Our class will participate in Spring Spark, a 2-day-long, weekend program at MIT hosted by the student-run MIT Educational Studies Program. This annual event is impressive in its size and scope: roughly 300 teachers offer about 250 classes on all sorts of topics to around 1,000 seventh and eighth graders.
Spring Spark will take place Saturday, March 18, and Sunday, March 19. We will register as a group to cooperatively teach two sections of Language Science, so please hold these dates open.
To prepare for Spring Spark, you will work with class colleagues to design an hour-long class, using the UbD framework of course design. You will also attend an hour-long Spring Spark teacher orientation in late February. Other details will be discussed in class.
After Spring Spark, you will write an essay (300–500 words) in which you reflect on your experience designing and teaching the lesson. This essay should be posted online by 10 pm the night before our eighth class session. Reflections will be discussed in class that week.
If you are unable to participate in Spring Spark, please speak with me about arranging an alternative teaching experience.
