Each day I observe the teachers in their pods in support of their curriculum. With an eye toward building skill sets that develop overarching commitments to community, critical thinking, the complexity of citizenship, I listen for engagements that develop these ideals.
Susan: Last week, Keaton and Mira painted a plant growing in water and its’ roots. Mira said this was the worm family that lived nearby. Today, we can extend the roots with clay representations.
Mars and Mira choose to work at the clay table
Susan places the paintings nearby for inspiration and the children begin to investigate the clay through this lens
Bringing artifacts of the children’s work from previous days to deepen the connections they made to their learning reinforces their knowledge. The Basil group is intentionally choosing artifacts that show children’s knowledge of ecosystems: They had demonstrated the knowledge that roots are generally underground and the children filled in what their surroundings were: worm families.
To solidify that knowledge is to reinforce the awareness of interconnectivity and how all living things survive and thrive when linked together. It’s a mistake to isolate, separate from, and treat any element without consideration of its context. This is often how traditional teaching teaches and mastery of elements is key, but what it doesn’t teach us is how to keep the whole in mind which has lead us to some drastic real life situations. We hope these teaching methods will support all of us in thinking differently in order to solve bigger and more complex issues ranging from relationship dynamics to global issues. We’re all in this together – Kristin