Chapter 25 Patricia’s Students Part 1

Important Things I’ve Learned From the Teachers I’ve Known

In three parts.

Part One:  1st graders study the human skeleton 

It was Halloween. They had only been in my class a couple of months—oh, and they were tasked with creating a large mural of skeletons who could dance, balance pumpkins on their heads like they were having a Halloween party, making Halloween Mayham. But they had to learn about the bones and how they connected . . . like the knee bone is connected to the leg bone.  We were learning about anatomy but then they’re only first graders.  They had to cut each little bone out of white paper and then build their skeleton bone by bone on this long 6 foot roll of black paper . . . they could be dancing, juggling pumpkins, flipping . . . whatever they could imaging.

As skeletons took their positions on the long poster, I noticed a group of boys unusually busy and remarkably on task. 

Much to my surprise, Corey and his cohort of four boys made skeletons that happened to include a very prominent extra bone in the pubic area.

My brain flashed: these 5 skeletons can't go on the hallway wall. But how do you manage six-year-old boys with an anatomical misconception?

 

I pull out the encyclopedia with the transparent anatomical overlays of the circulatory system, the nervous system and page to the skeletal system. 

I asked the boys to compare their skeletons to the skeletons in the book. 

“Let’s look at the book and look your work. There’s a bone that doesn’t exist on a human skeleton. Do you see what I’m seeing?”

It took a while, then Confused, Corey, with his hands on his hips argued, “Well, haven’t you ever heard of a Boner!”

Corey was six years old. He was sure of his stuff!

Such a cute story but the best part is when they concluded that the extra bone had to be removed.

"But what are we gonna do?”

All I did was lift my hands and make a scissors motion.  In unison the boys hands moved into protective shields in front of their hips.

Some kids had pumpkins balanced on skeleton heels, other had skeletons climbing trees, or jumping over grave stones...

Remembering that project I thought it was gonna be a big mess on the wall but it ended up being an adorable scene.  I wish I had taken pictures of it I don’t know why I didn’t but it was so cute!

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Part two.

“A little voice I’d never heard before.” We’d just begun the second semester together in a Baton Rouge elementary school special education classroom. 

It was always quiet during nap time but today a child’s voice I’d never heard. Though there were only 4? girls in this class, and this unrecognizable voice was definitely a girls, a wonderful, happy event was about to unfold.

I’d been told by the schools speech therapist that though this child could hear, she could not speak. But there it was, her little voice for the first time!

Part three.

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Back to Abraham Maslow

“Who among you would write a great novel, be a great composer, or a great leader?

If not you, then who else?” 

“If you deliberately plan to be less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be deeply unhappy for the rest of your life. You will be evading your own capacities, your own possibilities.” —Abraham Maslow (The Farther Reaches of Human Nature)

“One of the goals of education should be to teach that life is precious.” Abraham Maslow

I expect, hope that each of you to teach me something, this week or later, maybe one of your favorite quotes...

• Start collecting your favorites. 

https://www.awakenthegreatnesswithin.com/35-inspirational-abraham-maslow-quotes-on-success/