Lesson Reflection: Feb.19, 07 -- Red Pockets

I think I did great in planning the time for today's Art lesson. Most of the students finished within the period.

I created a net for the red pockets before hand, and I explained to the students what a net is. I showed them how to cut along the solid lines and how to fold along the dotted lines. I learned from my last Art class (the Valentine's card one) that writing numbers to show them the sequence of the steps would work really well, so I did the same thing for this lesson. I numbered the tabs to show them which one to fold first and where to glue. The lesson went smoothly, and most of the students understood and did pretty well.

I brought in some samples of red pockets to show the students what they could draw on theirs. I told them that this year is the year of the pig, so they might want to draw pigs on their red pockets. They could also draw flowers and other plants, which is more traditional. I put up my samples so that they could refer to them while they were working.

To my surprise, some of the students went up to the board and tried to copy the Chinese words on the sample red pockets! I find that very cute and creative. Some told me that the Chinese words are very hard to write, and a Chinese girl said that it is easy for her because she is Chinese. It opened up a space for the sharing of culture among the students.

I bought some chocolate coins to put into their red pockets, but I forgot to bring them with me. At first, I thought that it didn't matter because that was not the point of the lesson. However, when I thought of how the kids would love the coins, I decided to bring them in on Wednesday. One student asked me what do they do with the red pockets, so I told them that I had a surprise for them, but they had to wait for two days because I forgot to bring them. They were really excited!