I just finished my rationale on the 'Childproof Home Poster Projects' I assigned my Parenting and Child Development class my second week of student teaching. I wanted to share my rationale with you all. While writing it, I realized even more what teaching is all about.
Childproof Home Poster Project Rationale:
While student teaching at J.H. Rose in North Carolina, I taught an objective on how to properly childproof a home. I thought, "What is a fun way to evaluate and assess my students at the end of this objective?" I knew a test wouldn't be the correct choice. One day it hit me; I am going to have them create their own layout of a house and childproof each room! I knew the instructions needed to be a tad more detailed, so I created a 'Poster Project Rubric' to help guide students while they were creating their childproof home. Students were instructed to draw a picture, or cut a picture out of a magazine, of objects in the home that need to be childproofed. Once the object was drawn or glued onto the poster, students were instructed to label and write how one can childproof that particular object. As you can see from the pictures to the left, students turned on their 'creative switches' and did a very nice job creating a childproof home. My students responded well to this project and were excited to see their posters hanging up on the hallway bulletin board.
This project allowed students to not only creatively envision their own future home, but allowed them to apply the subject matter to the real world. Childproofing a home is what parents have to do usually once their children begin to crawl and this project educated my students on how they can childproof their future home if they decide to have children. My students can also apply this knowledge to their current home if they have younger siblings or younger individuals within their immediate or extended family. This project engaged students in learning how to keep children safe in the home environment, and the knowledge students learned from this objective and this poster project, helped them to understand the objectives that followed. For my occupational students, I modified this project by instructing them to draw objects that would fit in the rooms of their home. They had drawn the same number of objects listed on the rubric and when they were done, I sat down with them and discussed what they had drawn and how they can make that object safe for children. By doing this, my occupational students felt involved in the project and they responded well to the discussion once their objects were drawn.
By assigning this project, I have gained significant growth in the areas of creating rubrics and managing a large project. These skills are important to have as an educator and to apply to my future classroom. I was nervous to hand my students a small rubric and let their creativity do the rest, but with a little guidance, my students created incredible posters and they were also pleased with their efforts. I enjoy assessing my students in creative ways and looking back on the success of this project, I now understand that teaching isn't about test scores to me, but about making learning fun and not being afraid to experiment with activities or projects. I will always look back and smile when I think about the day my students created their childproof home posters.
Only a few weeks left with these little guys.
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