Once, I was asked what sort of community resources would I bring into my classroom. This question caught me completely off-guard because I had never thought about this subject. It was never brought up in the education courses I completed in undergrad. I have thought about this question many times, and I have come to realize that I just don't have a clear idea of community resources I could bring into my classroom. Where I live there are a lot of farmers, but the students around here have grown up around the farms or even live on one and usually already know a lot about it. So, fellow educators, my question is what community resources would you use in your classroom to supplement the curriculum?
Jaymi,I am fortunate because I live and work in a university town and there are so many community resources that I can depend on to assist me. The Auburn University men's golf team,(which finished #5 in the country!), is available to come read to students. During our "Tailgate Day" celebration each fall, AU cheerleaders teach the students cheers, a coach and some football players will talk about how staying in school is the best thing for you,etc. Not only do we rely heavily on the university, but we have an art museum whereby the director comes to share different pieces of art that have been created. We were once fortunate enough to have the nieces of Governor Riley's wife attend our school, so Mrs. Riley would be available to speak with our students about politics. During Read Across America Day or Career Day we invite policemen, firemen, Miss Auburn, the mayor, AU football players, servicemen in their uniforms, our own janitor, doctors, dentists, and others to read to our students or answer questions relating to their profession. One last community resource I would like to mention is the 4-H Science Center that is not too far away. For science unit the center can bring the reptiles and birds that they care for to the school and speak to students on that subject. That is really interesting! They have a great horned owl, a European barn owl, an American alligator (small of course), an albino corn snake,and various other animals that they bring.
ReplyDeleteKathy-
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post. I understand how important the community is to the lives and education of my students and I want to take full advantage of what resources I'm surrounded by. Your comment gave me a lot of ideas. I can't wait to do some research and see what kind of professionals I can have come into my classroom! Thank you!
I teach in the lower elementary grades and we talk alot about people in the community. You could bring firefighters, police, mail carriers, trash collectors, truck drivers, doctors, and local news reporters to the classroom. Sometimes children have a certain view of what these people actually do and I think that it is important for these people to come from the community and actually explain the details of their job to the children. Many times, the children will say, I didn't know that you did that too, or I don't want your job because I don't want to do a certain part of the job.
ReplyDeleteJaymi,
ReplyDeleteBeing in the Coast Guard for the past 30 years, I think that using the military for a resource is a great idea! For instance, my unit is an oil, hazardous matieral and WMD emergency response unit that has a plethora of knowledge in many different areas. We were all heavily engaged during the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, and since some of the students in this area were affected by it, it would be good to have some response persons come in and talk about it. You could use the science portion of your day and talk about the effects of the oil on the environment and even talk about methods that were used to mitigate the impact. Other branches of the service could also share different things with your students. In my career, community outreach from local military has alway been important.
Thank you Kimberly and John! You have given me some great ideas! Kimberly, I love the idea of using the resources as like a "career day" activity. I think students need to be exposed to many different ideas to broaden their thoughts about jobs and what steps they have to take to reach their dream career. John, the military is one that I hadn't thought of! But you are right on target! Here in my community, so many of the fishermen were devastated by the oil spill and some of the students just did not understand what was going on in their world. I will definitely keep all of these suggestions in mind for my future classroom.
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