Buddies

My 5th graders met for the first time with their head start (3 & 4 year old) buddies this morning. Some of the little ones were shy and uncomfortable and some of the older kids didn't really know how to interact with their buddies. However, on the whole, it was quite a success. I feel compelled to write about it because of what I noticed with one student.

One girl in my class, very bright, friendly, and well-adjusted, never seems to be enjoying anything we do. She's happy with her friends and jokes and plays around, but during lessons she has a flat affect and is very serious. Serious doesn't really explain it though; she seems almost unhappy, but not quite. I'm not really worried about her, but I'd like to see her smiling more.

As soon as she sat down with the little girl in head start, she softened. It was a visible thing. I felt as though I could see hard corners and stiff lines melt away. She leaned in to her buddy to read and talk about the book. She smiled at her, made eye contact, and encouraged her. Her body language was completely different from what I am accustomed to seeing. She seemed maternal almost.

I could have sat and watched the two of them the entire time we were there. Other partnerships went well. I saw other fifth graders being strong mentors; asking questions of their buddy, getting their buddy to talk about his/her thinking about the book, etc. But nothing compared to watching this girl.

We will meet with our buddies every week now. I haven't done this for a few years because I haven't been able to find the time. Today's experience left me kicking myself about that. This may not help my students earn better grades or score higher on tests, but they are learning and giving something so much more important. For at least one student this half hour may be the most important thing we do all week.

And I haven't even started truly reflecting on how this benefits the little ones!

Classroom Environment Illustrates Priorities

I've been out of my classroom for a couple of weeks now because an intern is independent teaching there. It's always fun for me to have an opportunity to do other things around my school. This time, I've been observing in some primary grades because I'd like to teach younger kids next year.

I spent most of today in two different classrooms. Somehow, observing in these two rooms opened my eyes to changes in classroom set-up. Neither of these rooms has much "teacher space." Each teacher has a small table for themselves - a place for their computer and some papers to deal with, but nothing big. Each has a bookshelf for their things and a filing cabinet. But, it would take some looking around the room to recognize the teacher's place. The fact that these teachers rarely spend time at their tables also adds to this. The focus in these rooms is on the students, their work, and their learning.

Both of these classrooms also have tables rather than desks for the students. This suggests that the focus is on collaboration, discussion, and team learning. Added bonuses to tables is that they take up less space per student than desks and are easy to move around as needed.

As I continue observing for the next week or two, I'll be looking more closely at classroom arrangements. The set up of a classroom is an immediate, clear clue about the atmosphere and priorities of that class.