Having Initiative- Yes, they can do it!

 

 

So this was todays question from  @kerriaattamatea for the #BFC630NZ. As a teacher and a mum this is something I work to instil in the students I teach and in my own children. But are we doing enough?

I watched my maths group come into my room yesterday and noticed straight away those who have initiative and those who didn’t. They were the ones still standing, looking around and I ‘m guessing waiting for something. As I sat their watching I couldn’t understand why they just didn’t find a seat and sit down.

My two reasoning’s were;

Friends have yet to arrive or all the seats by their friends are full

They may have to sit next to the opposite sex

It’s like the children who are at the bottom of a page and ask you what they do next!

This is something I am struggling to understand with this year group. Do we mollycoddle them to much in year 1/2? Am I just so used to older students I have forgotten how this age acts? Do parents play a role in this?

Looking around at school today I began to wonder whether as teachers we take some of this away from them by wanting the classroom to work for us rather than the students. My class last year didn’t line up. End of each break, they just went inside and carried on with their work. They didn’t need to be told what to do yet this year new teachers new rules. They have to line up and wait for the teacher to tell them what they have to do. Have we stolen their initiative?

Do we make excuses for them also? I have the same expectations for my new class that I did last year although now and then I am told they won’t be able to this or that. Why? Have we suddenly decided that students can only start to do things at a certain age? Do we have a fixed mind set when it comes to what we think students can do?

I will admit I do think parents play a role in this. I am seeing parents doing more for their children than in the past. Not allowing their children to fail, to think, or even try. Maybe as parents we need to realise that we are doing more harm than good by not letting them think for themselves.

We don’t have bossy, opinionated students we have ones using their initiative and trying. I like these types of students. The ones, who will give it a go, take a risk and do things without the need of me.

If we don’t foster an environment where students use their initiative how will they cope in the real world?

So I guess the question is what are you doing to encourage this in your classroom?

 

The Questions Have Started

I am working a little backwards with the next few blogs as I am very keen to post about my Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) as well as the PD we had on Collaborating and growth/fixed mind set. I am just waiting to get a few slides and links which I hope will explain it a bit more clearly than I possibly could.

 I have reflected already how this year is going to work. Already it seems strange as usually I would have a class room all set up, displays to help with the students thinking scattered around the room, planning for at least the first 3 weeks completed and just a general sense of  a room ready to greet the students.

However this is not the case. I am working in a team with 4 other teachers and my ‘classroom’ is merely my homeroom for my class to have registration taken. I don’t own the walls therefore can’t splash all my own things on it –yet.

I am loving this, it is right up my alley and doesn’t faze me one bit (this will become apparent when I blog about the HBDI) but what is hard is all five of us agreeing about how we will do and go about things. We are a great team and I think we will work fabulously together but we are also individuals who have different ideas and interpretations about how things may work.

What has been great is out principal has been using what we will be using with the children- Our Graduate programme and our first one is Team Player. This is something we have to do in order for success to happen and for our students to be successful.

I won’t lie it’s daunting as I know I am someone who has a million and one ideas and sometimes get carried away with excitement. Very much like a child right before Christmas! But I do know I have to restrain this side of me and listen (which can be hard for me) rather than talk!

Already we are thinking how we will work with nearly 120 students and four classrooms (we have two rooms that could easily fit two classes in and have doors that lead into each). We know we need to utilise the space we have to best suit the students and our teaching. So far we have a few ideas but setting them in stone is hard.

Today I began thinking;

Some students need to be read to everyday others once a week. How will this rotation work? Where will they go? Is it easier for students or teachers to move around?

What about maths? How can we get away from interchange?

Would utilising the two bigger rooms as ‘independent’ working rooms with teacher/s facilitating work?

Could the others be used as group rooms? If so how would we work this?

How will we work collaborative learning so that we are successful? At the moment everyone have a very different definition of this.

Movement- How will this work?

I know in the next few weeks my questions will be answered but there is a lot to ponder over.