Bathroom Observation

Although, it is always important to model the behaviour one would expect from their students, it is especially important to convey a sense of diplomacy when helping those, in need. Because learning experiences like the soup kitchen field trip are dependent upon actual people, it is a good idea to have a discussion with students beforehand to ensure they understand that each person is to be treated with respect and dignity, and that these people are not to be spoken about negatively. It is for these reasons that I would begin assessing students through observation while they serve food, and later, begin probing them for ideas and questions during the clean-up portion of the field trip. I think waiting until “clean-up” time to verbally assess
students in a situation like this permits for a small period of time to elapse that, would allow for the experience had by the students to resonate. In addition, waiting until clean up, insures all of the homeless or in-need persons have left. Personally, I would wait because a teacher cannot control what a student may ask or how they might ask it, diplomacy tends to not be the strong suit for most children. After an experience like “The Soup Kitchen”, it would be a good idea for a teacher to facilitate some Socratic discussion, depending on the maturity of the students it might need to have more teacher involvement in terms of probing and facilitating. These discussions can be done in the actual soup kitchen, permitting its empty, the bus ride home (not in its entirety though) and back in the students host classroom (where I would have most of the discussion).