Connecting School
and Home Experiences in My Classroom
As students
come into my classroom they will be bringing in a plethora of life experiences.
My job as the teacher is to help them connect those experiences with what I
will be teaching them. I feel that each state and national standard in health
education that I will be basing my curriculum on has aspects that will pull
from the background knowledge of my students. All students will enter my
classroom with their own body. They will have all experienced, in varying
degrees, sickness, injury, and health. They will have experiences with past
education and maybe even real life that has taught them a bit about drugs,
stress, nutrition, disease, some forms of relationships, etc. I hope to be able
to delve into those experiences to help my students explore how they feel about
various health topics and then to expound their knowledge about those topics so
that they feel confident and able in caring for themselves.
Some ways
that I might help students draw from their personal experiences is by
incorporating assignments such as student journals, family interviews,
exploration of family history pertaining to health and disease, and projects
that are diversified to allow them to pursue their own interests.
One
particular tool that I would like to implement are student journals. A student
journal would allow students to reflect on a personal issue or experience in
their own words. They could respond to a prompt that allowed them to share
their personal opinion instead of textbook answers. They could then back up
that opinion with reasons that have been created and experienced outside of the
classroom. The tricky part as a teacher would be developing the trust in the
teacher/student relationship that would allow for true thoughts, opinions, and
desires to be shared. But once that relationship is established I think it
could be a helpful tool in extending learning beyond fact memorizing. This
could be used to establish a base for which classroom curriculum and standards
are built upon.
I really like your idea on a student journal. What a great way to let your students reflect on what they are learning. I especially agree with the issue of trust that goes with them. Being able to know that confidentiality is important between a teacher and student is so crucial. If a student knows that he/she can trust you as a teacher, that can open the lines of communication further down the line. It helps you as the teacher know what makes that student tick. It also serves as a form of evaluation, to know what is or isn't working in class.
ReplyDeleteI love your ideas of how to incorporate meaningful writing experiences into your classroom! The student journal is a great idea because it allows the students to express their own thoughts and opinions about a topic. I did not enjoy writing in high school, but writing journals such as this allowed me to write down my thoughts without worrying about being harshly graded on content. I agree that this type of writing could also establish trust and open communication within the classroom. This is something that is very important to me as a teacher, and writing journals can be a great way to make it happen.
ReplyDeleteI, too, really liked your ideas to keep a student journal. Even thought I taught English, I had students who shared with me about their observations of their older students' friends doing drugs and other topics. I think it's really important (and it can be transformative) to give students opportunities to process these issues with adults that they trust. I'm confident that you will be that person for your students. Thanks for your posting!
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