This last Wednesday was our second time in the 5th grade classroom at Sojourner Truth Academy. Arielle (my wonderful co-coach) and I were a good half hour early, but it proved to be beneficial since we decided to tweek our focus of the meeting. :)
It was exciting to see the 5th graders again. I was surprised at my lack of memory when it came to their names. Normally I pride myself in how well I remember names, but it was difficult to put the names I did remember to the faces!! :( Hopefully by next week their names will be rooted in my mind. I don't think I'll have any difficulty remembering the students in my and Arielle's group though! I must say, we have an amazing group of kids! But I'll get back to them in a moment.
This last week we decided to help the students understand what Public Achievement was by showing them a video of a group of High School students in Colorado who were active in their school. After talking about issues in their school and deciding on which one they wanted to be pro-active about they set out and researched statistics and interviewed their fellow classmates. Their issue? The cliques and discrimination in their school. In the end they decided to have a "Mix It Up" day where students were encouraged to talk to people they don't normally talk to and sit by people at lunch whom they normally don't sit with. It was both a success and failure because some students chose not to participate while others benefited from the day. In the end, the high school public achievement group experienced democracy at it's finest. They learned they had a voice against the issues that surrounded them, and were active in their community.
After showing this video and talking about it for a very short period we split into our generalized issue groups. We had 5 groups as I believe I stated in my previous blog. We dispersed ourselves among the classroom. This proved to be difficult on our group. We decided to sit at a fairly large table at the side of the room which meant we were more spread out. In our debrief we discussed how this was probably not the best place to sit because it left room for a lot of distractions and it was hard to hear each other. The listening and hearing parts were the hardest of the day. In a room full of students all talking at once in different parts of the room we were unable to hear each other and give each other the attention they deserved.
Arielle and I had a few activities planned for our group. We wanted to talk about the core concepts of public achievement and dive into what public achievement actually is. Afterall if you don't understand what your doing before you do it how can you do it effectively, right? But before we discussed the concepts we went around and said our names and 2 positive things that happened to us this last week. I like that Arielle was thinking positively when she made up this opening question! :) I was surprised at the amount of participation and interaction we got from the 5 students in our group. Even the two students who had been labeled "non-talkers" participated when asked to.
There were 11 core concepts to public achievement. We had construction paper, sharpies, and definitions. Their job was to read the definition and redefine it in their own words so that it would make more sense (the definitions given were worded very complexly). I think it was hard for them to understand the concepts and Arielle and I tried to explain some of them, but we were also participating and trying to make some posters, so that took us away from helping them understand the meanings of the concepts. If we were to introduce core concepts again I would want to make the activity a little more 5th grade friendly. :)
I think another thing that added to the not quite failure, but not quite success of this activity was the simple fact that the amount of noise coming from the room was a huge distraction and it made it hard to think. One of our students got so frustrated with the fact that he didn't understand the concept he was trying to redefine he refused to do it. Thankfully, he didn't throw a fit, or yell, or walk off, he just simply and calmly refused to do it. He tried, and tried, and gave up. He didn't want help, he just didn't want to deal with it anymore which, in the end, was fine. We couldn't make him participate, and I think Arielle and I realized what we were asking the students to do was kind of difficult, though a little more simple for some.
I'm excited to see different personalities and characteristics already come out in our group. One student has shown leaderships skills already, another has a voice for speaking, another is strong-willed, and yet another has many good ideas. If they can learn to work together and allow each other to speak they will make a powerful impact on whatever they choose to do! I'm looking forward to what they come up with. Though I hope that Arielle and I can work together as good, effective, encouraging coaches for them! I have confidence that we can! My fear right now is talking too much. I like to be in control and offer my opinion, so I end up talking a lot. I'm learning about being aware of how much I talk and contribute and making more room for the students and Arielle to talk.
This coming Wednesday we will be talking about expectations that they have for each other in the group; things they need from each other to be able to work well together (ie. only one person talking at a time, stating opinions, being open, contributing ideas, etc). Then we hope to get into some brainstorming activities to think about issues involving trash/environment, so they can go home and research a little about one issue and bring that back the following week.
I really enjoy working with this age group, and as much as I feel like I should be nervous, I'm not. I think preparing for each week gives me confidence for going back and working with them. Sure, last week wasn't a complete success and improvement is needed, but it's only the beginning, and we're learning how to coach just as much as their learning about democracy and public achievement. It's a process, and maybe I have more grace for myself than I should, but I'd rather focus on doing my best, and enjoying my time there than worrying and fretting that I'm not doing things perfectly.
