Appendix

Contents:

Section I. Class Description

Section II. Video Transcription and Critique


Section I.

Class Description
(compiled from field notes)

กกfirstclass.gif (27186 bytes)Mrs. Fraga's class consists of thirty students, all classified either formally or informally as gifted. Mrs. Fraga told me that most of the students had passed tests to formally enter the class, but many students had been placed in the class at the recommendation of teachers for their exceptional creativity. Two African Americans, one Asian-American, and two Mexican Americans are represented in the largely European-American class. Other "inclusion" classes (classes in which students of all learning abilities are taught together) have slightly larger percentages of these minority groups. Many of the kids in this class, the teacher tells me, had been in placed together in "gifted" classes throughout their primary school years. Some of them have problems, however, with middle school grammar because they did not study it formally in primary school as did the inclusion classes. The objectives for gifted classes are certainly more in the affective, higher order, thinking skills than the cognitive-centered inclusion classes. I noticed this difference during my first two weeks of observations in Mrs. Fraga's class (first period), and Mrs. Wherele's inclusion class (second and third period). Mrs. Wherele discussed with me and demonstrated different teaching she believed to be required for inclusion classes. Her classes were always highly structured and teacher directed, she said, because the students would not be able to cope any other way.

The gifted students stayed in Mrs. Fraga's room for the first and second periods. The first period is devoted to reading activities with Mrs. Fraga. The second period is devoted to the Language Arts, including special research papers and grammar, with Mrs. Smith, a gifted student specialist. After I stopped visiting Mrs. Wherele's class during second and third period during the first couple of weeks I assisted groups of Mrs. Smith's students with their research projects in the library during the second period. Two groups of three students rotated out to the library during second period class. Only the gifted students participate in the state social science research paper contest. The students were not pleased about this "privilege," however, and voiced their dissatisfaction with the work overload in a formal class discussion on one occasion.

I can't agree with the students assessment of the work-load, however. During the two weeks that I observed the inclusion class, I would have to say that the work-load was just as demanding. The inclusion classes might even have a heavier work-load, as their classes are more structured than the gifted class. The first of everyday's sponge activities is to write the class schedules in their agenda books, then complete more detailed sponge assignments and follow a strict series of tasks every day. Mrs. Wherele threatened the disruptive students with formal discipline demerit forms while Mrs. Fraga appealed more to the students' sense of personal responsibility.

กกfirstclass2.gif (29799 bytes)I spent the first two weeks observing Mrs. Fraga's regular classes before I taught my first class in the context of a unit on the novel, The Cay by Theodore Taylor. My five week long, three day-a-week, role as a mini-student teacher would require special tact to mesh with Mrs. Fraga's regular class objectives and flow. I viewed my relationship to Mrs. Fraga fundamentally as an assistant and guest teacher. I had to learn to work within her daily management style.
Every day began with a simple one question sponge writing exercise, turned in at the end of class. Questions like "What has made you laugh lately?," "What are two things your parents have taught you recently," and "What would you put on a survival raft?"are examples of questions students were given the first five or ten minutes of class to complete. The questions are always written on the upper right center part of the black-board. On the far left of the black-board is a copy of the class rules (decided on by all of the teachers in the grade at the beginning of the school year), and usually, on the far right hand side of the board is written the objective for the day. I followed Mrs. Fraga's management format for the six classes that I taught.
Mrs. Fraga used other management methods, however, that I could not incorporate into my repertoire as easily, however. Rotation of students around on the computer for accelerated reader tests is one part. Mrs. Fraga directed students individually to the computer in the back of the room to complete their weekly tests during the regular class so that the students could complete their required number of books per month. Mrs. Fraga also had a strict behavior management style that underlie her own personal rapport with her students. I have a different style of engagement and had to use it develop a personal rapport with the students. Occasionally, when students veered off task during an activity, I tried to use Mrs. Fraga's method of raising one hand to silence the class. I comment more specifically on the techniques I used in the reflections sections of lesson plans in the unit.

