The math standards gave example problems which helped a lot. I am still looking.....
I'd like them to make maps with keys and quiz their classmates...... that'll be part of the plan.
I just spent some time looking too, came up with that standard in several places but no further explanations.
I'm thinking more and more that the "key" is a red herring, and the idea is to provide a map of Africa (labeled) and then test their knowledge somehow (like the same map with 10 countries blanked out and they have to fill in the blanks).
Ok.... I'll go with that. It's good social studies even if it misses the standard a little (if it even does). Thanks, soz (and you too, Noddy and Ul).
This might be useful:
http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/TLresources/units/byrnes-literature/Wright%20homepage/Wright.html
Do you have any 6th-grade teachers you can talk to about this? I bet it's something that they've done a zillion times before and they already have worksheets and stuff.
The map there is good! I was having a hard time finding good maps to work with, even.
The schools I work in go up to 5th grade. I could find a 6th grade teacher somewhere, I suppose - in one of the middle schools.
How much time to you have? 1 lesson or more?
What do the children know so far about Africa?
Their first lesson on Africa?
Do they know anything about map keys or do you have to introduce map keys?
I would start with a political map- and then let them work on a blank map.
this is a blank political map
http://www.teachnet-lab.org/miami/2002/mgil2/political%20map.pdf
You might find ideas for a lesson plan here-
http://www.teachnet-lab.org/miami/2002/mgil2/mapping_africa.htm
They're 6th graders. The curriculum has students working with maps every year of elementary school. The curriculum in 6th grade really starts to get into world geography. They understand what the key is, the legend, the compass rose, the lines of longitude and latitude.....
I can use as many lessons as I want, but fewer is better (more what my teacher is looking for).
This will be one of the introductory lessons on Africa (besides considering it as one of the continents). The first Africa lesson focuses on the physical aspects of african geography - what oceans boarder it, major moutain chains, rivers and lakes. This lesson moves to regions and countries. I'll use the geographic landmarks as clues to locating the regions and countries.
Alright. I've got a plan - sort of. I marked the rift valley in purple, for example and made a key with purple equated with rift system - they will label the rift and then there is discussion about people moving from one point to another on africa, what kinds of climate and geography they will experience, what countries they'll pass through, what cities they might stop in for supplies en route. Still seems easy for 6th grade.....
A-ok. lessons have been returned so quickly that it seems impossible that he could have had the time to read them. He especially liked the two I was least sure of. The Africa lesson was one of them. Got an A for the class and the plans. I doubt anyone got less than an A from this guy.
Quote: doubt anyone got less than an A from this guy.
But they don't put footnotes on Official Grade Transcripts.
You earned it.
hooray for kick-ass teacher littlek!
Of course, now I'm thinking - why the hell did I pust my ass so hard? I know, I know.....
Thanks all.
Next up is SCIENCE!
don't pust your ass.
as to why, well, heck, maybe you like it a little? this whole teeture thing?
Soz saw me post this on the "smile" thread and suggested I post it here.
An excellent suggestion (as always).
What Teachers Make, or
Objection Overruled, or
If things don't work out, you can always go to law school
By Taylor Mali
He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"
He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about
teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.
I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests
that it's also true what they say about lawyers.
Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company.
"I mean, you¹re a teacher, Taylor," he says.
"Be honest. What do you make?"
And I wish he hadn't done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
if you ask for it, I have to let you have it.
You want to know what I make?
I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor
and an A- feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.
I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won't I let you get a drink of water?
Because you're not thirsty, you're bored, that's why.
I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
I hope I haven't called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.
Billy said, "Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don't you?"
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.
I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.
You want to know what I make?
I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write, write, write.
And then I make them read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely
beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).
Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a goddamn difference! What about you?
Geez! This is long-winded. Maybe no one will listen. No matter, I need to get it off my chest.
I am so confused! My university is pushing it's education students to work on lesson plans in pairs. The idea is that teachers need to be able to work together for the benefit of students. I get it. This is the second time we've been asked to do so. I chose to work with one of my cohort that I hadn't worked with much before. I knew she was a little hard to work with, but that's one of the reasons I thought it would be good to work with her. We had 2 weekends of class a month apart and now have 30 days (23 left) to finish a set of 10 lesson plans, all on one theme, 5 for each of us.
The first weekend we decided to work at a 4th or 5th grade level on the history of the earth's surface. I told her I'd love to take the plate tectonics aspect - as a whole to work out my lesson plans. We were supposed to have time to meet during the weekend class time, but didn't have much time to do so that first weekend. She was sick that first weekend.
She and I were both fairly seriously sick between the two weekends and had other homework to attend to, neither of us emailed the other to discuss the lesson plans.
The second weekend came. She had an infected and impacted wisdom tooth and was in much pain. She wasn't making a lot of sense to me for most of the weekend between the pain and the clench-jaw speaking. We did discuss the lesson plans further, but we didn't get far. What I thought she told me was that she needed the following week which was a school vacation week to take care of her house and kids and that she wouldn't be getting to the plans until after it was over. I told her I'd try to organize our plan as we'd discussed it, but that I'd need to have something to start on that week. I told her I'd start with plate tectonics as they relate to the ocean.
I sent her an email the Wednesday after our second weekend (last Wednesday) with a detailed list of 10 lesson plans, leaving the last two open. I sent her the beginnings of my lesson plans that I'd been developing on plate tectonics.
She sent an email back saying she thought we should do something completely different (focus on the geology of our state). I told her I'd already started my plate tectonics lessons and would like to stick to the original plan. She emailed a list of lesson plans with were fairly different than mine. I told her I didn;t think we needed 4 of the 10 lessons to be on volcanoes. Then she started getting snippy.
On friday, I spent the day with my family and didn't get to my email until saturday morning. I found two emails from her. One saying she needed to get the lessons done that weekend and needed to get to it. The next she said she was going to start her plans and told me what they were. Plate tectonics. There then followed several snippy exchanges and she told me she'd talked with our teacher and didn't have time for the enmail chit-chat, that she was now done and that I was on my own. Then she said she'd ok'd it with our professor - good luck!
I emailed my professor just to make sure that us doing separate lessons was ok with her. She sent back a long email that defended my former partner and chastized me while saying she didn't want to get in the middle of a "she said" conversation.
So. What happened? I don't know professional courtesy protocol. Is there any way to tell what I might have done wrong with out actually going over the emails?
Doesn't look to me as though you did a thing wrong.
