Elementary School Musings

A colletion of thoughts from my time in education.

[elementarymusings]

Bryson Tarbet

Browse over 10 educational resources created by Bryson Tarbet in the official Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Check out my TPT store! I just uploaded a bunch of free resources!

[elementarymusings]

Adventures in Rhyming

I was subbing in an first grade music class the other day. The plans were to sing a few verses of “Down By The Bay” and then complete a worksheet where students were to create their own verse, write it down, and then draw a picture of it.

In each of the 3 sections of the class that I taught that day, I had at least one student come up and ask “Is this rhyme school appropriate?”

“Down by the bay, where the watermelon grows, back to my home, I dare not go. For if I do, my mother will say: Have you ever seen a deer drinking a beer? Down by the bay....”

I’ll take solace in the fact that each one of them realized it was something that they should ask if it was appropriate...

[elementarymusings]

[neutrois]

How I Handled Homophobia In My Third Grade Classroom

It is not only my opportunity, but my responsibility to educate my students on these topics.

Clearly, despite the fact that these children are only 8 years old, they have already largely internalized our society’s homophobia, and they have already adopted many of the ideas of toxic masculinity, one of which is that men showing affection towards each other is weak and not okay.

But how do you explain homosexuality to kids? 

The same way you explain homophobia:

“That word is not, by any means, an insult. Using the word gay as an insult is just as bad as racism or sexism. This is called H-O-M-O-P-H-O-B-I-A.” I wrote on the board while spelling it out.

[elementarymusings]

I fully recommend that everyone reads this article. I fully recommend that every teacher applies this article to their classroom environment.

What do you think? Did the teacher handle this situation appropriately? Did she over-step her place? 

[elementarymusings]

And We’re Back!

It’s been a while since I’ve been active here on Tumblr, so I decided to go ahead and re-brand my blog while I’m at it! As I transition from college to professional life in education, I’ve gained my fair share of funny, interesting, heart-wrenching, and ridiculous stories!

I’ve decided to create this blog as a place to share (what I can) with you guys! And while we’re at it, I’d love to hear from you guys too!

Follow me to hear stories from my time in the elementary education ‘machine,’ thoughts on education, and the occasional random post!