from _Hunger Games_, the class novel they were in the middle of, if they finished all their work on time. I was really surprised at how effective her whole system was, and it gives me hope!

Honestly, the most awkward thing about being on observation was sitting in the staff room at lunch. I think this stemmed from this sort of liminal feeling that goes along with observation. We aren't teachers yet, we aren't TOCs, we aren't even really students at that point, so why are we there? Maybe that was just me, but I think I will feel a lot less awkward when I'm out on the 5wk practicum, and actually have a purpose for being in the school.