Sep 25

I was out for two days at the university; you always miss so much when you're not there. It seems like I'm playing hooky even though I really don't have to be there to begin with! Today's game was a great example of a several teaching principles at work. The teacher was reinforcing adverbs by having students pick a scenario and then act it out using an adverb that his/her peers had to guess (e.g. acting out asking "What's for dinner?" by saying it slowly, then the students had to guess "slowly"). The students really seemed to enjoy the acting, watching their peers acting, and trying to guess adverbs that might fit. They showed more knowledge of vocabulary than we had thought, searching for synonyms. That was rather a "teaching bonus." The general education teacher has a plastic cup for every class with all students' names in tongue depressors in it. Then the teacher just has to draw out a name, which I think is a creative way to call on students.

I also noticed how students do not seem to be upset when they're wrong. I don't think it's that terrible to tell students they're wrong as long as it's not done in a punitive fashion and other students aren't allowed to make fun. There's a lot of talk about how you shouldn't tell at-risk students they're wrong, because they're always told that, but I think you can do it in such a way that it doesn't hurt their self-esteem. Special educators I think are especially good at pointing out when students are doing something right, academics or behavior, and I think that adds to the type of positive atmosphere in which students feel they can take risks and try to answer a question, even if they might have the wrong answer. There was a lot of engagement in this activity and I think it was a good way to reinforce adverbs.