Computer Problems, part Deux.

Well, I finally solved my computer problems and got my computer working, so I went in to school today and taught two lessons with the high hopes of recording a lesson video. I captured the entire lesson and even moved my computer around to get close up recordings of my conferences, but alas my computer problems have failed me once again!!! As it turns out, the repairmen at Mac completely broke my "built in microphone" while they were working on the other issue in my computer, so there is no audio for my video at all :( I still have the video but 55 minutes of teaching is pretty boring without a lick of sound! I now have to take my computer baaaaack to the Mac store for the second time in less than a week to get it repaired. On top of that, I am quite disappointed because the lesson I taught was very successful and I was excited to share my experience with the class. But, as Tupac says, "life goes on." I have never doubted Tupac's wisdom and don't plan on starting now, so I will heed his advice and move on from my disappointment. I still want to share my lesson though, as I am proud of it and I think it had an immediate impact on my students, so I will do my best to explain my lesson in this post in case anyone is interested. Johnathon observed the lesson so he can help me recreate it as well.

Anyway, I wrote it myself and it is based off of a lesson from my non-fiction unit plan. Here is the general outline:

Objective: In order to use our literacy powers with purpose, we will make the right choice of either reading or writing today and we will proudly voice our choice!

Mini-Lesson: I will keep my mini-lesson brief, introducing the Café 507 menu for the day. Last week students reflected on the strengths and weaknesses of their literate lives, today I will introduce the idea of building purpose for their literate lives (which will lead into the Appetizer which I will model briefly).

                                  CAFÉ 507 Menu

Appetizer: Use your writer’s notebook to Voice Your Choice:

“What is my literacy menu choice today and why did I choose it? What is the goal behind my choice?”

[After they have written for a few minutes, I will have them turn and voice their choice (and why) to a neighbor, and then ask for volunteers to voice their choice (and why) to the whole class]

Main Course: Choose one of the following Entrees:

                        Entree One: Read

                        Entrée Two: Write

Dessert: On a post-it note, answer the following questions in one sentence. 

“Did I reach the goal I set at the beginning of class? What can I improve on next time?


I found that the literacy menu idea was a great way to present students with a list of choices in a fun way, and the students loved getting to choose their work for the day.  We started the lesson by talking about the famous line from Spider man: 'With great power comes great responsibility,' and that was my intro into the idea of "purpose." Students related very well with this concept, as several students mentioned that you have to have a "reason" behind what you do and you must "use your power for good." The discussion we had surrounding purpose was awesome, and students were asked to write their choice, defend their choice, and make a goal for the day. We then Voiced Our Choice to the class which was a fun way of building community accountability.

The conferencing went well again, and I am so bummed I do not have audio from my conferencing videos because I had some great ones. Unfortunately, we are about to enter a pretty dry testing unit, so my opportunities for conferencing will be limited over the next month until after the STAAR. Hopefully I can still find some time to conference!

I am sure I will have more to say about all of this on Monday when I get over the disappointment of my failed video, but at least this post gives an outline of my field experience.