Interest is Everything

My academic career, before I got to college, was all over the place. Throughout the years my record was checkered with a pretty equal distribution of Cs and Bs with a handful of Ds and a couple As here and there, which were almost exclusively in my English classes. I was barely a mediocre student. Although my grades would lead one to believe otherwise, I truly loved to learn and I spent a lot of time outside of school researching, reading, and writing about whatever caught my interest. After a brief unit in 7th grade I was interested in Greek Mythology and read all sorts of books on the subject and spent hours imagining what life in that time period was all about. I put in extra effort into my school work during that unit and wrote essays twice as long as those of my peers because I found the subject so fascinating. During this unit, you could not pull me away from my homework.

When history brought us to the Salem Witchcraft Trials, my eyes were glued to the history channel documentaries everyone else suffered through in class and I went out of my way to read novel after novel about witchcraft and magic and I even pulled out the Encyclopedias to read what they had to say about it all. I have always had a hunger for knowledge but my motivation is born out of interest. When something sparks my interest, all I want to do is read, write, and talk about it. I get so consumed by subjects sometimes that I could spend three days straight locked in my room doing nothing but studying and it is as if no time has gone by. Unfortunately, during those researching binges, the math textbooks and the chemistry worksheets were left neglected in my backpack. I just couldn’t bear to tear myself from the story I was writing, or my beloved mythology book. And when I did attempt to pound out the answers to my math homework, I rushed through them as quickly as possible, often asking friends to copy their answers just so I could get back to my own intellectual pursuits.

Now, I’m not saying that math is not important, because as a researcher, I love and appreciate statistics, now. And I am so thankful for my ability to calculate percentages when I go out to dinner or figure out the sale prices when I’m shopping. What I am saying is that I think there is a better way to teach these skills that is more enjoyable for both teachers and students that is less like trying to pull teeth from a violently terrified child. It wasn’t that I was bad at math either, I was actually quite good at it until algebra happened and I could no longer understand why it was important for me to keep learning it when there were so many more interesting things I could have been studying. Somewhere between 6th and 8th grades, math lost its relevance in my life and thus my interest went right along with it. Simply solving equation after equation, just to find the answer added no noticeable value to my life except that it might earn me a better grade. But to me, grades were just not a strong enough motivator to get me to put down the stories I was reading and writing and focus on something that seemed like little more than a waste of time.

There are many students out there, we all know a few, who are highly motivated by grades, but are these students really learning more about the subjects they are “studying” or are they simply trying to please their teachers and parents, fearful of breaking the social mores of the achievement culture in which we live? This is the kind of learning our system of education currently encourages, just getting things done with all the right answers on tests and homework assignments regardless of what learning actually takes place. Ask most teachers and they will tell you, they would rather their students actually learn, but unfortunately this standardized model of education we have moved towards is in direct contradiction with actual learning. What does it matter how a student scores on a test if everything he learned is forgotten within a few weeks or months of completion?

It may sound cliche, but learning really is about the process rather than the product (ie. grade) and in order to motivate students to really learn, their interests need to be sparked. And we as a society ought to be in favor of such intrinsically motivating educational programs, like the ones that Alfie Kohn and Ken Robinson suggest (the Project Approach, Reggio Emilia and Montessori inspired programs, and the Studio model are great examples). When students are interested, not only do they learn more (and thus accomplish more), but they increase their confidence because they are met with greater success and increase their chances of finding an authentic career. If everyone was able to find the kind of work that they both excelled at and enjoyed, imagine what we as a people could accomplish.

Interest is one of the greatest motivators and unfortunately it is far too often left out of the equation when we discuss education reform. Improvement does not need to be complicated. Allow students more say in what they are learning, how they go about learning it, and how to best represent their knowledge and we will all be amazed by the result. Of course this is not even close to everything I have to say on the subject of interest, or on education reform, but for now, I will leave you to imagine how school might have been different for you, had you been allowed more room to pursue your own intellectual interests and have more of a say in your education. I know for me, it wouldn’t have taken me until college to realize how much I love learning.

