This week's host is Aileen Hower, an Assistant Professor of Literacy at Millersville University. Aileen writes:
Chapters 4, 5, and 6 focus on more strengths of the "super reader." Chapter 4 discusses the strength of curiosity. So many individuals outside of the world of education have recognized curiosity as a vital skill. Websites like Wonderopolis (https://wonderopolis.org/) promote and honor curiosity in our classrooms. Inquiry-based instruction, the books we choose for our students to read, and dialogic learning all foster curiosity. Chapter 5 encourages educators to allow students (and themselves) to build friendships within the classroom. Friendships are vital "to children's social and emotional health and well-being" (p. 72). The chapter discusses many ways that friendships can be facilitated and grown in the school setting. Finally, Chapter 6 recognizes the timeless importance of kindness. The chapter opens in a timely manner (I went to see the movie with my fourth grader on Sunday), with a quote from R. J. Palacio's Wonder: "We carry with us, as human being, not just the capacity to be kind, but the very choice of kindness" (p. 83). Allyn and Morrell offer specific steps we can take to promote kindness in and out of school. Which of these strengths do you already have a place of honor for in your classroom? How do you make time to "teach" them? Which one might you want to add to your teaching repertoire? Why? Thank you for sharing your responses, Aileen
7 Comments
Lisa
11/19/2017 02:31:30 pm
I believe that curiosity probably has the biggest role in my classroom out of the three strengths I read about in the chapters this week. I am fortunate to have some Chromebooks for my classroom, so these are a HUGE resource for my students to use to encourage curiosity! We use them if students are unclear about what something may look like, we use them to research vocabulary, inquire about an unfamiliar topic and much more.
Reply
Christine
11/25/2017 03:06:42 pm
The outside of my door this year says, "Be Kind Always." I really wanted my classroom to be a "safe" location for ALL students and staff. The transition to middle school can be tough with the merge of five elementary schools, lockers, schedules, and different teachers for each subject area. To add to those new components, our school is under construction which adds to everyone's stress. I have used sentence stems and accountable talk stems similar to those in the book to model how partners and community members should speak and treat one another. We also started the year with the two words, "I am ...". Students wrote the completed sentence on an index card and I posted the cards outside my classroom as a reminder of how we are the same, but different.
Reply
Marge
11/26/2017 04:46:34 pm
In past classes I have taught, I have used 2 of the 6 Actions to Promote Curiosity in School and in Out-of-School Programs. As a get to know each other at the beginning of the school year, I have used the Three Stories. The students and I would write 2 true things and 1 untrue thing about ourselves. The students would have to think carefully about what they should write and what they wanted the classmates to know. This would get the students thinking about their friends and teacher in order to pick the one that wasn’t true. The other Action I have used has been Author Questions. We talk about the book and the author. Then the students turn and talk or write questions they would ask the author. The students would to take guesses as to how the author would answer. I like to find different ways to encourage curiosity.
Reply
Mea
11/29/2017 07:00:21 pm
Over my career as a classroom teacher and reading specialist I have had the opportunity to work in 10 different schools. As I read these chapters, I catch myself thinking about how each school had their own strengths. Students of my current school are excellent at demonstrating kindness. There is an emphasis for students to politely greet adults, hold doors, offer help, and use manners. Every morning as I walk down the hall I feel like a rockstar as student after student after student greets me with a hug, a cheerful goodmorning, or even a bashful smile. Now isn’t that the best way to start a day?
Reply
Laura Arahovas
12/1/2017 06:27:41 pm
Which of these strengths do you already have a place of honor for in your classroom? How do you make time to "teach" them? Which one might you want to add to your teaching repertoire? Why?
Reply
Emily Reed
12/26/2017 06:34:59 pm
Which of these strengths do you already have a place of honor for in your classroom? How do you make time to "teach" them? Which one might you want to add to your teaching repertoire? Why?
Reply
Gretchen
12/29/2017 05:15:07 pm
I think that curiosity is an area of weakness in my classroom. With all of the content that I am required to cover, there isn't much time to investigation or exploring topics of interest. I try to incorporate ideas that my students show interest in to my lessons, but wish they had more time and resources to explore on their own.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |