Identity Day 2012

A couple of summers ago I came across this blog post by George Couros about Identity Day.  I thought it was a great concept and was excited to introduce it to my staff.  As we were new to the school, Chris and I decided to approach the staff with it for this school year.  Things happened and it kept getting pushed back until I had a firm date for June 7 2012.  Like all new ideas in a small community, it was met with uncertainty, but the end result was fabulous!  In my own class I had 20 out of 21 projects come in, and the kids were excited about the day.  It was so great to see how proud the kids were about their projects and interested in other projects around the school.

We had the day separated into 3 parts, from 9:20-10:20 Kindergarten, grade K/1, grade 1/2 and grade 2 classrooms opened their doors for the rest of the school to come in and see their projects.  We had altered books, poster boards, tri-fold boards, a drum set and other great stuff for the school to see.  After recess until lunch, the grade 3, grade 3/4, and 4/5 classes all welcomed us in to view videos, dance presentations, violin and piano pieces, drumming, pottery etc. for an hour.  After lunch we went into the 5/6 and 6/7 classes to see what the "big kids" had done.  The 6/7 embraced the technological side of things and had made short movies about their topic of choice.

I loved the variety of topics the kids chose to tell about themselves and all the interesting ways they chose to share.  At the end of the day, my kids were already planning their topics for next year and what they could do to present it.