Thursday, March 27, 2014

I had my conference with my university supervisor (Di) and Cooperating Teacher (Neena).  It went really well and I got some good feedback that I can use going forward.  Di also stayed for my split in two, first half of a block, class.  For the first half of the alliance game lesson, I gave a PowerPoint Presentation about the different alliances and forces behind World War I.  After that, I gave the class the instructions for the Alliance game.  I explained that they were each assigned to a different country and that they were expected to do whatever they could to keep the peace and prevent a war.  They could form alliances, negotiate land deals, use money as bribes, whatever was needed.  The class had the rest of the class period to research their country’s stance in July 1914 and formulate a strategy.  It was interesting to watch them at work.  The middle part of the day was spent working on lesson plans and grading exams.  The last part of the day may have been my favorite.  The 10^th Grade US History class was given an early-middle 19^th Century topic to research and present over, with the instructions being that they needed to be creative.  The students did a fantastic job and I had a blast listening to and participating in their presentations.  One group did one of those RSA whiteboard presentations where they had a topic and drew a map of the US and drew other drawings to depict Manifest Destiny.  It was really fascinating to watch.  Another group had the Oregon Trail.  Instead of playing the Oregon Trail computer game (which you can’t find online anymore), the students created their own Oregon Trail by putting tape on the ground and timing each other doing wheelbarrow races while following the tape trail.  I must say, one of the students and I had the fasted time, so boom!  Not long after school, McCall, Katie, and I had an early dinner with Di at The Old West.  That was fun!  After dinner, Kelsey, Sarah, and I planned a surprise party for Zoe to celebrate her getting a job in Shanghai.  Naturally, Zoe went to San Jose to hula-hoop for the evening, so we had to wait for her to finally get back home to enjoy the surprise party.  Kelsey and Sarah also invited some of their Marine friends who guard the US embassy over as well.  We played Cards Against Humanity and had a jolly good time.