Unlock the Teacher Team travels into many schools and I always enjoy going into St. Mary’s School in Royal Oak. The atmosphere is inviting and the teachers are friendly. We wanted to tell you about a fabulous teacher utilizing “out of the box” techniques to teach peace. Linda Irwin teaches middle school literature and even if that knowledge wasn’t known, one could tell just by walking into her cozy room!
While visiting this past week, I coud not help noticing this awesome bulletin board as I walked down the hall in front of this classroom. I walked in and asked Mrs. Irwin all about it. The students are reading, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.
Students are working together by individually designing a quilt square that will be added to a “Quilt of Peace” created by the entire class. I was fortunate to have witnessed one child designing one of these squares, that was beautifully done. When asked, the students were so excited to share insights from the book and excerpts from the great discussions they were having in class generated around their reading.
As a certified ELA teacher, whenever I hear students excited about reading, my heart soars! Great job Mrs. Irwin for passing on you passion and utilizing relevant and current books to engage your students.
May we continue to seek knowledge in all things,
Denise
If you ever wonder if middle school and high school students are paying attention to business, politics and world affairs, we are in various schools and take every opportunity to ask students about their thoughts…they are very aware of the world around them… AND they have an opinion.
We will be utilizing the month of April to shower you with Best Practices we find as we wrap up this school year. If you know a fabulous teacher and want to tell us about it, we will share it and celebrate with you. We are blessed to have such dedicated educators in this country. Please join us in celebrating their efforts!
May we seek knowledge in all things,
Denise 🙂 and the entire Unlock the Teacher Team
Email your pics and favorite teacher bios to teachme@unlocktheteacher.com
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