It was exciting to see the 5th graders again. I was surprised at my lack of memory when it came to their names. Normally I pride myself in how well I remember names, but it was difficult to put the names I did remember to the faces!! :( Hopefully by next week their names will be rooted in my mind. I don't think I'll have any difficulty remembering the students in my and Arielle's group though! I must say, we have an amazing group of kids! But I'll get back to them in a moment.
This last week we decided to help the students understand what Public Achievement was by showing them a video of a group of High School students in Colorado who were active in their school. After talking about issues in their school and deciding on which one they wanted to be pro-active about they set out and researched statistics and interviewed their fellow classmates. Their issue? The cliques and discrimination in their school. In the end they decided to have a "Mix It Up" day where students were encouraged to talk to people they don't normally talk to and sit by people at lunch whom they normally don't sit with. It was both a success and failure because some students chose not to participate while others benefited from the day. In the end, the high school public achievement group experienced democracy at it's finest. They learned they had a voice against the issues that surrounded them, and were active in their community.
After showing this video and talking about it for a very short period we split into our generalized issue groups. We had 5 groups as I believe I stated in my previous blog. We dispersed ourselves among the classroom. This proved to be difficult on our group. We decided to sit at a fairly large table at the side of the room which meant we were more spread out. In our debrief we discussed how this was probably not the best place to sit because it left room for a lot of distractions and it was hard to hear each other. The listening and hearing parts were the hardest of the day. In a room full of students all talking at once in different parts of the room we were unable to hear each other and give each other the attention they deserved.
Arielle and I had a few activities planned for our group. We wanted to talk about the core concepts of public achievement and dive into what public achievement actually is. Afterall if you don't understand what your doing before you do it how can you do it effectively, right? But before we discussed the concepts we went around and said our names and 2 positive things that happened to us this last week. I like that Arielle was thinking positively when she made up this opening question! :) I was surprised at the amount of participation and interaction we got from the 5 students in our group. Even the two students who had been labeled "non-talkers" participated when asked to.
There were 11 core concepts to public achievement. We had construction paper, sharpies, and definitions. Their job was to read the definition and redefine it in their own words so that it would make more sense (the definitions given were worded very complexly). I think it was hard for them to understand the concepts and Arielle and I tried to explain some of them, but we were also participating and trying to make some posters, so that took us away from helping them understand the meanings of the concepts. If we were to introduce core concepts again I would want to make the activity a little more 5th grade friendly. :)
I think another thing that added to the not quite failure, but not quite success of this activity was the simple fact that the amount of noise coming from the room was a huge distraction and it made it hard to think. One of our students got so frustrated with the fact that he didn't understand the concept he was trying to redefine he refused to do it. Thankfully, he didn't throw a fit, or yell, or walk off, he just simply and calmly refused to do it. He tried, and tried, and gave up. He didn't want help, he just didn't want to deal with it anymore which, in the end, was fine. We couldn't make him participate, and I think Arielle and I realized what we were asking the students to do was kind of difficult, though a little more simple for some.
I'm excited to see different personalities and characteristics already come out in our group. One student has shown leaderships skills already, another has a voice for speaking, another is strong-willed, and yet another has many good ideas. If they can learn to work together and allow each other to speak they will make a powerful impact on whatever they choose to do! I'm looking forward to what they come up with. Though I hope that Arielle and I can work together as good, effective, encouraging coaches for them! I have confidence that we can! My fear right now is talking too much. I like to be in control and offer my opinion, so I end up talking a lot. I'm learning about being aware of how much I talk and contribute and making more room for the students and Arielle to talk.
This coming Wednesday we will be talking about expectations that they have for each other in the group; things they need from each other to be able to work well together (ie. only one person talking at a time, stating opinions, being open, contributing ideas, etc). Then we hope to get into some brainstorming activities to think about issues involving trash/environment, so they can go home and research a little about one issue and bring that back the following week.
I really enjoy working with this age group, and as much as I feel like I should be nervous, I'm not. I think preparing for each week gives me confidence for going back and working with them. Sure, last week wasn't a complete success and improvement is needed, but it's only the beginning, and we're learning how to coach just as much as their learning about democracy and public achievement. It's a process, and maybe I have more grace for myself than I should, but I'd rather focus on doing my best, and enjoying my time there than worrying and fretting that I'm not doing things perfectly.
Very good, I was thinking about going over the 11 core concepts in my group this week. Your blerg is making me rethink how I will approach that. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteVery insightful post. I love how you are questioning the core concepts and the timing and relevancy they are to the work of your group. Follow your gut. Perhaps it makes more sense to work with these in the middle (pointing out how what they are doing fits with these guiding principles) or at the end (as a way of reflection.) And it vital that you strive for kid-friendly text and examples. How do these core concepts make sense to a 5th grader?
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