Post #3

During this short week before Thanksgiving, I found how schedules can get so switched around to make room for themed activities to go along with upcoming holidays. With Thanksgiving coming up, my cooperating teacher planned a group mural activity to be done during the normal language arts time. The task was to create a mural that shows what they are thankful for that is in their class. Most students did a really great job with this, and it was fun seeing what they appreciate about their classroom. One boy drew what looked to be some random drawings, and I asked him what they were. He didn't really answer so I asked him where they came from. He said they were in his notebook. He took that assignment to an extreme and picked out such small details that it made me laugh. Unfortunately there was a significant behavior issue that interrupted the project, so it will be interesting to see how my CT responds to this time delay this coming week.

In another one of my classes, the professor asked us to observe what teachers do on days before breaks. One of the most common activities to do is to watch a movie. This is what my CT did, and it seemed to work well. I was nervous at first that the students would be chatty, but they settled down once it got going and enjoyed it. Since it discussed the historic origin to the Thanksgiving holiday, it was a way to tie in some social studies content, which is something that tends to not receive enough attention.