Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Let Kids Get Their Happy On!

Pix from 'The Pink Ribbon" on Facebook


I remember the first time I started teaching. I did activities I loved as a child with them and we had a great time.  By mid-year my class didn’t seem to have that “oomph” it once had.  I’m so glad I started talking to more experienced teachers about the problem I was having.

The problem was I never had had the pulse of my class. I was doing things I liked without ever considering what they were interested in. After forgiving myself, I had a long talk with my class about things they wanted to do.  I can still see how big their eyes got when I took out the white board and wrote down every idea they had and read it back to them to make sure it was correct.


The teacher had now become the student.


We explored topics I never considered before.  Some of the children had serious illnesses so we made sure to do curriculum on trips to the doctor, hospitals,  even what types of medical equipment was used for.  The children that had been ill asked to speak to the class about what they were going through.  We recorded it for the parents and shared in their laughter and tears.

The curriculum began taking a life of its own . I felt just as excited to come to class as the parents and kids.


I’m so thankful I reached out for their sakes. It changed my life forever: hopefully, theirs, too.


How about you? How have you helped kids get their happy on lately?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

When relating to kids, it is very important to also look into the things that they love so that they can engage in activities without looking at it like a task that they need ti do. I love it when it's pretend time in school because it turns their happy on and they start to create a world of their own. :)

Barbra The Bloggess said...

I completely agree, Mirtha. It's our responsibility to help them fall in love with learning. When we fall in love with ANYTHING-there has to be a genuine interest there to get it going.
Teachers are creative--but sometimes we need reminders to think outside the box.

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