Opening doors of discovery

Of all the things I hope to do as a teacher, one of the most gigantic convictions I hold is the need for educators to open students to the outside world. Too often, the walls of school become places of control and formula that leave students separated from all there is to be discovered in the big world outside. There are a myriad of resources available to teachers and students that get us all outside the classroom, but unfortunately, it seems most teachers/administration lack the creativity or bravery to take advantage for fear of insurance risks, or the complications of field trip politics, or the limitations of funding. However, I really think that with a little creativity and determination, there are a lot of meaningful experiences we can provide for our students that will affect them in significant ways for much longer than traditional classroom instruction.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to do just this for the student I am tutoring this summer. Luckily, the student's mother is more than willing to provide every opportunity for her son to succeed and was willing to drop him off at an ice cream shop across from the university. We then walked down the street, observing signs and advertisements, discussing what real estate is and how to figure out where we are on a map based on street signs. Because I am still a student, I have many connections and knowledge of all the resources there are on campus and was able to set up a tour of the advocacy office for Latino students, El Centro. As the student I am working with has a very strong Hispanic background, this was an excellent way to engage him and will hopefully motivate him to do well in school. As we've been planning our trip to campus, he has often mentioned a tutoring program he took part in at the University a few years ago-- obviously, this was an experience that he enjoyed and remembers well.

Think about your own experiences in school. Which ones do you remember the most? Are there specific trips or opportunities provided while you were in school that opened an area of passion in you that you never knew you had? I remember in high school taking a trip to the university in the town I grew up in to see a Batik exhibit before starting a similar project in my own class. I still remember the beauty of the dyed-fabric images of Italian cities, being awed at the complexity of a medium based in fabric dying. Being exposed to the work of such an artist at such an age definitely gave me an inspiring glimpse into what I could be as an artist.

A significant component of being able to expose your students to the accomplishments of others and the resources available to them, teachers need to be utilizing and aware of them themselves. It is shocking to me to find out how many students there are even on campus that know little about the town in which we live. As teachers, we need to be living lives that put us in a position of learning so that we have ample life experience to offer our students. If we rely upon the curriculum and resources that only come from inside the school, we are robbing our students of the knowledge they need to lead meaningful lives. Additionally, we are modeling a way of life for our students that avoids true and meaningful learning.

What are some of the resources that you have found to expose your students to the real world? What are some of the reasons that teachers neglect this?

Literacy Resource 4: Oragami and Paper Airplanes

A great resource I have discovered for working with creative students reluctant to apply themselves to reading is activities such as origami and paper airplanes. I found a simple book in the Juvenile non-fiction section of the library giving directions on many different types of paper airplanes. In attempt to draw out some more visual and artistic interests in the particular student I am working with, I also brought along a selection of markers to decorate our creations which. There is something about the opportunity to add decoration to something that makes people feel more at ease-- a lesson I learned through the many class presentations in my art education methods class. The nice thing about books on paper airplanes is that the directions are not as complex as traditional origami books, which makes the process a bit less intimidating.

Literacy Resource 3: Logic games

After the discovery of how successful Mad Libs are at engaging students as well as the realization of all the learning opportunities involved in this fun puzzles, I took a trip to Barnes and Noble in search of more games like these and found a wealth of mind-stretching activities that are fun ways of building literacy. Here are a few books and activities that I found especially valuable:

"The Everything Pencil Puzzles"
"Martin Gardner Perplexing Puzzles"
"Gladstone's Games to Go"
"The Everything Word Games"
"DistrAction"
"USA Today Logic Games"

Some of the activities included in these books and others are as follows:

Logic games
Picture Puzzles
Story prompts/ endings
Scramblers
Fill-in Cartoons
Picture story-prompts
Rebus puzzles
Cryptograms
Word Searches
5 Minute Mysteries
Word Ladders
Chronograms
Riddles
Twenty-questions

There are ample resources online for these types of games that can be found with little searching. If you have some money to spend, Barnes and Noble has a fantastic selection of books in various formats, or most of these books can be found on Amazon for as little and $0.01 plus shipping. You can also have students make up their own.

These can be great activities for ELA students in part because of their use of cultural or common knowledge that can help build vocabulary in areas cultural understanding. I find that a major barrier in reading is a misunderstanding of these social conventions that native speakers take for granted. These are also great resources to keep on hand in any classroom and any content as they can be great educational time-fillers for those students that get done early or for days when the lesson plan runs a little short. Students can also build social skills through working through these activities by working together to solve these puzzles.