Within this product, you will find a few variations of posters that help students reflect on the importance of the work they are doing in class. I developed and began using these in my own classroom after a conversation with a colleague about Domain 2 of the Danielson Framework, in which ‘Establishing a Culture for Learning’ is one component. We discussed students’ perceptions of the activities in class and came to the conclusion that we needed to do some work to help students realize that the activities they are doing have an importance; things are not chosen for them to do simply because they are ‘fun’ (although important work can often be fun too!). We, as teachers, should be helping students to find the importance in their work at school; however, we should also be helping students to learn strategies for thinking and reflecting so that they may begin to discover the importance of their work on their own (because, in reality, the important work happening varies by student – when writing a story, one student might be working carefully on handwriting, while another is focused on practicing punctuation, and yet another might be getting better at sounding out their words, etc). The reflection of ‘how are you making others feel?” is included because this is also important work that happens during lessons, worktime, and even at recess. Important work happens all the time!
In my own classroom, I start by using the green poster. I teach students that I carefully plan every activity and I make sure that every activity is important work for them to be doing; while it might feel fun, it’s not chosen for that reason. In the first days and weeks, I pause students during almost every job to say, “think about the important work you are doing right now. What are you learning? What are you practicing? What are you working carefully on? What are you getting better at? How are you making others feel?” Later on, I begin using the purple poster to help facilitate a reflective conversation as a way to close most activities/lessons. I made the blue poster for a kindergarten colleague; same idea, less going on. I like teaching/using these poster sets because it is a constant reminder for ME to be sure that the work students are given is never ‘filler;’ everything that is happening should have a clear purpose.
THIS DOWNLOAD INCLUDES:
-3 variations of posters size 11x17
-the same 3 variations sized approx. 8.5x11
PLEASE NOTE, every page within this document is currently set to print on 11x17 paper
However you use this Poster Set, I genuinely hope that you find these materials helpful in your classroom!
Happy teaching & happy learning.