Natural Elements in the Classroom

Both the Reggio Approach and the Montessori Method (two models of education that I very much support and admire) emphasize the use of natural materials in the classroom. Now I cannot speak much for Montessori because my background is in Reggio, but I imagine the reasons for this emphasis are quite similar. What does this mean exactly, natural elements in the classroom? Well, rather than using plastic tables and workbenches, there are wooden ones. Instead of storing materials in brightly colored plastic bins, you will find glass jars, metal tins, and wicker baskets lining the wooden shelves and tables in these kinds of classrooms. Rather than plastic cars and blocks you would find metal and wooden ones in children's hands. In place of those crinkly plastic floor activity mats, artist's smocks, and costume masks, cloth ones are used. Do you notice a pattern here? Plastic is as artificial a material as one can find and while there are plenty of affordable toys and play materials available, their more natural counterparts offer so many more benefits (not to mention that plastic is often the uglier choice). You might think that beauty is pretty low on the priority list when designing and filling a classroom, and that kids do not notice such things, but the Reggio Approach takes aesthetics quite seriously (both Reggio and Montessori come from Italy after all, where art and beauty are ingrained in the culture) and with good reason.

We have all seen those classrooms with white vinyl flooring, awful fluorescent overhead lighting, and plastic primary colors all over the place. I would never use these elements to decorate my own living or workspace, so why would I want to subject my children and students to such an unappealing work/play environment? When given the choice, why choose tacky over artful? In the Reggio Approach, as in the Montessori Method, every aspect of and material in the classroom environment is chosen thoughtfully and purposefully.

Not only do natural materials create a more visually appealing space, but they serve the purpose of fostering a connection to the natural world, which is especially important in more urban schools where exposure to nature is often quite limited. So not only do you want to switch out your plastics, but also offer actual items from nature as play materials, like pine cones, leaves, dried flower, tree slices, etc. for creative play and exploration. The more time children spend around these materials, the more comfortable they are with them and come to prefer them over the unsustainable, non-environmentally-friendly plastics. Basic values are being built and shaped here, however subtle they might be. We need our next generation of students to have a deeper connection to and appreciation for the natural world so that they will help preserve it rather than continue to destroy it the way past and present generations (often unintentionally) have. Using natural materials is a way to bring these kinds of ideas into awareness without the annoying lectures and posters and other stuff that gets labeled as “liberal propaganda.”

In addition to the benefits of using more natural materials already discussed, many of these items can be made by hand, thus saving a bunch of cash to be used for field trips, better quality food, paying an extra part-time teacher, or just getting the bills taken care of. I especially recommend making many of these items (check out my DIY Classroom board on Pinterest for project ideas) with or around your kids because not only does it show them how things are made, but it inspires them to get more creative and innovative, opening up new uses for the materials available to them.

By building things with kids, they learn many self-reliance skills, safety and math skills, problem solving and critical thinking skills that inspire them to embark on projects of their own. These are the skills you get to model when doing such projects in the classroom and at home that are simply not feasible when working with plastics. Most plastic toys cannot be made at home by the average person and cannot be repaired when broken, so they perpetuate the throw-away culture and remove children from understanding the process of how things are made and fixed. It is from understanding and experience that respect for materials and the natural world are born, not to mention the respect your kids will have for you (and themselves) when they see what you (and they) are capable of.

*If you want more examples and ideas of natural materials in the classroom, and/or are curious where these images came from, check out my corresponding Pinterest page. All of these images were found through basic Google searches and scanning classroom ideas on Pinterest. I do not take credit for these pictures, I am merely a researcher sharing what I have found.

It's All About Play

Not long before I left Bella Mente, my beloved preschool in West Seattle, I was presented with the opportunity to explain to someone exactly what it is that we do, as teachers at our school, in a very, brief and practical statement. It was the very first time one of our newer teachers stepped into our 4s classroom as an employee and she asked me what she should do. “Well,” I thought for a moment, “you just get in there and play.” Because that is where we do much of our teaching with our preschoolers. Yes, we do run a handful of meetings throughout the day, but the bulk of what we do as teachers to impart on our students the wisdom we wish them to carry as they grow, is through play. This is how you get to know children, you play right alongside them and most of the time, they’ll want to join your game, or want you to join theirs, or even just stand beside you or snuggle in your arms as the two of you watch the others play.

It is through play that kids get to know one another, and it is through play that we adults can find the doors into their secret worlds. If you want to understand a child, get yourself down to his/her level and ask them about their play. Ask questions, get to know them as people. Kids, even the shy ones, have so much to say and all they really want is for someone to genuinely listen to them. As a teacher, the best way to show children that they are both interesting and important, is by taking an interest in their activities and sharing in their experiences. All anyone really wants is to feel heard and be understood. Children are no different. This desire does not emerge in adolescence alongside acne and body odor, we all want to be heard, to spend time with someone who genuinely enjoys our company. So, one of the most important parts of my job as a teacher is to make a connection with each of my students, to figure out what makes them interesting and unique. I do this simply by playing.