Category Archives: Best Practices
A child’s memory of Martin Luther King
Today’s national celebration of the birthday of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., offers teachers an excellent opportunity to share the story of this prominent figure in America’s history. The holiday provides an opportunity to guide young people in their reflection on what lessons about life this great leader’s life can offer us.
As a young child myself in the 1960’s, I can remember avidly watching the “I Have a Dream” speech on television that hot August night in 1963. I was eight years old then, and impressionable. I’m all grown up now, but throughout the five and a half decades since that historic March on Washington, whenever I watch video of that historic speech, I am impressed all over again. I am impressed by the possibility that the world we share could, and should, be a better place. I am reminded by the fact that no matter how young—or old—I am, I can take action, even if it’s small, that would make such improvement come about. This is one of the most important lessons MLK has taught us all, not only then, but most especially now.
The video of King’s historic speech is below. To learn more about this amazing man, click on MLK Biography. To examine the website of the MLK Center for Nonviolent Change, click on King Center.
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Martin Luther King speaks about the function of education…
Elementary teacher Kathy Pitt developed technique to reduce alienation and bullying
Elementary school teacher Kathy Pitt has developed a technique to reduce alienation and bullying among her students.
Recently I read a fascinating article about an elementary school teacher who developed a great strategy for reducing bullying and feelings of alienation in her classroom. The teacher is Kathy Pitt, a retired fifth grade teacher from Sea Gate Elementary School in Naples, Florida.
Every Friday, Kathy gave each of her students an index card. She asked the students to write down who they would like to sit with the next week. And she invited the students to nominate one of their classmates they thought was “exceptional.”
After collecting the note cards, Kathy placed them in front of her on her desk and study them. She analyzed which students received the fewest nominations, and she looked for the patterns. Who never got requested by others as a seat partner? Who never got noticed enough to get nominated as “exceptional”? Who had tons of friends last week, but none this week? Who never gets noticed enough to be nominated? She also looked to see which students were unwilling or unable to nominate others. In this way, Kathy discovered clues to social issues that weren’t always visible to her as she moved through her daily curriculum.
The teacher was looking for lonely children, kids who were alienated and struggling to connect. She was identifying the youngsters who were falling through the cracks. The next week she would make a special effort to connect with those kids. Kathy was also able to detect which kids were being bullied and who was doing the bullying. Then she took steps to resolve those conflicts.
The innovative educator once revealed she developed the technique after the school shooting at Columbine. She had been using it every single Friday since that 1999 event. It was just her way of attempting to helping students feel less lonely, less alienated, and to help students get along with each other better.
To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, click on this blog post found on Lifestyle.
