BRADENTON, Fla. — Getting kids to understand content and how it applies to real life is Dawn Platt’s goal each day.
“I love teaching. I love the light bulb moments,” said Platt. “Those moments where they go, ‘Oh!’”
She teaches third grade at Samoset Elementary School in Bradenton.
“So today you are going to make a decision, OK?” she said to her class.
Her lessons often involve choice, and a way for kids to relate to the problem.
“So we are always talking about, like, how can you use this in the real world? I personally believe, like, first through fifth grade math is some of the stuff you will use the most as an adult,” said Platt.
The students have a lot of freedom to move about the classroom, too. For many lessons, they don’t work directly from their desks.
You can find students up on a raised platform, below it in a reading nook, sitting in a leather rocking chair or folding chair, or even sitting right on the floor.
“I believe in student choice. If there is a choice, there is buy-in. If there is buy-in, they will do the work,” said Platt.
These kids work hard. As part of the Cambridge Program, these third graders also learn fourth grade standards.
“Once you know the area of the green box, touch your head,” said Platt.
Almost all the hands in the class touch the head they belong to. Platt loves seeing this, the comprehension of a concept.
She admits she has always been drawn to teaching.
“There is actually a videotape of me, my dad interviewing me when I was in third grade that said, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ and I said, ‘A teacher,’” Platt said, smiling.
Watch the video below:
It is a dream she has achieved, and now, as a teacher, she plans to stay in her students’ lives for the long haul.
“We just focus on our relationships here in this class, and our friendships. And my relationship with them. I tell them all the time, invite me to your high school graduation. I will be there,” said Platt.
Platt said in the future she would love to be a math coach for teachers, showing them how to teach math in different ways.