August 18, 2016 · conferences
Enjoying the sunset over the ocean! We were very fortunate to join a group of educators for a Friends Beyond Borders Social Justice Tour through the Dominican Republic earlier this summer. We loved exploring and learning more about a stunningly beautiful country as well as getting to know and collaborating with other educators. Our trip covered so much ground and inspired a lot of reflection, so we will most likely be coming back to it in many future blog posts. For now, here are a few key takeaways: Diverse authors: My main context for background information about Dominican history and culture came from Junot Diaz books. This background helped me make connections and build upon previous knowledge. This is why diverse authors and voices are so important! Also, (sidenote) why do I know so little about a country the US has occupied twice in the last century? Once starting on May 5, 1916
professional developmentexperiential learningdiverse voices
May 8, 2016 · Uncategorized
Background: Following the Responsive Classroom model, the norms and expectations in our classroom are called our 'covenant'. In our classroom, we spend the first month and a half (!) trying to sort out what we value individually and as a class, so that we can create a covenant that feels true to us. We have three dynamic simulations in which students 'experience' Anarchy, Totalitarianism, and Republicanism. After each class period, we reflect on each government model to decide what we like best about it. We take these positive aspects and try to figure out how we want our classroom to run and which pieces we would like to incorporate into our community. The covenant is a labor of love and becomes all their own. This year, our class created a written covenant, a song (they are an incredibly musical bunch), and a logo which was "reproduced" (AKA copied and laminated) for everyone to put
simulationsexperiential learningIndigenous American StudiesSocial Studiescurriculum