Life Skill Lessons

Every morning my students go with one of my paraprofessionals to the lunch tables to eat breakfast with the rest of the school. When the bell rings for 1st period, I usually go unlock the classroom door and open it for the student to pile in but not this Friday.

This Friday, I walked to the door and just stood there (it’s probably important to know that it is a glass door). A few students walked up to the door and looked at me, I waved at them. They waved back. Their faces showed their confusion. I continued to wave. At this point about 3 students were at the door, one said “Let’s go around”, which meant that they could go to the other teacher’s door as our classrooms are connected in the middle and they could get through. They started to walk around but continued to look to see if I would open the door. I again waived at them and smiled.

A few more student came to students came to the door. This time after a few minutes, one said “If we go out the gate, she’ll have to open the door and follow us” our classroom is right next to an exterior gate that leads to the street. He started to walk to the gate but again continued to look to see if I was coming after him. He smiled and laughed, I continued to smile and waive.

The final group of kids was at the door. They were all asking each other what was happening. The earlier group told them that I wasn’t opening the door. I continued to smile and wave at the students as they looked at me. A different student suggested, “let’s go get Oscar, he’s got a key”, Oscar is our custodian.

Finally, one student who had been standing by the door almost the entire time looked at me and said “Ms. Rice can you open the door?” I opened the door.

I was so very proud of them. For students with IQs below 70, they came up with 4 great ways to problem solve how to get in the door. It was such a fun way to start a Friday. I still am not sure why I decided to do this but it gave me great insight into their problem solving abilities.

I love teaching!

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 at 12:08 pm and is filed under From experience. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.