Why are age varied peer relationships so Important?
Chat with a Senior side teacher and make it happen. Discover the way Reading Buddies are guaranteed to make smiles. There is something wonderful that happens when we pair older students with younger ones. The younger students adore getting to hang out with the Senior students. The older students suddenly have a sense of importance and worth that Intermediate students often find hard to discover on their own. It may be that some are siblings and they have the instinct to protect and help younger students. Or perhaps it gives them the student-led leadership that they are craving and find difficult to achieve among their peers. Whatever the magic formula is, it’s certainly worth while to make these interactions happen.
It doesn’t have to be complicated!
As the years pass so does my ability to let go of the control I thought I needed at the beginning of my career to have exemplar behaviour management. The easier the day, the better for me, for my students and for others around or interacting with us. This year I approached the Grade 6/7 teacher to pair my students with her’s. Her questions were: how should we pair them? For what length of time? How often? All valid questions. My answers were: let them pair themselves and let them work until they are bored? Let’s try for half an hour, once a week. I don’t enjoy the extra stress of attempting to make decisions I really don’t know the answers too. I have learned that just going for it and using reflection to guide my next steps is always best.
That’s a lot of kids, where do they all go to meet?
Half of the kids in the library and half of them in a classroom seems to work best. Alternating who goes where monthly, so everyone knows they will get a turn in the different environments with different teachers. The kids seem to enjoy the variety and I find it stays calmer and more productive with lower numbers. This year I added an extra element, I had the students bring their journals and half way through I asked them to write something in their journals with their buddies. Many of my students draw elaborate pictures but are afraid to write. This gives them the extra attention for spelling and sentence structure and also keeps them interested in the activity for the full length of time. You can read more about how I structure my Literacy blocks in the link below.
It doesn’t have to end at Reading Buddies if we think Bigger.
When we discover the way Reading Buddies are guaranteed to make smiles, we don’t have to stop there. Writing buddies are a great addition to the program. Get them to help each other with generating ideas and having the courage to implement inventive spelling with each other. Math collaborations are also widely successful. I have collaborated with colleagues to make interesting STEM math activities that the students tackle together and then come back and meet to congregate about their findings. Taken one step further you can implement whole school student-led learning learning where each teacher participated in science centres, appropriate to grade level and the senior students guide mixed age groupings throughout the school to support and explore. The sky is the limit if we want it to be.
With Love, C.
