Memo #4 The End of Observations with JD's Classroom

Last week on Thursday, I sat in with JD’s class.  The week before, his classroom watched and finished the movie Super Size Me and this week the students were to have an in-class discussion whether what people eat should be restricted or not.  The point of the exercise was

Memo #3

Over the past few weeks I've had the opportunity to observe my friend, James David Salisbury, in his middle school classroom at the Nathanael Greene Middle School.  He is an English teacher that spans 6^th grade to 8^th grade, and also has the opportunity to teach an accelerated 8^th grade class.  Before observing his class I had a number of questions that I wanted to ask him about how he taught.

What do you to present your writing assignments to the class?

When you are trying to learn the class a new writing technique or integrating the 5-paragraph essay into their academics, what steps do you take?

How do you keep control of your class?

What makes your students take note of your lessons? (How do you make yourself memorable?)

With 45 minutes to 1 hour, how do you teach everything you need to teach them?