Sunday, April 13, 2014
The Morning Meeting Book (part 2)
Wow, reading through the rest of The Morning Meeting Book was great! I really enjoyed hearing the authors perspective on what a Morning Meeting with middle schoolers looks like and how I can translate that to my Pre-K kids. One of the things that was emphasized again even with middle school children was the need to share. I like how Kriete talks about the teacher's role in sharing, "Teacher sharings can be used as a springboard for lively conversation and debate" (2002, p. 117). I often like to share things with my friends and family, so why should't I share with my students too! Sharing stories or interesting encounters with them is a great way to model what sharing looks like. And I know that when I share my students are always shooting back questions or comments that relate to them. I think this somehow gives us a common bond and it's relationship building!
The other idea about sharing Kriete brings up is focused sharing. Although my students don't always need a topic in order to share something, this is a good way to facilitate their thinking and guide their thinking in a certain direction--possibly related to what we are studying. I think I would think about doing focused sharing maybe once a week since my students are always itching to share their own personal stories! One thing with focused sharing that I would like to emphasize is, "the responsibility of each student is to find a way to connect in a brief way to the topic. The responsibility of the group is to receive each student's comment openly and with respect (2002, p. 117). This is one thing I really want to work on with my students over these last few weeks of school. I want my students to be able to respond with respect and kindness to their peer.
I'm OBSESSED with all of the ideas in the appendices of this book! Although I got a little bit of a late start implementing some of these greetings, or sharing methods, I know that the time we have left in school will be well spent incorporating them into our morning meeting. I'm extremely excited to try this out with my next class of kids from the very beginning!
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Lindsey,
ReplyDeleteI too am excited that about starting Morning Meeting with my students from the very beginning. I too think that resources offered in the appendices are very helpful, I plan to gather some things together this summer to have in place.
I like your idea of having focused sharing with your students at least once per week. I think it is very important for our young learners, who for some are still very much egocentric, to focus on something else every once in a while.
I saw that you mentioned sharing things with your students, let me tell you they will absolutely love it! My husband brought treats to my students the Friday before the break and they were so excited to finally meet him since I talk about him and Makenzie a lot. I even caught one of my students talking with another friend about Makenzie and then asking, "Makenzie is your daughter, right Mrs. Stanford?" I am interested in seeing how this encounter transforms in our class community.
Great blog post, Lindsey! I am so glad to hear you are enjoying the book as much as I am. The idea that I love that you shared was the idea of focused sharing. I think it is a wonderful idea to provide students with a platform to share and offer their own personal thoughts. So many of my students enjoy connecting what we are studying in our classroom to their own lives and I think this is a great opportunity for them to have the space to do so. This type of sharing allows students to see life through different lenses and gives them the opportunity to get to know each other on a deeper and more intentional level.
ReplyDeleteI also found many of the ideas in the back of the book to be very helpful as I continue to plan for future morning meetings.
You are such a wonderful teacher and I know you love your students so well.