First Term - Second Half
I've been extremely busy since the mid-term, finishing the last of the major work on the junior high curriculum, working on my final exam review sheets and a staggering NINE final exams, preparing 49 students for the junior high school speech contest, and beginning preliminary work on the new curriculum for the high school program.
Since the mid-term exams, each grade has covered four readings.
The first grade started with a poem called "Rebecca Grimes", and the students gave fun presentations about getting in trouble at school. Their second reading was a short science fiction story by Ray Bradbury called "All Summer in a Day", which led into a discussion about bullying. We then read a short article about Australian marathon runner Cliff Young, who showed up for a Sydney to Melbourne marathon wearing overalls and gumboots. Our final article was from the US TV talk show "Oprah Winfrey" and was called "How Does It Feel". It was a short article about a young man who disappeared from an airport shortly before embarking on his honeymoon, only to be found three days later, wandering the streets with amnesia. This led us to a discussion about people who ran away from their weddings, in one case faking an abduction. It also led us to the story of Benjaman Kyle, a man who has suffered amnesia for the last five years, and despite a nationwide effort, remains unidentified.
The second grade began the half-term with the poem "The Wayfarer" by Stephen Crane. We used this poem to talk about symbolism, but also talked at length about why it is sometimes difficult for people to pursue the truth. We followed this with the traditional story "Stone Soup" about three soldiers returning home from a war who trick the people of a village into making soup for them: a trick that ultimately brings joy to the villagers. This led us into a variety of discussions, covering everything from the Hoovervilles of The Great Depression in the United States, to the poem "The Vision of Sir Launfal" by James Russell Lowell, about a wealthy knight who learns humility and piety from a beggar. We then read a short article called "Fungus Brings Dinosaurs Fate to the Frogs", about how a fungus may wipe out all frogs within twenty-five years. Interestingly, one our third graders used this article as the basis for her speech in the speech contest (and did a really excellent job of it). Finally, we read the complete speech "I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King Jr., and watched the video of his speech. This led to a discussion about our dreams for the future.
The third grad began the half-term with the poem "Longing" by Matthew Arnold. We had a good discussion about longing and pining and unrequited love, and our third graders rewrote the poem in English (something I've been forgetting to publish here). This was followed by the short story "The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link. Unfortunately, we were really unable to have a proper discussion about this as it seems most of the class didn't actually read it. I am, however, happy to report that a number of students have since gone back and read it properly. This was followed by the short article "Quenched Fire Found in Greenland Ice" about the explosion of Mt. Mazama 7,000 years ago. We finished the term with "Inside Africa's Playstation War", an article about how our desire for cell phones and playsations is increasing demand for a rare metal called Tantalum, and thereby creating instability and war in Central Africa. We then had a great discussion about other products and resources that cause war or other problems in the world. The students did a fantastic job talking about the article and the issues raised by the article. I was extremely impressed with them.
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Date: 2009⁄06⁄28 20:26｜Permalink｜Author：nelp