High Five for Friday!

Dawn and I participate in the link party, High Five for Friday, from Lauren Elizabeth's blog. Head on over to Lauren Elizabeth for more "High Five for Friday." We're taking part in this fun reflection each week and hopefully you will too!
This week was pretty uneventful...but it was a good one and I'm glad it's finally the weekend!

1. A Full Week of Work
Although this week was uneventful, we're preparing for a crazy week coming up.  State assessments begin on Tuesday, and the anticipation is mounting.  I'm glad we haven't had snow lately, because my students thrive on a routine!

2. Watching Tori play basketball on TV on Sunday
One of the kids I grew up with, Tori Jarosz, is on the Marist College Women's Basketball Team.  They made it to the first round of March Madness.  They ended up losing the game, but it was incredible to watch her play on television!  She's an incredible basketball player, and has been since she was a little kid.

3. Extended Day
No one likes staying at work until after 6:00 PM, but after getting past the whole idea, it wasn't so bad. It was nice to see colleagues that I haven't seen in forever, and to share ideas.  I work with some amazing teachers with good ideas.  I wish we had time to get together more!

4. Chatting with my parents
After the extended day, I stopped at my parents for a quick visit that turned into a longer visit.  My parents were away for an entire month, and now they're just settling back into their routine.  I really enjoyed having a chat with them.  My parents are my rock, and I'm not sure what I'd do without them.

5. Lesson with Kristin
Today, my literacy coach Kristin, came into my classroom to do a lesson using the Carousel Protocol using test questions.  My students enjoyed the lesson, and I enjoyed co-teaching it with her!  I'm so lucky to have such an awesome resource in my school like Kristin!  You can find out more about the Carousel Protocol here:

Carousel Brainstorm Protocol

Purpose

The purpose of using the carousel brainstorm process is to allow participants to share their ideas and build a common vision or vocabulary; the facilitator can use this process to assess group knowledge or readiness around a variety of issues.

Procedure

1.     Before your group gathers, identify several questions or issues related to your topic, perhaps drawn from a reading that you will share later.

2.     Post your questions or issues on poster paper.

3.     Divide your group into smaller teams to match the number of questions you have created.

4.     Give a different color of marker to each team, and have each team start at a particular question.

5.     At each question, participants should brainstorm responses or points they want to make about the posted question.

6.     After a couple of minutes with each question, signal the teams to move to the next question, until all teams have responded to all questions.

7.     You can conclude the activity having each team highlight and report key points at their initial question or by having participants star the most important points and discussing those.

8.     If it is appropriate for your topic, distribute a related reading and discuss, using the common vocabulary you have built through this process.

Taken from: www.engageny.org/sites/default/files/.../carousel_brainstorm_protocol.doc