Chapter 7 is called The Third Circle. Totally sounds like a Hunger Games sequel, right?
This chapter is all about presentation and selling your lessons to your students! Listen people, presentation is EVERYTHING! And it starts with your open house with your parents. Last year my team and I made a decision to ask our parents NOT to focus on grades but instead on growth. We know each child is different and has different strengths and we wanted parents to make effort and growth the focus at home. We also laid it all on the line. No sugar coating. We told them all about us and out personalities and what we hoped they would do at home. I added humorous items to my presentation (like how sad it is that through marriage I have to be a Raiders fan. It's sad people. You can take a moment and be sad for me....ok, moving on.) It worked! This year was amazing with my parents, but it was all in how I presented it. If it had been on a piece of paper without me showing my passion for teaching to the parents then my year would have been completely different.
Dave Burgess does mention all the decisions you make regarding your lessons. I admit the lessons I'm excited about I can rock it. But some of those stinkin' science lessons are hard for me. I'm working on it!
He also mentions transitions and how important they are. I completely agree! That takes a little practice, but once you find things that work for you and your students transitions are half the battle!
Kim from Joy in Sixth is our next host. Head over to her blog to see what she had to stay about this chapter!
You all have me interested! Ordering my copy from Amazon!
ReplyDeleteOh Jennifer, you had me laughing by the second sentence!
ReplyDeleteHow fun to have shared this chapter with you. I'm working on adding some "presentation magic" to my science lessons next year too. Sixth grade science (for me) is earth science. That may take some serious pondering!
Happy summer...
Kim
Finding JOY in 6th Grade