What are they thinking?
To prepare for this unit I wanted to get a good sense of what students already understood about being a respectful citizens. I initially asked students, “Do you know what the word citizenship/ citizen means?” If they responded no, I asked students, “Do you know what the word community is? If I said you are part of our classroom community, do you know what that means?” If they responded no, I asked the question, “Do you know that you are a student in our classroom community?” I asked students, “What does it mean to be a good student?”
No students in the kindergarten class knew what the words citizenship or community meant; most all students were able to understand the question, “What does it mean to be a good student or a good friend?” The following are the answers to this question.
No students in the kindergarten class knew what the words citizenship or community meant; most all students were able to understand the question, “What does it mean to be a good student or a good friend?” The following are the answers to this question.
What does it mean to be a good student or friend?
Derek: “To listen to the rules, be quiet, read with
your tracking finger, do what the teacher tells us to do.”
Mary: “Listen, be kind, and love people.”
Jon: “Be nice to each other. Don’t throw stuff. Don’t scrunch their poems. Don’t do bad things like kick someone or hit someone. ”
Pete: “Be nice to your friends. Listen to the teacher.”
Sarah: “Not to fight, share, to not hit your mom and dad, always listen and put your seat belt on. Always look straight ahead.”
Frank: "“Be nice, share."
Carolyn: “Respect everyone and to be nice to each other and don’t hit. Don’t be mean. And not smack each other.”
Charlotte: “Listen to the instructions; be good on the bus.”
Carolyn: “Be nice, respect your teachers. Respect means to take care of your things and books. I respect my teachers and everybody else, even strangers that I don’t know. And don’t talk when the teacher’s talking. A good friend shares toys.”
Mike: “Listen, follow directions, good behavior, and listen to the Golden Rule. My mom and dad taught me that. The Golden Rule is to do to others how you want to be treated. I help my brother because he has autism, he’s 11.” Where did you learn to be good? “I learned from my pre-school, and my mom and dad, and my sister. My sister is 17, she just got a new car, and it’s kind of like a buggie.”
Will: "“I don’t know! I don’t know! I don’t know what it means to be good!”
Tim: “Listen, be nice to your friends.”
Eddie: “Pay attention, be good, and listen to teachers. To be good is to listen to the teacher. I’m good because I listen to my mom and dad.”
Reflection and Analysis
Conducting interviews to determine what my kindergarten students know about citizenship, community, and what it means to be a good student was very informative and helpful as I continue to develop my unit on citizenship. I was not surprised that the entire class was unfamiliar with the terms ‘citizenship’ or ‘community,’ but believe that understanding how to demonstrate good citizenship is far more important than understanding the actual vocabulary. The vast majority of students were able to provide at least one example of what it means to be a good citizen, about half explaining that to be a good student or friend means to be kind.
After conducting the interviews, listening to the recordings of the interviews multiple times, and reflecting on my actual experience with the children, I definitely want to focus my unit not only on what it means to demonstrate good citizenship, but why being a good citizen is so important. The most impactful revelation from completing this assignment was realizing that although most students have a basic understanding of what it means to be a good student or friend, most answers provided came off as somewhat superficial. At least half of the students explained that being a good student or friend means to ‘listen,’ a prompt commonly given throughout the day in kindergarten class. Additionally, student answers came off as though they were regurgitations of what they’ve heard from their teachers and parents, and I got the impression that some students were just telling me what they thought I wanted to hear because they wanted praise for providing a correct answer.
In analyzing student responses in conjunction with the Virginia Standards of Learning Social Studies Curriculum Framework for kindergarten, answers from the thirteen students I questioned fell within the following categories:
Mary: “Listen, be kind, and love people.”
Jon: “Be nice to each other. Don’t throw stuff. Don’t scrunch their poems. Don’t do bad things like kick someone or hit someone. ”
Pete: “Be nice to your friends. Listen to the teacher.”
Sarah: “Not to fight, share, to not hit your mom and dad, always listen and put your seat belt on. Always look straight ahead.”
Frank: "“Be nice, share."
Carolyn: “Respect everyone and to be nice to each other and don’t hit. Don’t be mean. And not smack each other.”
Charlotte: “Listen to the instructions; be good on the bus.”
Carolyn: “Be nice, respect your teachers. Respect means to take care of your things and books. I respect my teachers and everybody else, even strangers that I don’t know. And don’t talk when the teacher’s talking. A good friend shares toys.”
Mike: “Listen, follow directions, good behavior, and listen to the Golden Rule. My mom and dad taught me that. The Golden Rule is to do to others how you want to be treated. I help my brother because he has autism, he’s 11.” Where did you learn to be good? “I learned from my pre-school, and my mom and dad, and my sister. My sister is 17, she just got a new car, and it’s kind of like a buggie.”
Will: "“I don’t know! I don’t know! I don’t know what it means to be good!”
Tim: “Listen, be nice to your friends.”
Eddie: “Pay attention, be good, and listen to teachers. To be good is to listen to the teacher. I’m good because I listen to my mom and dad.”
Reflection and Analysis
Conducting interviews to determine what my kindergarten students know about citizenship, community, and what it means to be a good student was very informative and helpful as I continue to develop my unit on citizenship. I was not surprised that the entire class was unfamiliar with the terms ‘citizenship’ or ‘community,’ but believe that understanding how to demonstrate good citizenship is far more important than understanding the actual vocabulary. The vast majority of students were able to provide at least one example of what it means to be a good citizen, about half explaining that to be a good student or friend means to be kind.
After conducting the interviews, listening to the recordings of the interviews multiple times, and reflecting on my actual experience with the children, I definitely want to focus my unit not only on what it means to demonstrate good citizenship, but why being a good citizen is so important. The most impactful revelation from completing this assignment was realizing that although most students have a basic understanding of what it means to be a good student or friend, most answers provided came off as somewhat superficial. At least half of the students explained that being a good student or friend means to ‘listen,’ a prompt commonly given throughout the day in kindergarten class. Additionally, student answers came off as though they were regurgitations of what they’ve heard from their teachers and parents, and I got the impression that some students were just telling me what they thought I wanted to hear because they wanted praise for providing a correct answer.
In analyzing student responses in conjunction with the Virginia Standards of Learning Social Studies Curriculum Framework for kindergarten, answers from the thirteen students I questioned fell within the following categories:
Although students take turns, complete class chores, are honest, and participate in making classroom decisions, they appear to do so because they are told to do so, not because they acknowledge these efforts as foundations in building a strong classroom community. I understand that the concept of being a good citizen is a lesson that can take a lifetime to learn, however it is clear after conducting these interviews that all students would benefit from guided class discussions about the importance of being a good citizen in one’s school, home, and community. As I continue to develop my unit on citizenship, I will plan on including time and opportunities for students to think through and discuss why we share, respect others, work together, and demonstrate other examples of being a good citizen; doing so will hopefully provide students with a more meaningful experience that inspires them to take pride in being a good citizen, not just behaving well for the teacher to earn a sticker on a behavior chart.