Sharing our Ourselves

Sometimes it's interesting how some things take on a life of their own. The other day a student brought in a trophy from a cheerleading event they won over the weekend. They asked to share it with the class and we set aside a few minutes for her to share the experience with her peers. The next day, low and behold, we had several more students bring in items that were important to them that they wanted to share. Now today we had a few more students bring in totally different items that they wanted to share. So again, we set a few minutes of time and had them share their stories. Each item was vastly different but it gave us a different perspective on each of the kids. It showed me a side of them( and each other) that I didn't really know. Also, as a teacher, it gives me a little informal way to see how they use oral communication skills as they share their story ( hey assessment is assessment). Now if I would had brought this up and told them they were required to bring something in and had to share--well I can assure you it wouldn't have gone over very well. Sometimes it's best to just let things go the way they are going to go, without too much interference from the teacher. We might get more kids bringing items in or we may not, but it gives them some control over what they want to share with the class. I have a few pictures below.