There goes again, one more post for Mr. H. It is Monday and he is on fire! I loved the activity he did with his students and I could not think twice before sharing it with you, dear readers. This blog post has a lot to do with the conference soon held in St. Paul’s School in Sao Paulo. I am glad educators are turning their heads to the heart of students and not only to their brains.
First thing Mr. H does in the class is to write his agenda on the board and this can help students understand what is happening throughout the day with no surprises. That is a great strategy especially to very anxious students. The activity selected to start the day is: circle time!
I’m an observer in this class and I take a while to understand the activity that looks just an ordinary one to the rest of the students. Each one of them receives a candy and they all sit in circle, excellent way to see each others’ faces, such an important detail to this activity.
They start with a volunteer and then they rotate clockwise. The volunteer starts with her speech: “I want to give my candy to X because she helped me last week with my math work of 3D shapes. I could only understand it well after she explained everything with her words”. Mr. H tells students to say it looking at the person’s eyes, this is why having them in circle is an important detail. After telling the reasons with specific examples, it is time to deliver the candy with a smile on the face showing the pleasure of giving.
The activity carries on with the next one. Sometimes it is possible that the student does not want to give it to anyone. In this case, they can eat their own candy in the end of the activity. The wrap up of this activity is the greatest thing. Mr. H asks students to go back to their places and then starts a conversation.
Students get the right of sharing their experience during this activity. They can say how they felt like, what they liked most about it and what was something they would like to do for this present week (plans for future behavior). I honestly thought they would say that eating the candy was the best of the activity, but I was wrong. Students mentioned things like recognition, pleasure to help, plans for helping someone else, plans to make a better group work… I almost cried!
I raised my hand and said I would like to give my opinion about the activity. All the eyes came to me and I said: “I am so happy that I could be present in this activity. I am certainly going to write about this practice. What a great opportunity for you all to review your attitudes from last week and plan new ones for this. For you to feel your importance among your friends and colleagues. That couldn’t be a greater way to start the week. Great work, Mr. H and kids!”.
And the class was over. They all moved to the following period in a peacefully way. They look at each other with the eyes that I always believed being the right ones among kids: the eyes of consideration. They are more than only classroom colleagues, they are a family.
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