By now, I imagine you have enjoyed some opportunities to be inspired by the unlearn posters ~ with your students, and perhaps with staff or others at your school.
In order that we can continue to learn from one another, why don't you take a moment and share how you've used them, and perhaps some feedback about how the students reacted.
I look forward to reading what you share - thank you in advance!
I have posted one in my office, but haven't used it in class yet. However, I have approached some on staff with the idea of using the posters at a staff meeting, posting our sticky notes and then getting students to post on the same set of posters and then perhaps photographing the results and sharing them with both groups: Adults and Students. Adults, judging by our equity data, need to be more aware of the student perspective. I wonder what the students would say of ours...Anyone else care to start this experiment?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, here's a great post to an article about how it is important for teachers to understand the cultural/home context of your students, so that connections can be made. Eg. a teacher at a former school of mine was teaching her grade ones about groceries and was surprised that one student didn't know that they were bought at the store. Teacher, "Well, where do you get your groceries from?" Student, "From my father's car" (Dad did the grocery shopping while the kids stayed home). He had never experienced shopping at the supermarket and could not make the connections the teacher had expected him to make. What if students were used to shopping in open markets? What if you are asking them to label and add prices on food, when they are used to haggling and have never shopped in a 'fixed price' system? What if 'groceries' come from the food bank? What are your students' experiences? This will be different every year. http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-america/education/why-good-teachers-embrace-culture-20131111
ReplyDeleteThat's a perspective I had never thought about. How interesting Kathy - thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI did an activity like we did at the workshop - I put about 7 posters, attached to large pieces of chart paper, around the room and told kids we were going to have a "silent" conversation. They spent some time writing on the chart paper what the poster meant to them, or questions they had about it. Then I gave them all sticky notes and they walked around the room commenting on other posters...some of them even went back and continued the conversation that had continued on their original poster. They were completely engaged for quite a long time. The debrief we had about the activity was awesome - some of the them said they really liked being able to write their thoughts because they felt they could express themselves more clearly and thoughtfully this way. They also made some really interesting observations, such as how it was neat to see someone's thinking without knowing who it came from, then you don't make any judgements (or feel judged if they are your thoughts). It was a very powerful activity and I would love to do it again. They liked their little "conversations" so much that they wanted the chart papers posted around the room!
DeleteI use my posters each week for a poster ponder session. I have the kids talk about what the poster means to them in their small table groups, then we meet in a circle and pass a talking stick around and kids share with the large group. They can pass if they wish. It's been a great opportunity for kids to formulate big thoughts, and share big ideas. They get to hear other people's perceptions and points of view. I'm going to start a philosophy circle in the new year, and the posters are a good way to get the kids comfortable with share personal thoughts, using the talking stick etc and the posters are a good visual way to introduce more philosophical, esoteric ideas. All my classes, grades 4-8 have enjoyed this and have done well.
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