A Boy and a Bear in a Boat Reflection

A Boy and a Bear in a Boat:

I thought that this lesson of "A Boy and a Bear in a boat" conducted by Aiden, Reina, Venus and Jessica was pretty good as it involved many activities to help people understand the book more. This was very impressive and interesting as it also helped us think of other concept towards the book such as afterlife, death and a dream. When I was reading the book I never thought of these concepts, therefore, when I came into the lesson today I learned a whole new perspective towards the book. This also changed my feelings towards the book as I know actually really love it and thought it was very fun and a great adventure. I overall thought that the lesson conducted today was very good as it outlined some fun ways of learning such as the music exercise where we had to create a soundtrack for a specific part of the book.

Maggot Moon Class Reflection

Maggot Moon Reflection:

     Today in Brilliant Books, we conducted a class describing to our fellow classmates about the book and the different aspects involved in the novel. In this session today we played many games and various activities to get people thinking about the book and to get into the zone. We played games to help everyone get a little energy before going into some of the harder work. We also chose games to make the session less boring and more on the fun side. However, we did have the students do many discussions in separate groups in which they thought was very boring. We also thought of more fun ways to, for example, get peoples' attention. This 'fun' way of getting attention was that we brought in a whistle to make sure everyone was listening to us, because if we didn't then we would have lost a lot of time and our activities might have been slower. 

     In our group including Shayna, Caitlyn and Cheska we had a lot of preparation for this session today as we made a plan so that we wouldn't be confused on the day. In our plan table we wrote down the times next to the activities that we would play with the students. This way of presenting the work was very clever and much easier to read off of because when were were conducting the class we just glanced down to see what to do next. I believe that this way much better than trying to remember what to do next. This also produced a better outcome! The whistle also helped us to stay on task and it saved us time from shouting at everybody to be quiet. 

What were you proud of? 

I was very proud of the games that we all thought of, especially the dyslexia game because there were all really fun and gave people an experience of what Standish Treadwell felt in the book. For an example, I thought that the Dyslexia games was very successful because everybody seemed to enjoy it and at the same time, it was a great way of showing people how Dyslexia works. However,during the discussion of the game I actually learned many knew things about Dyslexia that I didn't know before the game, including that Dyslexic people prefer colour coding next to the words when they are reading because this makes it easier for them read. Dyslexic people like to have darker colours like grey and black near the letters that they are reading because it helps their eyes focus on the letters rather than what is behind it. 

What were some strengths from the lesson today? 

During this lesson today, I thought there were many strengths because we were well prepared and knew what to say. Here are some of the strengths of the lesson conducted today:

• The games were a big success, especially the game "Green Flies." Green Flies was very successful as it really outlined some of the key events in the book and the main thing that Standish was doing towards the end of the book. The game that we played today helped people to understand that Standish was trying to avoid the Green Flies when he wanted to tell people that the Moon Landing was a hoax. This relates to the game because people were running away from the Green Flies (who were in the middle of block 5 playground) trying to avoid them, as Standish was trying to avoid the Green Flies at the end of the book.
• The Pop Quiz at the beginning of the lesson was very productive as it told us whom read the book or not. This helped us to know if we did all of the work for nothing. It ended up that actually only 3 or 4 people didn't read the book because they mostly stayed behind and didn't contribute much in the lessons anyways.
• I believe that the activity towards the end where the students had to chose between 3 writing tasks was also very successful as it really engrossed the students in the themes of the book and the main message of the book. 

What were some weaknesses from the lesson today?

From my perspective and the reaction of people really tells me that there weren't many weaknesses form our performance today. However, there are always things to work on to improve for next time. Here are some of the point that we struggled in:

• I believe that we spent too much time on the pop quiz at the beginning of the book because we were only meant to spend 5 mins on it, but actually spent 20 mins. Therefore, this left us with not a lot of time at the end to finish off our games that we planned to do. Therefore, next time we really need to stick to our time frame and make sure we don't go over time, because this may affect our performance. 
• In our lesson today we also could have also touched a little more on the Moon Landing conspiracy theories as this was a big part of the book as well. What I found difficult was speaking in front of the class because at some parts throughout our teaching I didn't know what to say even though I prepared. I felt that I said some things that didn't make sense and that weren't clear. This therefore made our job harder as some people didn't understand what we were saying.  

Top 5 Tips to conducting a class

1. The first tip would be to come into a class prepared. Even though some people might be lazy, being prepared really helps and will really make your performance engaging. It also helps you a lot during the lesson, because everyone knows that unpleasant and awkward feeling when you don't know what to say and everyone is looking at you like your crazy. This is a really embarrassing and you don't want to feel this way, so come prepared!
2. When your conducting a class of teenagers there are always going to be people who are noisy and won't listen to you. So, bring something that will attract a lot of attention such as a whistle!
3. Always play some games as this makes things not as boring for the people listening. Games also help get the blood flowing and brain cells thinking as it gives you energy. 
4. Always show videos to support something your saying because this helps the people listening to you to have a better understanding as a video is visual. 
5. Before you come into the classroom,make sure you go over what you are going to say in the class because this will also help a lot when talking in front of a big class. Go over your plan as many times as you can to get used to the order and format, because this was a big mistake that we made.  

 

Brilliant Books Leading session Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions:

1. Standish’s former teacher used to say, “start your story at the beginning,” (p. 3). Do 

you agree that is how stories should be told? Do you think this story would have had 

the same impact if it had been chronological?

2. Hector says, “there are train-track thinkers, then there’s you, Standish, a breeze in 

the park of imagination” (p. 4).What do you believe a train track thinker really means?  What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a ‘train-track thinker’? What are the rewards and dangers of thinking differently?

3. What was one of the downsides of Standish Treadwell that may haunt him for life? Given his 

circumstances, in what way are his other skills more useful to him than academics?

4. When people are killed by the government, all evidence of their existence is erased. 

Why do you think the Motherland does this instead of using the killings as an example 

of total control?

5. “I believe the best thing we have is our imagination,” Hector tells Standish (p. 142). 

What do you think about this quote? Do you agree or disagree?

6. The people in Zone 7 condemn the lies they’re told by the Motherland, but they all 

keep secrets and lie to each other. Do you think they recognise what they’re doing? If 

so, how do you think they justify their actions?

7. Standish’s mother paid with her tongue and ultimately her life for dissenting against 

the Motherland. Was she right to object, even though it put not only her, but her whole 

family, at risk? Can you remember instances in history where people have risked their 

own lives to stand up for what they believed in to change the way things were? What 

would you do?

8. Standish calls Hans Fielder the “real idiot” (p. 72), because he never questions 

anything. Why is it important to question authority?