Class last Friday was a great way to end the summer semester. The three visiting teachers seemed to have gotten into the 'rhythm' of teaching and had discovered techniques that worked both for themselves and for their students. I was particularly concerned with Lauren Fardig's commentary because I plan to teach in a high need area. Her tips and advice will likely be helpful in my own experience. What I also realized from Friday's class is that as sMACers we already have quite a large network of teachers, throughout all parts of the US and in various parts of the world. It would be immensely helpful to be linked with those teachers when looking for job opportunities this coming Spring.
I agree that some of the techniques she suggested (like playing speed dating) were very creative and interesting, but I do want to caution you about some of them. Depending on the content you're students have learned, especially with risque and incestuous Greek mythology, you could get into a lot of trouble very fast. I almost feel that that idea would work better in middle school than in high school.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the alum network will be a fabulous tool for us. The alum network for the U of M is almost too big to be used effectively if you don't know specific people already.