Every day, Monday through Friday, I am given a specified number of minutes to be with my students. I’ve counted them…over and over again…185. 185 minutes a day, Monday through Friday.
Those moments? Those moments are a gift to me. Each. Little. One. I guard those minutes vigilantly, knowing they can quickly be snatched up when I momentarily look away. Stolen by time suckers.
I am passionate about making sure, then, that the time they spend in our learning space is beautiful, purposeful and full of inspiration. When they leave at the end of the day, I have two wishes:
Wish #1 – That their love for learning has grown at least a smidge of an inch, preferably more.
Wish #2 – That they more fully know, appreciate and embrace the uniqueness of who they are.
So, if you were me and you were given 185 minutes to create spaces for learning that nurture true, authentic learning, as well as a healthy belief in oneself, what would you want your readers and writers doing?
Answer me this.
I would want them doing exactly what I think you are having them do— choosing books to read and subjects to study, learning to express themselves in writing and in speech, and being gently pushed to sharpen their skills . Such lucky students to be 5th graders at Ayer…..
As a self-contained 3rd grade teacher, I get 310 minutes each day with my friends. My hope is that some of the time is spent reading to them, them reading independently, all of us writing and talking about our writing, All of us playing and interacting. All of us using technology to create. Your students are lucky to have such a caring teacher. Thanks for getting me to add up my minutes and name what is important to me!
I think the wishes you have for your students are beautiful. As a parent and an educator, they make sense to me.
I think that I would want to read for most of it, and then I think that maybe ones every 2-3 months it would be cool to let them pick out some books for the classroom that they would want to read.
I would want my readers and writers getting as much reading and writing practice as possible.
I love this book, and I hope you will, too!
https://meklitsayer16.edublogs.org/2017/03/08/the-seventh-wish/
Read. Read. Read. Each and every day engaging in self-selected reading. Books based on their interest, passion and fit.
Listening to engaging read alouds that promote thinking, cause them to wonder and inspire them.
Write. Write. Write. Each and every day writing about topics they self-select.
Learning. Sharing. Questioning. Collaborating.
I would want to be read to by someone whose voice brings the story to life. I would want to write about how the story impacts my life, my choices, my attitude… I would want to make deep connections that help me to become more fully formed into the person I wish to be.