Conferencing

After completing two conferencing sessions I thought they were very helpful. A fresh pair of eyes is always good because they can catch things that you didn't even notice. We know what we meant to write, and sometimes read that instead of what is actually written on the page. I usually allow other people to see my writing before I turn it in, although it's usually a parent or my brother. I think having a peer review your writing is very helpful because they have an idea of what is suppose to be in it. The cons of this type of conferencing is that students may not actually use peer conferencing to their advantage. With assignments like this students may not stay on task, and instead just socialize.

Literature Circles

I have only had direct experience with literature circles in my EDU 255 class. I really enjoyed the experience in that class. The different roles that were assigned really helped us to understand the story because it broke it down in many different forms. I also think that the group aspect of the literature circles helps the students to understand because they are getting multiple points of view. Although I really like this technique it is not something that can be used in the younger grades. Some of the other techniques such as readers workshop, writers workshop, and thematic units may be more useful for teachers of younger grades. I am hoping that in my placement this semester I will be able to see some of these other techniques used in the classroom.

Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot

I would really like to use Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot in my classroom. This book is about the Berlin Airlift. It highlights the true story of one young girl during the time, and a pilot that dropped candy down to the children in West Berlin. I have always loved the story this books tells, and would love to share it with my future students.
This story highlights all of the elements of a story.
Plot: The story begins with Merecedes and her mother reading about the "chocolate pilot." Then Merecedes sees the candy that the "chocolate pilot" drops from his plane and hopes to get some one day. She writes the "chocolate pilot" asking him to drop chocolate into her garden. The story ends with Mercedes receiving a letter and chocolate in the mail from the pilot.
Characters: Mercedes and Lt. Gail Halvorsen are the main characters of this story.
Setting: 1948 West Berlin, Germany- The setting of this story is very important because the story takes place during a specific event, The Berlin Airlift.
Point of View: Omniscient- The story is written in the third person, but the person telling the story is god-like. The feelings and emotions of the characters are known.
Theme: The Berlin Airlift, a story of a young girl and the relationships that were formed during that time.

One idea of an activity that students could do related to this book is to write their own letter to Lt. Gail Halvorsen as if they were a child during the Berlin Airlift. Another idea would be to write a letter or Mercedes, who is actually still alive, and tell her what they felt while reading the story or ask questions about her life.

A purely fun activity for students to do after reading the book is to make their own parachutes with chocolate attached to them.

I think this book tells a great story, and allows students to relate to the people during the time of the Berlin Airlift. It does a great job of showing the connections that people make during hard times, and how a small amount of kindness can really help people.

To blog or not to blog.....

I think that blogging is a great way to express your feelings about any topic. I find them very interesting, but also somewhat hard to identify how formal you must be. The type of blogs we are writing for this class are professional, but not extremely formal. Other blogs such as blogs about a certain event in someones life are very informal. I think I may enjoy that type of blog more than a formal blog.
That being said, I enjoyed this type of writing more than another type of reflection that could have been assigned. I feel that the blogs may make people feel more relaxed, and as if they can truly express their opinion without worrying about being judged, or their grade being reduced because of it. I feel like I am getting increasingly more comfortable with the blogs.