Did You Know???

Last week I introduced my ticket at the door idea! I'm still so blown away at how much my kids enjoy the ticket out the door and how much they're learning. While I have trouble reaching some, it is extremely worthwhile to me how much some of my students especially those who were struggling at the beginning of the year are it getting now.

This week I'm going to introduce you to the idea of my did you know questions. I have an app called DailyBrain that every day sends me weird, interesting, little facts. I myself love to get these and I thought over Christmas break man wouldn't it be cool if I could do this with my students? What I thought would be a small little thing where we would talk about it and move on,  slowly became a teachable moment. When a question arises or some thing  comes up that they don't understand they like to ask questions, they like to inject things they know about the topic. What I thought was going to be 2 to 3 minute discussion has turned into a 10-15 minute lesson where they're asking questions, answering each other, coming up with other great facts that they know about the topic. Some of them are silly facts that make the students laugh and its a nice little brain break for them, while other times the facts present moments that allow for discussions and teachable moments. We teachers love teachable moments. 

What may make me the happiest is when something comes up they don't understand they're not afraid to ask questions. Sometimes in class when we're doing math, language or social studies I have students who are afraid to ask questions. They don't want to say something that might be wrong and feel embarrassed. However, during this time it's almost like they're free to ask whatever they want. They are not afraid to say something that might be wrong, because nobody in the class really knows much about what we're talking about and it's okay. Getting some students to step out of their shell and share what they are thinking is tough. These moments where they feel safe is a great way to see just what they know and give them great feedback and encouragement, so maybe over time that fear of being wrong goes away.

What also makes this teacher smile is that they remember some of the did you facts through the whole week. They will even write them down on their what we learned this week. Some students even go home and bring me back more facts they learned or my favorite they go home and tell their parents about it. While this is something they won't be tested on, it is important to take time out during the day to do something that they don't see as work. They don't realize they are learning and they are having fun doing it. It Is a win-win. 

So did you know that Nike was named after the goodness of victory? Or did you know 49% of KFC's total revenue comes from China? If you didn't you do now.

Thank for stopping by!

Miss. B