Week 4: Writing Across the Curriculum

Hello everyone,

For our 4th and final week of online orientation, we would like to get you better acquainted with the idea of writing across the curriculum. We are very interested in focusing on the girls' oral and written expression in the coming years. Not only do they need the tools to be able to become great readers, but they need the tools to become successful writers. For a number of reasons, many of the girls are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to writing clearly and effectively. Writing can become a focus in all of the subjects we teach, we just have to decide how we will approach it as a faculty. We will have more time to dive deeper into this subject, but in the meantime please be sure to read Jaime's introduction on the orientation site. She has provided the questions to facilitate your discussion below. Remember that the articles were sent to you via google docs, due to their size. They are in pdf format. Thanks again for your participation and responses!

Questions for Week 4:
1. What are some of the potential challenges with teaching and
incorporating writing this way? What are some of the potential
benefits?
2. How could you include writing into the routines and routine
expectations in your classroom? Do you have any ideas after the
reading that you would like to try in your own classrooms?
3. For a teacher, presentation can make or break a lesson. How can
you adjust both your presentation and review of writing tasks so that
it strengthens student writing?

Week 3: Classroom Management and Lesson Planning

The goal of this week's posting is to get you all to begin envisioning yourself in the classroom. Effective classroom management and lesson planning will become two keys to your success as a teacher. Once you have learned what strategies are out there, what works for others, you can begin to develop what will work for you as a classroom teacher. Of course, it can be very difficult at first, especially if you are trying to align yourself with the rules and practices of the school. However, you will soon develop your own particular style in the classroom, it just takes some practice and support. We will definitely go further into this topic during our orientation week.

Here are Liz Nugent's questions for you to consider in response to the articles she provided:

It is important to have clear expectations for your students, and even yourself. What do you feel is important to include in either of the two lists?

What do you feel are key components to be included in a lesson plan?

What are some strategies that you might use to help you manage your time and create lesson plans for your classes?

Happy blogging!!

Week 2: Problem/Project Based Learning

Hi Ladies,

I hope that you have been able to successfully read the attachments from week 1 and found the articles to be informative. Please know that you do have 4 weeks to complete the orientation, but please be advised that if you have reliable internet connections at the moment, it is beneficial to keep up with the site in a timely manner.

Here are Amy's questions from the site so that you can frame your responses for this week. Thanks for your participation; stay cool this week!

As you read through the articles and browse the suggested sites, please think about the following questions for your weekly blog post.

* What do you see as potential benefits to this type of learning?
* What do you see as potential challenges to this type of learning?
* What questions do you have about how to design and/or implement PBL in the classroom?
* Can you think of any interesting cross disciplinary projects you would like to explore using this model?

Week 1-7/12-7/16: Who Are Our Students?

Again, here are the questions to consider when thinking about who our students are:

-Almost every girl at the school has been affected by violence, whether it is in their community on in their family. How do you think you will react (or hope to) when during chapel a student is praying for a family friend who had recently been shot or injured by the violence that is around them? How can you help increase the peace at MCA?

- Think about how the idea of how the school was once a welfare building, is now a place of opportunity for the whole family. How can you take these students where there are and help them reach goals that they may not have thought possible?

Welcome to Our Blog

Welcome to our blog page for our summer online orientation! It is our hope that we can be able to share some honest and genuine thoughts about the readings and articles that have been provided on the google site. Also feel free to write any other related comments. You'll never know who can help answer a question, who may share a similar feeling,etc! Please post your responses to the readings at the end of each week. Do not hesitate to post other comments at any other time. We look forward to viewing and participating in the continued discussions!