This week I had the chance to Frau Krumrück's 11th grade English class and talk about various topics in relation to the United States. Some of the topics were pretty serious, so I was a little nervous going into those class periods, but overall everything went well.
On Tuesday I went in and talked about abortion in the United States. With all of these lessons the students first explained what they knew about the topic in Germany or Poland, so I was able to learn a bit myself, and then I jumped in and gave my input about the United States. After reading a short text about abortion in the UK, that's how this class went. I gave some information and statistics I had looked up the night before and I talked about about seeing displays and protests on campus. Students then filled out a chart that asked them to imagine the consequences for various people involved (would-be father, grandparents, etc.) if a woman had an abortion or not. Students then split up according to their beliefs and had a debate. This was the one part of the class that was a bit uncomfortable, since there were only two students on the anti-abortion side. However, I feel that these two students argued more convincingly than the others. If I were doing a debate in my classroom though, I would have assigned students sides.
I visited the same class on Wednesday and talked about AIDS in the United States, sharing some statistics I looked up. Since World AIDS Day was on December 1, I was also able to explain Obama's pledge to commit up to 5 billion dollars to the Global Fund if all other countries pledge 10 billion and the allocation of an additional 100 million dollars in the federal budget to AIDS research. In this class period, students also listened to an interview with a teenage girl with AIDS and answered questions about the text.
Finally on Thursday I went to the lesson on gays and lesbians in society. In this lesson, students first wrote down what they know about various subtopics (acceptance, gay marriage, adoption, etc.) and their country. Students then shared what they wrote down. I then explained what I knew about the situation in the United States. Most of the information I had looked up was about same-sex marriage, but I was also able to speak a bit from personal experience. There was some tension during this class; one student was speaking out as being non-accepting of homosexuals, and his peers who sat around him, the ones who were the most outspoken overall, were arguing with him. It made for an interesting discussion, and it never got too out of hand, but I was worried it would. We tackled some tough subjects this week.
Backtracking a bit, on Tuesday I also went to Frau Krumrück's 12th grade class and talked a bit about the role of the media in the United States. I shared some statistics I found about TV, radio, newspaper, and internet use, as well as my personal experience with each type of media. Students seemed to respond well to this conversation, and once again I got to learn a bit about Germany and Poland and how my students spend their time. Our experiences were pretty similar, and Frau Krumrück was even surprised by how much her own students watch TV.
- Amy
Friday, December 6, 2013
Monday, December 2, 2013
Weeks 11 and 12
Here are some highlights from the last two weeks at my school:
Tuesday, December 19: I went to Frau Krumrück's 7th grade class, the class that is working on the Scotland unit, and we did some arts and crafts, putting together some paper models of Scottish buildings. I had already put together one of each model the night before, so I was able to help the students when they ran into difficulties.
Thursday, December 21: I visited all three 8th grade classes to give them a Thanksgiving mind map assignment. I asked them to go to the website popplet.com and create a mind map about what they already know about Thanksgiving and some words that they associate with the holiday. I designed the activity for the online class I am taking, Planning for Instruction, and I was excited to try it out.
Tuesday, December 26: I went to one of Frau Wollenberg's 8th grade classes and facilitated some activities about Thanksgiving. I first asked students how they liked creating the online mind map, and we put together a mind map together on the board. Then the students used the words they had learned to do a fill-in-the-blank worksheet that would also teach them a bit about the history and celebration of the holiday. We ended with something fun but something that still reinforced the new vocab, a word search. The lesson went pretty well; overall, students were really engaged.
I also used this fill-in-the-blank activity with my 7th grade group, and they had some fun with it, although it was a bit more difficult for them.
Thursday, December 28: I did my Thanksgiving lesson two more times, once in Frau Krumrück's 8th grade class and once in Frau Wollenberg's other 8th grade class. Both classes were double lessons. In Frau Krumrück's class my lesson was interspersed with other materials she had prepared, so it was a nice co-teaching experience. In Frau Wollenberg's class I added a conversation, asking students how they would celebrate Thanksgiving if they were in the United States, with the extra time.
I also used the fill-in-the-blank activity with one of the Polish students I tutor. It was nice doing something other than just reading passages together.
Friday, December 29: I visited the 7th grade German grammar class I have been going to, and I turned out they were taking a test, so I wrote the test, as well. It was unexpected, so I didn't study at all. We'll see how I did...!
This Friday I also had a quick chat with Frau Krumrück, because I really don't know what the teachers at the school expected as far as my roll here, and I wanted to make sure I was living up to the expectations. She didn't directly answer my question, but it sounds as if things are going alright. She pointed out a couple classes I helped with over the past few days and indicated that I have been helpful. She also outlined some ways I could help in the future, so I think my relationship with the school is doing alright.
- Amy
Tuesday, December 19: I went to Frau Krumrück's 7th grade class, the class that is working on the Scotland unit, and we did some arts and crafts, putting together some paper models of Scottish buildings. I had already put together one of each model the night before, so I was able to help the students when they ran into difficulties.
Thursday, December 21: I visited all three 8th grade classes to give them a Thanksgiving mind map assignment. I asked them to go to the website popplet.com and create a mind map about what they already know about Thanksgiving and some words that they associate with the holiday. I designed the activity for the online class I am taking, Planning for Instruction, and I was excited to try it out.
Tuesday, December 26: I went to one of Frau Wollenberg's 8th grade classes and facilitated some activities about Thanksgiving. I first asked students how they liked creating the online mind map, and we put together a mind map together on the board. Then the students used the words they had learned to do a fill-in-the-blank worksheet that would also teach them a bit about the history and celebration of the holiday. We ended with something fun but something that still reinforced the new vocab, a word search. The lesson went pretty well; overall, students were really engaged.
I also used this fill-in-the-blank activity with my 7th grade group, and they had some fun with it, although it was a bit more difficult for them.
Thursday, December 28: I did my Thanksgiving lesson two more times, once in Frau Krumrück's 8th grade class and once in Frau Wollenberg's other 8th grade class. Both classes were double lessons. In Frau Krumrück's class my lesson was interspersed with other materials she had prepared, so it was a nice co-teaching experience. In Frau Wollenberg's class I added a conversation, asking students how they would celebrate Thanksgiving if they were in the United States, with the extra time.
I also used the fill-in-the-blank activity with one of the Polish students I tutor. It was nice doing something other than just reading passages together.
Friday, December 29: I visited the 7th grade German grammar class I have been going to, and I turned out they were taking a test, so I wrote the test, as well. It was unexpected, so I didn't study at all. We'll see how I did...!
This Friday I also had a quick chat with Frau Krumrück, because I really don't know what the teachers at the school expected as far as my roll here, and I wanted to make sure I was living up to the expectations. She didn't directly answer my question, but it sounds as if things are going alright. She pointed out a couple classes I helped with over the past few days and indicated that I have been helpful. She also outlined some ways I could help in the future, so I think my relationship with the school is doing alright.
- Amy
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