October is here and cooler weather came with it. We’ve had some hard frosts and we had snowflakes yesterday. Nothing stuck, but it was still snow. It isn’t light outside till 9am, so we get to see some nice sunrises during school; those never get tiresome to watch.
I spent part of last week in Hooper Bay, which is a larger school in our district. Half of the district’s teachers met there for our in-service. We flew out of here on Wed. and came home Friday night. We were accommodated the floor of a third grade classroom. I did have an air mattress, so at least I didn’t have to touch the floor with my head or side of my face. Third graders are not discriminate about where they step so I can’t imagine good things being in the carpet. Well, gummi worms are good, but not to sleep on. Dog poop is not good for anything, especially not to sleep on. Now I have to take another shower.
We talked about curriculum and classroom management. Talking about curriculum is usually coma inducing and this time it was no different. When talking about classroom management, it became teachers trying to out-story each other. Everyone’s anecdote was worse than the others. It seems that vampires and werewolves are alive and well up here too.
Anytime teachers clump together, a single phrase seems to always come up: teachable moments. In college, they told us ‘teachable moments’ were times when something unexpected happens and you use that situation to teach something important to the student blah, blah, blah. I have found that when something unexpected happens that is a good time to yell at students. Last week I came upon an unexpected situation and I decided to leave what was said alone.
I was showing the class some pictures I took during a vacation to Washington DC a few years ago. When the Lincoln Memorial picture came up, one of my 4th graders started to tell the rest of the class about the Memorial. He pointed out that it is huge and that Lincoln’s hands are positioned so one shows strength and one shows compassion. (I did not know that.) The rest of the class was listening attentively as the student talked about Lincoln’s life as a lawyer and then as President. He told the class solemnly that President Lincoln was shot in a theater while watching a play. One of the students asked why he was killed. The student calmly explained that Lincoln wore a tall hat and the guy behind him couldn’t see the play so he shot him.
I know, I should have corrected him and explained how Castro plotted with the CIA to kill Lincoln because of his views on Israel. Wait, that was Garfield. Anyways, I didn’t correct him because I saw the way the kids were listening to him. They will learn soon enough why and how he died, but they will always remember that he was shot in a theater. Another reason I didn’t correct him was because I was laughing so hard. Quietly.
It is always fun to listen to what the kids infer or make up on their own. But I guess they’re learning something, I know I am. Transferring knowledge is important. I for one will never wear a stovepipe hat where it can obscure the view of another patron in the theater. Lesson learned Mr. Booth.
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