Beg, Borrow and Steal

Today was wonderful, long (I'm jet lagged) and interesting.  I got to thinking about how will I use the methods I've observed in my classroom.

For example, story mapping is an excellent suggestion and might help revitalize my nightmarish brainstorming sessions, in which I end up focusing on one or two kids while the others fall off task.  The trick will be adaptation.  In my high school classroom the breadth of background knowledge is the missing and key component that made today's small and large group discussion so marvelous.  It strikes me that if I build a current events component into the structure - like having students choose from a list as we did, then find two current articles from the media at large to share with a peer group before I move to the 'mapping' step, I will add value and make this structure workable.

I also appreciated the first hand 'invesitigative' exercise we did, with actors, but it would be too intensive and more time constrained for my purposes.  I need to take this idea and let the tweaking begin.  Make it smaller, use the resources at my disposal, and fit the investigative portion to a school-flavored subject to really make it something I can and will use. 

By begging for help, borrowing insight when and where I find it, and stealing the obviously awesome - I might just have something.  In fact, I would estimate this one day as being worth 3 weeks of 'something.' What an amazing day!

BTW: Ken Paulson was wonderful, spoke to a subject near and dear to my heart, and had excellent rapport and speaker presence.  Plus, in keeping with my theme of beg, borrow and steal, I might just play unprepared quiz game with my students, only I won't have t-shirts to give away.  What do you think, Tootsie Rolls?

Bridget Parker
Seton-La Salle High School
Pittsburgh, PA