"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world." - Maria Montessori
Transforming children is par for the course in the Title I, K to 5 school where I teach physical education.
We have one of the largest enrollments of English as a New Language Learners in any elementary school in our city. The challenges these kids face are amazing. Many are learning to speak English for the first time, even as they continue to develop and master their native tongues at home.
There are over a dozen languages and dialects represented in our school. This, along with the long hours of school and after-school program enrollments, severely limit time available for social interactions and the formation of meaningful friendships outside of school.
In every grade, there are students with special needs. All of the children are working hard to meet our newly adopted and rigorous Common Core-based curriculum. What is more amazing than all of this, however, is the dedication these students show day in and day out as they strive to reach all of their personal, social, and academic goals.
My Project
A newer academic and social emotional initiative in our school is the paideia seminar for diverse learners. In this Socratic seminar protocol, students engage in active reciprocal group conversations on diverse topics.
Paideia gives every student an opportuntiy to be heard and to share ideas that are important to them.
Engaging in paideia in the gymnasium is particularly challenging for two reasons. First, the acoustics in the gymnasium are horrible and students need to project their voices at a rather high volume in order to be heard. This does not suit every child and many shy away from speaking because they prefer to speak softly or cannot generate the volume needed to be heard in the large space. A second challenge is that paideia is typically conducted in a closed, calm, seated circle. In physical education, we want the children to be up and moving around, so traditional paideia circles work against our primary PE objectives. With a Qball microphone, we can compensate for both of these issues. This padded wireless microphone can be tossed around from student to student without fear of damage from being dropped. Students can be up and moving around during our conversations and by speaking into the Qball will be heard by all to share their important ideas about health and fitness in our gymnasium.
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