Thursday - cutting out pictures for their frog metamorphosis project, library time, centers where we made animal cubes. One cube that they colored and I folded and taped had animal heads on it, and the other cube had animal bodies. They were supposed to stack the cubes after they were made to match the animals, or create silly animals of their own. Ok, moving on.
Story #1. Ryan came and sat down at my table during center rotations, and all of the seats were full except the one right next to him. Austin was the last one to arrive at the table, so that was to be his seat. He looked at me and said, "Well Ms. Downing, I don't want to sit next to Ryan." I looked at Austin, looked at Ryan, and then back to Austin. I could handle this situation in one of two ways: 1) I could tell Austin that I'm sorry he felt that way but that is where he is going to sit, or 2) I could have a little lesson on kindness and empathy. I went with my second option and said to Austin, "Well that wasn't a very nice thing to say. I think you know how to be a kind friend, Austin, but that wasn't a very kind friend thing for you to say to Ryan. How would you feel if someone said that to you?" Austin slowly sat down and said, "I would feel sad…" I asked him if he thought he should apologize to Ryan and he said yes, so he did. I moved on with the lesson, but within seconds, Ryan quietly said, "Thank you, Ms. Downing." I said, "You are very welcome," but as I said it, I was struck with how powerful that thank you was. It would have been easier and far more convenient to dismiss Austin's comment and just tell him, "Too bad, that's where you are sitting." But how often do things like this happen and teacher's don't take the time to address the real problem of the situation? The problem wasn't that Austin wouldn't sit down, the problem was that he was saying hurtful things to Ryan, that he may not have originally seen as hurtful.
Story #2. Sophia loves cats; it wouldn't even be too much of a stretch to say she is obsessed with cats. Well, yesterday her mother came into the class before school started to inform us that Sophia may be having a rough day because the night before, her cat Ernie had died. I immediately understood that this was not an easy event to overcome for her as the young animal lover that she is, as did Mrs. Brasler. She asked Sophia's mother if it would be okay for her to use this as a platform to have a discussion about death that morning, in a sensitive and empathetic manner. With the okay, before doing the morning sharing of celebrations that the students may have to offer, Mrs. Brasler invited Sophia up to the front of the room for a hug and to talk about what happened with her cat. Sophia teared up a little bit and shared what happened, and then Mrs. Brasler talked about death being a terribly sad thing, but also a reality. She then shared that when a person or a pet close to you dies, you may be sad for a while, but you have to know that it will be okay because you are going to carry them with you in your heart forever. As she said this, Sophia put her little hand over her heart and I absolutely thought I was going to lose it. All the other kids in the class were so quiet and respectful, and wanted to share how sad they were for her, and how they could understand because they too had known people or pets that had died. Mrs. Brasler pointed out how we are never alone in our experiences, as shown by all the other students who had experienced losses similar to hers.
Needless to say, death was the discussion among the kids for a great part of the rest of the day. Not in a bad way, but just sharing stories about pets they once had that died. But here's the real kicker…you ready? Adrianne comes up to me after another student had been telling me about a dog that died and says, "I keep my grandpa in my heart because he died, but I still love him." Right!? Break my heart.
Story #3. Not as emotional and heartfelt, more of an interesting experience to be a part of. The Kingsmen Shakespearean Company came to do little performance/history lesson on Shakespeare. They started out by talking about who Shakespeare was, and the time period that he lived in. The two actors had created a "play" that they wanted to present to Shakespeare, but they needed Room 3 to help by being actors in their play titled The Storm. They traveled back in time to go present the play to Shakespeare, but along the way they ripped a hole in their pants and had to call a tailor, broke their shoe and had to call a cobbler, and got hungry and had to call a muffin-man. They finally made it to Shakespeare and acted out their play, where 1/3 of the class was the rain, 1/3 of the class was the wind, and 1/3 of the class was the thunder. Every single child was absolutely riveted. They were involved and they were learning and they were having an absolutely fantastic time. They learned about the Elizabethan period, but to them it was all fun and games. They learned to curtsey and bow, they learned that "Huzzah!" means hello and good job, they learned that "Cease!" was the command to stop, they learned about Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre, and they learned about jobs that people may have had during Shakespeare's time. The actors pretended that their idea of The Storm was what inspired the play The Tempest, and they avidly used their imaginations to pretend they were time traveling and encountering different obstacles along the way. The enthusiasm and the energy were catching. It was a flawless blend of Theatre Arts and standard curriculum and it was a pretty inspirational thing to watch as a future teacher. You can bring the arts into your classroom and keep up with the standards and required curriculum, as long as you are willing to put in the creativity. Something like that would be a great activity for the start of a new lesson, like an overview style. I enjoyed it almost as much as the kids, and it definitely got my brain thinking.
No comments:
Post a Comment