Children Lead the Way

A wonderful image created by a student for our home study thread. 

Yesterday, I set a challenging agenda, and children responded with push back. It's the week before vacation, and many children have wonderful plans. Also, they have worked a lot during the past six weeks, and today's agenda was too big. Unlike adults who will speak up to let you know when you've asked for too much, children show their disapproval in actions rather than words.

Hence, a strong message to the teacher: "We need it a different way!"

So tomorrow, I'll head back in with a changed plan and focus for this week before vacation.  First, we'll have a meeting and explain that sometimes the plans just don't go well, and that means it's time to meet and make new plans. Then, I'll give them a chance to add their ideas about how we can continue to build and strengthen our wonderful class community.  I'll add my ideas too.

After that we'll do a lot of finish up work--finishing up math dialogues, reading responses, math tests, and other left over work from the weeks before.  It's a good time to clean up the folders and desks before we depart for a well-deserved week of fun.

At week's end we'll share Valentine's Day cards and vote for the Valentine's Day box winners. Despite the enormous pressure in grade schools today to prep for tests and get good scores, I'll do what I can to keep the focus on a happy child-centered balance--one that responds to their needs first, and all the outside mandates second.  That's a significant challenge for teachers in classrooms everywhere today.

Note: I'll also show this cute film from a couple of years ago too as a way to inspire their Valentine's Day box creations: