elovejoy's blog
Observations from 10/28/09
Submitted by elovejoy on Tue, 11/03/2009 - 7:45pmObservations from 10/28/09
Emily Lovejoy
In progress:
Today I was in Teacher A's 5th/6th grade class. The students watched R.L. Stine's webcast!
Observations from 10/21/09
Submitted by elovejoy on Wed, 10/21/2009 - 6:05pmObservations from 10/21/09
Emily Lovejoy
Observations from 10/20/09
Submitted by elovejoy on Wed, 10/21/2009 - 6:04pmObservations from 10/20/09
Emily Lovejoy
Today I was in teacher B's classroom and the students were led through a brainstorming lesson. Each student was given a piece of paper and pencil, and when the teacher said a topic, the students were to write down as many things as they could think of. Spelling didn't matter as much as writing down good ideas. The word that Teacher B gave the students was "night." Students came up with some of the following ideas:
Observations from 10/6/09
Submitted by elovejoy on Thu, 10/08/2009 - 7:56pmObservations from 10/6/09
Emily Lovejoy
Observations from 9/30/09
Submitted by elovejoy on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 6:47pmObservations from 9/30/09
Emily Lovejoy
Today I shadowed Teacher C, a shop and science support teacher at the local friends school where Teachers A and B teach. Today, Teacher C had a group of 6 kindergarteners that he was taking around the grounds of the school. They were looking at the various gardens on the grounds. Teacher C feels like for students of this age, a teacher must define vocabulary and bring it down to their level. He has students engage in drawing and coloring activities to see what they have observed in the gardens.
Observations from 9/23/09
Submitted by elovejoy on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 6:32pmObservations from 9/23/09
Emily Lovejoy
Today I was again observing Teacher A's 5th and 6th grade class. Their school is currently focusing on the theme of community. So, while some students worked on other things, Brie and I led some of the students through Bubbleology, a lesson presented to us in the Inquiry Science institute this summer by Joyce Theriot.
9/16/09 Observations
Submitted by elovejoy on Wed, 09/16/2009 - 11:45pmObservations from 9/16/09
Emily Lovejoy
Today I visited a local friends school for children from three years through sixth grade. The school has a diverse population of students and has strong Quaker values. It especially focuses on teaching students to respect all people and also focuses on engaging them to be involved in peaceful problem solving. I observed a 5th/6th grade class (Teacher A) and a 1st/2nd grade class (Teacher B). Both teachers were participants in Bryn Mawr's summer institutes for K-12 teachers.
Exploring Science Education and the Brain in a K-12 Setting
Submitted by elovejoy on Wed, 09/16/2009 - 11:37pminitial comments on "Education as life itself"
Submitted by elovejoy on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 11:19amI found many of the arguments in the article, “Education as Life Itself: Freedom, Integration, and Beyond” convincing. But, I found myself wondering if the idea that “education is not preparation for life; education is life itself” is entirely realistic. As Brie has mentioned before, scholastic testing poses a threat to emergent teaching. Somewhat along the same lines, I was thinking about the concept of a curriculum in schools. Teachers and professors are required to teach certain things in a given year or course, and A must be taught before B. The idea behind a set curriculum is that students will learn a certain set of facts so that they can excel on standardized tests and then move on to the next level. I certainly support
