A Good Lesson On Thursday

Anyway, getting on with the story, but giving it a different post...

So, I lay in bed for a good couple of hours, rehearsing everything about my mini-lesson 100 times. I tend to do this whenever I have a big presentation, I worry about it. I analyze it. I perseverate over it. I wish it would stop. I tend to put as much time into worrying about a presentation as I do developing it in the first place. This does not fit into a healthy sleep schedule. I can't wait for our rural experience in Caliche, were I get to worry all about a presentation of some sort while lying on someone's couch in the middle of a cornfield. Oh, well.

I put together a pretty good lesson, reviewing brandmarks and the elements of good logo design. I got 10 well known logos from the Internet and put them into a slide show, then the students (Abby, Lynn, Tim and Kylie) tried to recall as many of them as they could. We then had a good discussion about the logos, what they looked like, what they had in common, what their function was, and so forth. Then, the group "brainstormed" their ideas for a good logo design. This was followed up by a list from an expert of 6 Key Elements of Logo Design. My group came up with 5 of the six. Then, I set the crowd loose to develop some logos of their own for made up companies. It went pretty well. The group seemed to have fun and learn some things. It was not perfect, of course. My preparation time made me cut out some of the fancy colors and graphics that I would normally like to add to a presentation and the great song that I had for background music didn't work on the computer I was using, but it all went pretty well.

Then the rest of the groups gave their presentations. Kylie did "Body Parts in Spanish," Abby did "Bicycle Parts in French," Lynn did "Bankruptcy," and Tim did a "Get to Know You" session with some amusing exercises. I particularly like Abby's presentations. She has been in my Mini-lesson groups since the beginning. I enjoy listening to her speak in French. I find it amusing. We all did well. Terry was our instructor and filmer and had encouraging words for all of us.

In the afternoon, we met with Lee to review some Environments information. I often wish for more meat with Lee. He has a ton of great experience and wisdom to impart, but we are only getting pieces, I feel. The last of the "Behavior Theorists" groups gave their presentations on Skinner and Dreikurs and we talked about student groups, how to make them and how to control them.

After 3 weeks of the STEPS program, I can officially say that it sucks. I am not opposed to learning any of the information that we are covering, but the presentations seem to have become a blur and it is hard to be sure that you are learning everything. Alot of days, I just come to class and listen to whoever talks to me, not really knowing if I am learning about "Students" or "Tools." Plus, we get to pack all of the information we are receiving into about 5 different big projects, all due in a couple of weeks. The good news is that it will all be over in about three weeks and we will be student teaching full time. Maybe I shouldn't complain, this could last for 4 months....

Tomorrow, we have our Technology class. We are supposed to begin developing a "personal website." This is to teach us how to use web page design software. As I have already developed a 100 MB website complete with reference materials, personal information, search pages, and a completely operational online storefront, I feel as I pretty much know this information, but I will be there anyway.