Below is a list of some of the big ideas we have wrestled with over the course of the semester. Keep in mind that our goal is to find out how practicing educators are thinking about some of this stuff. Post a suggested interview question based on one of the big ideas . Note: try to ask a question that will put the interviewee at ease and make it more likely that they will open up (example: instead of asking "How do you deal with ethical dilemmas?", you could ask, "Can you describe a time when, as a teacher, you weren't; sure what the right thing to do was? How did you decide how to proceed?" · How to instill diversity within curriculum · How public schooling has changed over the years. · Multiculturalism · Progressive v. traditional teaching/schooling ·...
One idea my group has is to volunteer at the Special Olympics. Our focus is working with individuals with disabilities and we figured that they are already looking for volunteers. Special Olympics has several different practice locations as well as year-around events that they are constantly looking for volunteers for. The nice thing about volunteering for this organization is that having people come forward to volunteer is not unusual and is encouraged.
ReplyDeleteMy group is the Community Event/Mentor group. After discussion, we decided that we would attempt to get in contact with a variety of organizations that help poverty stricken children to see if they need any help with programs such as lunch buddies, after school workshops, mentoring, or big brother/big sister. We are hoping that there is an opening somewhere. In the meantime, we will be making lesson plans that teach on subjects such as kindness, sharing, respect, etc. If we are not able to get in anywhere, we will attempt to go behind the scenes and provide these lesson plans to any organization that might want them. Otherwise, we plan on going to visit the schools/clubs over the course of a few weeks and talking with the children, teaching them about kindness, sharing, respect, and the importance of education.
ReplyDeleteOur group wanted to combine yoga and gardening and have children with disabilities at Varina Elementary School with Tonia llieve, to participate with us in learning about plant growth, good nutrition, and sooting yoga that can release tension and stress. We had the plan to buy little seed packets and let the kids each pick one to take home and grow in their spare time. In the meanwhile at school, we would get each of the students a little clay pot that they could decorate the way that they wanted. We would get paints, markers, stickers, and anything else they might want to use. We would provide each student with a gardening notebook where they could record their observations about their plant growth, what they felt, and other notes. Kate and Katie have had experience with volunteering/working with plants so i think that will also help guide us to what sort of plants would be best to grow and in what environment!
ReplyDeleteMary Kate Harrison – Our group is made up of the class members interested in the Richmond Youth Peace Project for the service learning project. After expressing the reasons to which we chose this organization to work with, we started to brainstorm ideas on how we could interact and participate with the program. These discussions led us to the following ideas. The Richmond Youth Peace Project has conflict resolution and mediation at the core of their values. Our group potentially would like to coordinate an event at a Richmond school in conjunction with the program that creates an interactive experience for students on practicing compassion for themselves and for others. We also recognized that if children are being brought up in violent homes they be more susceptible to displaying violent behavior in school, so we also considered a way in which family and guardians could be involved in the workshops as well. One other possibility that was presented was the using our time in a school to promote awareness about the stratification of race and regionalism in the Richmond metro area. This is a growing inconsistency that the Peace Project also hopes to make Richmond’s youth mindful of. This group consists of myself, Lindsey, Sheri, Mustafa and Katie S.
ReplyDeleteMadison Bray:
ReplyDeleteMy group was the arts.
My group came up with the idea to partner with a school, Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts, to take children either from 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade and do an environmental art learning project. The idea is to have a grade level go into the park and have the children collect some trash (a bag is the goal). Then we would have them back in their classrooms to do a lesson on what trash and other pollutions do to the environment as well as why its important to try and prevent it from happening. We could team up with the environmental teacher that they have on sight to come up with a lesson plan that would be understandable for their age group. Then my group would take the trash and either clean it so that the kids can up it to turn it into a art project on pollution or they could recycle it. A way that we think that wrapping up the project was to have the kids make posters or something using art to talk about pollution and recycling. Also we would look to see if there was a magazine or teacher submit art magazine so that we could submit their posters to see if they would be featured and that would tie the kids back into their communities as well because it would be something that would be seen by people out in the area.
My group consisted of: Madison, Zoha, Abby, and Kaila