The Third Hour: The Genesis Hour

Genesis Topics

(The names show the person who taught that topic in 2009.)

Look here for the 2009 blog post on this topic.

Five Types of Reading Meggi

• The Five Types of Reading are a way to add interest and variety to introducing a passage.
• Teacher Read: the teacher reads the opening paragraph then stops to question, give background knowledge, or make an association, or explain new vocabulary.
• Choral Read: the teacher and students read together.
• Echo Read: the teacher selects a portion of the passage to read with some special expression or emphasis while the students echo her example. The teacher can have the students read an easier portion independently.
• Partner read: Student A reads a sentence; B follows, then asks a question. Student B reads, while A follows then asks a question.

Thinking Maps Meggi

• Thinking Maps and graphic organizers are ways to help students organize thinking and reading.
• A Flow Map shows what happens first, second, third.
• A Venn Diagram can show comparison and contrast.
• The Circle Map is useful for brainstorming or checking background knowledge.
• A Tree Map shows categories.

Heroes Sylvia

• Description: Anticipatory set: Display a dollar bill somewhere visible to all students. While narrating "George Washington and the Cherry Tree,'' two male students act out the story. Leave out the names and just call it a father and a boy. After the story/role playing, lead the students in a discussion about their ideas of the ''good'' qualities of the characters in the story, and qualities they hold concerning heroes.
• Guided practice: Think of one person they would consider a hero, write the name on the board, then ask each of them to give their reason in one phrase or less.
• Closure: We find similarities in what different cultures consider heroic qualities.
• Objectives: Students will role play, share, discuss using the target language and will compare and contrast two cultures in regard to heros.

Using Music in Language Teaching Sylvia

• Description: Ask question about Chopsticks.
• Introduce a way to use chopsticks as "drumsticks" to portray vocabulary words. Ask students (as a whole group), to SHOW you "soft rain" with their chopsticks. Ask students to demonstrate a "downpour."
• Write two sentences on the board. "The mouse scurried across the road." "The elephant trampled the grass."
• Ask students to demonstrate what the vocabulary words in bold print mean (using their chopsticks).
• Encourage students in their efforts to demonstrate the vocabulary without having had to use words.
• Teach a song in four different languages. Encourage whole class participation; gave a sense of success.
• Objectives: Students will demonstrate definitions of vocabulary words with chopsticks. Students will learn a song in four different languages. Students will discuss options, and add their ideas and options.

Nonverbal Communication Mary

• Nonverbal communication, or body language, is a vital form of communication.
• When we interact with others, we continuously give and receive countless wordless signals. The gestures we make, they way we sit, how fast or how loud we talk, how close we stand, how much eye contact we make–-all of these nonverbal behaviors send a strong message.
• The way you talk, listen, look, move, and react tell the other person whether or not you care and how well you’re listening. The nonverbal signals you send either produce a sense of interest, trust, and desire for connection–or they generate disinterest, distrust, and confusion.
• It is important in teaching to understand these things to help in assessing students' needs and implementing lesson good plans.
• We used activities and a sign-song to emphasize the importance of NVL.

Story Mapping Mary

• Children love stories. From the time children learn their mother tongue well enough to put sentences together, they tell stories. From these stories children become aware of natural-sounding language, they learn dialog patterns and chunks of language, and pick up vocabulary.
• Stories that are good for beginners should be: predictable; use repeated words or predictable patterns of language; have a storyline that can be acted out.
• A story map is based of the parts that make up the story: a setting, characters, problem, problem-solution, and theme.
• I used the Frog family as an enactment, then had groups of 4 work on a story they could present. There was lots of group interaction and creativity in these presentations.

