"How we spend our days, is of course how we spend our lives."
-Annie Dillard
Trust can be a powerful thing when it comes to teaching children. It can be challenging to give up a bit of control and allow your students to construct their own knowledge, particularly when you are a new teacher, and are unsure exactly how that might 'look' in action. This week, I decided to jump in and go for it. I set up a variety of centres, and provided my students with an afternoon to explore and create. I spent most of the afternoon observing, questioning and initiating discussions while the children worked away in groups and independently. One little boy in particular, is a very talented and creative builder and is constantly in some stage of planning a new invention. Reading and writing have been frustrating tasks for him, and this year he has been waiting for a chance to demonstrate his true passions. Today, I set up a 'Building Centre' with him in mind, that consisted of a giant bag of interesting items, a large tin of treasures, scissors, string and glue. Three students teamed up and worked together on designing a ship with escape pods (made from kinder egg capsules and rubber string), and a styrofoam egg carton. I listened in on a pretty heated discussion regarding how the escape pods would be attached, and our resident builder was not too pleased, but willing to compromise. He was pretty convinced that they 'escapees' would be dragged under with the boat unless the pods were given enough slack and free from the inside of the boat. "What if all these things are just sitting inside with no connection at all, then the lid on it will actually be buoyant and float right off so they can just float right out" he suggested. His partner seemed a little more concerned with the aesthetics of the boat, and he eventually gave in and began planning his next creation. A similar discussion ensued, when a five year old boy showed off his bamboo submarine with a floating gas tank to visually track the vessel from the shore. "What if a plane drops a bomb on that and it would blow it up and it would burn down down down into the pipe and it would explode the motor? It would make a fire inside and it would sink to the bottom" one student warned. This initiated a debate about oil and water, and whether the water would put out the fire, which I sadly had to cut off so that we could finish up our day. Another little boy presented a breathing tube that he had attached to a piece of foam that would float on the surface. His clever invention would allow the diver to explore the ocean without an oxygen tank. Another group of students worked on paintings, an experience that was particularly exciting for one little girl. Every time she mixed two new colours together, she ran over to share her discoveries with me. "I mixed pink and blue and it made purple!!" "I mixed pink and yellow and it made orange! I'm inventing colours!!" We had worked on inventing new colours the week prior, and she was clearly proud to practice her new skill. Our final painting 'critique' of the day warmed my heart. All of the students stood around the easels, while the kindergarten students explained their thinking, and asked some very thoughtful questions. Each child also expressed how "beautiful" both paintings were and how much they loved them. I will continue to trust my students, by providing them with opportunities to develop their interests and share their talents with each other. I can see so much potential in our classroom, and I am looking forward to next week. Until then. xo
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