Saturday, January 12, 2008

"we are all teachers and we are all learners"

intersession ended yesterday with a whirlwind day of presentations and cleaning. the kids and i worked hard to scrub up what was left from our adventures in splatter paint, and then wrote a long apology to the teacher who normally uses the classroom. lesson learned: put down newspaper when splatter painting.

my kiddos held a "gallery walk" for classes to come in and view their scrapbooking work. After about 10 minutes of showing off their achievements i rang a bell and turned my scrapbookers into teachers. They used ed emberley's instructions to teach their audience how to draw animals out of shapes. We had one kindergarten class, two 1-2 classes, one 3-4 class, and one 4-5 class come through. Watching my first and second graders teach the fourth and fifth graders how to draw was a thrill. Their teacher had coached them on how to politely work with the little ones and so they patiently sat while my children explained their work. As the big kids filed out of the room I watched my class sit up taller in their chairs. Pride filled the room as kids giggled, "She said I was a GOOD teacher!" "I taught them how to do that!!"

I want to remember this and ask older classes to come in and politely listen to my kids teach bigger concepts like the water cycle or fractions. We all know once you can teach a concept you have a greater retention time. I imagine the thrill of teaching it to older kids is even more powerful.

1 comment:

diane said...

Hi!

Found your blog through your comment on Assorted Stuff.

Where and what do you teach? I'm a K-12 Librarian who also teaches a high school current events class.

I was very interested in your list of favorite books. The little ones in our elementary wing, particularly one second grade class, LOVE "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More" by Karen Beaumont. Some of them recite by heart!

Do you Twitter? Love to interact with book lovers (and fraction masters)

diane