Boys and Girls Learn Differently

I really liked the activity that we had to do at the beginning of the book talk presentation. While you did this as a example of finding if more guys and one girl, or more girls and one guy, and all girls working together to see how it worked, I would personally use it as a team building activity in my classroom. Sometimes, as it was shown in class it doesn't work out as expected. However, with this activity you could use it to see who the leaders are in your classroom, and who are okay with listening to others. The little quiz thing that we did after the activity was pretty cool, but I wasn't really sure exactly how it tied into everything. Kyle and Sarah, I really liked your topics about the sports and the counseling. I really agree with the new types of counselings, and they make complete sense with the way that boys and girls personalities are. The segregation in the classroom piece was definitely interesting to think about. However, I do not like the idea of segregated schools. I think that after all that this country has worked for with equality in every aspect, many people could see this as a step backwards. The idea of school uniforms also seems rather old school. I can see how it could be convenient for some who have an issue of getting ready in the morning. This book seems like it has a lot of radical ideas in it, that might be hard to imply at this time in the schools.

Becoming a Wiz at Brain-Based Teaching

This was a really great presentation. I like how you guys had the classroom set up like a casino with the lights, music, tablecloths, lounge area, and food. This definitely changed the mood of the room, and really got you to want to know what this book was all about. Eric, your section at the lounge was really cool. I liked doing the quote part, and talking about the arrangement and moods of rooms. Something that we talk about in class a lot, but it was cool to see it actually put to good use. Susanna, your game was awesome, (even though Dr. Grace beat me), I liked getting the horseshoes and reading all of those facts about the brain. A lot of these things really related to the part of my book that I read. Josh, thanks for teaching me how to play blackjack! I like how you related three different assessment levels to the blackjack game. It really gave us a visual to link this to. Lyzz, that big game of memory with the facts was really cool. If we hadn't run out of time, I'm sure we would have been able to tell in our group who had a good spatial memory. All in all this presentation was awesome, and I really liked how you guys made the feel of the book really come alive.

Book Talks

Student Oriented Curriculum
I really enjoyed the way that this book was taught to our class. The form of splitting up into groups and being taught different sections of the book was cool. Being able to have small discussions with two or three other people was a great way to work. This way you are able to really get everything in that you want to say. I like how from the book we were told about the new way of doing an assessment. Because using portfolios and having student led conferences were a very good idea. All in all the presentation for this book was done very well. I really like the idea that this book presents, and I would really like to see it done in the real classroom. Witnessing it would be very cool. I hope to sometime I could work in a school that is in the advancement away from the old school way of teaching.