Hi everyone!
Thanks to you all in Utah who made my work such a wonderful learning experience these last couple of days. The snow covered mountains with the valleys which are already green and pushing out little leaves and forsythia flowers were such a delight coming from Edmonton, Alberta, the frozen city where the world figure skating championships have just been held. (Aren't those skaters miraculous?)
This last week we have been trying to correct a strange fault in the system which has been returning our messages. Please don't be put off, though. The messages are getting through anyway!
It's been another quiet week.
Introductions received in the last two weeks from
Carolyn Cogswell, Knoxville, TN, USA
Terry Beck, Federal Way, WA, USA
Barb Gallick, Normal, IL, USA
Shirley Holloway, USA (where are you Shirley?)
Please introduce yourselves, just a short paragraph to tell us who and where you are.
Since the birth of this listserv six weeks ago I, as co-owner of the list with Dianne Rothenberg at ERIC/ECE, have been writing a Weekly Review.
Thanks to those of you who have written to encourage me to go on doing this. For those who have joined more recently, I have just been listing members who have introduced themselves, summarizing main issues being discussed and writing a few comments on any issue which particularly interests me.
This week I would like to respond to Shirley's request for a few more ideas about Phase 1 of the project. Her topic is "trees".
In the first phase of a project the teacher takes the role of an ethnographer or anthropologist: to find out what experiences the children have had and what they already know about the topic.
Specifically in this case:
1. What experiences do the children have of trees?
One of the things that naturally gets young children wanting to share what they know is to tell them something that you know in a very personal way. Tell them about an experience you had which led you to think more about trees or to see them as important in your life. In response to a personal story children will all want to tell their stories too.
Your story should not be too dramatic though, or you end up with a class of children trying to tell you 'fishing stories' each more unbelievable than the last! It works best if your story is a simple one, designed to encourage the children to remember similar stories they might want to share.
Examples of personal stories: climbing a tree, finding a small creature in the bark of a tree, being lifted up into a tree by an adult, having a swing or a rope ladder in a tree in the yard, and in your setting, Shirley, the stories the children might tell about the favorite tree in the school yard which you mentioned, etc. (A story about seeing a tree cut down would probably be too dramatic a story coming from you, although it might well come from a child.)
2. How else but telling stories in a class discussion setting can young children share? a) in small groups, b) in pairs, c) through drawings, d) and writing, through block construction, e) through other kinds of construction, f) in clay, or collage, g) in dramatic play, being in a forest, being in an orchard, following up on a simple story...
3. What do the children know about trees? This can be revealed through comparing ideas or theories which children give to explain their experiences.
e.g. How did the tree get there? Where did the tree come from? How did it grow to be that shape? Who decided it should be cut down? Why are there no leaves in Winter? How do the leaves know when to begin growing again? What were the reasons it had to be felled or pruned? How old is the tree in the school yard? Are trees alive? How do you know? How can you be sure to be safe climbing trees? What is a tree? What is like a tree but not one really, maybe a bush or a vine? Can trees get sick? What do people like about trees? Or not like about trees or a particular tree? What are trees useful for? What grows on trees? What lives in trees?
4. One important thing to remember about the first phase of a project is that the questions should NOT be answered by the teacher(s). They are for the class to think about and ponder on. This collection process will take at least a week probably. Throughout the week good questions which emerge from the discussions can be recorded on a list posted on chart paper on the classroom wall. The children can then have some time to think about how they could find out answers to them.
Living with the questions is such an important part of the first phase of a project. Through the creation of a climate of questioning and wondering, a great basis of commitment to the difficult process of investigation can be established.
It is hardest for us teachers to live with questions. We are so used to answering children's questions or thinking that knowledge is more about answers than it is about questions! Teachers I work with tell me it is helpful for them to learn to respond to children's questions with a phrase such as "That's a very good question! I wonder how we can find out more about that?" or a variation on that kind of comment.
In the first phase of the project, while question asking is encouraged there should not be too much concern for coverage. If children do not realise that there is any connection between trees and paper or between trees and wood, don't worry about this in the first phase. Some child will make the connection sooner or later and you will be able to help with that at some time when it is convenient in the story of the project.
The topic of trees is huge and could develop in many directions. Coverage is not the point. The point is commitment to discovery, investigation and learning more about trees. As the project progresses into the second phase, there will still be opportunities for the children to ask new questions and to find out more on any front which interests them.
It is also helpful NOT to use information books, or to use only very simple ones, in the first phase of a project. Maybe just choose short stories which will help to establish the 'wondering climate' and will help to elicit further stories to compare and speculate about.
5. The work of sharing experiences through a variety of forms of representation can be done at discussion times, by teacher and children. A sample of representations can be displayed on the walls of the classroom where children can study them further. In this way a common baseline of understanding is gradually established for the class in the first week from which to engage in investigation during the second phase of the project.
6. Also in this first phase, a letter can be sent home telling the parents what the class is going to be studying in the next little while. Some preliminary field work can be done at home... How many trees do you have in your yard? Do you have a group of trees you walk through near your home? What were your mom's or dad's (sister's, brother's...) favorite trees? etc. Ideas which could naturally come from families sharing their stories about tree experiences.
I see the class discussion in the first phase of the project being concerned with
The skill of the teacher is shown in how many different ways the children are empowered within the classroom to represent their experiences.
Fore each child:
my experience ---> a descriptive representation---> talk about what I know---> maybe a question...
(By the way, last week I wrote about the difference between a thematic unit or theme and a PROJECT. I see the KWL strategy as a good example of this difference: KWL seems better suited to Units or Themes than to Projects. I'd be curious to see what you think about this, Sydney?).
Well I'm sure that's quite enough for today.
Have a productive week. I hope you will all be coming out again from under report cards, parent teacher conferences, marking, Spring Break (Yahoo!), or whatever else has kept you lurking recently.
Maybe see you in Illinois, on Saturday!
(Mar 25 '96)