Back in October, when I finished four weeks of Mrs. B's success seminar class, I was done with "long term" assignments. I wanted to relish the day-to-day randomness of subbing. And it's been a nice run.
It was about mid March when the secretary asked if I would be interested in taking over a "long term" for another sub. The teacher's out on maternity leave, and the sub was going to reach his maximum number of days in the class.
I hemmed and hawed. Did I want a "long term"? (I keep putting it in quotes as it's only for three weeks. The previous sub has been in the class since January. So, not a day assignment, but not a month, either, which is more what I think of when I hear "long term".)
Ultimately, I decided, why not? It wasn't really going to be that long, and it'd be a nice break from day-to-day.
Mr. P (who I have mentioned before on this blog in a very similar context) gave me the rundown of where he was in Ms. A's lesson plans. (She left lesson plans for the semester.) We had a "transition day" the day we got back from spring break.
The eleventh grade English class was reading The Great Gatsby. They had read chapters one and two. But, then they had state testing. And spring break.
Immediately, I assume that there's no way the kiddos are going to remember what they had read.
But what to do? I don't want to reread chapters that they have read already.
Luckily, that class that I took over from Mr. P two years ago was also an eleventh grade English class at roughly the same time of year. Guess what we were reading?
While we were on distance learning, I couldn't be sure the kiddos were following along with the story, so I found some YouTube videos to help. Finding them again was a simple search.
My first day with them, I asked them what chapters one and two were about. And they couldn't tell me. Time for a video summary...
And then I gave them questions to do. *insert evil laugh here*
I leaned heavily on the videos during distance learning. Now, I don't need to do that. But now they know about the videos, so if they're needing the extra help, they can find the videos on their own.
It's much easier to teach a novel in person.
It's an interesting set of videos. I'm posting chapter two, mostly because it has a very interesting take on Nick, the narrator. I did not show that portion to the kiddos as it wasn't germane to what they needed to know. (I only showed them the five or so minutes of "summary".)
Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter
Jamie (jannghi.blogspot.com):
ReplyDeleteWatching instruction videos is something I can only do so much of. It depends on the length and the thing being demonstrated.
Yeah, true. I won't do a whole period of videos if I have a choice. Luckily, these were about five minutes each, and then we could do something else.
DeleteFull time sub, aka teach till the end of the yr! lol....sounds like fun.
ReplyDeleteLuckily, Ms. A is getting back in a couple weeks. So, not quite to the end of the year.
DeleteThe Great Gatsby. Cool.
ReplyDeleteNot a favorite of mine, but at this point I've taught it a couple times, so I'm familiar enough (so I don't have to read it again).
DeleteNot the worst book I had to read for English class, but I still don't get why it's a classic. I remember my class had to group off and perform a skit based on each chapter, though I have no memory of what one I did.
ReplyDeleteI only vaguely recall reading it in school. I remember it way more from teaching it. I can appreciate it more now, but I'm still not a fan.
DeleteI don't recall reading that book, but I know people who has.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on and stay safe.
I wouldn't recommend it. I mean, it's not terrible. But I'm not a big fan.
DeleteThe video summaries were a smart idea.
ReplyDeleteThey're very helpful.
DeleteThis was a book I couldn't get into, either when I was in high school, or (a try again project) a year or so ago. But I knew nothing about these instructional videos. You Tube does have everything, doesn't it.
ReplyDeleteIt does. I don't blame you. I'm not really a fan of the book. It's very much an "eat the rich" kind of book.
Delete