Comments on: Slice of Life, Chapter 21

By: GirlGriot

GirlGriot — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 02:02:17 +0000

I love it — the name and your process. Most of the decision-making in my class is done by democratic process, and it’s always interesting to me to see how students adjust to that. Usually, they go through the motions but don’t really believe I’ll abide by the group decision … and when I do, they’re shocked. Sometimes their responses are funny, but mostly it’s disheartening to see how little weight they think their wants and needs have, how little they think their opinions count.

When I looked at the list of proposed names for your team, my eye when instantly to “Ice Writers” and I thought, ‘oh, that’s the one I would have voted for!
–Stacie

By: Jane

Jane — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:58:23 +0000

Totally cool process. I use a similar process to review for unit tests. We brainstorm everything we learned and then vote on the three most important ideas. Everyone has to defend why their idea is an important aspect of the lesson. It’s neat to see how much they do remember, and it allows plenty of discussion to clarify any misconceptions.

Personally, here I would have voted for “Arctic Rush”

Have a wonderful weekend.

By: blk1

blk1 — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:04:11 +0000

I agree with Blink! The democratic process that they will never forget. Maybe as life throws them curve balls and disappointments with the political process, they will remember your learning environment with longing.
Bonnie

By: blink

blink — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:43:10 +0000

Decisions via the democratic process is one of my favorite things to watch in a classroom. Great final product, creative list from your students, responsive teaching, and Led Zeppelin (my favorite group from the past) all in one post! Can it get better than that? We can’t do this process enough with kids. Their voice is so different from ours. I would never have picked “Star Fox” as the class newsletter name ten years ago but it was a popular game among my first grade class. I would never have picked the name Jackie (as in Chan) for our class guinea pig, but… you get the picture. Your class will always remember their Quidditch team name. Fun slice.

By: Juliann

Juliann — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:53:10 +0000

I used to do this same kind of collaborative decision making with my Pre-K classes and the other teachers would say I was nuts because it would often result in a very silly name for a class pet or take home stuffed animal but it sure give the kids ownership.

By: Nancy Cavillones

Nancy Cavillones — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:51:44 +0000

Well, it makes sense that all the names would have a very COLD theme because boy, it’s cold up there, isn’t it? Kudos to you for teaching the kids an important lesson in democracy.