Discovery and Immersion as first steps in learning
Kapka Family Groups | 10/30/2008 | 1.5 hours field work | Present: Kapka students, teachers and myself
Background
In this second visit at Kapka, I chose to spend most all my time with Susan and her animated group of 11 or so 5-7 year olds. She is the one focusing on Native American studies in her Family Group time. The group focused on two major activities:
— Group gathering through singing and chanting
— Artistic portrayal of a tree
Key Observations and Methods
Group gathering:
At the start of the Family Groups, Susan does a group gathering activity. Since the Family Groups are multi-age and come together only three times a week, she finds this ritual to be an important one in bringing everyone together to create the safe space in which learning can emerge. This week's gathering included placing objects from nature at the center of the circle and singing songs, most all of which seemed connected to Native American culture. The group sang together around the candlelight, each very present to the rhythms. After the singing they decided to do a chant. One of the students chose the chant and played a small drum while others joined in. You could feel the vibrations of connections being made as students smiled at each other during the chanting. At the end of the chanting, they sent each other good energy.
Comment: While some of this ritual might seem intrusive to personal spiritual beliefs and acculturating, I think it is important to pause and consider the roots of this community gathering exercise. It is meant for the group to be grounded and connected with each other, leaving behind the day that has been up to that point and focusing on each other as learners together. Whatever the means, as long as they are gentle and non-coercive, I cannot imagine they impart any specific culture to children other than that of compassion and respect for each other as people and learners.
Artistic Portrayal of a Tree
The group has been engaged in a very interesting exercise that involves connecting and observing a tree in the park. At the start of the school year, Susan led the students to the park and asked each one to pick a tree to observe. The students then watched the tree they picked, feeling it, smelling it, listening to it, being with it. They have returned since to see it change. Like the Native Americans, the students are connecting and respecting an entity in nature, practicing the cultural roots of the Natives. Now that Fall is here, the group decided to do an artistic portrayal of the tree. To lead the exercise, Susan invited Jamie the school art teacher.
Comment: I appreciate the long-range nature of this project. Students will return to see their trees through the year watching it as it changes with the seasons and times. Such a long duration study builds perseverance and patience in studying. The fact that children are connecting with nature makes this even more meaningful, allowing them to see the natural cycle of life for one other being. This kind of learning may lead to greater connections the students make to themselves and their lives.
Jamie is a downright brilliant teacher when it comes to getting students to understand and engage in artistic process. Much like she did with the group studying RBCs last week, this week too, she walked students through the entire process of painting/creating their trees. She not only covered various artistic steps but also created room for student input, ideas and ways to deal with obstacles — like sharing resources and how they might address each other to do so.
Comment: It was clear through her instructions that students walked away with the whole picture of being an artist in community.
The students worked on their own on the trees, talking to each other at their tables. At one point, Jamie paused the group to do a 'Gallery Moment' in which each student got up and walked around to see the work of others to find ideas/inspiration.
Comment: I loved this 'moment'. It instantly created a sense of group learning, of learning from each other instead of competing with each other in the art that was being created.
Once the students had completed their work, I noticed how teachers addressed the quality of their work. They did not complement or appreciate their work, instead they spoke of what it did to them as viewers of the work, keeping their comments non-judgemental and real. They also took care to ask students how they felt about their own work.
Comments: Rewards like punishments can be damaging to a child (see Alfie Kohn for more on this topic). Both make the child externally dependent for evaluating their work. They also make the work results focused, the focus being to get complemented for the work instead of focusing on the process. Non-judgemental acknowledgments on the other hand allow the child to reflect on their work, to stay with the process of it and take that process to the next project.
The Big Aha!
I had a big aha being in Susan's room and in talking to her about her teaching process. Susan works hard to make learning experiential. She does this in many deep and meaningful ways. She designs activities like connecting to trees through the span of a year to help students connect to nature the same way Native Americans did. That is experiential. She also creates the space in which students first build their own relationship with a topic before witnessing the work of an expert in the field. This is a deep learning concept that came to me in talking to Susan. How does she do this?
First, she allows explorations in a topic area to come from student interest. She asked students what they want to learn about Native Americans. Many ideas emerged and they picked one to start with. The exploration within an idea, for example, tepees will involve students sharing what they know about tepees, what they think they are made of, why they think they are the way they are. Students will build a small tepee each, exploring while they do that what it might mean to live in one and so on. In this way, students first answer questions about the topic on their own, seeking external input only when needed, connecting and personalizing the learning so they come to own it. At some point down the line, Susan might bring someone to the school to build a tepee in their backyard for students to be in it and engage in it for some time. When this happens, students can connect to their personal learning about tepees to the one they see, making meaning and finding significance through their prior personalized learning with the real tepee in front of them. They would not be able to understand the significance of the real tepee and its features if they had not engaged with the topic on their own before seeing the real one.
This is kind of learning that allows students to dig in, answer their own questions and create their own conceptions is so critical. It makes the learning real and meaningful to students. To account for false understandings, the teacher needs to ask provocative questions when students come to incorrect conclusions. That is the teacher's critical role. The teacher need not and must not provide the answers.
Takeaways for Social Studies Methods
— creating experiences like connecting to a tree to understand Native American culture can be a powerful kind of experiential learning
— creating the space in which learnings own the learning before being presented with expert information is a critical step in long-lasting learning
— having a gathering activity that allows the group to transition from one activity to another can be important in setting the tone for the topic ahead. The more closely related the gathering activity is to the topic at hand, the more meaningful it can be.