Disaster in the Classroom

Here’s a little snapshot of what can really happen in the girls’ world of learning. 

On Monday, I had it all planned out for the girls to start a new writing project.  Since they have gathered an immense amount of information about their animals, now would be the perfect time to start writing non-fiction chapter books.   This writing project helps children think about chunking and organizing information.  I gathered up a pile of non-fiction simple texts, and I was looking forward to this new project.  Well, they were absolutely NOT interested on Monday morning.  They couldn’t focus on the lesson.  They kept bugging each other and then whining about what infractions their neighbor had caused.  Basically a disaster.  Halfway through the lesson, I gave up.  Stopped the whole thing, and asked the girls if they would like to write in their blue journals, the ones where they write about their weekends.  YES, they did.  Within five minutes of stopping the awful lesson, they were engaged in writing about their weekends.  The room was quiet.  The girls were writing intently.  All was well. 

Not an educator to give up, I tried again on Tuesday morning to begin writing chapter books because I felt sure they were ready to grow as writers and to try a new challenge.  Between Monday and Tuesday, I had thought a lot about what went wrong.  With a fresh start and a few changes, the girls were now engrossed in creating non-fiction chapter books.   They took new steps with their writing all by themselves as some of the girls began to get the books from the book corner and use them as references.  They checked the vocabulary list of big words we had learned.  Their writing was amazing!  Details, organized, informative.

What happened between Monday and Tuesday?  The work of learning can be a mystery, and most times, the work of learning has a large emotional component.  Their needs were not being met on Monday morning.  What we, as parents and teachers, want to do does not always mesh with the desires and whims of our children.   When we pick up on their interests, they feel honored and eventually fulfilled.  When they feel respected, they are more likely to dig deep.   We cannot force them to learn, yet, attending to their emotions and their spirits facilitates academic risk taking which opens up the world of learning for them. 

Tomorrow, they will work on Chapter 3; at least, that's my plan tonight.

~Kristin