Day 7
After
observing in Mr. Foster’s 2nd grade class on Monday, October 23 for
a mandatory observation assignment, I returned to Mrs. Shapiro’s room for my 7th
day with a special lesson planned for the students—a lesson on Abraham Lincoln.
When I entered the room, the students were busy
working on “pattern packets” at their tables. They had been assigned to
complete the packet, which required them to make two specific patterns—an AB
and an ABA pattern out of the colors of their choice, and then to make two
patterns of their own.
Mrs. Shapiro informed me that two students—Mark and
Robert—had not understood the lesson, and needed help completing it properly.
Mark had actually completed his worksheet but had not done it properly, and
Mrs. Shapiro wanted him to do it over again. She asked me to go to their table
and give them that help, and gave me two new pattern packets to give to Mark
and Robert. I went to the table where they were working, and told Mark that
Mrs. Shapiro wanted him to redo the assignment, and that I would help him.
Mark said he did not want to, but I told him he had
to do it. He then explained he didn’t know how, which probably was the reason
why he didn’t want to do the assignment—he might have been too scared to ask
for help.
Then I showed him how to do it properly. The first
sheet consisted of eight boxes, with the letters “A” and “B” below each box. He
was to pick two colors, name one “A” and another “B,” and then create an AB pattern
by filling the “A” boxes with the “A” color and the “B” boxes with the “B”
color, and to alternate the colors to create that pattern. I then instructed
Robert to do the same.
After the boys completed the AB pattern page it was
time for them to start working on the ABA pattern. I asked them if they wanted
to keep their present colors or find new colors for this pattern—both Mark and
Robert chose to keep the same colors. I told them the instructions were the
same for the ABA pattern as they were for the AB—pick an “A” color and a “B”
color, and fill the “A” color in on “A” boxes and the “B” color in on “B”
boxes. Because I started with Mark before Robert, Mark was one page ahead of
Robert.
When the time came to complete the
make-your-own pattern pages, I asked Mark and Robert if they wanted to make a
two-color pattern or a three-color pattern. Mark asked to make two different
two-color patterns, and Robert created a two-color pattern, and a three-color
pattern—an ABC pattern. After Patrick and Robert completed their pattern
assignments they were able to go to free time.
I often carry a laptop computer with me when I come
to school. There’s a reason for this—I use this to type my assignments, like
this one. But the computer I carry was also used as a game computer at the
JCC’s Daycare center and at a Montessori School. It has also been used as a
computer for playing DVDs. While the games were used primarily for fun at the
Daycare center, they also have possible educational value.
One of the most popular games among preschoolers and
kindergartners I have offered on the computer is called Mickey’s ABC’s. This is
a program that has been around for over 16 years, and likely even longer—and
was around even before Windows 3.1. Designed for a DOS computer, it is an
alphabet game that can teach kids the alphabet and basic reading skills. Mickey
Mouse appears inside of his house, which is in a neighborhood that is currently
having its fair. Mickey Mouse does something that begins with each letter of
the alphabet—if you want him to do something, you type a letter on the
keyboard, and he will do something that begins with that letter. (Example: Hit
L, and he will turn off the LIGHT.)
Ken, a student who had played this game with me many
times at the JCC, wanted to play Mickey’s ABC. After getting permission from
Mrs. Shapiro, I took out my computer and played it with him. Here’s how I
played it: I would ask Ken what he wanted Mickey Mouse to do. Since he knew
many of the commands that were possible, he would tell me, as well as the
specific words that those commands were in the software. (Example: If he wanted
Mickey to go to the fair, he knew that the computer knew that command as FAIR.)
But to give the game educational value, instead of just telling him what letter
to press, I would ask him what letter a given word began with, and then he
would have to tell me and then press it himself. Ken proved to be able to
understand the words quite well, and tell me what letter each word began with.
(Ken’s “h” is removed to distinguish him from another kid of the same name in
the classroom, who is known as Peter.)
We played until the bell rang, signaling Clean-up
Time. I helped students clean up, and then it was time to line up for Library
time.
Being my regular job to maintain the back of the
class lines (boys’ and girls’ line), I walked with the class to and from the
Library.
During Library, it was time for me to change into my
Abraham Lincoln costume. I had spent the past week creating my Abe Lincoln
costume—a business suit, blue shirt, bow tie, and top hat. I also borrowed an
umbrella to carry from Mr. Foster’s room, for Mr. Foster had informed me that
Abe Lincoln, when he was alive, often carried an umbrella with him wherever he
went.
I went into the boys’ restroom in the main corridor
of the school to change into my costume. Once I had changed, Library Time was
over, and it was time to pick up the students.
