Attendance is a major issue at my school. Both students and teachers are frequently late or completely absent from classes. As a result, whole classes are sometimes left to fend for themselves. Sometimes it is obvious when a teacher is absent from the noise coming out of a classroom but some classes are clever and sit quietly with the door closed and have the hour to themselves. One morning a I filled in for an absent teacher in the third grade. I gave five students pieces of chalk and no directions about what to do. I sat back and observed what unfolded.
The students at the board are drawing flowers (their own idea). Some of the pictures were quite intricate (see the following picture). The amazing part about this image though, is that the five students at the board independently drew lines on the board between their own work spaces. They organized themselves into an orderly line.
The presence of the root system in the plant on the right surprised me.
Students 'reading' The Economist in the courtyard during some free time. Pictures of airplanes are especially popular.
I can only conclude from these observations that students can manage themselves in an environment that is lacking teachers and educational resources. Check out this TED Talk from Sugata Mitra about how kids can teach themselves when they have access to the right tools.
No comments:
Post a Comment