Although I was educated in Georgia middle and high schools, I have to say that I was surprised at the amount of teacher control throughout the school. From the time students arrive until they go home, their are strictly controlled by teachers. Upon entering the school before 8AM in the morning, teachers direct the students to the gym or the cafeteria, the only two options for students before homeroom begins at 8:00. In the gymnasium, a team of freshman teachers watch over the students as they file in to the bleachers taking their seats in order from the top row of the bleachers. They sit quietly until they are allowed to go to their homerooms at 8:00. Similarly, in the cafeteria, teaches watch over the students eating their breakfast. From 8:00 the homeroom teachers are generally stand beside the door greeting students as they enter the class for the twenty minute homeroom period. The homeroom teacher takes role and keeps the students quite during the Channel One news program broadcast on the classroom T.V. There is no classroom discussion over the news topics and the homeroom proceeds into a minute of self-reflection time, and the Pledge of Allegiance, before the homeroom divides up to go to their first period classes.

The strict teacher-centered practices in East Hall Middle School stood in further contrast to management strategies I observed while teaching for five years in Japanese primary and middle schools. There the teachers place more responsibility on the students for calling order to the class and solving discipline problems. There was also no distinction for gifted students and students ran their own homeroom meetings in the morning and afternoon. Teacher-centered behavior management methods at East Hall Middle School certainly has benefits, but I had to conclude after observing for five weeks that a more student-centered methods would be appropriate if incorporated progressively from the early primary grades. The in-school suspension room, right across the hall from Mrs. Fraga's operated at near capacity (15) during many of the days I observed Mrs. Fraga's class. None of the gifted kids, however, were sentenced to in-school-suspension.


Section II

Reflection on Action

Transcription and Critique of Video of Lesson #6,
"Writing Fevers: The Cay and our own stories"

Introduction

00:00

Good morning again!

Students: good morning

Reflection: little response, need more in future

Today we have a real busy day so I'm going to drive your minds hard, are your ready? (During the first lesson, I told these students that their "gifted" labels are only a license to drive their brains, and that we expected them to drive them!)

Students: Yes.

00:17-00

O.K. We have three things to do this morning.

Quick aside to a nearby student: If your out of gas already, its because you didn't eat breakfast this morning. (In a conversation before class, I found that this boy had not eaten breakfast.)

Student: (the boy laughs)

(While pointing to the outline written on the blackboard)

1)  We're going to listen to Chapter 12 of The Cay.

2) And then we're going to move on to my response to your advice regarding my writing, my story, last week. Do you remember my story?

Students: Two students respond yes.

2) cont. . . . dedicated to my friend Bill?

3) During the third part of the class, we're going to look at your writings. And I'm going to give you a sampling of how things are shaping up so far. And I made a big map of all of our "bad" countries and "good" countries, life rafts, essentials, and other good things.

So it should be a good class, I think.

Reflection: Most students are responsive to the introduction, but several students in the back have their novels open already. One boy is slouched deeply in his seat, although apparently listening. Reviewing the day's schedule is a good way to get everyone's expections together for the class.

Section 1

01:06

So we're going to start with Chapter 12 of The Cay, so if you'll put everything else off of your desk, except your book (the novel), I think that would be a good way to focus on our reading; and we need to try to improve our listening skills; and try to relate to it, the content of the book, personally. We're going to talk about it afterwards. Now put everything else off of your desk, just have your chapter 12 on your desk.

Students: What about our questions? (The regular teacher, Mrs. Fraga, gives the students questions to answer for each chapter of The Cay. The students tend to focus on these questions wholly).

I'd like them (the question sheets) off of your desk too. You have to remember, now. Don't just look at the questions while you listen. I want you to remember and then go back to the questions later. O.K.? So fine tune your hearing today.

Students: prepare to listen to the cassette.
Is everyone ready? Five, four, three, (pauses for several students to clear their desk) two, one.

Tape begins.

The chapter covers the story of Timothy's bout with malaria. Timothy is an old man of African descent, shipwrecked on an island with a an American boy named Phillip. Timothy has a high fever and almost dies. He explains to Phillip that he has Malaria. By the end of the chapter, Timothy's fever breaks and he is able to recovers from Malaria.

Tape ends.

07:23

Hmm. (pause) He lived didn't he? He's an old man, so he is a little more weak than young people, and old people die more easily.

What kind of fever did he have?

Students: About half of the students answer, "Malar" (the Caribbean dialect used in the story), and "Malaria."

What is Malaria?

Students: One boy answers, "Isn't that like where mosquitoes give it to you?"

