“Respect Means ” Project...My cooperating teacher and I realized that respect is a very a...
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1 “Respect Means…” Project Posters Made by Ms. Heidi Schulte, Posters Modeled by 1 st grade students Notes about the Project: During my last weeks at Moulton, my cooperating teacher and I participated in a professional development meeting where we discussed the common reading book for the year, Teaching with Poverty in Mind by Eric Jansen. In a conversation afterward, my cooperating teacher noted that the Emotional Keyboard of responses identified in the book are the specific characteristics of respect. I had been teaching a unit on respect in social studies for the past two weeks! The author shared the emotional keyboard to illustrate the fact that most children who live in impoverished circumstances do not have experiences where they are taught or modeled the appropriate, respectful responses on the emotional keyboard. Most of our students were being raised in such an environment. My cooperating teacher and I realized that respect is a very a difficult concept for first graders to understand, and that we needed another avenue to provide direct instruction and experiences for this character trait. We decided we needed to back up and focus in on each of those responses first. Since I was nearing the final days of teaching and was phasing out of instruction at that point, I offered to create posters for each of the emotional responses she was going to be teaching. With my cooperating teacher’s feedback, I took the main responses presented in the book, and simplified the words and definitions so first graders could better understand them. I then planned examples of each of the responses, and was very intentional about making sure each student got to be an “actor/actress” in at least one of the photos (see chart below). Using an excellent poster-making website, I uploaded the photos and made posters with titles and captions. Each poster shows a real-life example of the students exhibiting the desired emotional responses. I also made a sign that could be hung over the posters that says “Respect Means…” Although I was not able to see this project in use, I was able to share it with the class before I left. I made sure to leave the photos and posters in such a way that my cooperating teacher could either hang them on the wall, or combine them into a book for the classroom library. My goal for this project was to give the students a glimpse as to what each of these emotional responses look like, and to show them that they already know a lot about each of these forms of respect. It is now a matter of them being aware of their choice to act toward and respond to others with respect and to practice these responses in their daily lives.
Transcript of “Respect Means ” Project...My cooperating teacher and I realized that respect is a very a...
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“Respect Means…” Project Posters Made by Ms. Heidi Schulte, Posters Modeled by 1st grade students
Notes about the Project: During my last weeks at Moulton, my cooperating teacher and I participated in a
professional development meeting where we discussed the common reading book for the year,
Teaching with Poverty in Mind by Eric Jansen. In a conversation afterward, my cooperating
teacher noted that the Emotional Keyboard of responses identified in the book are the specific
characteristics of respect. I had been teaching a unit on respect in social studies for the past two
weeks! The author shared the emotional keyboard to illustrate the fact that most children who
live in impoverished circumstances do not have experiences where they are taught or modeled
the appropriate, respectful responses on the emotional keyboard. Most of our students were
being raised in such an environment. My cooperating teacher and I realized that respect is a
very a difficult concept for first graders to understand, and that we needed another avenue to
provide direct instruction and experiences for this character trait. We decided we needed to
back up and focus in on each of those responses first.
Since I was nearing the final days of teaching and was phasing out of instruction at that
point, I offered to create posters for each of the emotional responses she was going to be
teaching. With my cooperating teacher’s feedback, I took the main responses presented in the
book, and simplified the words and definitions so first graders could better understand them. I
then planned examples of each of the responses, and was very intentional about making sure
each student got to be an “actor/actress” in at least one of the photos (see chart below). Using
an excellent poster-making website, I uploaded the photos and made posters with titles and
captions. Each poster shows a real-life example of the students exhibiting the desired emotional
responses. I also made a sign that could be hung over the posters that says “Respect Means…”
Although I was not able to see this project in use, I was able to share it with the class before I
left. I made sure to leave the photos and posters in such a way that my cooperating teacher
could either hang them on the wall, or combine them into a book for the classroom library.
My goal for this project was to give the students a glimpse as to what each of these
emotional responses look like, and to show them that they already know a lot about each of
these forms of respect. It is now a matter of them being aware of their choice to act toward and
respond to others with respect and to practice these responses in their daily lives.
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EMOTIONAL KEYBOARD RESPONSES
RESPECTFUL EMOTIONAL
RESPONSES 1st grade definition Examples
1 Humility “I am humble.”
“I know who I am and what I can do. I don’t act like I am better than anyone else.”
Finished with a project, smiling nicely.
2 Patience “I am patient.”
“I am kind and wait for others without making a fuss.”
Waiting patiently on the carpet
3 Cooperation “I cooperate.”
“I work well with others to get the job done.”
Working together to put together a puzzle.
4 Gratitude “I am thankful.”
“I am thankful for what I have and for what others do for me. I say “thank you!”
Saying thank you when someone shares something
5 Shame (Honesty)
“I am honest.”
“I always tell the truth, even when it is hard.”
Sign: “I did it.” Student ‘drops’ something looks up at a classmate, apologizing
6 Optimism “I am positive.”
“I have a positive attitude.” Having a positive attitude during a lesson
7 Forgiveness “I forgive.”
“I do not stay mad when someone hurts me.”
S1: 2 kids hugging Sign: “I’m sorry.”
8 Compassion “I care for others.”
“I care about others’ feelings. I care about what happens to others.” “I treat others like I want to be treated.”
Helping another student up the stairs
9 Empathy “I understand
others.”
“I am kind to others and understand that all people are special.”
Students and teacher hugging and smiling.
10 Sympathy “I support others.”
“I help and support others when they are sad or hurt.”
Someone pretends to be crying. A friend comes around to comfort him/her.
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