CDD Class Report Uhuru 8-1-09

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru / August 1, 2009


Opening Comments:
The class went well and was generally without unusual incident. Don showed up about ten minutes late, apologizing for being late. Ethan and I were both surprised, as we were under the impression that he would not be teaching this class anymore. Don left and said he would get in touch with Kathleen.

Attendance:
At the beginning of class, nine students were present and four missing. Students said that John Ferris walked out of the facility the night before and wouldn’t return, but they said the same thing about him last Saturday and it turned out not to be true. After the break, Harriet and Shawna left to go to a facility event. We told them that they would be marked absent, but we were glad they came to get the information. They understood the implications of an absent mark and were okay with that.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Ethan started with a brief introduction, as it was his first class. We had the agenda on the board and went over it quickly. We both passed out notebooks, and Ethan used it as an opportunity to get everyone’s names.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
First, we reviewed the outline. I made sure students knew it was due on Tuesday, the next class. Students expressed that they understood the process and format, so I asked if anyone wanted to come up and reteach the information to the class. Harriet volunteered, and came up and wrote some notes from the outline introduction on Tuesday. I stressed that this is important, but not quite what I was looking for, and Terrell offered to come up and explain it. He wrote on the board and explained each section of the outline very well. He wrote notes under each number about what each section should cover. The class gave him a round of applause, and everyone expressed comfort with the outline except Dexter, so I said I would discuss it in greater detail with him during lab time.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
After, I reviewed the six computer discovery terms from Tuesday’s class. Ethan opened up the dead computer and held up each part as we discussed it. One of two students had questions about the test, and Ethan answered them.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
Next, Ethan spent some time working from Module 1 in the handbook. He reviewed the purpose of double-click and single-click, saying basically that single click is to select and double is to activate, with the exception of menus like the start bar. He drew pictures on the board of windows on a screen and explained how to resize, select and move windows. Ethan wrote down key parts of the lecture on the board in simple terms, telling students that they should write what he writes, because he only wrote down the most important things. Students took notes. At the beginning of lab time, the students turned on the computers and Ethan led them through the process of moving and resizing windows again to ensure that they understood all different ways.

LAB TIME:
Because there were enough computers for all students to use one, we didn’t divide them into their usual groups. Instead, after Ethan led them through Module 1 review on the computers, we had anyone who wanted help with their outlines come to the front, and anyone who felt confident about it go to the back and work on Mavis Beacon. Only Dexter and Jerry stayed in the front, but a few students in the back ended up getting help on their outlines anyway. Many students were writing their outlines basically as their essays; they filled in each number with the next sentence, instead of with the next idea. In the last few minutes of class, Ethan wrote a sample outline on the board to review. After class, Jerry stayed for a few minutes because he wanted Ethan to explain the parts of the computer in a little better detail, and Ty stayed so that I could check out his outline and make sure he was on the right track.

FINAL NOTES:Students seemed to be putting a lot of thought into their plans and outlines. Many of them had already started writing or completed their papers, although we told them that perhaps they might want to do a second draft. A couple students were focusing excessively on computer skills they would want to use in the future, so we suggested that they focus on their entire lives instead