Learning by Teaching

My first day of service learning was the week of Martin Luther King Jr's birthday. I told the classroom it was one of my favorite holidays as it also happens to be the day after my own birthday. Coincidentally, we were celebrating another student's birthday that day and she brought in donuts to share. Instead of singing the usual "Happy Birthday" song,  I taught the classroom Stevie Wonder's rendition of "Happy Birthday," which I played off of my phone. I taught the class that there was actually resistance from certain Congressman to not celebrate the holiday, while Stevie Wonder became one the main figures in the campaign to have the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.  become a national holiday. Throughout January and February we celebrated the importance of the civil rights movement with the story of Rosa Parks in Boycott Blues , as well as another book titled Child of the Civil Rights Movement , depicting the heroism of Ruby Bridges. We encourage ...

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965 was amended with the Bilingual Education Act in 1968, which largely thanks to the efforts of Spanish speakers, has become an important part of assimilation and multiculturalism in our society. Indian Hills Elementary supports students with English as a second language, and also has after-school Spanish lessons for prospective learners.  The re-authorization of ESEA in 2001 was known as No Child Left Behind. The teacher I'm currently studying under did not like NCLB for its emphasis on standardized testing, and its effect with  state educational boards eliminating curriculum in the arts, languages, history and music to provide more time for reading, writing and mathematics.  Despite NCLB being replaced with the Every Student Suceeds Act in 2015, the provisions related to perodic testing were not eliminated . As a result, there may not be a school play at the end of this year.  I remember how elated I was to...

Yesterday our classroom had a district representative instruct the last two hours, teaching the fundamentals of capitalism and commodity. Throughout the year, the students take part in a series of business simulations where they are individually assigned a role in their community. This lesson focused on a popular lemonade company moving into their fictional town, and most of the students were assigned to work as the "juicers", a select few were managers, two students for advertising and two executives. Two of the juicers were unsatisfied with their role; I told them to start their own guild, in the process of gaining the support of the other juicers, and negotiate for more hourly pay, medical health savings accounts reimbursed by the company, and 401K options in exchange for their services. Most of the my time has been spent engaging students who are having difficulty with math. Megan and I make sure to review the previous day's math homework to ensure everyone in the c...