I've had these neat experiences lately with students...those experiences that blindside you and make you feel like, "Did that really just happen?" Sometimes when you think you know a student and then out of nowhere, there is this amazing element of surprise when they do something or say something so phenomenal that it changes the game. I've had two of these experiences in the last week and then this happened: I was reading The One and Only Ivan to my Grade 3 class and this quote happens to be in the chapter today:
“Humans can surprise you sometimes. An unpredictable species, Homo sapiens”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ivan
I really like that students and humans in general are unpredictable. I think the best and most creative humans are. I like that everyone can surprise us sometimes. This is a good reminder for all teachers, we need to INVITE kids to surprise us. Sometimes we have these ideas of how students are that we don't even see when they are surprising us. There are probably a million of these game changing moments happening everyday in our classrooms and our hallways....and we need to see them.
With the passing of Nelson Mandela we have had some fierce conversations lately and the conversation that followed after the chapter was equally fierce. A student asked, "Is there such thing as good humans and bad humans?" One student said, "No one is born bad. Just like Mandela said, 'No one is born hating another person [...] People learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love."
I then flipped this and asked students, is there such thing as a good student and a bad student? One kid said, "Well, no, the bad student just doesn't know how to be good yet...someone needs to show them how to make it. Someone needs to see their goodness. Teachers help students so they can all be the best."
This was my take-away:
Invite students to surprise you, see their goodness (everyone has this), and help them be the best.
Photo credit from Krissy Venosdale @venspired
“Humans can surprise you sometimes. An unpredictable species, Homo sapiens”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ivan
I really like that students and humans in general are unpredictable. I think the best and most creative humans are. I like that everyone can surprise us sometimes. This is a good reminder for all teachers, we need to INVITE kids to surprise us. Sometimes we have these ideas of how students are that we don't even see when they are surprising us. There are probably a million of these game changing moments happening everyday in our classrooms and our hallways....and we need to see them.
With the passing of Nelson Mandela we have had some fierce conversations lately and the conversation that followed after the chapter was equally fierce. A student asked, "Is there such thing as good humans and bad humans?" One student said, "No one is born bad. Just like Mandela said, 'No one is born hating another person [...] People learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love."
I then flipped this and asked students, is there such thing as a good student and a bad student? One kid said, "Well, no, the bad student just doesn't know how to be good yet...someone needs to show them how to make it. Someone needs to see their goodness. Teachers help students so they can all be the best."
This was my take-away:
Invite students to surprise you, see their goodness (everyone has this), and help them be the best.
Photo credit from Krissy Venosdale @venspired