THE TOP TEN

With losing my voice for the past 10 days and hoping to get it back for graduation on Friday, I have had to make some hard choices for our last week of school. There are some traditions that I am not willing to give up.  As a parent, I always asked my own children, "What was new at school today?"  I hear everyone saying "NOTHING." Isn't that always the answer?  This drove me crazy as a parent because I do not teach in the same school district as my kids and I always felt like I was looking in from outside.  My kids are 18 and 21 and this was the era of no parent/teacher emails until my son got to high school, hardly a weekly newsletter or much of any communication from their school. I made a decision that my students' parents were going to be able to ask their child about the TOP TEN events of the week every Friday.

My husband and I always enjoyed watching David Letterman and especially his TOP TEN lists - so to be honest I stole his idea.  I hope he doesn't mind.  Every Friday, no matter what, we end our week with a class meeting.  Together as a class, we write all the favorite events for the week including art, library (which there is almost always a favorite activity with Mr. Prosser) etc.  The students then vote for their top five and we create our weekly TOP TEN events.  I love this idea for several reasons.  First, my top event doesn't always match their event, everyone has a voice in the list and most important the parents have a list of 10 specific events they can talk about with their child.  I have to tell you my parents LOVE this idea, and I believe it has been an integral part of our classroom climate. You might consider adding TOP TEN to your own list for next school year. 

These are examples of 2 months of top ten.