Learning to Work with Everyone

I did an experiment yesterday.  After writing I asked students who wanted to share to bring their writing to the carpet and I sat down on the carpet.  The students are usually excited to sit around me so they came right over and sat down.  My goal was to see if they could function without me sorting everything out for me.  We sat for a minute or so and some students raised their hand politely.  Eventually one student stood up and went to the front to share.  What followed was about eight kids sharing and taking turns without being called.  One student would stand up and then they would see someone else go up and they would wait.  I think that was a great success at this point in the year.

We then went into some group brainstorming work about our community.  I use a website that makes random groups and so far the class seems to like that.  As much as group work bothers me even today, I do understand the importance of being able to work with different people throughout the year and hear different perspectives.  This was also a great success.  The volume level got a little loud with all of those groups working together, but the results of the work were very solid.

As I think about working as a team, it has been expressed to me that at least a few parents feel they would like to know more about what we are doing academically.  I hear that and I will adapt my Monday posts to cover the main points of the week so that you can have a dialogue with your students throughout the week.  In the same way I want my students to use all their skills to work together, I want to use every means of communication that I can use to work well with you.

In the end the old axiom that it takes a village to raise a child is played out everyday in the school system.  One of the most important things for me is that my students realize that I am their teammate for as long as they want me to be.  This is my passion.  I spend many of my planning periods popping into the third and fourth grade class to be their cheerleader and sounding board.  I have sixth graders who stop by after school to talk and occasionally do math homework with me.  This is my team and my family and I will do everything in my power to help these students realize their full potential for the rest of their time in Davison and beyond.