Student Teaching at Beit Sefer Ahkvah

By Khayah Mass

Beit Sefer AhkvahHebrew Israelite Community SchoolElementary through high schoolLocated across the street from the Village of

PeaceVegan cafeteria located within the village

Kitah Tet 120 students: 12 boys, 8

girlsFirst spoken language:

EnglishFirst written language:

Hebrew

What makes a place a home?Theme based on Chapter 1 of The House on

Mango Street (p. 128, unit 5 of Mind Matters textbook)

Recipe poems from Maayan Newman’s lecture and excerpt from upcoming book

Focus within the unit:Reading comprehensionWriting recipe poemsPresenting poemsReflection

Domains and BenchmarksAppreciation of Literature and Culture

Discuss themes and conflicts in literary textsExpress ideas and opinions about literary textsCompare different cultural practices, behaviors

and traditions with their ownAccess to Information

Understand the main idea and supporting details in a text and use this knowledge as needed

Draw inferences in order to identify the points of view in a text, distinguishing fact from opinion

Domains and BenchmarksSocial Interaction

Express personal wishes and opinionsInteract for purposes such as agreeing and

disagreeing, giving instructions, complimenting, giving advice

Give and receive information in writing, such as postcards, letters, email messages

PresentationExpress ideas and opinions about general topics and

experiences using main and supporting ideasReview and edit presentations based on feedback

from peers and/or teacherReact to the content of something read, seen or heard

Introduction of me and the 4-day unit (10 min)

Introduction of short story – The House on Mango Street (5-10 min) Vocabulary Things to think about/look for when

reading The House on Mango Street (5+

min) chapter 1, read aloud by me from

Mind Matters text book Discussion of the story (15-20

min) Explicit comprehension of text Making inferences

Introduce HW (2+ min) Jot down ideas answering: what

makes a place a home?

Brainstorming (10-15 min) Individually As a class

Recipes (5-10 min) Students pick a recipe from

the options and underline verbs and circle measurements

In groups, students discuss which verbs and measurements they highlighted.

Review the writing process (< 5 min)

Writing recipe poems Individually students write

recipe poems reflecting the topic: what makes a place a home?

The Original PlanLesson 1 Lesson 2

The Original PlanLesson 3 Lesson 4 Read poems and make

changes/adjustments (5-10 min)

Sharing Poems (20 min) In groups 2-3 lines to the class

Editing/Cleaning up poems (10-15 min)

Students can work together or individually to create a Final Draft to submit

Looking at the story – The House on Mango Street, Chapter 1 – and the author (10-15 min)

Students take turns reading the story and then reading about the author aloud (pgs. 128,129 and 131 in textbook Mind Matters)

Discussion of story with new information about the author

Looking at our poems and what they say about us as authors (10 min)

Class discussion Looking at the writing process (5-10

min) Discuss changes that were made from

rough drafts to final drafts Reflections (15 min)

Students answer in writing a series of questions about the 4 lessons together

Discuss answers as a class if time permits

What really happenedFour lessons to take place during the week

before Passover turned into two lessons before Passover and two lessons after.

First lesson too fast, remaining lessons too slow

Rough start turned into decent ending

Day to day reflectionLesson 1 Lesson 2

Went well:Students were

comfortableStudents informed of

agenda for day and for unit

Need to work on:Transitions/closureKeeping students aware

of time factorsBeing aware of the

whole classroom

Went well:Sparked student

interestStudents became

familiar with recipes

Need to work on:Getting off to a better

startBetter ways of handling

the amount of off-task behaviors

Time frames

Day to day reflectionLesson 3 Lesson 4

Went well:Students finished their

poems and turned them in

Need to work on:Classroom managementBetter transitionsStudents without

supplies

Went well:Students read aloudClass discussionStudent reflections

Need to work on:TransitionsClassroom management

Overall reflectionSchool schedule makes teaching more

difficultLack of rapport with students worked against

meGetting used to the classroom setting againYes, but…Recipe poems were impressiveStudent reflections were impressive and

helpfulStudent interest and pride

Recipe Poems

Recipe Poems

Recipe Poems

Student Reflections

SourcesEnglish Curriculum. State of Israel, Ministry of

Education. Jerusalem, 2001.Ezra, Evelyn. Mind Matters. Eric Cohen Books,

Ltd. Israel, 2006.Newman, Maayan. “A Recipe.” (an excerpt

from her upcoming book and notes from her lecture)

Thanks also to Lois Ben-David and Laureen Rabbe for their help and dedication!