Brenda Spain with Barbara Farmer as Coach

I am going to mentor a middle school resource teacher. She is planning a
unit that will integrate Language Arts, math, art, and technology with
the book "The Polar Express."

It sounds like a really fun activity that will be highly engaging for
students!
Since this is a resource teacher, are the students on grade level?
No. Students are in grades 6-8 and are all below grade level (3rd - 6th).
There are 14 students who will be participating.

Will there be a variety of grade levels to plan for?
Yes, but I think that all students will be completing the same types of
activities, just at their level.

How is the teacher planning to incorporate the math elements?
Graphing using Post cereal that has come out with a cereal for the movie.
Estimating how many marshmallows, etc. in the cereal, then they will graph
their findings. Also, lapsed time problems.
She has a teacher resource guide for the unit.

Here's where I come in---the kids will be going
on a field trip to Barnes and Nobles for a surprise party, then on to see
the movie.

Will you get to go with them?
YES!! It will be so much fun. I will be on hand to help the kids with
the cameras.

They will be documenting their field trip with digital photography, which they will use to create an electronic scrap book.

Will it be a problem getting the equipment?

No, I have three digital cameras and one digital video camera, so there shouldn't be a problem with that.

How many cameras will be needed?

I think we'll have plenty. We should have enough for the kids to work in groups of 2-3

What software will students use to create the scrapbook?

We are going to use Power Point

Are you planning or a group scrapbook or will students create individual
ones?

Everyone will work on one scrapbook for the class.

In what ways will this teacher need the most support from you as a mentor?

She is not very technology oriented, so that will be her biggest struggle. She will be bringing her students over to the high school (we are in one large building) so that I can help with the Power Point activity. She's a great teacher, but is nervous about the technology aspects. Hopefully I can help alleviate the anxiety.

Barbara