This lesson was an extremely eye opening experience.

I worked with children from various

socio-economic groups, family backgrounds and ages to embark on a journey that would be
engaging and educational. I utilized all 12 Touchstones in this lesson, however, the one that I
believe worked out best for my diverse group of kids was Item 6: I interacted meaningfully with
every student. I know that I probably leaned very hard, without knowing it, to the Be
Imperative items. My experience as a Sociologist and supporter of Military Families has
always swayed my decision to act in the best interest of the child, providing above all else, safety
and security. Trust is a huge part of that so I practiced meaningful interactions with these kids
such as modeling, one on one conversation, acknowledgement of the things that they did in a
positive way and providing timely feedback.
I gauged what I thought of my meaningful interaction to behavior of the kids at various stages of
the lesson. We had 3 separate interactions for this lesson (this was an after care program for
elementary children and their younger siblings) with each segment lasting from about 45-55
minutes. Each was given the end result and checklist along with a pre assessment. For the first
stage we went over the lesson rules, what we would be doing and answered any questions that
they had. All of the kids seemed interested at different sections of the project since some were
craft oriented, reading, writing and public speaking. All of the kids had their apprehensions and
me or an older student would mentor them to see what could be done to assist. I visually
monitored each of the 6 students (1 did not complete the lesson) on obeying of class rules,
Mentorship, greeting peers in a positive way, approachable and open with comments and lesson,
enjoyed the lesson as seen in finished product and pride at display. I have numbered them 1-6 to
whom did accomplish these tasks for the whole of the lesson.
Obeyed Class
Rules
1,3,4,5,6

Mentored others

Greeted peers

2,4,5,6

1,2,3,4,5,6

Approached
others for help
2,4,5,6

Enjoyed the
experience
1,2,3,4,5,6

In order to effectively use all 12 touchstones and get an even better representation of my actual
ability to teach students, I would need to be able to engage a larger class size. These touchstones
are made for teachers who have time issues and performance standards that need to be met. I did
not have this as an issue and found that I was able to concentrate more on the interactions with
the students which made this all the more enjoyable.
As I continue on this endeavor, I hope to be able to utilize all of the touchstones in a useful way
that will add knowledge and interest in learning to all the minds that I touch.

References
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