Images of Greatness

This term my class are working on a tremendous unit in Inquiry Studies entitled Images of Greatness. This unit sees the students choosing an eminent person and delving deeply into their lives in order to discover why this person is great.
To start the unit we brainstorm the meaning of words such as greatness, eminent etc in order to investigate what it takes to be great. We look at some individual case studies that also help to shape the student's thinking.
After this initial opening period of the unit the students then choose a person on who they will do in depth research project. The choice is totally up to the students themselves. Their work is going to be of a higher level if the choice of person is made solely by themselves. For a 12 year old boy to be able to do a project on a famous sportsman, a 12 year old girl to work on a musician or an actor passion is going to be displayed as it is a subject they love. I even think back to my time in Year 6, if i could have done a project on a sportsman I would have been in heaven.
I first did this unit in 1999. I have now led it 10 times in 3 different schools. There have been numerous highlights over the years many of which include:

• Chatting to cricketing great Imran Khan as part of my student's project in 1999.
• For the first 4 years I did the unit I also did a project. The people I chose were Australian war hero Weary Dunlop, Elvis Presley, Lance Armstrong and U2 lead singer Bono. The finale of the unit sees the students having a presentation day where they must dress as their chosen person. This included me as well. Having to wear a bit too tight Elvis suit is a highlight/low light of my career.
• Having one of my students in 2006 do her project on her mother who was at the time battling cancer. It was beautiful, touching and incredibly heart warming.
• Having a student open my awareness to the incredible Aung San Suu Kyi with a stirring project in 2001.

These are just a few of many highlights.

This year sees a few familiar faces who seem to pop up every year: Sir Donald Bradman, Bill Gates, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Muhammed Ali and J.K. Rowling. Mark Zuckerberg is one who I believe will become very common as the years progress from now.

As well as doing a general biography on their chosen person students must write an exposition (essay) arguing why their person is great. This truly refines their thinking as they look deeply into the life of accomplishment and achievement.

As a final thought can I direct you to the life of Terry Fox? I watched a documentary on his life in January and was truly blown away by his life. It was great without a doubt. I showed this documentary to my class as an introductory activity. It was a great way to focus their thinking about what qualities somebody must possess to be great.

Reading

Today I wanted to
blog on a topic that I am passionate about: reading. I don’t know when I became
passionate about this subject but I think it may have been 1995 when I
travelled the world for the year and had plenty of time to read. I had always
read and would become engrossed in books but I probably spent more time reading
sports and music magazines and newspapers (which I still do). Now days I cannot
sit anywhere (in front of the television, on a plane, train, bus or lie in bed
for that matter) without some form of reading material in my hands.
Reading takes us
places. I remember being captivated in the early 1990’s by reading National
Geographic magazines of these amazing places in the world. I am very fortunate
enough to have visited some of these locations such as Angkor Wat in Cambodia,
the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, the Ring of Kerry in Ireland and Table
Mountain in Cape Town to name a few. If it wasn’t for reading I would not have
discovered these places.
Reading extends our
minds, our vocabulary and our outlook on life. I am very strict on reading in
the classroom to put it mildly. I make all of my students read a novel every
two weeks. I have to approve the novel at the start to ensure that it is
appropriate, not too easy and not too hard. At the end of the two weeks all the
class sits down and each individual stands in front of the group to present an
oral book report. They give us a brief summary and then importantly tell us
their opinions. After this their classmates ask questions about the book. One
of the reasons we do this is to ensure the student has read the book. If they
have not completed their novel there is no way they will be able to do their
report. Occasionally some will try to bluff their way through but their
classmates like catching them out. I tell my students that if they do not read “Would
you like fries with that?” will become a line they had better get used to. A colleague
once suggested I may have been a little heavy handed when I wanted to write on
a student’s report ‘Not reading will condemn (student’s name) to academic
failure’. I didn’t end up putting it on the report.
I know parents like
this task. They like making the students accountable. If a student has not
completed their book they miss 4 weeks of Friday free time. They hate this. I
want students to eventually read for enjoyment but for some the whip has to be
cracked to get them reading in the first place.
There has always been
a myth (I Believe) about boys and reading. I taught at all boys schools for
seven years and I generally had classes of enthusiastic and eager readers. I
used the same strategies as I currently do but I was thrilled with the way my
boys read. Get them enthused, find books on topics they will enjoy and you will
captivate them. A huge thank you to the Australian author John Marsden for
creating the Tomorrow When the War Began series of books. I first discovered
them in 1999 and was hooked straight away and I loved sharing them with my students
many of whom went on to read all ten books in the series. One of the reasons I
loved these books was that the truly heroic characters in them were female and
this was important for young men to see.
I still say that the
three best books I have ever read I did at school: To Kill a Mockingbird, The
Outsiders and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A adore all three books and
find myself still reading them every few years or so, recommending them often
to my students and still being able to quote the last few lines of both The
Outsiders and Huck Finn.
Anyhow I hope this
entry has truly shown my passion about reading. As I say to my students….read,
read, read and when you think you have read enough…read some more.
Happy reading!