Descriptive writing comes alive + teacher interview
St. Joseph's | 5th Grade | Literacy | Present: Students, teacher and myself | 1.0 hours field experience including
reflection time
In my last set of experiences at St. Joseph's I got to be a part of two different activities. The first was seeing the teacher work so hard to bring to life the descriptive writing process she had been working on the previous day and the second was a brief interview with the teacher herself.
When I returned the second day to the 5th Grade classroom, the teacher chose to continue diving into the descriptive writing work she had started the earlier day. The previous day, students saw pictures to identify words that 'show' instead of 'telling'. I had wondered about the power of a static picture in making this activity come alive. Students were struggling with it. In my reflection, I wondered what showing a video might do for them. The teacher had an even better plan. She had them take a sheet of paper with the 'senses' on them, just like the day before, and head out into the school play yard to witness the younger kids playing. In their time there, the students wrote down the various words that 'showed' the scene instead of 'telling' it. This was brilliant!
Such a simple change and so much more powerful. As I made my way through the students, I could already see them coming up with more descriptive language for what they were experiencing. Nothing like an experience in bringing learning to life.
Later, I caught up with the teacher to ask her a few questions.
I was curious as to the curriculum she follows. Even though St. Joseph's is a private school, they use the WA state standards as a guideline. That provides the curriculum framework for each teacher. Within that framework, each teacher chooses or creates the activities that will convey the content in meaningful ways to her students.
I have been impressed by how this teacher makes learning so much more fun through games and interactive activities. I asked her what her secret is. Turns out, as expected, that this is just who she is. It affirms my belief that learning really happens in those magical moments between a teacher and a student and the specific learning that happens is really a result of who the two are.
Finally, I asked the teacher how much latitude she has in changing what she plans to teach and cover in a particular span of time. While she has some amount of latitude, she spoke of the pressure from parents to ensure that children are learning up to a particular standard so they can be getting to the levels of academic success that parents and society at large deem important. This teacher had a very mindful question in this regard that she possess to the staff — who and what is driving our education? This is a large question. I wonder about it too and most often, the answer is that the children are and really even they aren't because we are all following the living force of life that ensures the survival of the species and the health of the planet. We are mere instruments in the magical balance of the larger cosmos and so we follow the laws that need to be followed.