Discussion Task #1

Discussion Task #1

            Honey attracts more bears than vinegar ever will. If a bear smells honey then it will become more curious and want to know how to get the honey, while if it smells vinegar, it will not like the smell and will therefore run away. Honey is sweet smelling and attracts many bears, which we want to happen in the classroom. We want to make learning sweet for our students, so that they want to learn more. To do this, we need to make learning fun by engaging in interactive activities, instead of just doing dubious worksheets.

            In fifth grade at my elementary school, I had a great teacher who knew how to make learning sweet. I remember walking through the doors of the elementary school, around the corner, and straight up a small set of stairs to go into my classroom, which was on the left. I was excited to go to this class every day. I really enjoyed my teacher, Mrs. Whitcomb, and I knew that she really enjoyed teaching us too. I remember her room being vibrant with colorful paintings and I also remember having plants in the classroom. Each day the role of watering the plants was given to a student to do before we left school at the end of the day. This job would rotate among all of the students in the class.

            In one unit we were learning about the Egyptians and their culture. For this unit, not only did we learn facts about Egyptians, but we also got to make an Egyptian mold mask. This project was very fun and interactive. For another project we were out working in the garden outside of the school. This project was fun and allowed us to be responsible for picking weeds and the fruits/vegetables that were ready to be picked. This was great because it was a learning opportunity outside of the classroom. She allowed us to go out into the hallway to work on assignments sometimes alone to develop our IQ, but a lot in groups to develop our EQ. This gained our trust with her because we noticed that she listened to what we wanted and trusted us enough to do our work, not under her watchful eyes. Another aspect of Mrs. Whitcomb that I really enjoyed was that she knew us personally and knew the subjects that we were interested in. She was also a great listener because when we did a small unit on the Constitution, my friend and I liked the “We the People” song. So every day before we were to get on the bus to go home, she would put on the tape to the pre-amble of the Constitution, and my friend and I would sing along. This was a fun learning experience that did not seem like learning at all to us because we enjoyed it.

My teacher made learning sweet because she did not just throw information at us and did not expect us to just sit there and learn. She made learning interactive and fun; she made us part of the learning. When we became very frustrated, she was always there to support us and try to guide us to the solution and not just tell us. She was very patient with us and listened to what we wanted. I wanted to come to class every day because we were always doing something different and I never knew what to expect to walk into.