A Dream Filled With Habits of Character

“The dioramas are special and, in their creation and display, I notice all the Habits of Character being shown.”

I know we’re not supposed to have favorites, but our second expedition topic is mine. Second grade students get to research diverse schools around the world during this expedition. We learn about various schools, like boat schools in Bangladesh. Students learn that kids like them go to school on boats because the monsoon season destroys their school buildings. Our crews engage in this meaningful research and build empathy for kids who overcome a barrier to receive their education. At the end of this expedition students not only produce a multi-paragraph essay about different types of schools, but also create a diorama of their dream school.

         Students are placed into groups of four to five and then it is open for them to go from there. They take their empty box that once held copy paper and get to work! The dioramas are special and, in their creation and display, I notice all the Habits of Character being shown.

 Cooperation: This is a big one! Students must work with their group and decide together what things they will include in their dream school. I had students who wanted their school to include a zoo, while others wanted a ball pit to jump into. Students had to cooperate and decide as a group which amenities their dream school would include. In addition, I had wonderful parents volunteer to come in and collaborate with the kids. That was beautiful cooperation.

“Students must work with their group and decide together what things they will include in their dream school.”

Compassion: Students all have different strengths and area of improvement in and out of the classroom. At times a student may have difficulty creating an object in their school. Maybe they wanted to make a chair and just looked like a blob (speaking from my personal experience). Students had to show one another compassion as well as themselves when their work did not look exactly like they envisioned. Or sometimes students had an idea such as “I want my school to have a zipline!” The idea was ready to go, but the execution was tricky and not working out how they liked. In this instance they needed to offer themselves compassion.

Perseverance: Second grade had the chance to work on their dioramas for about two weeks. They needed to show perseverance in accepting all their ideas and creations would take longer than one day to make.  I had a group that was having a tricky time making chairs. I stepped in to show them what I would try and they preserved to make their own chairs.

“Thanks to our amazing parent and family donations, we had supplies galore to make the dream schools.”

Responsibility: Thanks to our amazing parent and family donations, we had supplies galore to make the dream schools. Each group was given a bin full of the supplies to begin with. It was their responsibility to keep these materials organized and well taken care of. We needed to make sure each glue stick had its cap, and all markers had their top. Responsibility kept the materials ready to use.

 Curiosity and Creativity: This is a BIG one! Students amazed me with this Habit of Character. They thought and planned what they wanted their schools to look like and used the materials to make it come alive. Students tapped into their creativity and decided to add things like a daycare, a yoga area, a trampoline park and so much more. In addition, they used their curiosity to decide how to use the given materials to make their creations. It was incredible to see this Habit of Character in action.

 Integrity: Students were able to get more materials if they needed them. They needed to show integrity and take a reasonable number of materials. If all the air-dry clay was suddenly missing, we knew a group needed to show more integrity. Also, the notion of being inspired by other group’s ideas. At times students worried others had “stolen” their idea, but we spoke about how others can be inspired by an idea and want to also explore that in their design.

And drumroll for our newest Habit of Character …

Bravery: This Habit of Character was gifted to Detroit Prep as the 8th grade’s class graduating present. Students showed bravery when they showed their dioramas to their peers, parents, and others who attended our Celebration of Learning. It can be difficult to show your work to others, but students rose to the occasion and their bravery shined.

In this creation and presentation, I witnessed all Habits of Characters. So I think you can see why it is my favorite.