When it comes to teaching, Catherine Colagross finds that thinking outside the box sometimes can work very well.
Thinking outside the box can mean teaching outside a classroom ? especially when you’re dealing with kids who have a different way of learning.
‘Kids in most middle school are kinesthetic learners, meaning they have to use their body,? said Colagross, who teaches seventh-grade English and geography at Oxford Middle School. ‘Therefore, most of the lessons they remember are kinesthetic lessons.?
Colagross found kids seem to remember and gain more knowledge through hands-on learning. It’s a lesson that’s served her well whenever she deals with students that are, as she described it, ‘reluctant readers who aren’t motivated intrinsically to read.?
After reading an article given to her by OMS Assistant Principal Jeff Brown, she began working with her students in reading programs that included after-school field trips.
It started last spring when she began dividing each class into groups and had them pick a fiction book they wanted to read. The book was then applied to a nonfiction setting. Among the books selected were books on skate boarding (Skateboard Tough by Matt Christopher), soccer (Million Dollar Kick by Dan Gutman), and environmental issues (Earth Change by Edgar Cayces).
For the skateboarding book, Colagross took her students to a skate park in Auburn Hills. There, they each did summaries of the book and discussed it. When it came to soccer, the students went to see the United Soccer Leagues? team Michigan Bucks (a minor league affiliate of Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew) play.
‘The students got to talk to the players and ask what it takes to be a soccer player,? Colagross said.
For the environmental book, they went to Bald Mountain Recreational Area in Orion and discuss eco-related issues. ‘It was a neat way where they spoke to real-life people and realized that school matters,? she said of her students. ‘We’re getting them to read and educating them. They’re not just reading, but they’re reading to think so we can challenge them to look at life in a different way.?
The teacher also recalled one incident during the soccer field trip where the students saw a little girl’s new puppy lose its leash and jump into a lake. Some of the boys in Colagross? group jumped into the lake’fully clothed’and rescued the dog. Because some students might equate heroes with someone in a fiction story, Colagross felt that the boys? actions represented a great illustration to her students.
‘We talked about heroes and what it takes to be a hero,? she said. ‘I asked (the students), ‘Do you realize heroism can happen every day? To this girl, the boys are heroes because they saved the dog from drowning.??
Colagross added: ‘We show there are connections between what we talk about at school and real life. They’re not just people in a book. They’re neighbors and people who help you out.?