Teaching notes for Deborah Livingston and Moraya Coleman

November 1, 2023

 10:49 start
 M introduced the topic “going to make a character from the book” and explained the main idea of
the project.
 D wrote the parameters of the assignment on the board:
o Ever Present personality
o 1 childhood event
o Potential occupation / skill
o Physical trait
 M explained an example of “snack/smack” from Asher, occupation from Father, etc.
o Then got into modeling the assignment with Harry Potter:
 Drew him on the board and labelled his attributes
 Past childhood: Scar, parents died when he was a baby
 Physical trait: glasses, pale, British,
 Personality:
 Potential Occupation/Skill: book (goes to Hogwarts)
 10:57 M moved on to the next part (back to the other board) and explained that they need a
minimum of 8 descriptions and one of each category.
 D explained 8 is for ME and more is for EX.
 Both D and M handed out the templates for drawing the characters.
 Kids asked questions:
o Do we automatically get an EX if we just do one extra trait?
o Can we use our books?
 M used a clapping cue to get their attention and then explained that this is an “on your own”
assignment and that we would talk about these later.
 11:02 kids working on their own. A few kids still asking questions.
 11:05 D offered the option to create their own character as an easier option if they can’t pick one
from the book.
 Both D and M circulated to help kids who were stuck and answer questions.
 M was at Freddy’s desk for a while.
 Kids were pretty on task.
 A couple of them were having a tough time getting started (Mason, Edmond, Zack, Freddy,
Kingston).
 11:16 M went to the front and gave a 10 minute warning. Reminded them to get the 8 traits.
 D wrote the discussion questions on the board while M circulated some more.
 11:30 M cued “I’m hearing a lot of voices, does that mean we’re done?” Kids asked for more time
so she gave 2 minutes.
 11:34 D counted down with the class (the last 30 sec).
 D read the questions to the class and led a large group discussion.
o Question 1: was about comparing with a partner.
o Question 2: What is something you noticed missing from The Giver society?
o Questions 3: How would you fit into this book?
 11:37 M tried a clap/stomp/snap cue.
  D invited kids to “shout out” any other commonalities from question 1.
 D asked for “eyes all back on me please” and moved on to the next question.
 11:39 band kids came back.
 11:40 D cued “Guys, you’re getting a little loud again”. M asked them to hand in their work, let
them know that they could add their brainstorming if they like.
 Kids started moving around the room. D asked the last question while kids were moving around.
They saw there was more to discuss and sat back down. Kids were talking while Sam said her
answer at the end.
 M asked them to put their names on their papers and said teachers would collect them.
 End 11:43.
Food for thought:

 How do you think it went? Strengths? Weaknesses?

 Is there anything you would change next time?
 Did kids interpret the assignment the way you expected?
 What difficulties did kids have with this assignment?
 How was your timing this time? What did you do to help you keep track of the time?
 What can be done about kids who have missed a lot of school and are far behind? (Mason,
Edmond)
 How do you address kids coming and going for band?
Comments:

 A really cool lesson to check in and understand kids’ understanding of characters. I will totally use

this! 😊
 You did a great job of setting the expectations this time and it really helped the kids get right to
work.

 Much better classroom management over all. What did you do differently? 😊
 Did you mean to have the kids share with a partner so they could compare more in the Large Group
discussion?
 You had a firm watch on the clock and gave several time warnings and also stuck close to the kids

who needed more support to finish on time. Well done! 😊

 I can’t wait to see their final products!