Sheila Sims Iding
When I was an athlete working to perfect my game, I realized, once I grudgingly gave up the “perfection” route, there were ways to make it better…if not perfect. So…I would take the weakest thing in my game plan and work to make it better. Maybe it was the sacrifice bunt, maybe it was the throw to the cut off person, maybe it was the change up. SomeTHING in my game was the weakest and how could I make it better?
So it is with teaching. Like most teachers, we don’t take the summer “off”. We may be out of the classroom but the classroom is not out of us. It is still in our minds…our hearts. Many of us are already working on next year and how to make it better. What is my “game plan” for teaching first grade and how can I make it better? What can I do to take the lessons of first grade and Care Corner and make it better?
With all the classes I have taken this summer and those still to come, there is a resounding emphasis on building a bond with your students. It is in several books, theories and it is in the heart of most teachers because if you can connect with your students, the academics, the learning, the behavior, the performance are all automatically made better. So now that teaching is my “athletics”, I look to see what I can add to my game plan to make it better. How can I build better relationships with my students? How can I strengthen the bond? In my classroom mind I have come up with some ways to enrich the bond with my students. I am excited about these new ideas and how I hope they will make it better:
Recess! NO…I am not adding another recess…although for 6 and 7 year olds it would be a welcome change but that is why we dance so much in Care Corner. We get up and moving without another recess. The recess addition is ME. I am adding me to recess. I went to a one-room schoolhouse until 5th grade. (No…I am not as old as Laura Ingalls Wilder…I just lived way out in the country so we still had a one-room schoolhouse.) And…one of my favorite memories is our teacher playing with us at recess. She was the playground supervision. Truth is…she was everything. And I remember her swinging with us, playing catch with us and running through the snow with us. So on Tuesdays…most Tuesdays…I will be going to recess with my class. I won’t have lunch with them because I will need those 20 minutes to regroup and set the room for the afternoon, but I will play with them. I am dusting off the ball mitt, the Nerf football and finding warmer mittens. If you want some extra bonding with any kids the best thing would be with them and play. PLAY! Recess with friends is fun but if your teacher came to recess it might even make it better.
Meetings: I have always wanted to have one-on-one meetings with my students each week. These will just be weekly meetings for a few minutes. The students will be assigned a day for meeting with me. There will be a Monday group, Tuesday group, etc. We will sit somewhere quietly, one-on-one and we will discuss things they are doing really well, things they still need to work on and talk about any questions or concerns that they may have. Questions or concerns that I may have. It will also be a time to say I am really proud of you for this….or I noticed you need to work harder on this. A sticker on a paper or a note by a grade is one thing. But a meeting with a teacher and hearing it first hand is another. Also, one of the things that seems to come up every year is that something happens at school and the student is afraid to tell the teacher…maybe not “afraid” but a bit shy or unsure of exactly what to say or when to say it. Now they will have a “day” to speak their mind. I am still working out all the details that are flying around in my head. A cute name for the meetings…a time slot for the meetings…a follow up for the meetings. But there will be meetings and now they will have a time, a place and a person to let their little voices be heard and to take their special time in Care Corner and make it better.
Give Them the World: This may feel academic and it is. But more than that it is reaching out to their interests and broadening their horizons…literally. I am actually taking a cue from former Care Corner Kids. I have watched them come alive when we do our special unit and learn about New York City. I have seen their eyes light up when Tim teaches us about China. I have heard their curious questions about other places students have visited or other cultures. They love learning about places around the world. They love maps. They love globes. They love learning about this amazing world and I need to tap into that. So I am going to create a year-long social studies program where we study the entire world continent by continent, month by month. In addition to the special places already in Care Corner...I will add the world. In addition to the science cube, the prayer corner and storyland, I will set up an Explore the World section where we can expand our horizons and take our understanding of the world and make it better.
These are just a few of the ideas dancing around in my head. There are more ideas. More weak links to make stronger. There are academic things to address and spiritual things to enhance. There is plan to involve the principal, there is plan for more outdoor time, there is a plan for more technology. But the above ideas are being created to specifically create a stronger bond…a closer relationship and a chance to take what we have in Care Corner and…make it better.