Great Idea #1

Great ideas often come at unexpected times - and often in teaching it is these last minute ideas that show real success with students.

Image thanks to  epSos.de  

In my class this year is an interesting lad (lets refer to as Bob). Bob is 9, and has been at our school just under a year. I am noticing that he seems to have a lot of A
spergers type tendencies - he avoids groups, only likes working alone, doesn't really affiliate with "friends", avoids touch, avoids eye contact, and stresses over small things that don't bother the rest of us. He also has a great sense of humour, is smarter than his academics show and has intense interests. At the moment those intense interests involve drawing and dragons!
He is a neat kid although challenging to get 'school work' done. So the last few weeks of term I had the brainwave (I'm exaggerating a little, it was obvious really, but sometimes we are too tired to think clearly). Anyway I downloaded a few dragon apps onto the class ipad thinking I could use these as a motivator for him to get work done, and casually talked to him about them on a field trip. Over a 20minute walk to a nearby school, he and I had negotiated his written language programme for the next week. He was going to use one of the apps to make an image, and then create a story to go with it (simple stuff really). And he was going to do this even when I was on release....

Yeah right! I thought. I was sure he would be sidetracked by playing with the dragons and never decide on a picture, and never come up with a story unaided...

Boy did he prove me wrong. He reminded me everyday, asking when he could start. He chose a friend to help him take the picture (to promote him working with others), he went outside and was back within 10mins with 4 pictures. He asked me my advice on which suited his story idea the best, we cropped it together. Done! The next day I was on release. The day after he came to me with his finished story about a dragon attacking the school. he went on to publishing this - via computer as he decided that was tidier.

He showed me that with a good idea, some trust, some negotiation and time, children can achieve. Where do I take this next? Now I know he can work like this, now I need to negotiate in the learning focus for his writing, and give him skills to check himself against this.

The spin off - Bob became a role model for another low achieving boy in the class who has high absenteeism. The next day this boy wrote a 3 page dragon story inspired by Bob. He usually only wrote a sentence. I let Bob know this, and now Bob's status in the room has been increased - and he talked about being an inspiration for days.

A great idea - a great outcome!