Alverno College
EFFECTIVE CITIZENSHIP LOG
Students will choose one of the following meetings to attend at their assigned schools:
open house, PTA/PTO meeting, parent orientation meeting. (Parent/teacher conferences
are an acceptable choice, however, many cooperating teachers do not promote this choice
for reasons of parent comfort and confidentiality.)
A. Identify the type of meeting you attended, explain its purpose and describe what took
place.
I attended an all-day event at Brookfield Elementary called High Interest Day. This is a
day when parents and other members of the community get involved and create lessons to
teach the students about everyday activities, skills, or professions. For example, there was
self-defense, how to crawl through tight spaces as if in a fire, how to play hockey, how to
plant a terrarium, how to tie-dye a shirt, etc. The purpose of this event was to give the
students an opportunity to experience many other extracurricular activities that they
would not normally receive in their every day school instruction or even in their lives the
morning and two one hour sessions after their lunch/recess break. There was, however,
still one hour after lunch for the students to take a moment to learn something in their
classrooms. My teacher chose to focus on reading, giving them a short lesson and then
having them take the rest of the time to read independently. This gave the students the
opportunity to calm down a little from all of the energy from the new activities they are
experiencing and to still provide a learning purpose to the day in the normal classroom
context.
B. From your perspective, evaluate the overall effectiveness of this meeting. Be specific.
The overall effectiveness of this day was incredible. All of the students were talking
about one thing or other that they learned that day. It was also important because
some of the students seemed to know the people that were presenting and I know that
when talking to the presenters they were all either parents or coaches or even
community members. This created a unique connection between the students and the
presenters. All of the presenters were friendly, cooperative, and respectful to not only
the teachers but to all of the students as well. The students in turn were able to have a
good time with the presenters and learn the new skills or activities that they were
being taught. For example, one of the activities that were being taught was self-
defense and the presenter was able to get through to one of the newest students in my
cooperating teachers class. This was major because this student sometimes struggles
with respect for adults and the fact that he obeyed and respected this adult was
splendid to see. Another example is this student sometimes struggles with paying
attention and completing tasks that are assigned to him. However, on High Interest
Day this student was so engaged in making his terrarium that he was not only able to
complete it, but also complete his bento box and read an entire book about the earth.
C. If you could have been actively involved, what contributions might you have made
and explain why you would have done so.
I was actively involved in the day by transitioning students from my cooperating
teachers classroom to the classrooms on the second floor. This was because we
wanted to make sure that the students were able to get to their classroom successfully.
I then was allowed to choose whatever session that I wanted to observe. Although I
say observe, I was able to participate in two of the five sessions. The sessions I
attended were self-defense, science of magic, terrariums, Irish dancing, and field
hockey. During self-defense I held target pads for the students to practice kicking and
punching someone that could be trying to take them. During terrariums I was able to
help the students to know how much rocks, charcoal, moss, and soil to put in their
terrarium so that they are able to plant their plant properly. However, despite this I
wish that I could have participated even more. If I could have participated more I
would have like to be able to work side by side with some of the parents that ran one
of the sessions to experience what the school is like from their point of view perhaps
between as the students are switching classrooms. I know the school atmosphere from
a students perspective and a teachers perspective but seeing it from a parents
perspective would be interesting, especially because their insight would be much
different from a students or a teachers seeing as they are not there daily in the
classroom.
