Thursday, October 25, 2007

It's nothing but laffs at Brown Elementary

I taught a lot of stuff. A boy asked me when numbers were invented. Another boy asked me when plants were invented.

After school, there was a faculty meeting, which I went to despite not being a member of the faculty. It was about Reader's Theater, which is one of those rare things --- an idea the higher-ups push to promote fluency that is actually enjoyable and effective. I've written a couple of scripts for classes at State School. To introduce the idea of reading with expression, a teacher read a story narrated by one of Cinderella's step-sisters in a terrifically funny, grating, Estelle Costanza/Edith Bunker voice. Later, we read a scene from "Romeo and Juliet" in different voices (an old improv theater trick). I did a few of Juliet's lines in a pirate voice that went over well.

After that, I helped Ms. L and Ms. W set up for Math Night, which is when parents and their kids come after PTA and explore all the different games and strategies the teachers are supposed to be using to teach math. I didn't go to either the PTA meeting or Math Night (which started at 7:00 p.m). Perhaps I should have, if only for meet-and-greet practice. But after nine hours of unpaid work, I'm tired and have no interest in sticking around. Maybe I would have gone if I didn't start working at Prestigious in January.

3 comments:

Michael5000 said...

That reader's theater idea sounds pretty cool -- like it would, you know, work. Which is good.

Did you take advantage of the question about when numbers were invented to put in a plug for Arab civilization? No?

Churlita said...

Reader's theater does sound cool.I would have loved that when I was a kid.

Chance said...

Re: birth of numbers, I believe I mentioned the Babylonians, but it wasn't the time, place or grade level for an in-depth explanation.