Back to School!

The first day of school is always a tough one, no matter how old you are! As a teacher I am in the majority, not only of education but apparently of racial and ethnic profiling as well. As part of the syllabus for my class yesterday all of our student assignments were laid out for us. For those who don't know what a syallbus is -

syl‧la‧bus- /sil-uh-buhs/ Pronunciation Key –noun, plural -bus‧es, -bi /-bahy/

1. an outline or other brief statement of the main points of a discourse, the subjects of a course of lectures, the contents of a curriculum, etc.

Thank you www.dictionary.com

One of my assignments in yesterday's syllabus was to profile a classroom in the school where I will be teaching. I really don't like that assignment. As a person who has lived "outside the box" her entire life I don't enjoy putting people into boxes.

This is the exercise I was given to do when I was taking my undergraduate teaching degree: http://www.sangraal.com/library/outside_the_box.htm

Thinking Outside the Box - An Exercise in Thought

We have all heard the term, Think Outside the Box, but what does it actually mean? One of our interested readers has supplied a concept that may entice you to understand just what it means to Think Outside the Box.

Draw this simple box of dots on your own little scrap of paper and begin with these simple instructions.
The idea is to connect the dots with lines, but only four lines will do.

Position your pencil on one of the dots and do not allow the pencil to come off the paper, that is, do not pick up the pencil and start from another place in the box. It must be a continuous flow of writing once you start. Think outside the Box!

When you think you may have figured how to think outside the box, click on the box for the answer.

I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to do this then and I can't do it now. So here's the answer:
















Which brings me to my main point, not that I can't do math, but that we should try never to put anyone into a box. Students should be accepted in the classroom for who they are, not for who we think they should be. As teachers it is our job to help students (of all ages) to discover who they really are and then give them the tools to make their dreams come true.

I'll tackle more of the diversity issue tomorrow, meanwhile here's a link to another website I found about living life outside of the box. Good luck and don't let anyone force you to be someone that you're not!

http://www.crystalinks.com/outofbox.html