Wednesday, March 6, 2019

(Insert student name) said... {6 of 31 Slice of Life}

My small group of nine students were finishing up making a twelve inch ruler using a sentence strip and colored tiles.  We were focusing on the words unit, inch, and hashmark.  We carefully numbered our ruler discussing the placement of 0 and 12.  My student teacher had the rest of the class working at a bit faster pace on measuring and creating inch rulers.  The room had a good hum.  I was happy we planned different things based on the needs we saw.  I never expected what happened next.

Across from me at the table sat C.  She looked up from her work and her brown hair had a little bounce as she smiled ear to ear.  I quickly thought, she looks so happy when she said, "I love math!" with an even better grin.  I had to stay strong and prevent some tears that wanted to surface.  C didn't like math when school started.  C takes time to think as a mathematician.  C has to work hard some times during math workshop.  

As we were transitioning from math workshop I sent an email to her parents with the subject - C said... and thought wouldn't it be great to listen in more and send more emails with that subject.  As a parent, I'd love to get that!

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for fostering this writing community.

5 comments:

  1. What a great idea! Noticing, naming and celebrating what kids do -- it is the most important data we can collect. I love these classroom snapshots. They draw me in and then leave me thinking...

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  2. Yes! Those moments are lovely and wonderful when we can take a moment to capture and/or share them. The first act, however, is to notice. As a parent I would be delighted to receive that e-mail.

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  3. Love how present you were in that moment--enough to witness her recognition and to receive her gratitude.

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  4. It's always special when we can stop to look and listen to what kids are doing in our classrooms. What a great thing to share with parents.

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