Teaching the election

I know it has been a while since the election, but I saw this blog post Tuesday and thought I would share it. This is from Elementary, My Dear, or Far From it. Jenny, the writer/teacher, talks  about teaching first graders about the election, their results, and their thoughts on the whole thing. She always taught older students during election time, but would not ignore the topic. She believes that more students were Obama supporters than McCain supporters because they found out that Obama liked basketball. It made him more relatable to those children. It is interesting what really matters to children. They didn’t understand the hot button issues, all that matters to them was if he was a cool guy. It is amazing how children view the world.

I also found her dilema of switching grades interesting. I was just talking to a friend of mine who is a teacher. She is teaching first graders this year, but has taught fourth and fifth graders the last several years. She was telling me about the differences. She loves not having to teach for assessments but says that the parents are a lot different. My teacher friend is not a softy. She wants the children to be independent and be able to tie their own shoes, blow their own noses, and follow directions. She doesn’t “baby” her daughter and is not going to “baby” her students. Unfortunately at times, the parents don’t like that approach. I have to say that I like her approach. She is not mean, she just isn’t going to let the students take the easy way by having her do everything for them. It is also refreshing to know that you don’t have to be all sunshine and happiness and that teachers still have some authority over the children. If they didn’t, I don’t believe the children would learn anything.