Week 12

This was a very short week do to Thanksgiving however, there is still so much going on within the classrooms, as there is never time to do nothing and accomplish nothing with your students, as a teacher. With that said, we used this short week to really focus and narrow in on the Seven Habits of highly effectively people. The students (all grades) have been learning about this every morning for the past week and we decided to use these two days to use their knowledge on the habits and discuss how they can help transform yourself as a student and at home.

The students really took to the idea of the seven habits and on their own took the initiative to memorize each habit, that alone really helped make these lessons effective. Monday we discussed with the students the ways in which you could use each habit over the long holiday break when you are with your family. This was to show the students that it is important to always be thinking about the situations you are in and the choices you make at that present time. For example, one student provided the example of helping their Mom set the table and set everything up. They said this represents habit 4 because rather than complaining that they were hungry they are helping their Mom which is nice and makes things easier for her and they are speeding things up so they can eat sooner. This represents a win-win because the Mom and the student are both winning. I was very impressed with this example and how the kids took right to the habits and were able to connect them to their lives. The next day we discussed how the habits could affect their behavior in school. A lot of them talked about synergizing  when they are working with partners and groups. A few students made the connection of habit 3 seek first to understand, then be understood. I found that one to be very interesting because the students understood that they need to listen and really think about what another student is saying before they just start talking or writing things down they did not agree on. The students did an amazing job connecting each habit to many aspects of school whether it was our classroom, the lunch room, recess, gym, art or even mandarin!

This week really opened my eyes as to how much kids really understand. When I first heard we were teaching the seven habits and trying to have the students use it and reflect upon it, I thought that it would never happen. In my mind there was no way fourth graders were going to understand the seven habits and be able to apply them to their lives. Yet, following these two lessons I realized that nothing is too big or complicated and never underestimate your students ability to be able to relate to an idea of something. This by far was one of my favorite things to tell my family about over Thanksgiving break as I could not believe how these students could apply something to their lives a lot of adults cannot.