Week 1: Orientation

Tuesday, 9/20/11

Today was the first day of RISE (Responsibility, Independence, and Study Skills in Education).  We have 10 students registered; 6 showed up.

We looked at a short PowerPoint introducing the teacher.
 
We then looked at what will be covered in the 6 week course. 

Next, we took out our planners.  The students were assigned the task of having each space filled out in their planner for every course.

Finally we began writing My Partner poems.  They're just like I Am poems, except you interview your partner and write about him or her.


Wednesday, 9/21/11

Today our number grew to 7.  We started by welcoming our new member and filling out a partner poem about him.  The students then stood up individually and shared the poems.  They are currently on display in the classroom.

Next, we looked at each student's planner, making sure that they are totally filled out.  One student forgot to write his math assignment.  We used the SMART Board to show him where he can find that information on his teacher's webpage.

After that, we filled out our Personal Grade Journals.  This document will be updated once a week during the program to monitor our progress as we go.

For closure, we checked each other's grade journal to make sure they are filled in properly.  Tomorrow, netbooks!

Thursday, 9/22/11

Today we used netbooks.  Some of the students had used them, but only to take an AR test. 

We watched a video called "broken escalator," in which two people are stuck on an escalator and don't know what to do.  I asked the students how this might relate to kids in the classroom.  They did a beautiful job of saying that this is what students look like when they hit an obstacle and just give up.  We agreed that when we get stuck, we'll look for solutions instead of giving up.

We then used the netbooks to log onto mygradebook.com.  The students recorded all of their current grades on their personal grade journals.  They then reflected on how they feel about their current status.  We said goodbye until Tuesday, which will begin with a new set of goals.