I Heart Rap Music!

This is probably one of my favorite things to do! The third CREDE standard is connecting school to students' lives. I feel like I do this pretty well. I also feel like the younger you are, the better you relate to the kids. However, I realize they are not getting any younger and neither am I! So, I have to take some time to actually get to know the students and find out what their interests are. I also connect to the students by using manipulatives, which is represented in the 14th strategy (pg. 84). I have used Hershey bars for fractions, M&Ms for graphing, and even current popular music to teach pronouns. Of course students are going to pay more attention to lessons where I use things they like than they would a lesson out of a text book. It is also helpful to know what the kids like such as video games, music, TV shows, or actors/actresses so that I can use them to my advantage in discussions. I can't tell you how many times I have talked about Hanna Montana to my 4th graders and tried to relate the character to a math problem or a reading concept. While this example is not necessarily considered a manipulative, it is a great way to get them thinking about something they already know and apply it to something they don't.