25 Days of Classrooms: Making a Difference

This month I am sharing stories from

classrooms in Berwyn South District 100.

Day 12: Making a Difference with Michelle Fischer (5th Grade at Irving)

     We started back to school in August again this year, full of the potential of another great year of learning and opportunities for our students.  At the exact same time, a devastating hurricane was hitting Texas.  We started school on a Monday, and by that Friday the news was describing schools that would no longer start the year off with opportunities for learning.  Their schools were devastated by Hurricane Harvey.

     Irving's 5th grade team (Palmisano/DeMauro/Weber/Whisler/von Ebers/Fischer) decided to do something about it.  They started researching ways to help, and decided to #AdoptaTXClassroom. They asked for donations at their school, and through the generosity of the staff and students at Irving, look what they were able to donate!  Because I follow Michelle on Twitter, I knew about the 5th grade project and their success.

     I was at Irving a few days later, just walking in and out of classrooms, and I stumbled upon this main idea/ key details lesson.  

 

     At first, it seemed like a typical mini research type lesson.  Students were in pairs around the room, reading a Time for Kids article with highlighters in hand, ready to mark the main idea and key supporting details.  Michelle was working with a small group, perhaps to provide support or extend the learning.  At this early point of the year, she may just have been getting to know the kids a bit better, with a review of main idea and current events.  All I know is that as I walked around the room, the kids were eager to tell me facts and new understandings they had about the damage Hurricane Harvey had done.  No one seemed to mention their project, though.  

     It was a conversation I had with one student in particular that I found quite inspiring.  She was also working on main idea and key details, but she had discovered the text box above on the bottom of one of the pages of the Time for Kids pamphlet.  In it, it says, "If you pitch in, tell us how.  We'll share some of your stories in a future issue."  This young lady looked up at me and said that she might just write a letter to the editor, describing how they adopted a classroom in Texas.  

     Why did this strike me so powerfully?  Yes, we are teaching students how to find a main idea and key details of a text.  That is true.  But, even more importantly, we are teaching students that they can positively impact others in this world. These students weren't just reading current events.  They were contributing to the development of those current events.   It's lessons like these that I hope all of our students can learn while in our classrooms.  This student knows that her voice matters, and that her positive actions made a difference.

     Ms. Palmisano, Ms. DeMauro, Ms. Weber, Ms. Whisler, Mr. von Ebers, and Ms. Fischer, thank you for adopting a classroom in Texas.  Michelle, thanks for letting me walk into your classroom, providing me with an opportunity to thank your students for being great humans.  I loved being able to thank them personally for making a difference in the world while they read about Hurricane Harvey.

     If you want to hear more about this class of students, please follow @MsFischer5 on Twitter, or her class Instagram account @5fclass18.  You are sure to find more things to brighten your day, whether it's book club conversations or more lessons on how to be a great human.  :)