Wednesday, September 12, 2007

A drowsy numbness pains my sense

Whew! Long days, tiring work. Feet hurt. Getting a bit anxious about working interview at Prestigious next week. And duties at Brown are starting to be a bit more rigorous.

Today I led a math lesson, more on patterns. I gave the kids lengths of connecting blocks and called them "pattern trains." I also gave them toilet paper tubes with small arcs cut out so they'd stay up like tunnels. Then I divided the class up into teams of two. They took turns pushing the train through the tunnel, while their partner predicted what color would come next and then re-created the train with their own set of connecting blocks.

It was a success, so much so that Ms. L decided to extend the lesson at the expense of science. The kids kept wanting to do more and more pattern trains. One boy, who is normally spectacularly lazy and acts far more ignorant than he is, literally ran up to Ms. L, crying "This is so fun! I want to keep doing it!"

I didn't think up the lesson --- I only chose it, prepared it, and directed it --- but that really is the kind of reward people go into teaching for.

***

After work, went to the new trivia place with my parents. Friar and 74 joined us. We didn't win, again. Then I stopped briefly at the Hangout and played a pretty fun shooting game. 74's wife is pregnant again. God, I'm lame.

1 comment:

Churlita said...

That's so cool. I always loved those kind of activities when I was a kid. Good for you for engaging them.