Here is an exemplary conference led by one of the young students in my class this week:
Speaking of moments that make us reflect and feel grateful, this week we had Student-Led Conferences. This is always one of my favourite days of the year when I stand fully out of the way and watch the children take responsibility for sharing and communicating their learning with their families. Especially in the early years, it's a moment for children showcase their independence and demonstrate how increasingly self-reliant they are becoming. Here is an exemplary conference led by one of the young students in my class this week: *This video was created and published with permission of the family. Please do not reproduce without request.* How do you approach Student-led Conferences in the Early Years?
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What a special time of year we've reached in Kindergarten 1. Every day we are demonstrating how much we've grown and how much we've learned in so many different ways. We are becoming increasingly independent with our self-care and our play is becoming more and more sophisticated and complex. Our fine motor and gross motor skills are becoming more refined and our range of vocabulary and the way we use it seems like it's expanding exponentially! Last week when we were doing a shared reading of a poem at the carpet, we realized something . . . we're turning into readers! Rather than just reading along from memory as I pointed to the words, some students were actually sounding out the words in the text. "We're ready for K2!", one student exclaimed, which made us all very excited and created a perfect opportunity to pause and reflect on how far we've come since the beginning of K1. Special moments like this, when little alphabet and sound explorers turn into little readers, make me so grateful about the job I have. These are the moments that keep me going. I am so lucky to be not just a teacher, but an Early Years teacher. What are the moments that make you grateful?
This year, the 'Action as Service' committee* which I co-chair has been discussing how to ensure that our students are empowered by and connected to the projects we undertake to the fullest extent possible. (Each grade level from Kindergarten 1 to Grade 5 has a service project connected to one of their units of inquiry.) Our committee meetings and discussion kept this aim in mind. Through all of our conversations we continued to return to the idea that projects and actions must be age-appropriate, and not extent students too far beyond their sphere of influence. We also maintained the standpoint that certain attitudes and dispositions need to be in place for this to occur. These dispositions included (but were not necessarily limited to):
Ultimately, we determined that we could be doing more to develop these dispositions before expecting students to participate meaningfully in service projects. Thus, 'The Gratitude Project' was born, with two main components:
The project is simple, but strong enough to connect a community and develop the capacities and dispositions we believe need to be in place for meaningful action and engagement with service to occur.
How do you approach service learning with young children? Sources we consulted on our learning journey:
*Thanks to our Action as Service Committee for their continual work and thinking on developing these types of projects: Julia Alden, Delores Duly, Sue Skye, Shanez Cabraal, Hugh Maclean, Janice Vanhaltren.
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I'm a PYP educator passionate about visible thinking, learning environments, Reggio Emilia, arts, technology, pedagogical documentation, visible thinking, nature & play. Always inquiring, always reflecting, always learning!
View the About Me page to learn more. Contact MeRecent PostsEmbracing Change
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