I started my counseling rotation on Monday, September 16. I’ll be seeing pretty much every class every other week (rotating with library). I’ll do my best to keep folks updated here on what I’m teaching so kids don’t just hear it from me. This week and next, I’m giving students a general idea of what we’ll be learning this year and starting with a metaphor I use for a lot of things. I bring in a few boxes of crayons, which, the students don’t know, are trick boxes (two of them have only one color of crayon). We talk about the difference between “knowing” and “thinking” and what we know about the crayons, then students draw pictures and slowly realize the prank. One key idea here is that we often “judge a book by its cover” or make assumptions about people when we don’t really know. Being aware of our assumptions is a critical thinking skill I want kids to take away from this lesson. Also, the idea of a one-color crayon box is about as absurd as thinking that people are all the same. We aren't even close to the same, and appreciating our difference is a social skill students will develop with my lessons. Finally, we can also use this metaphor – what the monochromatic crayon boxes are missing – to talk about individual strengths. How would we draw the sun if we don’t have a yellow crayon? How would we be a community if some people are consistently absent, don’t participate, or feel excluded? This is a self-knowledge skill I hope to work on with students this year.
In the following weeks, I will be borrowing a lot from GLSEN’s “Ready, Set, Respect!” curriculum to prepare students for Ally Week, October 21-25.
In the following weeks, I will be borrowing a lot from GLSEN’s “Ready, Set, Respect!” curriculum to prepare students for Ally Week, October 21-25.