Bennett Elementary Administrators Michelle Elliott, Dawn Hudson and Chera Bessire set goals for their campus staff to go along with FISD’s recent “.5-1 Initiative.” One of the goals for the staff was to create a student panel that would define the ways they and their peers love to learn and how they learn the best. Elliott, Hudson, and Bessire sat with multiple students and let them share their ideas.
Some things that were mentioned by the student panel included group projects, teachers taking time to go over homework one-on-one with the students so they understand why something was incorrect, choices in how they learned, teaching how to debate in groups and not argue over the answers, collaboration during projects, teachers reading to students of all ages, and the use of more videos, songs, and chants in lessons.
The principals asked several of the students to join the Bennett staff during staff development on Monday, February 16. the students had the floor to share their thoughts with the staff and the staff ask questions.
After students presented their ideas, teachers wrote things that the students said and clustered their thoughts for how they fit into the 4 C’s:
COMMUNICATION – Students critically thinking through conversations about the objective and goal based in the content.
CURIOSITY – Inquisitive thinking that creates a desire for students to question, gain knowledge and want to explore deeper with this knowledge.
COLLABORATION – Students working together to achieve an objective or goal.
CONTEXT – Creating a relevant, memorable experience that extends student learning to the real world.