Yes. Mosquitoes give it to you. What part of the world do we have Malaria? (All of the students are not paying attention, so I increase the volume of my lecture and shift into more content) It's actually a microorganism in the mosquito larvae, and then the mosquito transfers into your bloodstream. So you have this little microorganism that lives, has a cycle of reproduction, in your body. And your body produces heat to burn off these microorganisms.

Has anyone ever had a fever? A high fever?

Students: (Over half of the class raises their hands).

Who has not had a high fever before?

Students: (No one raises their hand)

Who can not remember your mother putting her cool hand on your head, or a wet towel on your head? Has anyone had a fever recently?

Students: Two students raise their hands. One student answers, "Two weeks ago."

How high did it get?

Student: 107.

Wow, that's high! That's dangerous! I had a fever one time, produced by a virus, but it didn't go up that high.

Reflection: I have never heard of a fever going to 107. I wonder if the boy is making a story.

09:14

O.K. Let's think about malaria, now. What part of the world did you say malaria is found in?

Students: (Several students raise their hands) One student says, Africa.

O.K. Africa is one part.

Students: One more student responds, Asia.

Yes. Parts of Asia. Where are we now, in the story?

Students: Several students answer, "The Caribbean."

What do all these places have in common?

Students: They're hot.

Right.

Students: The equator.

09:28

Right. And what different groups of people have gone down (and) migrated to the Caribbean? We have . . .

Students: One student mentions Indians (instructor raises one hand to count the groups as they are named). Another student mentions Africans.

O.K. Who do you think might have the strongest immunities to microorganisms? In the equatorial region?

Students: Some students answer, "Africans."

O.K. Africans, yes they come from the largest landmass at the equator. How about Europeans? What do think about them?

Students: Several students answer that they're weaker.

They come from a cold landmass. And your right, because if you look back four hundred years in world history, the African people had to suffer from the hardships of slavery, but they still, believe it or not, had a two times higher rate of survival than their so called European "masters." The Europeans were dying off faster than the slaves were in these conditions at the equator. That is for a certain period of time. And if you're interested in looking at that ecological factor in world history, we have a couple of good books up here you can look at later, or whatever.

10:45

How about the Indians? How do you think they faired? What kind of diseases did they have to face?

Students: Several students raise their hands and someone mentions malaria.

Yes. Malaria for one. (raises hand to count one). What about old world European and African disease and the Indians resistancies regarding those diseases?

Students: Only one student raises his hand.

O.K. Everyone! Use your mind now? Is everyone O.K.?

Students: Several more students raise their hands.

O.K. The Indians were immune to equatorial diseases (in their region), but in terms of (other) human diseases like small pox and diseases of the Old World and Europe and the Mesopotamian region, where the (many of) the most ancient civilizations of the world originate, and where the most ancient human diseases can be found, (the Indians did not have strong resistancies).

The Indians traveled to the New World, what (when)? How long ago?

Students: One student answers, "A long time ago?" Another one answers, "a million."

A hundred thousand years ago!

Reflection: I cut off some students who raised their hand because I was pressed for time.

12:00

The Indians were away from the Asian, African, and European people for a long enough time that their immunities (to Afro-Eurasian diseases) went down (diverged) and when they finally came in contact with them (again), they got hit hard by all kinds of diseases, and got their population knocked down. So, it's too bad. But the African people were strong because they were immune to Eurasian diseases and equatorial diseases. It's a shame they had to suffer in ways, but they were an important part of the economy at that time. And what were they growing in the Caribbean and some of these new colonies?

Students: (several students raise their hands) One student answers, "Cotton."

Cotton came a little later. What were some of the things they were searching for? They went in search of .  .  .

Students: (Some students raise their hands) Spices?

Spices, and . . .  (?)

Students: Someone answers, "Coffee."

Coffee, tea, and what do you want for your tea?

Students: Someone answers, "Sugar."

And you need plantations to grow sugar, and you need an equatorial warm climate. So these, . . . the economy revolved around cotton and sugar and these products and the plantations that produced them in the equatorial regions down in South America, Brazil, and Central America; and people who came from Africa were the strongest people to survive in these circumstances at the time. Later on, certain vaccines and drug caught people's immunity back up, but at the time there was an inequality there, and maybe, Timothy had some of these ancient resistencies toward some of the malaria strains in the region. What do you think?

