There is not much to blog about, as this was a rather short week.
This week, we focused on Veterans’ Day. I thought the lessons I did went pretty well. There were some misconceptions about who a veteran is, and I was afraid it would be hard to change those misconceptions. However, by the end of the week, the students seemed to understand who a veteran is and what a veteran looks like. They were able to explain that a veteran can be dead or alive, a man or a woman, and old or young. As I did these lessons this week, I wish I would have had access to more books about Veterans’ Day. There do not seem to be very many books written about the holiday, especially on the kindergarten level. The lessons I did were dull in comparison to actually having real veterans visit our classroom. I think the kids learned more from their short visits with Mr. Smyth and Liam’s grandfather than they did from any lesson I taught or could have taught. I think having those kinds of real, authentic experiences have great impact on the students. Meeting those veterans is something the kids will never forget.
On Thursday, I did a sociogram with the students. As I analyzed the results of the sociogram, my predictions about who the ghosts and stars are were dead on. And I have to admit, the students who were the ghosts are the ones I, too, often overlook. I am going to try to be more aware of these students during my teaching so I do not seem to show favoritism.
On Friday, I attended a professional development meeting based around teachers as policy advocates. While this idea is something new to me, mostly because I do not yet have the “power” to be a policy advocate, I was surprised at how much I already knew about the process of changing/making educational policies. While being in this group is optional, I believe I will continue in it. As part of the group, I will be working to develop a [simulated] policy plan/agenda and devise ways to follow through with the plan. I feel taking part in this advocacy group will be beneficial when I am job searching, because I will be able to say I have had that experience.
There is not much to blog about, as this was a rather short week.
ReplyDeleteThis week, we focused on Veterans’ Day. I thought the lessons I did went pretty well. There were some misconceptions about who a veteran is, and I was afraid it would be hard to change those misconceptions. However, by the end of the week, the students seemed to understand who a veteran is and what a veteran looks like. They were able to explain that a veteran can be dead or alive, a man or a woman, and old or young. As I did these lessons this week, I wish I would have had access to more books about Veterans’ Day. There do not seem to be very many books written about the holiday, especially on the kindergarten level. The lessons I did were dull in comparison to actually having real veterans visit our classroom. I think the kids learned more from their short visits with Mr. Smyth and Liam’s grandfather than they did from any lesson I taught or could have taught. I think having those kinds of real, authentic experiences have great impact on the students. Meeting those veterans is something the kids will never forget.
On Thursday, I did a sociogram with the students. As I analyzed the results of the sociogram, my predictions about who the ghosts and stars are were dead on. And I have to admit, the students who were the ghosts are the ones I, too, often overlook. I am going to try to be more aware of these students during my teaching so I do not seem to show favoritism.
On Friday, I attended a professional development meeting based around teachers as policy advocates. While this idea is something new to me, mostly because I do not yet have the “power” to be a policy advocate, I was surprised at how much I already knew about the process of changing/making educational policies. While being in this group is optional, I believe I will continue in it. As part of the group, I will be working to develop a [simulated] policy plan/agenda and devise ways to follow through with the plan. I feel taking part in this advocacy group will be beneficial when I am job searching, because I will be able to say I have had that experience.
Your ghost observation is so true. I wonder how often we create, or at least worsen the situation.
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