Crede Standards 2/11/09

The first Crede standard discusses teachers and students working together to learn. I believe that students learn best when everyone works together. Working together allows the students to feel as if they have been heard and have some say in what is going on in the classroom. There are several strategies that allow this to happen in the classroom; I was able to use one today. My class is going to be starting the novel "The Watson's go to Birmingham: 1963." This novel takes place in the south during the Civil Rights Movement. I began a discussion about the Civil Rights Movement to give my students some background knowledge. Then I showed a few pictures and a short video and had them ask questions or make comments. When they were done I had them raise their hands to express how the pictures made them feel and what would they like to do as we read the novel. Many students expressed some good ideas such as tour a local museum that has a section on civil rights, while others said do group research to learn more about the civil rights leaders. I believe I am going to let each student (I only have 6) choose how they would best like to learn more on the civil rights movement as we read the novel. I believe by letting students choose they will be more likely to complete the assignment and have more interest in doing it.