Shaundalyn Elliott's Diary
The First 180 Days
Shaundalyn Elliott, a recent college graduate, always dreamed of being a corporate lawyer. Her deep feelings of responsibility to the minority students in her hometown led her instead to a teaching position at her alma mater, an urban middle school in Montgomery, Alabama. Each week during this school year -- Shaundalyn's first year in the classroom -- she will share with Education World readers her thoughts and feelings about her first 180 days!
Making Memories
Week 33
With fewer than twenty days left in this school year, I had an idea for a project that will help me remember my students forever. I decided to ask each of them to create an end-of-the-year biographical presentation of a famous individual whom they would like to emulate.
This week, each student must select an individual and explain, in writing, why he or she chose that person. That document will count as ten of the project's possible 100 total points. After the students have chosen their biography subjects, they'll prepare one-page summaries of their subjects' lives. Students must submit those summaries before they make their presentations.
I haven't set any requirements for the way in which the students make their final presentations. Instead, I've encouraged them to be as creative -- and as individual -- as possible. I've even decided to allow each student to invite one or two students from other classes to participate in the presentation.
I have decided to videotape each student's presentation. This will provide me with a way of remembering them over the summer and in the years to come. At first, the students were very apprehensive about performing in front of a camera, but after I explained that they were to allow the person they were portraying to take control, I saw relieved smiles on many faces.
My students still don't know that this is my first year teaching. What they do know is that I am totally in love with them and that I will hate to see them leave in three weeks. This project is my way of holding on to a small piece of them as they proceed with the rest of their lives.
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Shaundalyn Elliot
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Copyright © 2000 Education World
05/10/2001
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