Creative/Critical Thinking John

• The presenter models a situation with more than one correct answer. The participants adapt the model to the subject matter they teach. Then, the participants model their adaptation to their small groups and/or the entire group.
• The presenter allows the participants to discuss the usefulness/effectiveness of such activities in their own classrooms.
• The presenter models a situation requiring inference or the drawing of conclusions. The participants either adapt the model to suit their own individual classrooms or introduce their own techniques for encouraging their students to infer or draw conclusions.
• The presenter allows the participants to share their adaptations/creations of techniques for inference and drawing conclusions with their small groups and with the large group. The participants then discuss the appropriateness of such techniques in the actual classroom environment.
• The presenter models various ways of sequencing the information presented in a forty-five minute lesson. Participants critique the various sequences and suggest adaptations or other models.
• The participants and the presenter examine ways of teaching the same information across the curriculum. After one or two models are demonstrated, the participants, in groups, work to see more relationships in usually non-related subjects.
• The participants model their findings and critique them to determine how students' performance could be improved by such techniques.

Classroom Management John

• The presenter models various techniques for bringing students back on task. The participants adapt the model or create/suggest other techniques for accomplishing the same results. Then, the participants model individual techniques for the small group and the entire group.
• The presenter models various ways of dealing with incorrect answers. Then, after small-group discussion, so do the participants.
• The presenter models ways of preserving "face" for students and teachers in the real classroom. Participants suggest more ways of doing the same. Models from past experiences are introduced and discussed by participants. Then, participants model ways they have effectively managed for themselves and/or their students to preserve "face."
• The presenter encourages the participants to present and to evaluate methods the teachers use to manage the classroom prior to the beginning of class and after the conclusion of class. Participants share their methods of preparing lesson plans to reduce/anticipate/prevent problems in classroom management that may arise during the lesson.

Narration Jack

• Teaching listening and speaking skill.
• Students should be able to "tell back" paragraphs or short stories that teacher has read to them.

Idioms and Proverbs Jack

• Introduce American idioms (phrases that mean something different than the literal meaning of the words) and proverbs ( wise sayings).
• Lead students to discover meanings and implications
• Information on how to find more on the internet.

Reflective teaching Jene

• Discuss meanings of reflection.
• Introduce questions for small group discussions, What (goal) teach? How teach it? What students doing? What like, what would change?
• Groups discuss, using a specific lesson or type (vocabulary, reading, etc.)
• Group spokesmen share with whole class and have discussion.

Values Jene

• Think, write - 3 things most important to you.
• Pairs - talk about these.
• Go to fours, continue discussion.
• Large group share.
• Teacher also shares his/her 3 values.

Poetry Kristi

• Model the way to teach middle school students how to write a five sense poem.
• brainstorm the five senses and list on the board
• share examples from last year’s teachers
• use the examples to establish the form for the poem and wrote in on the board
• Sounds like...
• Looks like...
• Tastes like...
• Smells like...
• Feels like...
• It must be....
• brainstorm and list possible topics for a class poem
• pick a topic for the class poem
• made a web diagram with the topic in the middle, the senses in four bubbles, ideas for what the topic looked, smelled, etc, in bubbles connected to each sense bubble
• put the chosen descriptions in the poem form on the board
• students work in groups brainstorming, mapping, writing, and illustrating their own five sense poem

American Tall Tales Kristi

• brainstormed Chinese folk tales using a web diagram (about three) and had students retell briefly
• used a Venn diagram to show the elements of a Chinese folk tale and American Tall Tale
• told the class the story of Paul Bunyan and/or Pecos Bill to the class pointing out the elements on the board
• used pictures to get the teachers involved in guessing the occupation of the hero
• discussed geography in Tall Tales
• gave suggestions for using Tall Tales in class have students write a new adventure for a Tall Tale hero or invent a new hero and adventure. act out Tall Tale or use puppets. use to make geography more interesting. Draw pictures of hero and describe to class or have another student describe picture

Christmas Background Everyone

• Overview of the historical background for the Christmas story, the birth of Jesus Christ
• Discuss customs and traditions followed by Americans in celebrating the holiday today.
• Emphasis upon vocabulary, geography, music, and stories of the season.