Strat J 1, Brandon Maynard

Brandon Maynard
Clinical Journal
Post 1

This is my “first day” at the school. Actually, the first day started last semester with a clinical in another class, but this is my first day focusing on this clinical journal. I actually start my unit on Monday, April the sixth, which is a week before Vinson’s spring break, and then we will pick back up after their spring break. Vinson has an interesting schedule for social studies. Wednesdays there are no eight grade classes for social studies, but instead, they do a program called Roads to Success taught by a good friend of mine, so I lose two days automatically in my unit, but will pick them up on the start of the third week as well as an extra day of review from missing out on the time the take off for spring break. So in all reality, my unit will be spread over the course of four weeks, but instruction will take place no more then eleven days.

Currently, there is a student teacher in the class who is wrapping up her time as a student teacher. I have observed this student teacher for quite some time now, and have learned a good deal of information about the students through what she does with them. I still don’t know the students names, but hopefully that will change soon. The student teacher, however, has been really good with the students in the area of nonlinguistic representations. To refresh some minds, this is basically putting kids in situations which took place in history and having them determine their own outcomes, and put into words what is going on. The have been doing this activity journal in class in which they were to, at the beginning, create a “posse” that was taking a trip through western Virginia (before it was a state) and explore the territory.

They were required, each day, to record the groups’ findings and give as much detail as possible to their journey through the forests with some guidance from the student teacher, but really, not much guidance at all. They were to create a list of supplies which could be carried by 5 hikers and one horse with two saddle bags that contained thirteen hundred cubic inches of space in each. Throughout her unit, supplies would run out and sickness, sometimes death, and bad weather would come through and deplete their supplies. This would cause them to think of how to replenish those supplies. Also, animals snuck into the camp and stole food, so the groups had to discover how to either farm quick food, communicate./trade with natives, or become hunters and gatherers. This is a great activity for the students because it really places them in the early days of the area of western Virginia and gets them to understand what life was really like back then. I felt this was a great example of nonlinguistic representation because it is something she carried throughout the entire unit, from day one. It is something that students have looked forward to doing each day because they were interested to see what disaster, animal, or Native American stole their food or who came down with malaria next. Of all the poor things the student teacher does, this is by far, her best idea and it works.