Educational Reflections (formerly Rumblings from 52): Social Studies, take 2; peer teachers: Inferencing with The New York Times, Introducing the Reading Response, and a look at the Homework chart

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Social Studies, take 2; peer teachers: Inferencing with The New York Times, Introducing the Reading Response, and a look at the Homework chart

Return to Social Studies

About a week ago, I ambitiously put together a post for our entry point into Social Studies. It is an entry point that the TDSB begins its day with; a rightful and respectful acknowledgement that we are not Indigenous land.

More information on this story can be found at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tdsb-indigenous-land-1.3773050

Here is the link, to the earlier post. :http://rumblingsfrom52.blogspot.ca/2016/09/entering-social-studies-by-looking.html

Math helpers

For most students, doing a review of particular concepts is a good thing. Using students to help explain some concepts is a good thing by providing some leadership opportunities:

In both cases, the Lattice method was being explained.

I cut this video short and I wish I did not. Saya was doing an excellent job explaining it.

Although I do not like students writing on desks, I was pleased to see a few students helping one another with this approach.

New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/26/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-picture-sept-26-2016.html

This is the image from The New York Times inferencing exercise. We will read/view the answer on Thursday or Friday.

Class Expecations

As a class, we signed off on our jointly developed expectations. If you have not signed, I hope that you will. Room 28 is a space we will all share and learn in and it is crucial that we respect one another and the process of learning.

Reading Response

One of the Term 1 Expectations for Reading involves developing the particular strategies of making connections, summarizing one's work, and asking questions. I have used Reading Responses to do this. From time to time, the students will have to do this with an article I provide or something they select.

I often grab a stack of the free local papers at transit stops as a common source for information. I wanted to model how it works by selecting this relevant article, which was also in the news on the CBC website.