@tfadawghopeful I also think I’ll wait until tomorrow to accept. I spoke with a regional consultant today and she was super helpful; I’m waiting for her to send me some more documents but once I read them over I think I’ll feel 110% about accepting (I already feel like 99% haha).
I accepted my offer yesterday!
Secondary mathematics in Connecticut. Connecticut was ranked 7 or 8 for mew, but nonetheless Im stoked
I applied for the DL3 and I’m kinda nervous about the whole process but I’m feeling confident! Wish me luck!! 
I just accepted my offer! If anyone wants to connect on Facebook, message me or let me know on here! I have yet to find anyone else going to Chicago, and there doesn’t seem to be a Facebook group for Chicago 2018 corps members yet, so I’m looking for basically anyone to be excited about this with.
@cookie2018 Good luck!!! I know a lot of people disappear from this thread once they get accepted, but I’ll still be around if you want to chat/ask questions about the process!
@cookie2018 I’ll also be around!! Having someone to talk to about the process helped me so much.
Thank you guys so much!! I really want this experience so I could use all the motivation you can give! I did want to ask how you prepared for your mini lessons? I have a few ideas but I could really use some resources to help me plan it out. Thanks!! @tfa2o18 @Ranza123
@cookie2018 I personally wrote out everything I wanted to say in my lesson and then practiced it over and over. I recorded myself just on my laptop’s photobooth app so I could see everything I was doing wrong. And be sure to time yourself! Try to do it in 4 and a half minutes to give yourself extra time for unexpected questions from the class. Also, write down all the required information (name, lesson objective, etc) beforehand so you don’t have to take up time writing it all down on the whiteboard at the beginning. Everybody in my interview group who hadn’t written it out beforehand ended up eating into their lesson time getting set up.
okay great!! How did you go about choosing your topic and grade level? @Ranza123
@cookie2018 I did 11th grade U.S. History; I ended up choosing a topic I had been discussing in my own classes this semester and just simplified it slightly to be appropriate for high school. I would say try to do something pretty simple, since it’s difficult to convey a complicated topic in five minutes and it’s easier to test whether the class met the learning objective when it’s a simple topic. Also, you can say “last class we learned X, today we’ll be building on it by learning Y” in order to establish some background knowledge without wasting time actually teaching it. Do you have any ideas for what you want to teach?
I really want to teach high elementary like 3-5 so I’m trying to remember what I learned in those grades lol I’m thinking about teaching some aspect of poetry but the structure of the lesson is what I’m struggling with the most. Like do I test the objective during my 5 minutes?
@cookie2018 yeah you should have some way of testing throughout the lesson whether the class is getting the concept! Partway through I had the class give a thumbs up if they were clear on the definition I gave, and I had a worksheet that I gave them a bit to work on and then asked a couple people to share their answers.
Also, your sample lesson can be for a grade level you don’t intend on actually teaching later on! So even if you want to teach elementary, but you have a good idea for a different grade level lesson, it won’t have any effect on your actual placement.
@cookie2018 I did a grammar lesson geared toward HS juniors. Stick to the “I do, we do, you do” format, and choose simple over flashy or complicated. I defined a modifier + gave an example, then had my “class” look at the second example and do it with me, and then I had them do a pass the paper activity during which they wrote their own modifiers. Everyone wrote the independent clause, then they each passed their paper to the left and added the modifier to the clause. That way, it was group work and interactive, and I was able to assess what they learned. I also used them as exit slips so I could assess the class’ work later (just in case TFA wanted to see every student be assessed? Idk, I was just trying to cover all my bases just in case). I actually ended up more than fine on time; they called the one-minute warning as I was having someone say the modifier they wrote on their own. Like @Ranza123, I practiced my lesson and filmed myself giving it over and over again. One person in my group did a lesson aimed at first graders identifying whether words rhymed or not. We’d give a thumbs up or down and then we picked a partner and did it with them. It was very effective and one of the best lessons in my interview group for sure. I hope that girl ended up getting accepted lol.
Also, my biggest advice EVER for the lesson is BRING SCOTCH TAPE. Seriously, that’s it. #1. You know how when you roll up posters and then you unroll them later and they stay all bendy and weird and won’t stand up straight? That WILL happen. And there also may not be a decent enough ledge to set your poster on anyway. Literally half my interview group ended up borrowing my tape.
