by khayah mass. beit sefer ahkvah hebrew israelite community school elementary through high school...
TRANSCRIPT
Student Teaching at Beit Sefer Ahkvah
By Khayah Mass
Beit Sefer AhkvahHebrew Israelite Community SchoolElementary through high schoolLocated across the street from the Village of
PeaceVegan cafeteria located within the village
Kitah Tet 120 students: 12 boys, 8
girlsFirst spoken language:
EnglishFirst written language:
Hebrew
What makes a place a home?Theme based on Chapter 1 of The House on
Mango Street (p. 128, unit 5 of Mind Matters textbook)
Recipe poems from Maayan Newman’s lecture and excerpt from upcoming book
Focus within the unit:Reading comprehensionWriting recipe poemsPresenting poemsReflection
Domains and BenchmarksAppreciation of Literature and Culture
Discuss themes and conflicts in literary textsExpress ideas and opinions about literary textsCompare different cultural practices, behaviors
and traditions with their ownAccess to Information
Understand the main idea and supporting details in a text and use this knowledge as needed
Draw inferences in order to identify the points of view in a text, distinguishing fact from opinion
Domains and BenchmarksSocial Interaction
Express personal wishes and opinionsInteract for purposes such as agreeing and
disagreeing, giving instructions, complimenting, giving advice
Give and receive information in writing, such as postcards, letters, email messages
PresentationExpress ideas and opinions about general topics and
experiences using main and supporting ideasReview and edit presentations based on feedback
from peers and/or teacherReact to the content of something read, seen or heard
Introduction of me and the 4-day unit (10 min)
Introduction of short story – The House on Mango Street (5-10 min) Vocabulary Things to think about/look for when
reading The House on Mango Street (5+
min) chapter 1, read aloud by me from
Mind Matters text book Discussion of the story (15-20
min) Explicit comprehension of text Making inferences
Introduce HW (2+ min) Jot down ideas answering: what
makes a place a home?
Brainstorming (10-15 min) Individually As a class
Recipes (5-10 min) Students pick a recipe from
the options and underline verbs and circle measurements
In groups, students discuss which verbs and measurements they highlighted.
Review the writing process (< 5 min)
Writing recipe poems Individually students write
recipe poems reflecting the topic: what makes a place a home?
The Original PlanLesson 1 Lesson 2
The Original PlanLesson 3 Lesson 4 Read poems and make
changes/adjustments (5-10 min)
Sharing Poems (20 min) In groups 2-3 lines to the class
Editing/Cleaning up poems (10-15 min)
Students can work together or individually to create a Final Draft to submit
Looking at the story – The House on Mango Street, Chapter 1 – and the author (10-15 min)
Students take turns reading the story and then reading about the author aloud (pgs. 128,129 and 131 in textbook Mind Matters)
Discussion of story with new information about the author
Looking at our poems and what they say about us as authors (10 min)
Class discussion Looking at the writing process (5-10
min) Discuss changes that were made from
rough drafts to final drafts Reflections (15 min)
Students answer in writing a series of questions about the 4 lessons together
Discuss answers as a class if time permits
What really happenedFour lessons to take place during the week
before Passover turned into two lessons before Passover and two lessons after.
First lesson too fast, remaining lessons too slow
Rough start turned into decent ending
Day to day reflectionLesson 1 Lesson 2
Went well:Students were
comfortableStudents informed of
agenda for day and for unit
Need to work on:Transitions/closureKeeping students aware
of time factorsBeing aware of the
whole classroom
Went well:Sparked student
interestStudents became
familiar with recipes
Need to work on:Getting off to a better
startBetter ways of handling
the amount of off-task behaviors
Time frames
Day to day reflectionLesson 3 Lesson 4
Went well:Students finished their
poems and turned them in
Need to work on:Classroom managementBetter transitionsStudents without
supplies
Went well:Students read aloudClass discussionStudent reflections
Need to work on:TransitionsClassroom management
Overall reflectionSchool schedule makes teaching more
difficultLack of rapport with students worked against
meGetting used to the classroom setting againYes, but…Recipe poems were impressiveStudent reflections were impressive and
helpfulStudent interest and pride
Recipe Poems
Recipe Poems
Recipe Poems
Student Reflections
SourcesEnglish Curriculum. State of Israel, Ministry of
Education. Jerusalem, 2001.Ezra, Evelyn. Mind Matters. Eric Cohen Books,
Ltd. Israel, 2006.Newman, Maayan. “A Recipe.” (an excerpt
from her upcoming book and notes from her lecture)
Thanks also to Lois Ben-David and Laureen Rabbe for their help and dedication!