Last week I was riding on the school bus returning from a field trip to the Fresno Fair. The teacher sitting next to me jokingly tried to convince some of the students that the bus was still in Fresno, even though we had traveled through the country and were now coming upon houses in our little town. One student replied, "No, we're not - there aren't any stoplights."
I was struck by this perspective and it reminded me that childrren make their own observations and come to their own conclusions without adult instruction. Their fresh outlook sometimes startles me and it makes me want to listen more as a teacher. There are ideas in their heads that we may never know about if we don't take that time to hear them.
In my classroom I try to let my students problem-solve when issues arise. For example, recently I honestly didn't know how to stack all the different-sized student chairs in my classroom so that the janitor could easily vacuum. I asked two of my third grade students to help after school and together we figured out a workable solution. They are now my "chair experts." The more I invite students into the process of thinking collaboratively, the more I realize that students are very capable (just small and inexperienced) thinking human beings.
I've heard that educators often overestimate children's academic abilities and underestimate their creative abilities. I believe this resource of brain power may go to waste in classrooms where teachers do lecture-style, direct instruction style of teaching all day.
Why bring this up? I'm excited to think about what my students may come up with when we start to discuss poverty. What are their perceptions? What are their solutions? What do they think?
I was struck by this perspective and it reminded me that childrren make their own observations and come to their own conclusions without adult instruction. Their fresh outlook sometimes startles me and it makes me want to listen more as a teacher. There are ideas in their heads that we may never know about if we don't take that time to hear them.
In my classroom I try to let my students problem-solve when issues arise. For example, recently I honestly didn't know how to stack all the different-sized student chairs in my classroom so that the janitor could easily vacuum. I asked two of my third grade students to help after school and together we figured out a workable solution. They are now my "chair experts." The more I invite students into the process of thinking collaboratively, the more I realize that students are very capable (just small and inexperienced) thinking human beings.
I've heard that educators often overestimate children's academic abilities and underestimate their creative abilities. I believe this resource of brain power may go to waste in classrooms where teachers do lecture-style, direct instruction style of teaching all day.
Why bring this up? I'm excited to think about what my students may come up with when we start to discuss poverty. What are their perceptions? What are their solutions? What do they think?
8 comments:
The question is what is poverty? I can recall several adults that I know saying that when they were young, they were poor but didn't know it. They speak of times when they only had one thing to eat, but that they never thought about it until they got older and found out that they lived in poverty. I wonder if by discussing poverty you will expose students to a reality that they don't see. I wonder if this will be a good tactic?
As you well noted, Shawna, students are far more intuitive than we give them credit for. I think they'll be quite frank about sharing their experiences with you and each other. Kerman is a very small, rural town much like the town where I grew up. My parents were immigrant farm laborers who didn't have the means to afford things beyond the daily necessities. A poignant childhood memory about wearing back-to-school clothes on the first day of third grade finally sealed the deal for me. It was a bad "work" year, that forced my parents to suspend the budget that was usually set aside for my school clothes. Anyway, I had no choice but to wear a pair of grand daddy giveaway pants bought from dona Irene's garage store around the corner from our house. The pants were plaid, with multiple colors including purple, yellow, white and black. My shirt was no less attractive. It sported horizontal zig-zag lines with a similar color scheme found on my pants. While everyone else seemed to be wearing slick, button fly 501's, I was struttin' around school looking like the Chi-Chi Rodriguez. I new I was poor. I was happy, but poor. Earlier, in my childhood, I had always wondered why good ol' St. Nick always skipped over el Campo 12, the migrant camp that was our home, leaving behind only disappointed children listening for jingle bells and magical hooves on the roof-tops.
I'd like to follow up on how your students respond to your inquiries. Do you have any sample questions you plan to use with your students? Good Luck!
I agree, my students are always coming up with better ideas than I have. For example one of my students recently piped up during math class and said she had another way to teach everyone how to round. She said that the digit in the place value you are supposed to round to is having a birthday party. The digit in the place value to its right is downstairs and they want to come to the party. They are only invited if they are older than 4 years old. If they can come the party gets bigger by one, if they cant is stays the same!
Brilliant!
Your story reminds me that I live in a county with NO stoplights!! One student I worked with last year, in second grade, was traveling on a bus and saw a McDonalds on the side of the road. "Does the big M stand for mommy?" he asked. To many of my students, Fresno is the biggest city in the world.
Shawna, you need to touch base with Sharon Keenan in our group. She is working with her 6th graders on how to take on the responsiblity of their assignments and their learning. It may be difficult for 3rd grade, however I believe her findings would be interesting to you.
Good observations by Monica and Ish. Thought provoking, if you don't know what you don't have, how can you miss it? Good discussion here--LOVE IT!
I like first graders. They are very honest but have a bigger vocabulary than kindergarteners. Sometimes they share too much information but at other times their willingness to share gives you a window into their life.
What you are discussing is similar to the Freirean approach or a critical pedagogical attempt to educate your students by relating knowledge to their personal lives or community. I believe in this approach, I recommend you read Paulo Freire "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" and if you have then take solace in knowing you are doing the right thing though communicative action. P.S. I teach TESOL in OREGON for Kindergarten through High School and lived in Japan for three years. :0 who am I? email me, lots has changed since we last chatted. Peace
Kimberly, To be fair, Fresno is a very big city! I come from a small city of 40,000, so at 1,000,000 or so, it is a very big city! It's not NY or L.A., and it seems smaller because of the farming aspect, I suppose. Where I teach, there is pretty much nothing but desert all around us. Desert and parolees! I think many of us deal with poverty. The parents in my class, most of them clean rich people's houses.
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