Students: One student answers, "Timothy had had malaria before," (so he probably had some immunities).

Right, and usually you had to have drugs to combat the disease (Timothy did not have drugs and was therefore resistant). I think they give . . . Mrs. Fraga, do you recall what your father had to take for his malaria. (Mrs. Fraga, answers, "quinine." It is almost a poisonous substance, but it's just enough to kill the disease and not kill you. Kill the microorganism. Perhaps he might have died had he not had quinine. She responds, "Hopefully, they have something better now to treat it. My dad had it 34 times during World War Two in the Pacific Islands." That's pretty amazing! Must be a tough man! She responds, "He's a tough old bird!" We're talking about fever so remember, next time you have a fever, remember Timothy pulled through, you can too!

Reflection: Part of the class could be devoted to learning more about Mrs. Fraga's father and his Second World War experiences.

Section 2

So next, we're going to move to our stories. And think about this episode in in The Cay. Because we can add drama (like this) to our stories. I read through our stories over the weekend and "Slick Willie" (a students' nickname) becomes . . .

Students: (One or two students guess correctly), "Sick Willie." (They also guess that Whitney wrote the story.)

You may have a chance to read that version of Whitney's story, it's a very interesting story. We'll get to that a little bit later, but first, lets take a look at my reaction to the advice to the story I read last week dedicated to my neighbor, Bill. We're going to use this overhead, (because) I've got my whole story on the overhead. We're going to put away The Cay right now, and you can take out your regular notebooks. But please don't be working on your questions right now. Let's try to pay attention to this part of the class which is looking at "The Editing Process."

16:28

I think we can see this with the lights on. I agree that it would be fun with the lights off, but let's see if we can see it like this. Here we go! Does everyone remember the criteria that we used?

Students: One student answers understandability.

What other questions do we have (for our stories)?

Students: A couple of students recall, "The war." Another recalls, "The countries."

O.K. What was the war context? What countries were they fighting?

Students: One girl asks a question directly related to the instructor's writing, "Why were they fighting over a well?

video2.gif (26451 bytes)Some of you all were a little bit concerned that there wasn't enough crisis in the war context. You said, "Wow, they're just stealing a little water from your well. "Why would you want to escape from something like that?" So I tried to respond to this in my new edition of the story and we'll get to that in a second. And number 2) (students advised me) The country to which you are escaping by boat, (you advised that) I should be more specific about where in Canada you're going. Who mentioned that?

Students: Whitney says that she did.

O.K., and then the survival raft. What was the main food on the survival raft?

Students: Several students recall, "dog food."

Dog food! And what do you need if you have to eat dog food? What do you need a lot of? To get it down?

Students: Several students answer water.

O.K. and now we going to move into the story here. O.K. here's the dedication. Can everyone see?

Students: Some students answer no and move to where they can see.

If you stretch your head around over there, I checked the seats over there and they're not too bad if you have good eyes.

Reflection: I did not ask the students if they can see until now so some might have missed my the OH references to their advice.

18:38

Now let's see what kind of editions we have. (I reread the story, paraphrasing parts of it, and emphasizing the sentences I added sentences, written in blue, in response to their advice. Further dialogue is written in purple in following copy of the text:)

กก

"Bill's Escape"

This short story is dedicated to my neighbor, Bill, who always lives in fear of the end of the world when hordes from Atlanta invade the mountains.

Bill awoke in the night with a jolt. He had to go out and scare away some people from from taking water from his well. Even though these people had been approved to come into the valley and camp, Bill had had enough. He could get a gun and shoot at them so they wouldn't come back, but Bill was afraid he might kill someone.

Does that add a little more crisis to it here?

Students: Several students say, "yes."

It was time to escape this madness. He would have to trade his house and small farm for a boat, but at least he would have the freedom he once felt living in the Appalachian mountains.

So this fellow really loves the freedom in the mountains that he has and he doesn't want to trade away his freedom even if it means sharing his water in the well. So he's gone. And he's heading up to . . . uh . . . Let's see where he's going.

It all happened in less than a month.

We're going to talk about the context a little bit more. And what was the context, do you recall? What happened to Atlanta?

Students: (A student recalls that) "it got bombed."

It got bombed by what?

Students: Chemical weapons

Chemical weapons by? . . .

Students: Iraq

Iraq and . . . ? Can you name another Islamic country?

