Children in Charge

I bet that when you saw that title, you had a picture of chaos in your head. Paper airplanes flying and desks upturned, all the while the teacher is nowhere to be seen. Actually, you couldn't be further from the truth. I feel that my goal as a classroom teacher should be to help children become lifelong learners. I want to help children learn how to learn. I want them to understand that if there is a topic out there that they want to know more about, they can take charge and find out about it. In the ideal classroom, there is no chaos, but collaboration. The teacher is there, but in the back of the class answering individual questions.

Mine is a lofty goal, but I do have some ideas for how I want to get there. I want to start by giving the children a sort of checklist for all of the SOL's that they have to know in advance. We'll put those checklists in a folder and then as we progress throughout the year, the children will be responsible for chosing what artifacts they are going to place in their folders that prove mastery of each skill. I also want the children to help me set our agenda for each day and I want to give them some input into how they wish to learn each skill. Do they want to learn about story elements through reader's theaters or by creating a stop motion movie?

Wow. Now that I have said all of that it is time that I go out and iron out the details. I am excited to see what I will learn about the children and myself this year! Until next time, go forth and grow! (Yeah. That's my catchphrase now. I like it.)