Criss-cross apple sauce.
On Friday, the 1st and 7th periods had a really brief quiz on the novel we just started, Night by Elie Wiesel. It was only on the nine pages of reading assigned for homework and what we read together in class two days prior, a total of twelve pages. As the rest of the class started to answer the quiz question ("identify three moments of tension in the text that are followed immediately by resolution"), Mr. A asked me to take three students that were absent last class out in to the hall to get caught up.
We had ten minutes to cover about twelve pages, so Mr. A told me to take my time. One of the students, V, was already familiar to me -- he happened to be in one of the classes I observed last fall. (I asked him the first day of class if he remembered me and he did, which was pretty cool.) So I would read a passage that was relevant and explain why it was relevant, then skip ahead a bit and repeat.
I've heard quite often that good teachers are willing to make fools of themselves in the pursuit of connecting with their students. I think that's kind of a good life lesson in general. I decided to try that route with this "assignment" and I have to say, it was great to see them cracking smiles as I imitated the things Mr. A did to bring the passages alive -- acting out the meandering, bum-like character Moshe; making the frantic heart monitor-esque motions to emphasis tense moments -- to help them visualize the scenes we were reading.
It was the first time I directly worked one-on-one (three-on-one?) with students since my tutoring experiences last spring and it was great to get back in it, even in such a small way. I got through to two of the three students, I think. The third was more interested in going to the bathroom, but... can't win them all, I suppose.
We had ten minutes to cover about twelve pages, so Mr. A told me to take my time. One of the students, V, was already familiar to me -- he happened to be in one of the classes I observed last fall. (I asked him the first day of class if he remembered me and he did, which was pretty cool.) So I would read a passage that was relevant and explain why it was relevant, then skip ahead a bit and repeat.
I've heard quite often that good teachers are willing to make fools of themselves in the pursuit of connecting with their students. I think that's kind of a good life lesson in general. I decided to try that route with this "assignment" and I have to say, it was great to see them cracking smiles as I imitated the things Mr. A did to bring the passages alive -- acting out the meandering, bum-like character Moshe; making the frantic heart monitor-esque motions to emphasis tense moments -- to help them visualize the scenes we were reading.
It was the first time I directly worked one-on-one (three-on-one?) with students since my tutoring experiences last spring and it was great to get back in it, even in such a small way. I got through to two of the three students, I think. The third was more interested in going to the bathroom, but... can't win them all, I suppose.