Students: Sudan

Right. Sudan, and they were angry that we seemed to be picking on Islamic countries. I don't think they are, but it appears that way to a lot of common people over there who are willing to sacrifice their lives in a car bomb just to blow up a school bus. That seems totally strange and out-of-hand (to us), but to them their making a point and fighting a just war, what they call a holy war.

Students: A girl asks with no prompting, "What did they (the Moslems) say that we were doing to them?"

Good question! These are the kind of questions that you have to ask not only here and at home, but in the social studies class too. So what do some of these Islamic countries think that we are doing to them; why are we there and what do we have a lot of in these counties in the Mid-East?

Students: Someone responds, "Money."

Money? How do you get money? What do they have to sell in Iraq and Kuwait?

Students: One student responds, "Chemical Weapons."

Well, they have chemical weapons to sell. But more fundamentally, what do they have that we want? No crops now, it's (mostly) desert.

Students: Students respond, "Oil."

Yes! (The indented portion of the story continues in a paraphrased form below it)

Atlanta had been one of the major U.S. cities to suffer a chemical weapons attack by an Islamic group who claimed to be taking revenge for America's bombing in Sudan and Iraq. People from major cities throughout the country began travelling in hordes to rural areas within a one or two hour drive from the city.  Many rural people formed local militia groups to keep the hundreds of thousands of people out, but many people allowed them to camp on their land in exchange for money.
In less than two days, Bill had his family (and dog) on a boat bound for Newfoundland in northeastern Canada from Savannah, Georgia. It would be a long ride, but worth the freedom they would find in a country that did not provoke attacks from Islamic terrorists. He and his family had a little boat sickness at first, but now they were sleeping better than they were at home. No longer would be they be awoken by campers asking for drinking water in the night.

Many of the major cities in the U.S. have been attacked and people are heading for rural parts of the country. So where is Bill going now?

Students: Students read, "Newfoundland" from the O.H.

Newfoundland in Northeastern Canada. So I'm trying to be more specific here (responding to students' advice). And we move on:

And we continue on (paraphrasing the indented portion below) . . . he's sleeping better on the boat now, and finally, tragedy strikes, and pirates kick he and his family off of the boat and they get on to their raft.

Then tragedy struck. Within a day from their destination, the boat was hijacked by some modern pirates enjoying lawlessness that had broken out in the cities. Bill and his family and dog were forced into their survival raft and set adrift just off of the coast of the state of Maine. The raft was caught in a current which was taking them still north in the direction of Canada. Bill said, "aah we didn't need that boat anyway!" And we have enough provisions on this raft to survive all the way to Greenland if we had to." But his two daughters, Willina and Wilma were not so enthused. The only survival food they had on board was dog food! Their dad believed that dog food would be the best survival food because people would only eat as much as they really needed.

I just added that --

They had plenty of drinking water too, so it would be possible to make it to their new home in Newfoundland, Canada.

Even without a boat, they're going to make it there. So, it's kind of a happy ending. He's my neighbor. I told him about the story, and I was afraid that he might want to see it, so I didn't want it to get too out of hand. (For example), he joins a local militia group and hijacked a government building or something. I didn't want to do (write) anything like that.

All right! So this is aaa. . . what I was trying to show you is a way that you can respond to your group's editing advice. Or, today I've about decided not to give your writings back to your groups, but, to give your writings back to people in the class at random, and try to use this criteria to give you a little more feedback. You can get back into your groups again, but let's pass these out at random. We've got a lot of good writings, and everyone has at least one good part. Some of them have a great flow. It could be a -- who is the adventurer?-- Indiana Jones for sure. And it could be some Saturday Night Live skit too. There's a lot of potential there. So let's move on to your writings. Does anyone have any questions about this criteria that your going to use to evaluate someone's writing over the next day or two. It's going to be just these three parts. O.K.? You want to give them some comments on how to improve 1) the world war context; etc. (pointing to the criteria on the O.H.). I think that everyone's is pretty understandable, but to you reading it now, you might not find everything understandable, so please give them a comment there as well if need be.

Students: (asks a question) "When we get someone else's story can we just get out another sheet of paper to write comments so we don't have to write it all over their story?"

