9-22 we met this students and read our I Am Poems to them. I am reading Night, because none of the students
wanted to read The Prince of the Pond. We are going to meet next Monday and go over some key events of WWII.
9-29 today we met at Tibbetts and actually got in our group. We have five extrodinary students. It
was quiet and awkard even for us. We are total strangers coming into their space. We gave them the background
to WWII, and we started reading. It was nice to get a feel for them and their reading.
In our UNM group we are going to bring snacks every Monday, and see if this warms them up alittle. We are very
excited to be involved with this project.
10-6 Today was so much better! We took the students outside to converse. Valerie brought cookies and
they ate the whole pack, Awesome! We started out by having them read their prompt, which was about bullying. I
felt that they did respond and next we discussed what they thought of the book so far. The conversation wasn't deep,
and it was kinda awkward silence, but the students did bring some insight into the book and they had questions. We read
the book and discussed some crucial parts.
We have decided to have them journal at the end of the reading for ten minutes. Elise is bringing snack next week
and I am taking post-it notes for the students so they can mark any questions. It was much better today!
10-13 So today we had three students, they really opened up and let us know about what they thought of the book
and we had them journal on their computer. They did awesome and everybody shared. Didn't really seem that they
used their post-it notes, so maybe a waste of time. Or they don't really know what they are used for. For next
week we are having them read and sketch something about the book.
10-20 Well nobody sketeched except for us. And only one student made it to our stopping point. They
were very quiet and no one had any extra imput. We were thinking of seperating the boys and girls, but instead our final
decision was that Devin would read the book aloud and if we came to a interesting fact or line we could stop and reflect.
We are also going to keep the journals going. We asked them to sketch again this week and read to page 66. It
kind of felt like we took a step backwards this week???
10-27 A few more students had sketches today, I think only one did not have it. They showed there picture
but they did not want to share anything. We read around the circle and finished a whole chapter, there was hardly any
discussion. At the end of the hour, we assigned reading and asked if they would sketch again for next week. It
was a tough hour, I wish they would open up and discuss something, anything!
11-3 My son split his chin open and I had to take him to ICC so I was unable to go to class today. Elise
filled me in, stating that the students didn't have there sketches no one wanted to talk, and they read.
11-10 Today was a very good meeting, we kept the silence going, if we ask a question and no one answers it is awkward,
but it is a good awkward silience, and eventually someone will perk up and answer the quesiton or add some insight into the
conversation.
11-17 Today we discussed the book, I am so glad that we are not reading during our time with the students.
It was so boring to just read, and we were not getting any information from the students. We used our little key chains
to keep the discussions going.
11-24 Oh my, it is time for a break, the students were really quiet today, and just bored it seemed. You
could tell they were just as tired as we were. Today we used the encyclopedia to look up Hitler and we actually learned
a lot about him. I thought that this was a great experience for them. Some children just don't know the resources
that they have right in front of them.
12-1 Today we had our last meeting with the Tibbetts students, It was very laid back and fun. The students
were talking and we visited and had snacks. We all took out a piece of paper and wrote a comment or a question and then
we passed it to the next person, we continued it until everyone had gotten their orignal one back. I really enjoyed
this but the boys were very personal and indepth with this activity. they just wrote that was cool. I can't wait
to try a literature circle in my classroom.