Skip to main content

Queen for the Year

One of my 7th grade students loaned me a crown shortly after the Christmas break. I'm supposed to wear it for the rest of this school year. You see, I've been proclaimed the queen of our class by my students. I've promised to be the best teacher I can be and to take their needs and interests to heart. I had to kneel down to take this oath.

Shortly thereafter, my students decided that they would like to wear the crown on their birthdays.Then, one student put forth a motion about what they named "Crown Day" and the rest of the class took turns amending the motion. Several revisions and lots of conversations later, my class drafted and voted on our first class law. This process took place during our social studies class and in between a fire drill.

It was a great experience in parliamentary procedure.
Here's our class resolution.


Crown Day!
On people’s birthdays they will be allowed to wear the crown during class time. If their 
birthdays are during a holiday, then Mrs. Elisa, our class monarch, must decide whether they
 get to wear the crown on the first day back from break or on the last day of school before
 break. Also, if your birthday takes place during summer, then you may celebrate it with the
 crown during class on a day of your choice, but you only have one day. In addition, if you’re
 sick on your birthday you may have the crown the day you get back. If two people are
 supposed to have the crown on the same day, then those two people must decide who gets the
 crown that day; the other person will get it the next day. Last, if you lose the crown, you must
 repay the owner of the crown five dollars. If you damage it, you must pay for fixing the
 damage.
-                 Signed by the student who proposed the motion.
             Approved on Thursday, January 08, 2015


I am really hoping that someone else chooses to put forth a motion, soon.
Democracy in action.
That's what it's all about.

Cross posted to Two Writing Teachers, A Slice of Life


Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Reading Strategies Book - Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension

The strategy lessons highlighted in Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension, in The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo are critical to students’ engagement and comprehension, as well as their ability to write literary essays, or even book reviews, summaries and reflective pieces about books. If students aren’t able to talk about books in a way that is invigorating and joyful, they will be less likely to develop an interest in growing ideas for writing about books. In her introduction to this chapter, Jennifer Serravallo, reminds us that when conversations go well, children are inspired by what they read and are motivated to keep reading. However, when conversations fall flat, then kids get bored and tune out. How do we avoid this situation and teach kids to  have  focused conversations about books?  The answer is easy: teach kids  strategies to help them develop effective conversa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Partner Reading and Content, Too Routine (PRC2)

I'm a hoarder. There, I've said it. I try to deny that I'm a hoarder but it comes back to haunt me every time I move houses, or pack up my classroom at the end of the school year. I have old articles, lesson plans, handouts, folders brimming with teaching ideas, past issues of profesional journals. I hardly throw anything out though I've learned to be more selective over the years. My one rule of thumb, and I really try to stick to this, is that if I haven't used or referred to something in a year, then it's time to toss it into the recycle bin. One exception to this rule (you knew this was coming, didn't you?) is past issues of journals from professional organizations. However, with the ability to locate articles online through my professional memberships, even this exception is becoming less and less useful, which brings me to the topic of this blog post. I am currently reading a copy of The Reading Teacher from 2010. I've clipped a cou...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rewards and Punishments

I'm always surprised and disappointed when educators I respect support the use of rewards and punishments to control student behaviour. Whenever I feel like my students are "misbehaving" or not behaving as expected or agreed, it's usually because I'm "misbehaving" or not behaving as expected or agreed. Sound odd? Perhaps, but think about this for a minute. When something goes wrong, i.e. not according to plan, it's usually because the kids have responded in unexpected ways to what I'm teaching or presenting to them. Unless I'm prepared to handle these contingencies I can lose focus of the lesson and the children. I find that the best way to deal with these "disruptions" isn't to control behaviour through carrots and sticks but rather to take a deep breath and think about what may be causing the problem. Often the cause has to do with one or more of the following: how I've presented the lesson (it's confusing, ...
10 comments
Read more