Hi there, discussion mates!
We have been running for two weeks now and there are a hundred and eleven of us here now. Last week I listed those who had offered us introductions of themselves. For this week's newcomers I shall leave last week's list but add the additional people.
Last week's list:
Mihkel Pilv (Mike Cloud), Tartu, Estonia, Eastern Europe
Larry Witt, North Platte, Nebraska, USA
Kim Bierly, Oak Harbor, Washington, USA
Sylvia Chard, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Tom Drummond, Seattle, Washington, USA
Bruce Pohlmann, Tembagapura, Irian Jaya, Indonesia
Heidi Weiman, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Katherine Murphy, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Skip Watkins, Merrimack, New Hampshire, USA
This week's list:
Mary Anne Soboleski, Hawaii, USA
Eve Donohoe, Ithaca, NY, USA
Eileen Borgia, Chatham, IL, USA
Rane Sessions, San Francisco, CA, USA
Mary Anne Sweet, Tomball, TX, USA
(apologies for any slips in spelling)
Please do let us know who you are too!
The discussion this week has continued on the topic or theme of a project. Several more interesting topics have been mentioned: beds, magic, worms, wild cats, domestic cats, the rainforest mural, tepee, horses, erosion....
There was some interest in debating the relative value of real or fantasy topics.
I would like to offer my perspective on this matter:
I believe that an in-depth study should start with reality.
Why?
1. It should be relevant to children's real life concerns. The children are going to invest energy and thought in the investigation of the topic. It should be helping to enable them to make better sense of their own real lives.
2. Especially if it is going to be a project which takes several weeks, I would not like children to be immersed in and preoccupied with such topics as 'witches' for example. I guess it depends a bit on the culture but in many parts of the world the occult is alive and well as a force which is by no means always benign. Or 'teddy bears' where the line between what should perhaps be respected as the private domain of the child's bedroom and bedtime and the public world of school. Or the rain forest, desert, or ocean, unless you live near one... for the younger elementary children at least, because it would seem more developmentally appropriate to deal in more depth with things less exotic, closer at hand and available for local first hand study.
3. I believe we should treat children with respect in their desire to be taken seriously by adults. As adults we do not usually turn to fictional literature to develop an interest. The interest develops through needing to know how to do something which is going to change our lives in some way, e.g., have a baby, buy a vehicle, build an extension on our house, learn to be a more interesting cook, travel somewhere we have never been before. A project simulates for children the kind of learning we do in such cases as these. We talk with family and friends first pooling what we already know in our immediate circle, then we consult the experts and read information, then we plan and implement our plans, then we celebrate our new found learning and tell stories about what happened along the way. Usually we read fiction with great enjoyment alongside all this activity which often takes several weeks or months. The fiction, stories, novels, movies or poetry... helps us to see other perspectives on what we are experiencing and help to understand our feelings about it all. Meanwhile not everything children do in school is a project. Children dance, play, practice skills, follow instructions, share stories, poems, paintings, music and games. I feel I am getting very bold in stating this case.... I look forward to others taking different views. I look forward to learning how others see projects too. For instance I was very interested to read the way in which John's school staff had collaborated on the river project. There was a firm reality base to the project work but there were also other ways of experiencing rivers.
I very much enjoyed reading about the erosion project:
Rane
... the city built a baseball field at the bottom of a natural drainage area. They cut into the natural slopes of the land and created a flat area at the bottom. Well, after our rains, the slopes that the engineers created are failing. There are black drainage tubes that give the appearance of a giant octopus from a distance. Much of the land is unstable, flooded, collapsing, and there are huge crevices from the runoff. We've investigated the bags they have put everywhere to divert the runoff. This is just unfolding. We toured the area last week, and there are many discussions about what is happening to the hills, and why a huge part of the land collapsed and blocked part of the stream. Now the stream bed is changing. This is an exciting area!
also about this comment and illustration:
Katherine
It seems that the topic must also be one that the teachers, too, must have an interest in. If the teacher or facilitator has no interest in the project being worked on, it will surely flop through the children's ability to sense that they are being patronized. Last year I worked with a classroom that did a long term (around 3 months or so) project on beds. I was rather skeptical about this idea for a long term project, finding it too mundane to hold my interest. The teacher was able to take an interest in it and research the idea from the perspective of the children and work out ideas in several different areas of this project. They wrote stories about their beds and bedrooms, they made models of their beds, etc. They culminated the project with a field trip to a local bed store. The children loved it. They were able to discuss a topic that plays a big part in their lives every day, but that is virtually ignored. It was an example of how an idea, if it has a solid backing from an interested facilitator, can work out really well.
It seems to me that many mundane topics can be quite captivating for children if we remember to see the world through children's eyes... Perhaps it is we who need the exotic not so much the children!
Have a good week!
(Feb 26 '96)