This was a week that was really marked by thoughtful engagement and intense preparation. The highlight for me was definitely preparing for Academic Bowl. Academic Bowl is a trivia quiz competition we are participating in at St. Viator next month. There were definitely some growing pains, as trivia is not the kind of thing we can study for. However, after going over some techniques, the class really got into it and they ended the week by asking to have more practice rounds. Judging by the response, I’m excited to compete next month and see how we do! (If you feel like doing some trivial pursuit or similar practice at home, have fun with it!)

Another highlight from this week was our viewing of The Truman Show. The class initially struggled with getting the connection to Paulie Fink, but by the end we were having a rich discussion of the common elements. Following the viewing, the class then analyzed the film and created artifacts to show what they remembered and took from the film. Finally, next week we are going to be taking part in a Socratic seminar discussing it, which is pretty exciting. I really appreciate the ways the class is able to enjoy a movie but also analyze it fully. Great job everyone!

Finally, this week we had the final races for pasta racers. This was not only a great example of collaboration, it was also just a blast. The class came up with designs, did iterative rounds of testing, and then presented their final versions. Concerns covered everything from durability, ramp selection, and obviously speed (also looks, or “the drip” as I was informed). This was an absolute blast, congrats to our winners!

 

Hi everyone, what a wonderful week! This week was a great exercise in the class showing what they know and how they can work independently. For me, a highlight was the way they tackled our Scholastic Math. After working through the magazine, the class was then able to pick an article that they either thought was interesting or felt particularly comfortable with. They then made an explanatory video or slideshow teaching how to perform the math skills in the article, create their own worksheet, and then a quiz, all for a classmate to work through. There was a such a buzz of conversation as the class checked that their explanations made sense, that their questions were challenging enough, and laughter about the questions created. In our check-in conversations, there were so many students that said this work helped them understand more deeply and communicate more clearly. While this was a challenging activity, I am thrilled with the ways the class grew through it.

Another highlight this week was our Socratic Seminar. A Socratic seminar is a way of discussing and analyzing a topic, this time centered around the classroom novel. I was a little nervous to start this, as it is more intense and places students rather literally in the spotlight, which can be intimidating. However, the class responded incredibly well. In our debrief after, the students were actually very excited to take part in it again, wanted to suggest more questions, and even reflected on how being in the outer circle was a valuable experience as well. This went from something a little intimidating to an absolute joy. Great job everyone!

The last thing I want to highlight this week is the amazing work the class has been doing with Ms. Anna. She pushes in twice a week to help the class grow in their conceptual math skills and it is always a blast to come back and hear about the amazing work they are doing. This week, when I came back, they were wrapping up their work with volume and perspective, which was an absolute blast to hear about. Not only do the students get a taste of that middle school changing teacher experience, they are also benefiting from the expertise of one of the most qualified and brilliant teachers I’ve had the pleasure of working with. I cannot wait to see how this time develops over the school year!

Have a great weekend everyone!

This was a short week, but it is gonna be hard to capture all of the awesome stuff we did. First and foremost, I want to highlight the incredible writing the class tackled this week. Last week we started by doing interviews around heroes. This was fine, but it was not the end goal. This week the class was tasked with taking these straightforward interviews and transforming them into a bit of legitimate journalism. After all, when we read an interview in a magazine or newspaper, the questions and answers are used in service of a larger conversation. After reading over examples, the class used their interviews to share history, biographies, statistical analyses, whatever flowed out of those interviews. This transition, from straightforward transcription to journalistic discourse, is deeply challenging but has resulted in some incredible pieces. We are doing revisions next week, and I can’t wait to see the polished final pieces.

Another highlight was a social studies discussion on the nature of agency and power in society. We opened with a four-corners activity to get the class interacting and sharing their perspectives and went into a silent discussion via tables and quotations. It was deeply powerful to see the class circling around to see responses and the way conversation blossomed when we came back together. In fact, the biggest critique of the procedure was that it was too hard to hold themselves back and they wanted to be able to talk together sooner (not the worst feedback a teacher can receive). These discussions are going to serve as the foundation for our social studies work, so it was wonderful to see them grappling with these topics.

The final highlight this week was our partnership with Ms. Anna’s class. We’ve been focusing on the Engineering part of STEM and building pasta racers (think pinewood derby, but lasagna and penne instead of wheels and wood). The sheer diversity of designs and schematics has been impressive. We started sketching last week and this week started building. There were a couple disastrous test-runs (one car hit the bottom of the ramp and basically exploded), but that’s what the design process is all about. We are looking forward to the final race and will be sure to report the results!

It was a jam-packed week and I’m so proud of the work the class did! Great job everyone.

Hi everyone, great to be back reporting on another wonderful week. This week one of the big highlights was working through our STEM challenge, rocketry. We used one of our newer science curricula and the class built, compared, and measured the efficacy of various rocket designs, then they used that information to report back on the effects of fins on rocket flight. While some in our class may grow up to be rocket scientists, the bigger thing for me as the teacher was the attention to detail, engineering refinement, and curiosity these explorations inspired. One of the best parts of teaching at Plato is seeing the class as a whole diving into these projects and getting fired up to experiment.

Another highlight was definitely diving into our classroom novel. The Next Great Paulie Fink is one of my favorite books (not just favorite young adult novels, just straight out favorite books), so getting to dive into it as a class is such a delight. Seeing the class annotating their novels, having rich discussions about their predictions, and being intrigued by the mystery of the novel is wonderful to experience as a class. This, combined with the one-on-one discussions of their independent reading novels has really fostered an atmosphere of literature and intellectualism that is beautiful.

A final highlight this week was diving into our class play. This was a project we started because, in addition to helping the class master literature, it builds so many other skills. Students are learning to cooperate, hone their memory, be confident speakers, even how to understand the emotions of other people. These kinds of skills are useful across their lives and I am proud to help foster them. It was also wonderful seeing the class get fired up about which play they wanted to perform and practice for their auditions.

Enjoy the long weekend folks and see you all Tuesday!