Today we found a brown baby cricket in the house which was perfect since we've been reading Salamander Room this week. Our find reminded me of an article I read while I was studying to be a teacher; it was about a teacher who took time away from her plans to seize the moment. One day, her students heard (and eventually found) a cricket in the classroom. They stopped (whatever they were doing…probably some hum-drum spelling list), and she asked them to write about their visitor. Some really great poems came from that little insect and his song because the teacher was smart enough to take advantage of the cricket in her classroom. This philosophy (I've since realized) has permeated the way I go about school . . . learning . . . life.
School should be more than a series of big black check marks on the to-do list.
School doesn't stop just because math lesson #14 is complete and the handwriting book is put away.
So many situations provide authentic learning for our students–real, teachable moments! We have the grand opportunity (and dare I say responsibility)–
to teach our students to find beauty in everyday things,
to weave learning into life,
to find the crickets in our classrooms!
thanks for the thoughts! I'll look for the crickets today:)
Carmen
I wonder how many parents–homeschooling or not–would have just passed it on by (or tossed it out the door to shut it up). I bet the percentage would be a very sad figure to see.
I don't know if this will count but the girls found an almost dead cricket in the kitchen and they took care of it themselves. That shows maturity, right? They did demonstrate how it was moving. That shows they were looking close and observing its behavior, right?
Tell Elijah that, not only do we have a frog in the basement, we had a cricket in the kitchen.