|
Diary of Anne Frank
September 22, 2008
We met at Ms. Finch's class at Tibbetts Middle School in Farmington.
This is a large class and the class meets until 3:15 and we usually get into the classroom at 1:55 pm. Today was our
first day and we all read our "I Am" poem in front of the class. We also advertized the book we were reading.
I am reading "Prince on the Pond". I tried to sell it the best that I could, but no one chose to read that book.
So sad and too bad; they won't be able to experience the feeling that I got when I finished reading the book. Oh well.
We had to memorize the students' name and become familiar with them.
September 29, 2008
This is our second meeting the students. We got into our groups.
I chose to read "Anne Frank" and we had about 8 students in our group. We tried to talk to the students, but it was
hard to do because this was our first meeting. We did not know each other, but us UNM students had the advantage of
knowing some of their names and they were surprised about that. We were to do some research about WW11 and present it
to the students. The students seemed unresponsive to us. Besides the classroom was hot and stuffy. I wouldn't
talk also if the condition was not favorable. But we got a start with our book. I felt so disadvantaged because
I had not read the book and I need to read the book fast. I need to go to the library and check it out! My co-workers
tried their best, but we felt frustrated. Their assisgnment is read to page 24.
October 6, 2008
We met again at Tibbetts with our students. This time we had
11! Wow! This time we went outside and sat under the tree. We met as a class in the library first and set up for
our students. One of my co-worker had prepared and brought Jolly Ranchers because last time, no one spoke. To
start off, we had everyone write something they liked on a piece of paper and tried to guess who it was; this was to break
the ice. It worked. Yea! We asked if anyone had questions about their reading to page 24. Several students
had questions and it was wonderful! A break-through. They got Jolly Rancher for participating. They enjoyed
it! Since it's a large group, we decided to break into two groups next week. I looked forward to meeting with
these students again. They are in 8th grade. So it was a good day in our literature circle.
October 13, 2006
We met with our group. Our group is the largest and we split them into two groups;
all of the boys were in our group. The boys did talk more than what I expected! Which is always good news.
We started out an ice breaker where everyone had to know each other's name and what kind of movement that they made.
It was fun; I don't know if they thought it was lame or not. It was fun because I got to know them more. In our
group, we gave them duties that they had to do: discussion leader, summarizer, connector, etc. The students, I
believe, enjoyed their new tasks. Now they will start talking more, discussing more, thinking more and learning more!
October 20, 2008
Today we met with our group. We did not go outside; it is getting colder outside.
We met in the hallway with our students. We have been trying to let them carry the discussion and have each student
make a comment, but thus far, we still have to carry the discussion. The boy that is the discussion leader does not
carry the discussion and he needs to be the leader. I think he doesn't really want to because he doesn't have the full
confidence yet. He likes the title of discussion leader, but with that role comes responsibilities. One boy has
post its in his book and has questions. His job is to point out important events in the book and he does a good job.
One boy is the illustrator and he draws on a post it and we have one boy that is the summarizer. We have one girl who
is the connector and she does a good job also.
October 27, 2008
Today is the last Monday of October! Gee! Time is flying by faster and faster. Frances was not with us; she
is in Washington, DC. We missed her today especially her smile and cheerfulness. We met outside because it was
just gorgeous and beautiful! It was unbelievably warm! Our two coaches do a wonderful job of ice breaker games
and we have fun. We all had boys in our group. We (coaches) did not talk at all-maybe a few words, but the boys
did all of the discussion! Wow! that's how literautre circle suppose to work! Our literary luminator does not
an excellent job and the job description of luminator fits him well. He has so much to say and some of the boys got
into a discussion and even argued about what might have happened. I felt good about our group today. I hope these students
are learning about literature circles and hope they understand what the author is writing about. I hope reading helps
them think and wonder.
November 3, 2008
As usual we met at 1 pm to brief and prepare for our literature circle with our students.
Last week we decided to change coaches. In our group we have 5 girls; one likes to take over and talks a lot.
The two girls kind of talk, but I couldn't hear them. There was lots of distraction mainly due to traffic. The
last two girls were very quiet and I had to ask them a question for them to participate. One of the shy ones forgot
her book. The talkative one did not have her book, but she said she was ten pages from finishing the book. Good
for her! Our group of girls did not participate as much as the boys. We decided that maybe they were reluctant
to talk about their feelings as Anne did in her diary. We need to work with this group and let them take charge in their
assignments.
November 10, 2008
It snowed and rained this morning and for that reason, we did not venture outside, although our
students wanted to; they must be warm. We met in the conference room hoping that the girls would open up a bit more
than last week. The students and coaches all sat on the floor with the exception of myself; I have a bad knee.
The other two literary coaches are wonderful to always have an ice-breaker to have the students loosen up to participate.
We played "name 5 items" before the scarf got back to the person who was naming the items. It was fun and some students
got stumped, but all got to participate. We had journal entries with prompts like: if we knew Anne, would she be our
friend, if she had made it out of the Nazi camps, what questions would we have for her or anything that we wanted to write
about. Several students wrote that they would not have Anne as their friend because she was judgmental and the writer does
not like to be judged; the others said that Anne was too snobby for her to be their friend; one said that Anne would cause
trouble at school; one student would ask Anne: how could you survive without an XBox? Those were good insights.
We gave them an assignment for next time: what would they write on the days that Anne did not write? I wonder
what it would be written about?
November 17, 2008
We met with our group and my colleagues did a wonderful job. They never hesitate to do
extra for our group. They always have something planned and the students seem to enjoy it. Our book is real long
and one student has read the entire book. She is probably ready for everyone else to get finish. We
gave our group an assignment, but they did not do their homework; so we had them write a journal entry thinking they were
in Anne's position and see what they could write about. Most of them were profound and thoughtful. One boy has
a habit of writing one sentence and says he's done. We had them write two journal entries and one was they had to write
a schedule as if they were in the annex; we're trying to have them think they are in the annex and try to have them feel and
think how it would be if they were in the annex hiding everyday not knowing if they would be free. We coaches write
along with our group and we participate as much as we could. We trying to come with new ideas.
November 24, 2008
Today only two of us met with our students. We had a struggle at the beginning because
we had assigned students homework, but only a few did their homework. Some students would forget their books and not
even reading their book. We had the students write a journal entry about their readings. We told the students
that next time we meet will be our last time. Some were sad to see us not be at the school because they got used to
seeing us. Today was a short time we met.
December 1, 2008
We met with our students for the last time. We gave them an assignment, but only two had
finished their homework and also we ask them to finish reading the book since today was the last day to talk about the book.
We asked them what they're thoughts were on the book. Some said that they liked the book and it was a powerful reading.
We also asked for a reflection of their experience with having UNM students as their literature coaches. We asked for
two stars, meaning what they liked and one wish, meaning what they did not like or what they would have done differently.
A lot of the students said that they wanted to read the book together and some really liked us being there with them each
Monday; some said they wished we could have spent two days not just one day. I guessed they really enjoyed the literature
circle, but I wished they could have responded more and opened up a little bit more, but I enjoyed the experience. It
is hard to have students open their thoughts and feelings to you. One girl said she learned to be more thankful and
not complain about not having something else.
Enter subhead content here
|
