It was on a beautiful Friday morning when I went to observe at IHSCA, again. I forgot that Friday was a different schedule so I ended up going for advisory and lunch. I really like advisory because I get to know the students a little bit more. For one, the three same girls that I talked to about IHSCA before ended up again in a conversation about our favorite type of music. Tina allowed them to play Pandora, and they put my favorite type of Latin music. They asked me if I liked that type of music, and I said yes. I even went to his concert and bought his new latest album! (Romeo Santos) This connection was beautiful because we all could relate and understand the music. It was a cultural connection. As I walked around the class during advisory, I also noticed several students working on a cell project for science class. I asked several of them about their amazing project. I was impressed by the explanation that they gave me about their project, and the creativity of the project itself was wonderful. Above all this, there was a young boy who asked me about college and what he should do to achieve his goals. I was impressed! We had a very long and interesting conversation. By the end of the period, he left saying bye with a smile on his face! :)
Now the real deal is during sixth and seventh period (Literature/Composition). The activity that launched the period was a parts of speech quiz. They answered 5 questions individually about verb tense for a couple of minutes. Tina went over the quiz and explained why certain questions were tricky. Students had questions which was great because they learn more. Tina assigned them an ACT handout for homework which was filled with questions about parts of speech. After this grammar lesson, they read out loud Kite Runner. As always, Tina stops to assess their comprehension and even asked, "what adjectives describe how Baba feels?" I love this integration of what they learned before in connection with the text itself. Students were easily able to respond to the teacher's questions about parts of speech and reading comprehension questions. They finished the chapter, and they gathered with their intellectual partner to discuss their answers to the questions for the Socratic seminar. Tina and I walked around. Seventh period came in, and they did the same thing. I really like how the students at ISHCA allow me to enter their zone of learning!
