<p>Yes, you’d need an explanation. It’s something they do in Teach for America. My DD teaches middle school and I think the sign outside says something like, Welcome, Class of 2019 or whatever and they refer to their kids that way. It’s to create a college-bound culture/expectation in kids who come from families where no one has gone to college, etc. – not sure if they do it in elementary school. I love, love, love the “me too” technique. I was one of those kids who just needed the teacher to know that I knew the answer. Beautiful.</p>
<p>You have been given a lot of wonderful ideas. When I used to talk to girls about science and engineering the speaker that always got the most attention (and converts) was the one who kept the girls interested, got them involved by asking them questions and made it fun. The reality was this particular speaker did not really talk about her job in particular but bought up fun facts that had to do with her job. She worked as a statistician and would ask questions such as “out of this class of 30, how many of you do you think have the same birthday?” As we left the classrooms I could hear all kinds of talk about how exciting it would be to be a statistician. LOL, if they only knew. But, that was OK, because it got them thinking they might like a career in math. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the tips! I will be going tomorrow afternoon to speak to the class.</p>
<p>I am not sure if I will be able to get a picture. The last activity I did with elementary kids, pictures were not allowed because some of the parents might not agree with it.</p>
<p>Since you had this teacher when you were in 3rd grade, you could talk about what you remember when you were in her class. Also, you could talk about how life has changed in that time- new inventions, things that you see in the classroom that weren’t there when you were! I taught for a very long time and always found children to be fascinated about what life was like in the “good old days”!!!</p>
<p>Finally, I am assuming you had/have a good relationship with the teacher, so say a few good things about her to the class. She will appreciate it, and the students will be impressed. One of my former students who played on a winning Super Bowl team spoke to some of my students shortly after winning and said some wonderful things about me. Their opinions of me sure went up!!!</p>
<p>Ask them “What comes after first grade?” They’ll say “Second grade!” Ask them what comes after third grade? “Fourth grade!” Next say “here’s the tough question: What comes after 12th grade?” Let them share – and let them know that there is not one path after 12th grade. Some people do two years of college – some four – and some, like doctors, do . . . a LOT more. </p>
<p>I was IN college before I figured out that there was such a thing as “graduate” school. People don’t always know these things. Particularly not kids.</p>
<p>Wow! Ok so here is how it went:
I walk into the classroom and I hear whispers such as:
“He’s here! He’s here!” “James is here! It’s James!”</p>
<p>I was like woah! Then I talked to them about clubs and classes in highschool, studying, math, scantrons, what they want to be when they grow up, what comes after high-school. They had a lot of questions. It was a very good experience! Thanks for all your advice. Too bad the hour went by sooo quick!</p>
<p>Talk about one mistake you made when you were around their age, and how you recovered from that. It’s important for kids to realize that everyone makes mistakes, and that one can recover from them. If you don’t talk about a personal mistake, they may erroneously think that you are perfect and because they know they aren’t, they may think your advice wouldn’t apply to them.</p>
<p>Time flies when you’re having a great lesson with kids! The rapport sounds excellent. They will remember the feeling they had when with you (positive) as much as anything particular you said or didn’t say. And I think your chosen topics were good and included many kids.</p>
<p>Bravo! It was a success. And your dear teacher got to take a breath mid-day, although I know she stayed in the room with you (that’s the law). So, you helped her too.</p>
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Best of all, this.^ And what you just did by coming here (thanks! we were interested!) was what every good teacher does; reflect back on the class to figure out what worked well and what didn’t, to improve the next one. Reflective self-evaluation makes a good anythng - teacher, cook, mathematician, scientist, friend. Clearly you made them comfortable so their questions flowed.</p>
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That’s adorable. Your teacher must have geeked them up. And it sounds as though you lived up to expectations there :)</p>