The happy life of teacher librarians: maybe bunnies weren't a good suggestion...

One of the Year 9 boys has been making 'films' using his DER laptop computer.  They're animated, with black stick figures and silhouettes of other items.  He showed me one yesterday.

Kid: Look at my film, miss!
(film runs for a couple of minutes, stick figures running up and down various obstacles, and shooting guns at frequent intervals)

That's a lot of frames you have in there!

Kid: Yes, 150 of them (a fair amount of dedicated work for him to have done, nice to be able to praise him for it)

So how do you put it together? - must have taken you a while

Kid: I download the images from the internet then put it together myself.

Well done!  You know, though, all that shooting (I look kinda sad) - couldn't you make your next one about fluffy bunnies, and daisies, and sunshine???

Kid: Oh, I've done one with bunnies.  I had a four wheel drive run them over after about twenty seconds.




The happy life of teacher librarians.  Maybe bunnies weren't a good suggestion...!!!

Cheers

Ruth

The happy life of teacher librarians: are you sure the brother died, sweetie?

Helping a kid with a speech on Hana's suitcase.

OK, you can focus your speech on an incident in the book that really had an impact on you. (teacher has told me kid x has read the book).

Kid: Well, I guess the bit where she found out her brother was dead

O-kay...but are you sure the brother died?

Kid: Oh yes, George died.

There's a picture of George as a man here in the book...

Kid: He died, miss.

And here's a paragraph about it (reads paragraph, which describes GEORGE finding out how HANA died in Auschwitz - George having survived the war).

Kid: that's right, Hana died.

Now about your speech, what else do you remember about the novel?

Kid: Dunno

But you read it in class, all together

Kid: Yeah, but I didn't listen much.

So why did Hana have to pack a suitcase?

Kid: it was the war

Which one?

Kid: the one with the Nazis

And that was - ?

Kid: World War.

World War 1 or World War 2?

Kid.  One.  Two.  One.  No, it was Two, wasn't it?

Right...

by the end of the lesson, we had the beginnings of a speech....he went away with a printout of what we had composed so far, and we'll work on it a bit more when the class returns.  There are a couple of others especially needing one on one help, and whose removal from the class makes it all work just a bit better...

The happy life of teacher librarians: one step at a time, and make sure you know WHO died (!)

Cheers

Ruth