I decided to add this little classroom segment for 'diversity'. It started with a simple discussion from our Housing Unit on a framework objective: Listing daily, weekly and seasonal cleaning routines for the average household. Students went to the board to write what they did as their individual 'chores' at home. I expected the usual; taking out the trash, cleaning their room, and maybe washing some dishes. But then I have this student start listing everything; from cleaning the bathroom ...to vacuuming... to cleaning out gutters.....and it was a girl! Needless to say, we found out that her entire household has to do these things because of the amount of family members and the demand on work schedules. And to top it all off, she did not explain the situation with an attitude. It was just a 'fact of life' and they all had to 'pitch in' to help!
In fact, I was dreading this lesson because I just felt it was going to be a super boring topic for the students. But this incident generated a response from the students and the majority of the class had something to add! Teachers definitely learn something from the students, as well! On this day, I learned more about the background of one of my students, AND how students, in turn, can relate to each other.....even on what we would think of as a 'mundane' topic.
