A new term a new start and I kicked off the first few days of the term with an upper key stage 2 assembly on Thursday morning. I wanted to talk to the children about the prospects of a new term and what it meant to us all. Twitter was buzzing with well wishes as the US schools returned at the same time as most English schools, so I thought I would invite my network to help contribute to the assembly with their own thoughts about the new term and the new beginning we were all about to take.
I asked for responses from my network a few hours before the assembly and then retweeted with a quarter of an hour or so to go and was so grateful, as I always am, to receive teachers thoughts from around the world.
After talking in the assembly about new beginnings for some people in my own family, I invited the children to explain their feelings and reflections on the first few days of school. We discussed what they were looking forward to and any apprehensions they had.
With a global twist I shared the thoughts from my network on the beginning of a new term and what it meant to new people. I finished with Ian Usher’s reflection that a new term is “like a fresh piece of paper with nothing bad from last term written on it.” They really liked that thought and it ended the assembly on a positive hopeful note. Thanks to Ian and everyone who helped it was lovely to be able share your reflections in our assembly.
Why not ask for reflections on a topic or assembly subject from your own network and give the children a global perspective.
Always interesting to read about technology being used innovatively in education!
See my blog post here where I’ve linked to you: http://14sandwiches.com/2008/09/12/social-media-and-education-avoiding-the-rabbit-holes/
This “power of the network” post is great feedback.
I like the “fresh piece of “paper” idea for students. It is visual and has the potential for a whole series of tasks and revisits. Elaine