Good point! Yes, let's use a different sheet of paper to write our comments. Simple comments will be fine. Just enjoy the story and if you want them to develop the war context a little, give them one comment to help that process along. Make sure that you are satisfied with the countries to they are escaping (part), to and try to give them some helpful advice on these three points: 1) the war context; 2)the countries to which they are escaping; 3) and the survival raft scene. Some of you all were a little slight on that (scene) and some of you were great on it and include lots of things. We'll get to that right now. Any more questions on evaluating the criteria for evaluating your classmates' writing? Looking forward to it?

Students: (a few students say yes)

It should be some good stuff!
O.K.?! We're gonna move on now!

Section 3

24:30

(turn off the O.H.) Aaaw. No more lights, no more action, only the camera!

I tried to look at your writings and put them in some kind of framework, O.K.?
Because, if you recall, a week or so ago when we looked at the newspaper articles, we were trying to find the author's point-of-view, or, what's another word for it?

Students: (A few students answer), "bias."

Bias (nodding head), where he's coming from -- O.K.? -- in presenting his article. There's always two parts to a story; there's always various sides to a story. And the way we might write these stories would be allot different from the way someone in Iraq might write these stories. Do you think?

Students: There is some response, but two students in the back are talking and not paying attention.

I didn't e-mail Iraq, but we will be able to trade some stories with some kids in Japan. O.K.? So how do you think the Japanese might write a story differently than we do? O.K.? Let's keep that in mind when we look at this. (Unfolding the map display with the class's story data)

25:50

Let's take a look at ours. I tried to put everyone's story on to this map to see how our vision of the world and world war is shaping up (in the context of our stories). (Pointing to the drawings of the life rafts.) What are these?

Students: Some students say boats and other say rafts.

They are rafts. Survival rafts. O.K., So we had some great stories. Umm. How about the bad counties -- the countries who started the world war? Who do you think came up in the stories.

Students: (One boy says), "Iraq".

Who is the leader (among countries starting a war)?

Students: (Another boy says), "Germany."

Yes, Germany was the leader. And, has anyone ever been to Germany?

Students: (One student raises his hand).

One person has been there, but we don't really know too much about Germany, but we have this feeling about Germany because we've heard about it all of our lives.

Students: (One student says), "Nazis!"

Nazis; Nazi Germany. We still have some Nazis in this country don't we.

Students: (Respond affirmatively)

All right. Well, number two, now, in the countries that took part in creating the world war would be, who do you think?

Students: (Someone responds), "Iraq."

Yes, Iraq was number two with three of you (who included it in your writing); Germany had four -- people who used Germany in the war context. How about another country?

Students: (A boy responds), "Canada."

Yes, Canada was there, but they are down in the ranks. Only one chose Canada.

Students: (A girl responds), "Russia?"

Yes, Russia. Why would we choose Russia, do you think, if you look at our history?

Students: (A boy responds), "Cold War?"

O.K., But they helped us in World War Two.

Students: (A girl responds), "But they were with Germany at the beginning of the war."

O.K., At the beginning of the war, they were with Germany. Good point! How about, any more countries? We've got three more. Let's see, two people chose Canada, so. Here's Canada, our next door neighbor. Anybody afraid of Canada?

Students: (Some students yell), "No!" (One student says), "They're too nice!"

O.K. There's (perhaps) something suspicious about being too nice. Maybe, maybe! We had Canadians in this story. (Pointing to the boy who wrote the story). In this man's country we have Canadians invade the country and you took a boat down to Cuba didn't you? (He nods). And the boat sank, but Fidel Castro, the president of Cuba, saved the day. He helped the Americans defeat the Canadians. And in another story Fidel made us dictators of a couple of islands down there. O.K. so Fidel had an interesting role to play in our stories too. (A boy is raising his hand.) Yes, Bill?

Students: (Bill mentions Antarctica).

wwworldmap.gif (31852 bytes)Antarctica. O.K. Antarctica is not technically a country, but there a few Western countries that have primary control of Antarctica. And Bill, let's see, what happened with Bill. Bill, can you summarize your story for us?

