Informal Informational Reports

I've been heading into the building below for three days a week all summer. In fact, I started in May with my current group of energetic, adult students. That has seemed like a very long slog, but suddenly the end is coming up as quickly as a hummingbird's wings. Tomorrow will be the last normal teaching day although it promises to be not so normal. I will be meeting with the students in the lobby of the BCIT library tomorrow morning at 8:30. As the course has been going along their arrivals have seemed a little less prompt. Surely, for something special they'll make sure to be there on time. Right?



As it's summer, I wouldn't expect there will be a great number of students in the BCIT library. The students have already paired up and created a list of questions. Their task is to find someone to interview: be it a student, staff, or a visitor. They are supposed to inquire about the person's relationship to the British Columbia Institute of Technology. They have to be adaptable depending on the subject and his or her answers. Note-taking could be crucial. Then, after 45 minutes and the stroll back to our assigned computer lab, my class will each write a modified 'incident report' about what took place. They will enter their reports as the last of 16 answers on the myBCIT message-board area of our course homepage.

When I taught English to second graders, we used to call such writings, language experience stories. Tomorrow's task may be a bit modified and more difficult, but I expect the concept will work just as well with adults.

I love teaching!