Hello World,
In each edition of this newsletter, I will share five inspiring web resources from the education sector that I have curated after hours of research to ensure that you have the best education coffee in your inbox.
I just finished one month in the classroom as a Grade 5 Homeroom Teacher. Here are some observations and resources from the first week in the classroom.
1) Find a way to understand your student beyond their academic identity
This was a game changer for me as a teacher. In the first week, I gave my students some time to conduct an investigation into any topic they are interested in for one whole block and to share the same interest with the class. Students researched dinosaurs, hip hop music, the reason we study Math, video games and more. It was an opportunity to understand them beyond their grades. I also wrote each student in my class a welcome letter and wanted them to know that they could do the same any time of the year if they wanted to reach out to me.
Here is a great article from the University of British Columbia’s Scarfe Sandbox website about creating and building student and class profiles through the year.
2) Collaborate and build on the intelligence in the building
There are teachers in the building that have done the same thing you want to do now. Ask them how they did it in the past. What worked for them? What did not work for them? What strategies did they adopt to get through challenging situations? A simple open ended discussion questions could just be asking them how they would teach a particular concept to students in that Grade. Cross grade collaboration and discussions are also a great way to gather new perspectives on a topic.
I love some of the ideas on teacher collaboration in this Edutopia article by Emelina Minero.
3) Print and display Student Work
This is a great strategy to show students that their work matters. Ask other teachers in the building to come into your room and review student work in front of them. Make sure you also display their work from different subjects so they do not categorize themselves in a particular box too. All students can be good at Math, Language, Art, Science, Sports at the same time.
Here is an interesting article from Jill Stake on displaying student work on the We are Teachers Website.
4) Do more projects and challenges where students move around the class and use their hands
Students love opportunities to work on real world projects and discussions in class. I tried my best to find ways to do more of the same in class. While teaching them about Money and Budgeting, we created a budget to run a Class Lemonade Stand with all the expenses and income listed out. While teaching them about forces, we asked them to build a pet shelter that is safe for their pets and also to create a bridge using popsicle sticks. These are just some simple ways to give your students more hands on learning opportunities.
I love reading the awesome newsletter from Traci Scheepstra and Rachel Belliveau at Embodied Learnings, a not-for-profit organization that advocates for the inclusion of the body in the elementary curriculum and classroom environment through dance education and movement integration. There are some wonderful suggestions to allow students to use their body and hands to learn better in the classroom. I believe movement does stimulate thinking and want to incorporate more of the same in my classroom using these resources. Check out their newsletter here.
5) Learning Stories Episode 8 - Arunita Praharaj
I started a YouTube Channel called ‘Learning Stories’. This is a show where we interview a diverse set of learners from the 21st century. Each guest profiled here has a unique story to share about how they acquired a set of valuable skills and knowledge in a creative and innovative manner. In the process, we hope to uncover a new understanding of learning as conceptualized, imagined, and narrated in these learning stories.
On Episode we chat with Arunita Praharaj. She is a Communications Specialist during the week and a Foreign Correspondent on weekends. She is currently based in Bahrain and has experience in the fields of Journalism, Advertising and PR across two continents. More informally, she refers to herself as a Qissago of South Asian stories and she uses her Instagram account and blog to express herself creatively on a variety of different issues she feels strongly about like immigrant life, books, movies, sustainable fashion and the world of branding. She has an undergraduate degree in Accounting and Finance from Newcastle University and a graduate degree in Global Journalism from The University of Sheffield. Having trained and worked under the Press Association of the United Kingdom, writing thought-provoking pieces, media relations, public speaking and content creation is where she shines best. She is currently the head of Corporate Communications at Raaes + Co and has a personal mandate of making the world a better, more tolerable place with stories. You can follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/arunitapraharaj/?hl=en.
Abhishek
17/10/2021