Students: (Bill begins his story summary.) Well something happened between Saddam Hussein and Bill Clinton and me and all my friends got on a raft with all this crud and we go down to Antarctica. And everybody died except for me. (laughter) No, I thought Jordan (a classmate)died, but he jumped in this well, and it was warm, and we thought he was a penguin for the rest of our lives. (more laughter)

But he died at the end right, Everyone died. Bill story is interesting in the war context because Saddam Hussein refused . . . to cut off his mustache,

Students: (A boy says), "So!!"

and therefore began a world war. O.K. We have some other countries involved. Someone chose the Caribbean. Some Caribbean nations were fighting a war with the U.S. called the "Unholy War." Spain was fighting a country, fighting a war with the U.S., and Rebecca (the author of that story) choose to escape to Venezuela. What language to people in Venezuela speak?

Students: (Many students ask), "Venezuelan?" Some students answer Spanish.

Spanish. Tyler, you explained the world war in the context of Germany.

Students: (Tyler responds), "We were fighting aliens."

That's right, we were fighting aliens, and Tyler escaped to Germany, he has some family there. And guess what the aliens were looking for, what caused all the nations to respond?

Students: (Some students respond), Pizza!

They were looking for the most beautiful . . .

Students: (One student responds), "Nachos!"

Woman. They were looking for the most beautiful woman.

Students: (There is some commotion and students tell me that the most beautiful woman plot was Saul's story).

Tyler also had an alien story, but it was not quite as developed as Saul's. No one wants to give up their Miss America, or Miss Venezuela, or Miss Costa Rica, or Miss Cuba.

Students: (There is commotion and laughter)

O.K. We've finished with the war context. Can I have your attention?! (I use the regular teacher's management method by raising my hand in the air. Students quiet down.) We've kind of got a slight picture of our view of the world with the war context, would you agree?

Students: (A student says), "Yeah."

We've looked at some of the countries we have historically feared and been involved in wars before; we read about wars we haven't been involved with ourselves because many of us weren't born yet, but we still have a picture of a lot of countries and it may or may not be true. O.K.? A lot of Iraqi people would argue that they're not the villains. Who is the "Great Satan"of the world?

Students: One boy yells, "Us!"

We are! Why do they think that?

Students: (There is some commotion as some kids respond)

That's a subject to debate when and if we do get some response from some students in Japan. What country do you think they might be afraid of or include in their world war context?

Students: (A couple of students say), "China."

O.K. China is right next to Japan. What other countries?

Students: (Some students say), "Australia."

O.K. Australia perhaps. What other country is still a dictatorship, and still a major concern of the U.S.? Very close to Japan. Their next door neighbor.

Students: (Some students say), "Russia." (One student says), "Asia."

A country! A country! It begins with a "K."

Students: Right, North Korea. So let's look for Korea in the stories when we get the stories.

32:45

All right! Let's see here! Let's move on to the countries that we escaped to in order of their frequency. Antarctica came up twice. New Zealand came up twice. Australia, once; Germany, once; France, once; Ireland, once. Anybody have Irish roots in this class?

Students: (About six students raise their hands.)

Would you go back to the homeland? Go back and eat potato soup? It might be good?

Students: (Some students say), "No way!" (Others say), "Yeah!" (Another student asks), "What do we do if we didn't make it to the country?"

O.K., if you didn't make it, that's part of your story, but at least you set out to go to another country, and that tells us something about your view of the world. O.K. All right, let's continue now; let's concentrate, concentrate! Almost through. We're going to get to the life raft in a minute. Other people escaped to Russia. The North Pole, there's no land up there, but there's a lot of ice and polar bears. Someone ate a polar bear in Antarctica.

Students: (Students try to figure out who it was.)

Who else do we have here, America--South America, Venezuela, one; Brazil, one, Cuba, one. Someone escaped to the Florida Keys. J.J. do you remember your group's escape? (He does not respond quickly, so I continue to keep the class's interest). Any water was fine with them. They found a huge lake. They had a great survival raft. The best survival raft, I think, in the class. But, they hid out in this country. They were in America. They were on a lake, from what I could tell.

Students: (Someone asks), "What lake?" (J.J. replies), "We weren't done."

You weren't done. But that's where it is right now.

34:30

Now on to the life raft! This also might tell us about our cultural bias for the world -- what we take on our life raft. Do we take crickets?

Students: (Several students reply), "Yes!"

Dried crickets?

Students: (One student replies), "Chocolate covered crickets!"

