TEAM: Together wE Achieve More

This week in honor of Constitution Day, we engaged in higher level thinking strategies like brainstorming and systems thinking to draft our classroom constitution.  Students are pretty sure they want to have fun this year.  That was evident from all the data gathered.  However, they also expressed a passion for achievement in terms of things like:  getting 600s on their SOL tests, and getting all APs.  Students also expressed a wish for having choice over the types of projects they are asked to complete this year.  These are pretty common wishes from fifth graders.

There was one area that did surprise me.  There were several references to cheating and fairness.   These types of references are new to me.  I have been inviting students to craft their learning environment with me for over 10 years now.  Cheating is not a topic I have heard of before.  I have heard some reference to the principle of fairness being applied to all.  Our country is dealing with the issue of fairness every day, wouldn't you agree?

The Gabbiano's were able to craft their common goals this week and start a rough draft of their agreements.  I am planning on engaging them in several types of dialogue structures this coming week to really tease out details related to fairness and habits of mind.  You are invited to join us in the dialogue from home by conversing about the following questions.  I also provided links to interesting student and family resources below for your use as needed.  Stay tuned to our blog for more information about our classroom constitution.

Questions for consideration:
1.  What does fairness mean?  What does it look like and sound like?  Is fairness the same for everyone?  Why or why not?
2.  What does "do your best" mean in your family?  What does it look and sound like?
3.  What habits of mind do you use daily?  Which ones do you still wonder about?  Here is a list of the most common habits (nscd.org, 2015):

Links for further information:

Developing Habits of Mind (Costa, Kallick)

7 Habits for Happy Kids (Covey)