I entered the classroom as Abe Lincoln and was
approached by the librarian, who was curious to know who I was. I told her that
I was working in Mrs. Shapiro’s room as a student, and she told me that she was
one of the kindergarten teachers before Mrs. Shapiro came to Shay, and had
worked in District 30 for over 30 years. Once the students had finished
checking out their library books I stayed in the back of the line, helping Mrs.
Shapiro lead the class back to the room.
When I arrived at Shay that day, I had borrowed a coat from Mr. Foster who had offered it to me to help me with my costume. Since I ended up not needing it, I went back to Mr. Foster’s room and returned it. When I got to his room, Mr. Foster asked me if I could talk about Mr. Lincoln to his class. I said yes, under one condition: Mr. Foster would have to get Dr. Wilkinson’s permission. Mr. Foster said he would see Dr. Wilkinson, and promptly went to her office. At the same time, I returned to Mrs. Shapiro’s room to teach my lesson.
I had written what I was planning to say on paper,
and read from it. I was very brief about my lesson, and said what could be
understood by a kindergarten class—that I was born in Kentucky, moved to
Indiana as a child, went to Illinois to work as a lawyer, and then became
President of the United States. I related my career plan to Career Day, the day
the students had had the past week where they had dressed up as what they
wanted to be when they grew up.
During my lesson to the students, I stressed the
geographical aspects of it. That is, I took out a map of the United States, and
asked students to locate the various places Lincoln lived—Kentucky (his
birthplace), Indiana (where he grew up), Illinois (where he worked as a lawyer,
and finally, Washington D.C. (where he relocated to be president, of course).
While each student knew what Illinois was (since we live in Illinois), not
everyone knew where it was on a map.
When I finally asked the students what a lawyer was,
I got one interesting response. While no student was able to actually tell me
what a lawyer was, Ellie, one of the students, responded by saying that a
lawyer was someone who made money. I replied by saying that while a lawyer was
indeed someone who made money, a lawyer was someone who defended people in a
place called “court” when they felt someone did something wrong to them.
Mrs. Shapiro also mentioned that Abe Lincoln often
carried sheets of paper in his hat. As an example, I took some sheets of paper
with my picture on them, folded them, and put them in my hat.
After my lesson, I received word from Mr. Foster
that Dr. Wilkinson had granted me permission to teach the Abe Lincoln lesson
inside his classroom. Once I had completed my lesson, Mrs. Shapiro assigned the
students to complete the first two pages in their handwriting pages, and sent
them off to their tables to complete their handwriting assignment. During this
time I went to Mr. Foster’s room to see if he was ready for my lesson. He was
not, so I returned to Mrs. Shapiro’s room and decided to return to Mr. Foster’s
room while Mrs. Shapiro’s class was at Gym time.
During the handwriting lesson I assisted a student
with her handwriting until it was time to line up for Gym time.
After the students had gone to Gym, I walked to Mr.
Foster’s room, dressed up as Lincoln. I brought a book about Abe Lincoln for kindergartners
(from Mrs. Shapiro’s room) that I would use during my lesson. Having created a
lesson for kindergartners and not for 2nd graders, and had
researched the topic based on ideas suited for kindergartners, I knew that
there would be information I might not know about Lincoln I would be asked
about. I brought the book to use it for a reference.
I gave a lesson similar to the one I had
taught in the kindergarten classroom, except this time I referred to and
mentioned things from the book I had not mentioned in the kindergarten room.
Mr. Foster, who was quite knowledgeable about Lincoln himself, often
interrupted to say things that I myself did not know about Lincoln—such as the
fact that while Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was quite brief and lasted no more
than about fifteen minutes, the previous speaker who spoke before Lincoln spoke
for more than two hours, yet we know much about Lincoln’s speech but little
about the other speaker.
I actually said one thing that was inaccurate about
Lincoln—I mentioned he grew up in New Salem, Indiana, when he never did. He
actually worked in New Salem, Illinois, but as an adult, not a child. Mr.
Foster also mentioned that his class would be reading about Lincoln in February
and that I should stop in if I am around.
Fortunately, having made that mistake once, I will
never make it again should I teach a Lincoln lesson.
By the time my lesson was over, Gym time was over,
and I returned to the Gym entrance the same time Mrs. Shapiro had gone to pick
up her students. We walked back to the classroom, and Mrs. Shapiro sat the
students back in their rows for a story.
The story was titled, “Pookins Gets Her Way,” about
a spoiled girl who learns that sometimes getting her way is not all it is
cracked up to be.
After the story was over, Kindergarten was over as
well. The students put their coats on and were dismissed. I introduced myself
as Abe Lincoln to the parents, and arranged with Mrs. Shapiro that I was to
come early for the Halloween Parade on Halloween for my next teaching day.