Holidays and the People they Honor - March 22

Today our Social Studies Methods Professor was able to come in and observe our lesson on the three holidays we had to focus on for our unit: Fourth of July, Presidents' Day, and Columbus Day. We had emailed P.Grimes to ask her for some direction in the social studies content and for resources suggestions and she was extremely helpful. It was really exciting getting ready for the whole class instruction we had planned, and since we have only been "observed" once - last semester - and never when teaching the whole class, we were anxious and enthused! Our 488/502 professors do a really great job of giving us direction for most of our experiences in the field, but it was amazing getting a "different perspective" on how we look up there "doing our thing" and to see how she feels we are covering the material.

The lesson was interesting...when we got in there and made three columns on the board to see what students "already knew" about these three traditional holidays, they knew pretty much everything we had prepared. They had been covering lots of patriotic material in their literacy book list and I think that most first graders are pretty aware of patriotic holidays in general since they are recognized by public schools, but this was one of the major frustrations and obstacles of being a "visiting teacher" in a classroom where you have little context of how and what they are already diving into. More than that, I still continue to have a hard time with the whole class instruction - and I think my teaching teammate (TT) and I are both capable of doing it without hte other person, which can sometimes cause us to talk over eachother, or say the same things, or to be unsure who should take the reigns.

The students provided lots of information about people, dates, and the histories or ideas behind the three holidays and we moved on to a class sort. Each student got a word/image and was to pick which column it fit underneath...so a student might have a picture of fireworks, or a strip that says "Happy Birthday George Washington" and they would have to make a call as to where it belongs. The students did relatively well and the ones who made mistakes or picked the wrong place gave us a chance to really iron out the kinks in any misconceptions and to push kids beyond "I have hot dogs on the Fourth of July" to more "This is a celebration of the birthday of our country" -- which is something that can always be frustrating with younger kids who like vignettes and concrete-ness when working with abstract ideas.

The best moment from this morning was when Student A (I think she is the most perfect first grader in the world) had a "lightbulb moment" where she really picked up on what was going on, and even gave me a run for my money. I had given her the image of the Presidential seal (the one that is always on the podium during the State of the Union address) and I was checking answers and picking certain images that were alreayd sorted to talk about. Here's how it went down...

"So who had this symbol? Why would you put it here - it doesn't have George Washington or Abraham Lincoln on it anywhere, so I'm not sure what it has to do with Presidents' Day - can you explain that to me?" -Me (TEACHER)
"I had it. I put it under Presidents' Day because it's for the President of the United States. When I watch TV and I see his podium during his speeches, it's on the front of it and it represents the leader of our country." - Student A.

Wow! How about that? She certainly knows her stuff. P.Grimes definitely picked up on that moment and commented on it during our debriefing immediately following. It is crazy that a student who is at that level of understanding with the material can be in the SAME classroom as Student M, who is Vietnamese and hardly ever talks. Student M's responses to every question we ask is "I don't know." or "I can't." - there is such a range of abilities and understandings at this level - truly!

P.Grimes inspired me more than anything else with the things she had to say about our lesson. She was really positive, which was great to have, but she also always keeps TT and I on our feet! She was really impressed with our preparation, our knowledge of students and the way we are comfortable in front of the class (whew!) but she kept emphasizing something I will probably never forget. She kept reminding us that:

"The one who does the work does the learning."

This is so important for TT and I. We are great at coming in with tons of materials, and keeping kids engaged in the information by activities and hilarious skits, etc, but often times (more with the whole class than small group) are "teaching our tails off" in front of the circle rug and then hand the reigns over to the kids only at the very ending. We spent 20 or so minutes talking and writing and organizing information and then only allowed the sort to be 5 minutes of the whole lesson. P.Grimes suggested that we give out the images and words from the start, sort kids physically into groups, or even have them work with different words and images as they go - giving them the chance to make sense of the information. I think that this is something we will be keeping at the front of our minds for these last two visits to the world of Ms. D's room. :)

I left teaching today feeling really ready to face my placement next year and simulteneously scared oftaking onany kind of educational role whatsoever - I feel like a lot of my Curry buddies and I are tackling these two very different feelings around the clock...maybe it's just something you get used to?