Let's see what we've chose here. I've got them written down on this map, here. Water, flashlights, flares, machine-guns, T.V., first-aid kit, radio, CD player, clothes, toothbrush, hair-brush, lanterns, matches, dried fruits, veggies, compass, utensils, lifejackets, canned foods, bottles, guns, backpacks, tarp, potato chips, can opener, knife, poles -- you need poles for your tarp, and oars.

Students: (Laughter and "Yes" responses throughout); (One student asks), "Do you mean oars, like, to paddle with?"

Yes, we need lots of oars. We don't want to just float out there. O.K.

Also, I think an important part of our story was the humor. President Clinton came up several times in the stories. In one case he said, "We'll send a boat to pick you up!" But he never sent a boat and everyone died. (Student laughter) In another case, I think it was Whitney's story, Clinton is finally impeached. And Hillary marries . . . Leonardo Decaprio, and makes Bill very angry and he escapes to Germany with . . . Monica; and convinces the Germans to start a war with the United States. So Clinton comes up a couple of times in a pretty interesting way. All right. We have a few famous people who come up in the stories as well. Axle Rose, that's Jordan.

Students: (One girl interrupts to tell us about her story): "It's about Monica Lewinski and all that. Bill Clinton and Saddam Hussein start a war over Monica Lewinski and at the end of the story, Monica goes off with Bill Clinton and Hillary goes off with Saddam Hussein. (Students laugh).

I liked the Leonardo Decaprio connection because Monica and Leonardo are the same age.

We have ten more minutes everyone. We have ten more minutes everyone. I hope you all can get a basic view of the world using our stories. We've got a good sense of humor. Some of the countries we escaped to are going to be different that where the Japanese choose probably. Let's see who they are afraid of. They could be afraid of us, they could be afraid of other countries. It should be interesting. I will post this (map) outside of the door so that you can look at it.

Students: (One student asks), "What are those rafts sitting out there for?"

They are trying to get somewhere. Trying to get to Antarctica. One is out here next to the list.

38:00

So, I want to pass out the stories I want you to review, and give advice using the three parts of the criteria that we choose for reviewing my story. So I'm going to give everyone a story and you have ten minutes to read it and make some comments on a separate sheet of paper. So everyone get out a separate sheet of paper. I think you can finish it by the end of class. I'd like you to give this back to the person with the separate sheet.

I'm just going to start over here at random. Is everyone ready? Does everyone understand what I'm asking you to do? O.K. We've got a criteria we're going on. Give some advice on the war context, the country that they are going to, and, the survival raft, the life raft. And please don't say, "Hey I have yours!" Be quite. Let's keep it a secret. Everyone keep it a secret for right now. Get one sheet of paper to write on. There might be one without a name on it. You'll have to just write your comments and we'll figure it out later. Keep it a secret now. I don't want anybody hearing who you have. Be quite.

Those of you who didn't receive one, we had some who wrote the stories in their groups and some didn't turn-in one. Just work on your accelerated readers for right now. Or work on your stories and jot some notes down on your piece of paper as to how you might want to improve the story. And as Mrs. Fraga just said, you can also work on the questions for The Cay. Remember the key to success in the working world, or the education world, is to always look busy even if your not busy. So get something out to work on. You've got six minutes now. So jot down notes as you read and don't forget to give the advice. (I write the three parts to the criteria on the blackboard.)

Students: (Everyone is now working on a story review or some other homework.) (One boy asks if we are to give the advice sheets to the student.

(Video pans around the room and to the blackboard, scanning the world map with the students' data, and the days outline and objectives written on the board.)

Two minutes so try to finish-up.

If you're finished I'd like to collect these. I decided I'd like to read your advice before I give it out to the people. Did you find any good stories? Pretty good! Hurry up! You can do it! The class ends as students turn in the stories.

Reflection: It would have been better to have completed this story review exercise immediately following my model review and response in part two of the lesson. Then the class could have made a better transition into the sampling of our stories compiled on the world map. Mrs. Fraga recommended this to me at the end of the class.

Final Reflection:

  1. We covered a lot of content in this class and I would have liked to have had enough time to provide better closure at the end. If I alter the order a little, I think it would be possible to tie everything together at the end. I have already changed the order in the final version of the lesson plan in the unit.
  2. I need to learn to encourage more people to answer questions during our discussions. There were well over one hundred chances to answer questions in our discussions throughout the class, but only about half of the students responded regularly.
  3. A form sheet for students to use to review their classmate's story would save time.