Worth Reading 17 Sep 2004
The "I Can" Can
-By Chick Moorman
As Donna Sherry's fourth-grade class entered their classroom one Monday
morning, they found a huge orange garbage can in the front of the room. The
students' interest was immediately aroused, and one student asked, "Do you
plan on having a lot of garbage this week?"? Since interest was so high,
Donna used that moment to inform them that this so-called garbage can was to
become their "I Can" Can.
She presented them with a handout showing a large picture of a garbage can
with an empty area in the middle. Their task was to write in the middle of
the paper garbage can a goal they had accomplished or something they could
do now that they couldn't do before the school year began. They were then
asked to add their individual contributions to the "I Can" Can, which
occupied a place of prominence in the front of the classroom. Adding names
was optional. The goal was to fill the "?I Can"? Can to overflowing with
things the fourth graders could do.
The "I Can"? statements were read aloud during line-up time, settling-down
time after lunch, or at the end of the week. Donna noticed almost
immediately that the "I Cans"? were predominately subject-oriented: "I can
do subtraction problems," "I can find any state on the map," ? "I can read a
book in one week."?
"The emphasis on content-related 'cans"' bothered me somewhat,"? she said,
"because I try to instill in my class that school subjects are not the only
things in life."
So about three weeks into the project Donna modified the directions. One day
she assigned her students to fill out an "I Can"? paper with a statement of
something they could do with their hands. A few days later they were
challenged to write something they could do with their voices. Another time
they were asked to record something they could do with their eyes.
"My class really enjoyed doing this,"? she revealed. "Plus, they also like
it when I put my thoughts, goals, and accomplishments into our special
can."?
Donna feels the "I Can"? Can experience is a great way for students to see
themselves in a more positive light. It also helps them see others in the
same way. Now several weeks into the activity, most students are decorating
their papers and many are identifying themselves. They are also seeing that
there are many things they can do that are not related to math, penmanship,
or spelling.
Following are a few examples of what some of her fourth graders can do:
Eyes
* I can see all the beautiful things God has made.
* I can see others with my eyes.
* I can close my eyes.
* I can see a ball coming at me, and when it hits me I can see stars.
* I can see trees (drew a picture).
Hands
* I can clap.
* I can walk on my hands.
* I can stir a cake.
* I can play the guitar.
* I can feel.
* I can make puppets.
* I can feed my dog.
* I can pick someone up who fell down.
Voice
* I can whisper.
* I can yell very loud.
* I can say how pretty you look.
* I can talk to my friends.
* I can thank God for my blessings.
* I can talk to the plants.
* I can disguise my voice.
Fourth graders in Donna Sherry's classroom are learning about all the things
they can do. That's because they have a Spirit Whisperer for a teacher who
CAN see beyond subject matter and who CAN teach from the heart.
Enjoy
Chirag
:c )
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-By Chick Moorman
As Donna Sherry's fourth-grade class entered their classroom one Monday
morning, they found a huge orange garbage can in the front of the room. The
students' interest was immediately aroused, and one student asked, "Do you
plan on having a lot of garbage this week?"? Since interest was so high,
Donna used that moment to inform them that this so-called garbage can was to
become their "I Can" Can.
She presented them with a handout showing a large picture of a garbage can
with an empty area in the middle. Their task was to write in the middle of
the paper garbage can a goal they had accomplished or something they could
do now that they couldn't do before the school year began. They were then
asked to add their individual contributions to the "I Can" Can, which
occupied a place of prominence in the front of the classroom. Adding names
was optional. The goal was to fill the "?I Can"? Can to overflowing with
things the fourth graders could do.
The "I Can"? statements were read aloud during line-up time, settling-down
time after lunch, or at the end of the week. Donna noticed almost
immediately that the "I Cans"? were predominately subject-oriented: "I can
do subtraction problems," "I can find any state on the map," ? "I can read a
book in one week."?
"The emphasis on content-related 'cans"' bothered me somewhat,"? she said,
"because I try to instill in my class that school subjects are not the only
things in life."
So about three weeks into the project Donna modified the directions. One day
she assigned her students to fill out an "I Can"? paper with a statement of
something they could do with their hands. A few days later they were
challenged to write something they could do with their voices. Another time
they were asked to record something they could do with their eyes.
"My class really enjoyed doing this,"? she revealed. "Plus, they also like
it when I put my thoughts, goals, and accomplishments into our special
can."?
Donna feels the "I Can"? Can experience is a great way for students to see
themselves in a more positive light. It also helps them see others in the
same way. Now several weeks into the activity, most students are decorating
their papers and many are identifying themselves. They are also seeing that
there are many things they can do that are not related to math, penmanship,
or spelling.
Following are a few examples of what some of her fourth graders can do:
Eyes
* I can see all the beautiful things God has made.
* I can see others with my eyes.
* I can close my eyes.
* I can see a ball coming at me, and when it hits me I can see stars.
* I can see trees (drew a picture).
Hands
* I can clap.
* I can walk on my hands.
* I can stir a cake.
* I can play the guitar.
* I can feel.
* I can make puppets.
* I can feed my dog.
* I can pick someone up who fell down.
Voice
* I can whisper.
* I can yell very loud.
* I can say how pretty you look.
* I can talk to my friends.
* I can thank God for my blessings.
* I can talk to the plants.
* I can disguise my voice.
Fourth graders in Donna Sherry's classroom are learning about all the things
they can do. That's because they have a Spirit Whisperer for a teacher who
CAN see beyond subject matter and who CAN teach from the heart.
Enjoy
Chirag
:c )
------------------------------------------------------------------
If u want to add someone's name in this mailing list or want to remove
ur name, please send a mail to me at chiragg4u@yahoo.com for the
same.
Other Mailing Lists just for you
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joke of The Day - Cool Jokes for you.
Worth Reading - Poems, articles etc.
18++ - Mature Jokes.
Quotation of the Day - Great quotations.
Just mail for the subscription...
For your convenience above lists are also published as blogs at following
URLS
Joke of The Day - http://joketimefolks.blogspot.com/
Worth Reading - http://readingtimefolks.blogspot.com/
18++ - http://18plusplus.blogspot.com/
Quotation of the Day - http://quotationoftheday.blogspot.com/
You can use any blog reader to access them (for e.g. http://www.blogger.com)
or Go to the above URL's directly.
posted by Chirag at 9:49 PM
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