Last week I was working on shared writing with a small group of students. In our group, the students decide on a topic and together we write a topic sentence, detailed sentences, and a closing sentence. We are working on capitalization, paragraph structure, and punctuation. When we've completed that as a group, each student writes in their journal coming up with their own topic.
One student was having trouble deciding what to write about, so I suggested Thanksgiving. He matter-of-factly said, "We don't celebrate holidays." Ooops...sorry. We didn't make a big deal about it, I just replied, "But you can be thankful for things without actually celebrating Thanksgiving." He got a big smile on his face and said, "You're right. I am thankful for many things!" So he proceeded to writed what he thankful for and we had averted any potential awkwardness. Boy, I'm going to miss some of those students!
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ReplyDeleteSince we are begginers, I think this is a mistake that many of us will make. All we can do is try to work on it. I think your reaction was good and probably helped the students to understand the Thanksgiving for what it means beyond turkey and stuffing. :)
ReplyDeleteI think you did the right thing. We have many diverse cultures and religions throughout our country and all of them are American. I am glad that you made it o.k. for your student to be different and that they didn't feel bad for being different. You also help the student capture the spirit of the holiday without offending his beliefs.
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