Digging Deeper

Themes

I love teaching students about “theme.”

It’s such a great way to incorporate so many aspects of life in the classroom.  Even better- our unit themes include words like: Identity, Belonging, Survival.  It doesn’t get any better than that.  These words give me such a great springboard to have my students discuss and debate about things that really matter to them.

And, that’s why I’m so excited to incorporate what I’ve learned at my internship into my classroom.  In particular, we learned a lot about DNA sequencing in the lab and the vast amount of research that has helped to advance this process.  What a perfect connection to discuss identity and belonging!  In addition, I think that it will be important for me to emphasize that these themes don’t just impact human lives.  I think that it’s important that my students also realize that if they pick up a clump of soil, there are microbes within that soil that also have an identity.  They also have a job to perform and a certain function.  My goal this year is to make sure that students can see these connections in all their subjects and further their excitement of the world around them!

2 thoughts on “Themes

  1. April Bernier

    What a great connection! I’m impressed that you came up with such a natural way to bring your experience into your classroom!

  2. Paige Derouin

    This was so well put! I love hearing about your language arts connections. As a science brain, it’s totally eye opening and inspiring to think about connecting DNA to belonging and identity. I also love the idea of teaching students that all living things have identities of their own. Very relevant and empowering.