Presentation Red jaguars

This was a great presentation. All Pieces where put together seamlessly, and the preparation really showed. The books seems like it is very interesting with the six senses, as well as the concept of being a caring person. I felt that by the end of the presentation I really had learned some new strategies that would help within the classroom. I liked how it was not just a stand up and lecture presentation, but we were constantly moving and doing several different activities. The laughing portion was also interesting, I do agree that laughter is essential in everyday life and it has a purpose in and out of the classroom. An important concept that goes along with laughter is fun, too much the classroom is focused on sitting and listening, rather than becoming engaged. 

AWNM

I really enjoyed the presentation and liked the way the team represented the six senses by giving examples and including the class in them. The activities were fun and engaging as well. Laughing….hmmmmmm; I feel that I laugh often but have never been asked to just laugh it seemed difficult but at the same time intriguing. I do watch “Ouch Charlie” often and have shared it with friends so that is a plus. The power point is a good reference to refer back to and the quizzes were interesting and may be useful at a later date as well. I would however like to know where some of the resources for the power point came from as they may be useful as well. I would have liked to have had access to other links on the six senses as they were described in the book if they could be found on the web; I would go and read and perhaps find other interesting and useful things. Making up the stories was really fun (the hammer and other things along the same line-feminine- can be found at Sears). The objects were interesting and thought provoking.

I really liked the presentation on this book. There were a lot of fun activities that we got to do that coincided with the book. The only activity that I wasn't a big fan of was the laughing one. I thought that it was a little weird to expect us to laugh on the spot. I understood where it fit into the book, but i didn't like it.

My favorite activities were the negative space one because it was something that I had never done before and it was interesting. My other favorite was the making up a story thing. I liked the object one and the author with the toilet brush. I think that those let us incorporate who we were into the whole concept of the book. Overall, I really liked the presentation and the book seemed interesting.

Book Talk Response

I really really liked this presentation. Even thought it was over an hour long, I felt engaged and connected throughout the whole thing. The use of the powerpoint was good for a visual learner such as myself. I found the pictures, charts, cartoons and paintings to be highly effective and entertaining. In particular, I thought that this group was very strong in their use of fun and informative activities. The first activity really got me to think about how my senses affect my perception of an object. I could find a lot of ways to incorporate that into a Social Studies classroom. The story activity was also engaging and could be very useful when trying to get students to be more creative with their thinking and writing. The negative space activity was a nice addition even though I didn't get any of them right! I also thought that the empathy and humor activities helped me to understand myself and my thinking a little bit better. I would use the empathy activity at the beginning of the school year to get to know my students a little bit better.
There were only two things that I would maybe change about the presentation. One, it would be nice to be able to go back and see the powerpoint so linking it to the class wiki would be good. Second, even though there was one kinesthetic activity already in the presentation, one more would be good for a presentation that was that long. Other than that, I really loved the presentation and could tell that the group put a lot of effort into it.

SOC book talk presentation

This presentation was very interesting. At first I was confused by the concept and still I am a little hesitant as to how well this would work, but the ideas behind it are good. The presentation as a whole was very well done and very interesting, I checked the links after we had done the presentation and saw a great deal of information. I really like the idea of creating a strong community environment within the classroom and how that is the best way to make students comfortable and allow them to benefit themselves. The activity we did, all though I had done it before was also important just to see how important the aspect of a unified group is. very good work all

When this group first started talking about what their book was about I immediately thought that it made teachers sound like they no longer had a place in the classroom. It sounded like the students were teaching themselves and I wasn't entirely ok with that considering that I would like some way to pay off my loans. Then as the group kept talking, I found the role of the teacher and I kind of like the idea of having the students make their own class rules and pick their own lessons. If the students pick the unit idea than I think that they are more likely to care about it because they had something to do with picking it out.

I also really liked the idea of all of the teamwork that this book talked about. There is no way that the students could be as independent as they need to be if they do not have any teamwork. I also liked the linking to the community because anytime that a lesson connects outside of the classroom there is more thinking and learning that happens. Plus the students can see how something actually works as opposed to just hypothetical situations.

overall, I really think that this book had some really great ideas and like Courtney said I also like that it took place in Maine. The group did a great job presenting, I really liked the different types of activities that we did that related to your book.

SOC

Teamwork was an important part of the presentation. I am seeing teamwork as a large part of education today. Collaboration with students, families and communities is a difficult task which this school seems to have mastered. The part that I liked the most was the fact that the curriculum is always changing but still able to meet the standards. The students play a large role in deciding what types of things they want to learn. This makes the lessons more interesting to them as well as giving them more ownership and responsibility in their education.

The aspect of bringing in the community to be part of the curriculum and having the students go out into the community to do projects is great. This lets the whole community know what is going on in the school.

Student-Oriented Curriculum Response

I really liked this presentation and thought that the group did an excellent job in portraying the message of the book. By using the Wiki page, I found it very easy to pay attention to and absorb the information that was being presented. It will also come in handy if I need or want to refer back to the information. I had never done the rope activity before so that was a fun exercise that I would definitely use in my classroom. Also, it was good to get up and move around. Even though it's not such a pressing issue in Maine currently, the visions for inclusion of multicultural students was interesting and useful. I really liked all of the diverse means of communication that the group used, I.e. powerpoint, wiki pages, links, files, charts, activities, videos, etc. By using a wide variety, I was engaged throughout all of the presentation. I'm a very visual person so maybe some more pictures or charts on the wiki page would have brought it to a whole new level for me. I also easily connect to music so maybe adding some music into the presentation would have made it even more engaging. Out of all of the information presented, I really connected with the video at the end. It presented two very important issues, 1. how to assess integrated curriculum(no set textbooks) and how to accommodate students who are on the cusp of taking directions or moving forward on their own.