Second biggest advice besides following the format and keeping it simple is participating in everyone else’s lessons. There were some people in my group that were pretty close to silent, and it definitely didn’t help the vibe of the room. I tried to be as vocal and eager to participate as possible, esp. for the lessons geared at little kids, because it’s weird to be in a room full of people aged 22+ and talking to them like they’re 6. If someone does a lesson on adding single digits, don’t think you’re too grown-up to count on your fingers or use the timeline like the “teacher” suggests in the lesson. Honestly, the interviewers are always assessing us and I seriously believe a small part of the reason I got in was because I was interactive and supportive during all the lessons.
@cookie2018 I did my lesson plan on musical rhythms for 6th graders, and I focused specifically on teaching the students triplets. I had everything written out in advance, including my name, subject, grade, and objective of the lesson. I also had two sheets of poster board with my musical rhythms already written out. I also created sheet music for the students with the rhythms (four measures altogether) that I would be teaching them.
I started with “this week we’ve been discussing rhythms…” briefly went over the definition of rhythm, asked the students to give me an example of a rhythm, then started my lesson plan. (That took just under a minute.)
Then I explained what a triplet was, how to identify it, and how to sing it. Then I did some call and repeat, to make sure the students were singing the right rhythms. Then I had them sing two rhythms on their own (I gave them the beat), and that’s how I tested whether or not they had learned my lesson. It ended up taking just under 4 minutes, because I didn’t get the one minute left warning from my interviewer before I finished. So aim for 4.5 minutes, you’ll probably go a little faster than you practice, but you’ll have time for questions if anything comes up.
@CatsAndMoreCats omg that sounds like SUCH a blast.
Thank ya’ll so much!! this has definitely helped me a lot!! I think I got the jist of my plan with a little more tweaking and practicing to do. I’m so excited for this!! I really hope I can get in and get a region I like. @tfa2o18 @Ranza123 @CatsAndMoreCats
@cookie2018 You got this!! When is your interview? And what regions are you looking at?
@cookie2018 I second what @tfa2o18 said about bringing tape. Here are some additional pointers that we all managed to miss mentioning on her but are still important to mention!
Bring ~14 copies of the worksheet that you are having the students complete (assuming you have them do a worksheet of some sort). That way, everyone, including the two interviewers can have their own. It’s always better to have 4 extra than 1 short. That being said, bring pencils if your students will need them to complete said worksheet.
@tfa2o18 Ah! My lesson plan went really well! I had fun with it, and I think that my interviewers saw me having fun with it. I had ultimately decided to work with musical rhythms because I’ve been in choir since middle school, and I’m still in choir. So I adapted some things that my choir directors/conductors had used with us. I had the students sing “pear” on quarter notes, “apple” on eighth notes, and “blueberry” on the triplets. It was so much fun!
@cookie2018 My biggest advice is just to have fun with it and don’t worry if it doesn’t align with what you want to teach! I taught people HS Civics by explaining how the electoral college works and mentioned fun facts throughout. I didn’t exactly line up with the I do, you do, etc, but instead I just asked questions throughout to keep the audience engaged and asked if anyone had questions once or twice during the lesson. It was cool because a lot of the other applicants and even the interviewers said it was a good refresher.
And after all that, I’ll be teaching HS Math so just teach what ya love!
@cookie2018
To build on @CatsAndMoreCats regarding the copies of paper and writing utensils: That 1 minute set-up time goes FAST. When I practiced, I seriously thought it would take me like 30 seconds to set up, but I ended up eating into my lesson time by like 2 seconds. I wasted A LOT of time going up to each person and giving each person their own sheet of paper and a pen. The people after me were much more logical and told us to take one and pass it down. I know it sounds obvious, but my nerves really messed with me. I was the first to go and I had no one to model the little quirks after, so I did a dumb thing lol.
@cookie2018
My advice is to write out your name, objective and grade out on the large post it, the self-stick ones. So you just stick up wherever. If you cant do that I would write it out and place the tape on the back of your poster beforehand (once you reach your interview site.
For my lesson, I taught Kindergarten and I taught the “SH” sound. It was simple and something that can be taught in 5 min. Practice, Practice, Practice. One thing I did to prepared were to write down talking POINTS on index cards so I can remember the flow of my lesson and in case my nerve got the best of me. I told them I had written some talking points and they were ok with it. Remember the mini-lesson is not about showing your knowledge of a topic, so pick something that is teachable in 5 mins.
My region placement is NYC, special education 1-12