As a teacher, do you celebrate your students' curiosity? Think about that question for a minute. In our hectic assess-our-students-every-time-they-turn-around teaching environment, the word "curiosity" usually doesn't even get mentioned unless it's a vocabulary word in the reading textbook. Sometimes my 3rd graders need a chance to embrace their natural curiosity. As teachers, we get so caught up with the daily schedule and making sure we are "on-track" (whatever that means), that we forget to allow our students the opportunity to LEARN something that they WANT to learn...not what WE want them to learn. That kind of self-directed, self-selected desire for learning is what we are trying to get our students to do, isn't it? So, put your spelling packet away. Put those Math worksheets back in their binder. Don't even open that Grammar workbook. Send home a different kind of assignment next week. Allow your students to be curious, and give them time to show off what they learned. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!
1 Comment
3/14/2015 11:06:02 am
I think we have the challenge of helping kids aim that curiosity at domains they seek as well as those the system is going to demand from them. Its a blend of idealized self discovery and pragmatic economic utlilitarianism..striking the balance needs to be a system wide process as well a 180 day one grade level one class process.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm a nerdy 3rd grade teacher who has a passion for tech, Google, and coffee. Follow me on Twitter
Archives
April 2017
|