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SUSAN GERARDI: Good morning, boys and girls.
Today, we are going to talk about Memorial Day.
The goal of this mini-unit on Memorial Day
is for the students to get a global understanding
of why it's important to study the past,
why we as America study certain holidays,
and just get vocabulary that's conducive
to those kinds of lessons.
On Memorial Day, we honor the men and women
who have fought and died to keep our country free.
It's a year-long series on national and state holidays.
My question is, "Why do we celebrate Memorial Day?"
Turn and talk.
(students talking)
The instructional strategies that I used today
specifically in my lesson
was to have some turn and talk activities
where I ask questions and then they share with their partner.
I turned and talked about, like, Memorial Day.
It's a holiday.
You put flags on the graves of people who died in the army.
GERARDI: Also to do fishbowl, where I'm modeling,
explicitly modeling what I expect students to do.
When Mrs. Gerardi says "fishbowl,"
everybody in the class goes in a circle.
GERARDI: So now I'm going to pretend Logan and I
are having a conversation about this picture.
You go first.
LOGAN: I wonder, how does this picture make you feel?
GERARDI: Well, I'm kind of curious.
Showing them how their conversations should be,
what kind of words should we say, how to stay on task.
Why are they putting up an American flag?
What do you think?
LOGAN: I think because it's probably what they do
after their victory.
Oh, I get it.
Key would be think of what you want out of it
and model, model, model.
Do you think you could do that, boys and girls?
Have a learning conversation?
STUDENTS: Yeah.
GERARDI: Let's go over our rules.
We listen to each other, we take turns, we stay on topic,
and we're going to really try to use new vocabulary
and ask great questions.
I gave them some key vocabulary words
that they should maybe think about while they're discussing:
sacrifice, honor, freedom.
What is he doing with all those flags?
I wonder what he's doing.
Why does he have all those flags?
Where do you think he might be going with them?
What did we learning about what did the soldiers do?
Put the flags...
Where?
On the graves.
Do you think he's going to a cemetery?
I do think about how they're going to sit,
where they're going to sit before each lesson.
STUDENT: I wonder why one person is wearing gloves.
GERARDI: Today, side-by-side was efficient
because they're looking at the picture in the middle
and they're sharing their tools.
STUDENT: I wonder why they have different shirts.
These four have the same ones.
GERARDI: When I have the picture, I'm saying something,
and when you have the picture...
I think that physically helped them
with their conversation, also.
STUDENTS: How does this picture make you feel?
Sad.
(bell ringing)
Great job, boys and girls.
This is what I want you to do now:
come back to the floor
so we can wrap this part up.
So what we're going to do now
is we're going to put up all of our pictures
and we're going to say something about our picture
that we talked about.
I would like Maya and Ceraya to stand.
Show the class your picture
and tell us your wonder or your question or your statement.
What did you say about that picture?
What does it show us?
Honor.
GERARDI: It shows us honor.
Why does it show us honor?
Because all these soldiers risked their lives
for our lives.
GERARDI: And what symbol on that picture shows you
that we're honoring them?
The flags.
GERARDI: You got it.
We're expecting more, and the kids are reaching that.
The push of Common Core
and the push of education in the state of Massachusetts
is allowing that to happen.
I think we've shared enough.
What I want you to do is...
STUDENT: We tried our best!
GERARDI: Yes, you always do.