Most days, I’m just trying to make it through the day, but sometimes I feel really proud of myself as a teacher.
Today, for my Habits of Mind lesson, I painstakingly created a sticker based on my iPhone photo and unpacked how my students could achieve excellence. Excellence is incidentally one of our school values.
Conscious of the need to build my students’ memory prowess, I gave each group one minute to observe the poster and memorise whatever they could. This addressed their need to move around since they are teenagers with fuel tanks of energy. A boy put his arms around his classmates’ shoulders. Score for peer relationships!
Then, I got my students to write down in their diary everything they could recall. I was training their memory muscles, so I didn’t care for spelling. To round up this activity, I got the class to recall the five school values via the memory palace tool. I subsequently explained how “organise my life” will lead them to “achieve my dream”, like moving up steps of a ladder.
If only I were this clear-headed and organised in my teaching every day!