Hour Observation A Brief Look

13733 Brimhurst Dr., Houston, TX 77077

Phone [HIDDEN]

Grade 8

Short Story and Poetry

Lowe, Motley, and L. Smith

Lesson: Elements of a Story

There were twenty two students.

The first hour they were given laptops and use of headphones and were able to sign in, in order to access the content/assignment. They were given 3 tasks for a homework assignment. The students received a "warm-up journal," so they could practice expression through writing and strengthen their overall writing ability. They also read from text and students either were chosen by the teacher or elected to volunteer. The homework that was given, was due weekly, on Fridays. Some of the adjectives they went over concerning personality project was: connotation, denotation, sentence, picture, synonym, and antonym.

In the second hour, there were fourteen students.

The assignment was a personal narrative outline. They had to quote similes/metaphors than explain the use of them as well as implied meaning. They had to label sentences that had examples of metaphors, personification, and similes. Just like in the previous hour, they received a handout, and volunteered to read as well as analyze further more poems. "I will argue here that close reading and careful narrative scrutiny can alert those who read this essay apart from Gawande's later work to some of the pitfalls in this kind of narrative ethics" (Jones, 2014, p. s32).

Grade 7

Unit 1: Part 1: Literary Non-Fiction

Teachers: Beverly, Ross, Vagholkar

Lesson Narrative Structures

Unit 1: Part 1 and Part 2

There were twenty three students in this class. Hours 3-7 were spent here.

Essentially the first hour spent with the students they were taught about several important narrative structure like: imagery, diction, alliteration. They were split into teams in order to provide proper student-student interactions. They were asked to read aloud whilst looking for literary devices. They were also asked what they thought on the things they read in terms of style and content. When some of the students spoke, they gestured a lot. "Speakers of all ages spontaneously gesture as they talk. These gestures predict children's milestones in vocabulary and sentence structure" (DEMIR, LEVINE & GOLDIN-MEADOW, 2014, p. 1).

The second hour was roughly the same except the children were asked to read out loud their own work and then determine what kind of literary device would go best with the kind of content they were reading. Other students participated and were able to help each other in terms of identifying proper narrative structures to use. The teacher was clear in instruction and was able to get the students to raise their hands in order to participate, increasing adherence to class structure

The third hour, the kids were split into teams and asked to write a story as a group. Kids were allowed to generate concepts together and self-identify terms and vocabulary. When they were finished, the elected who would read out loud and who would explain the process of writing the story. The teacher allowed the kids to provide additional feedback as well.

In the fourth hour, the kids had a quiz in which they had to remember and describe the literary devices they used before in class. They also discussed plot elements like setting and character development. They openly discussed the use of theme in stories and provided their own examples. They were also given a graphic organizer to fill out as well as some handouts to take home to complete.

Lesson: Literary Non-Fiction

Date September 8-12

There were a total of eight students.

Students before that were given information like "copying procedures" from the projector. This was their daily dose of technology use. The teacher went over the rules and regulations, which helps the students understand what was expected of them. The vocabulary was used periodically throughout the first lesson. Often times they would words like "analyze," "interpret" and "distinguish. They also were asked questions on the vocabulary in order to help them further understand the meaning behind the words.

The second day was similar with use of projector, except the teacher began with different vocabulary words. They wrote them down repeatedly to allow for memory building and attachment. Some of the new words were: "conclude" and "apply." These were also used in a sentence by the students and read out loud. Students who participated were asked what they thought the definitions of the words were before learning the true definitions.

Extra Credit:

Ender's Game focuses on the story of a child prodigy that has to deal with the advent of protecting his home planet from a

The reason why I chose this book to discuss is the inherent use of technology throughout the film. Not only do the kids learn how to combat the Formics through simulations, but they are also guided, especially the protagonist, Ender Wiggin into realization of self and identity. It is an interesting design in terms of plot formation and story arch as Ender uses a game simulation that tests his abilities as a fighter, a leader, and ultimately a savior. Even towards the beginning of the book, it shows that technology is used to monitor how he interacts with the world and how he is roughly compared to other students. His prowess and mental abilities than make him competent enough to handle the strenuous training needed to lead the child army to combat and destroy the home planet of the Formics. Often time's technology in today's day and age is used for convenience, but in the world of Ender it is used for self-defense and self-improvement. It plays such a major part of Ender's life, that he cannot go a day without being exposed to some kind of technological apparatus. It definitely, being a science fiction novel, depicts some technologies that are yet to be invented like a planet destroyer and realistic simulations, but it also has realistic ones like space travel and sending email. It's a great book for students to read simply because it teaches about use of tactics, intellect, and even enables readers to grow awareness of the importance of mercy and reflection.
Discussion 10:

One of the books I enjoyed reading from this term was John Barth's, Lost in the Funhouse. The stories within the book had an almost intrinsic nature to them and allowed for me to not only read them separately, but later on through thoughtful reflection, connect them back to each other. Ambrose, for instance, the character in the main protagonist in Worthington's essay concerning metafiction, offered a different way of thinking and manifestation of sorts that invited a second glance over. I think I did that a lot within reading the book. And just like how life has some form of driving force, which for some is love, Ambrose's desire to feel needed and to be loved was indeed a captivating and enveloping theme that surrounded each of the short stories. In "Night-Sea Journey," theme and story become one as he assesses the numerous theories of being that thinker and philosophers often conjure up. It was meditative as well as indicative of the kind of style of writing Barth is all about?

One article of particular interest was "Nerd Nation." It's essentially an analysis of stereotypes as well as the contradictions within those stereotypes, a form of applied hypocrisy. I liked how the writing much like in Barth's book stayed away from traditional manifestations of thought and style and sought to represent itself from a unique perspective. It also taught me that anything, no matter how much it is researched and studied can still be researched and studied because the process of learning is never ending.

Discussion 9

I think personally, basic programming should be a part of everyone's basic education. Not only does it offer a foundation to build from in case one wishes to pursue an area like computer science, but it also prepares the person for the new age. The new age is filled with growing and expanding and more complex technology that will soon require a base knowledge of programming or in the very least understanding the purposes and uses of coding. Computers, smart phones, tablets, they all require coding to function. If one can understand at least the basics of how software within these machines work, they can better understand upcoming technologies and machinery, improving their overall skill and providing additional talents that they could add to their job resume. People in this day and age need people that are tech savvy, even in places that one would not ordinarily expect like libraries and electronic stores. "Basic required programming" can be compare to math skills. People feel they don't need math in life to get by, but knowing a good amount of mathematics helps in many areas, especially in jobs and even in everyday things like determining the distance and time of trips and calculating tips for restaurant outings. It all comes together in such a way that it makes a person's skill set much more complete and varied. People need and want tech savvy individuals because the dawn of a new age is approaching. Within this new age is…