Residency, Whittier Elementary School - Alex Lange, 7 hours
I wasn’t a kid growing up during these grueling Minnesota winters, so I can’t possibly understand how it feels to be 10 years old and cooped up for hours only to be outside and face a tundra, but I know as an adult it’s awful. This week has been focused on a lot of conflict resolution in the classroom. I think with the time of the semester, unreleased energies foster discontent.
During morning circle, we had a talk about targeting. Mr. Alex emphasized that bullying was too light of a word and that we use it without much consideration. I agree. He had the students go around and think about what being targeted could make someone feel like. I also remembered that for me personally, the targeting got more difficult in middle school.
These behaviors need to be addressed early on. I don’t know if going around the circle and saying how the other person would feel is enough to combat the actions of targeting. I’ve seen these issues go on into middle school, college, even the work place. How do we teach children at an early age that these behaviors are harmful? How do we teach empathy to those who have never encountered it?
Mr. Alex mentioned that the class would be doing roleplaying scenarios so that they could understand the issue at a deeper level. He then followed up with a role playing situation between students. I am curious about the impression this exercise = has on the students and if it will change behaviors?
Next week I will be doing my lesson, and hopefully, working with clay will release some other their pent up energy and help them with healthy self expression.