Today I presented in front of my peers my inquiry journey that I began about five months ago. While there was some “lecturing” involved in my presentation, I tried to involve the whole class by doing a self-confidence building activity. I got my activity from one of the articles that I have discussed (link to post can be found here). Students commented that the activity helped them to realize some of the strengths that they had not even realized in themselves, yet were noticed by other people. I think that as hard working individuals, we are often quite critical about ourselves. We often overlook the many positives that we have, including ones that we may not even notice. This activity would benefit any class because students can begin to realize the strengths that they see in themselves and the strengths that others see in them. This activity would work well in any classroom, as a way of building student self-confidence and as a way of building a positive classroom community. I would recommend doing this activity perhaps in the middle of the school year, where students have had a chance to get to know one another.

As a teacher, we work a lot individually with students and we get to observe their strengths (and struggles) that our students may not notice. We can help our students to realize their own strengths through conversations by saying something such as, “I notice that you are an excellent writer because you use a lot of character description in your writing.” For a student who may not believe that they are a good writer, hearing this comment could boost their confidence in writing. That in itself is powerful.

During my presentation, I also referred to my lesson plan that I did with my own class last week, which I have reflected on in my blog. My lesson plan can be downloaded and viewed here.

My presentation today can be viewed here: