A Big Thought (Bubble)
It's easy to get wrapped up in what you are teaching and what skills you want your students to learn. I made this mistake recently, and it wasn't until I asked my students to reflect and write down their own opinions on a video we recently watched, and I realized I needed to make their voices heard even more within my classroom.
This realization was even more clear as I read my students reflections. The callus jokes they throw around in class made me a little doubtful of their ability to understand the suffering and unjust treatment of African Americans before and during the civil rights movement. Boy was I proven wrong! Out loud, my kids pretended to not care, but on paper they delivered eloquent, insightful, and honest reactions and opinions. These thoughts were too amazing for just my eyes to see. This is where the Big Thought Bubble idea was born.
Why not let students responses be showcased for the whole class to see? I created a huge thought bubble, picked a variety of responses, typed them, made them look pretty, and displayed them right smack dab in the middle of my classroom. I made sure to pick responses that reflected many different opinions and ideas, not just the ones I agreed with. Students walked in the next day and asked who these quotes were from. I replied "you did!" Each class spent a good 5 minutes reading all quotes and trying to see if something they had written was on the board.
I plan on adding new thoughts and updating as we move forward within our unit. Overall this is a simple way to recognize student's work and to let kids see what their peers are thinking.
It's easy to get wrapped up in what you are teaching and what skills you want your students to learn. I made this mistake recently, and it wasn't until I asked my students to reflect and write down their own opinions on a video we recently watched, and I realized I needed to make their voices heard even more within my classroom.
This realization was even more clear as I read my students reflections. The callus jokes they throw around in class made me a little doubtful of their ability to understand the suffering and unjust treatment of African Americans before and during the civil rights movement. Boy was I proven wrong! Out loud, my kids pretended to not care, but on paper they delivered eloquent, insightful, and honest reactions and opinions. These thoughts were too amazing for just my eyes to see. This is where the Big Thought Bubble idea was born.
Why not let students responses be showcased for the whole class to see? I created a huge thought bubble, picked a variety of responses, typed them, made them look pretty, and displayed them right smack dab in the middle of my classroom. I made sure to pick responses that reflected many different opinions and ideas, not just the ones I agreed with. Students walked in the next day and asked who these quotes were from. I replied "you did!" Each class spent a good 5 minutes reading all quotes and trying to see if something they had written was on the board.
I plan on adding new thoughts and updating as we move forward within our unit. Overall this is a simple way to recognize student's work and to let kids see what their peers are thinking.