Reflection #1 - Trussville Middle School - 09/25/2014

I really enjoyed my first day at an American School. I was very excited and curious about seeing and experiencing an American School. It was totally different to German schools, so it was really interesting.
The first difference is that the teachers have their own classroom and the students have to move from one classroom to another. In Germany it's the opposite, the students stay in their classroom and the teachers have to move to different classrooms.
The next difference is the arrangement of the student tables. The students in Mrs McIntosh's class sit in two groups of tables with a corridor between them facing each other and each student has its own table. Mrs McIntosh stood between the two groups while teaching. I really like that constellation, the teacher is not in front of the students but with them/between them.
All of them had their own chromebook, which they get when they come into the classroom and bring back a few minutes before class ends.
Before the Class Mrs. McIntosh stood outside the classroom and waited for her students greeting them coming in. When all of them were in the room, she started the lesson with a cheer which her students repeated. The classes were about Short Stories including Rise & Fall and Literary Devices.
All of the three lessons started with one student as 'Vocab Coach'. The student said one vocab (e.g. con, psych, dia, over/above) and made a suitable move, which the other students have to repeat. I really liked it because it's learning with various senses, it combines hearing, speaking and action. After that some students presented their 'Word Nerds' to the class. They had a word, e.g. psych and had to find a word concluding the word part, a memory hook and they had to draw a suitable picture and find a definition of the word.
In one class (Advanced class) they worked in their read different short stories and had worksheets for the stories. The students could decide whether they want to read the stories on their chromebooks or if they want to read and listen to the story. She also allowed the students to listen to music while they worked on their worksheets.
In the other class (General class) they also did the Vocab Coach and Word Nerds, but they listened together to the short story "The Most Dangerous Game" and while listening the students could read the text on their chromebooks if they want to. After a while Mrs McIntosh stopped the story and asked the students some questions on the story, than she made them stand up and walk with their chromebooks through the room, then she said "Banana" and they had to sit down where they stand. Afterwards they continued listening to the story. I really liked the Banana Game, because the students sat for a long time and just listened and read, so the students 'wake up'.
I really liked the lessons and the way Mrs McIntosh arranged it. The students could decide which way of learning they prefer and which way suits them best.