Seed Idea Development

This week we had to pick out a seed idea and discuss our ideas for it with our partners.  I picked a seed idea, but I'm still not sure if it will be the work that I want to publish at the end of the semester.  I think it has potential to be good, but it is just going to take a lot of time to develop a piece worth publishing.  However, I'm still excited to see the end product.

This week we also looked at photographs and how they can be used to examine and teacher about community social issues common in the student's lives.  But along with that, I think it also lends itself to the exploration of stereotypes because one needs to have some knowledge of what a situation looks like in order to begin to understand what the picture may be suggesting or showing the audience.

The digital story The Wrinkled Heart was an excellent way to present the lesson that the teacher shared with her students because it allowed for us to see the visual, which is what made the activity so powerful to begin with.  It really showed how the little comments are the things that slowly creep up on people and wear on their hearts, often going unnoticed until it's too late.  And that even the apologies do not make everything better because the scar still remains.

This week in field experience, we had to make up raps about what happened in our classrooms.  It was something different that got the class laughing.  It was a fun activity to end the day with.

Gallery Walk-MGRP Presentations

This week we had a gallery walk style presentation of our MGRP topic and artifacts.  We even had snacks to set a casual, laid back mood in the room.  I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see the variety of topics people decided to research.  One that seriously intrigued me was Jordan's presentation on Kendra Wilkenson.  She was very knowledgeable on her research topic, and had lots of interesting facts to share about Kendra's life.  She even satisfied some of my curiosity surrounding life at the Play Boy mansion.  And what was even better was that Maia, stationed next to Jordan, was presenting over Hugh Hefner.  So from her presentation I got to see another side of Hefner that is often overlooked.  Even learning that he had kids, two in their fifties and two about our ages.  But what was really nice about the opportunity to see the different presentations was the opportunity to get to know my classmates better.  From walking around and observing I got to learn what was important to or interested my fellow classmates, something that I would not normally find out because of my reserved and quiet nature.  I feel like this would be something that would benefit a class when they are in the process of building a community because of the insight one gains into classmates interest, although probably not a project suited for the beginning of the school year.

Failed Attempt

This past week I attempted to do an interview with my Kid Watching Kid on his interest and thoughts over reading and writing.  He is a second grader that comes to the ENL classroom for forty minutes a day.  I've been working with him and another 2nd grader in a small group since the first day of our practicum.  Prior to last week he had been quite reserved, and frequently ignoring questions when asked by me.  But last week he made attempts to converse with me and asked me for helping spelling words he did not know.  Since his first language is not English, and he has only been at University for less than a year, I figured his English was not that great.  My thoughts were confirmed, so I thought, by his little attempts to communicate with me.  But despite all this I attempted to perform the interview, only to meet a wall that I did not have the skill to climb.  The majority of the questions I attempted to ask he did not have the English necessary to understand or respond.  So we began a clumsy dance of communication that showed both our two left feet.  It was a slight discouragement to not be able to get any answers to my questions really.  And the ones I did get I he mostly just responded affirmative when I reworded the question or asked specific questions.  But after talking with Carmen I was reassured that we could work around this, and that she would help me modify or complete throw out some questions.  But what is most intriguing, is that he is a good writer for his age and English proficiency, even his spelling is right on if not close to the actual spelling of words appropriate for his grade.