Distraction, knife safety, and conflict resolution. Plus language camp!

[Isaac Fried]

The best example of myself in the ZPD would probably be while I was at Concordia Language Villages in northern Minnesota. I grew up going to “French camp,” also known as Lac du Bois, and eventually became a counselor there myself, but there was one year when I spent an entire month dedicated to their high school credit program, and it was then when I learned as I occupied this magical space known as the ZPD. Summer camp might seem like a bit of a weird place to think about educational psychology, but Lac du Bois and the other language villages are dedicated to language learning through immersion, placing their campers into an environment filled with singing, dancing, playing, eating, and living all in another language. As a camper at Lac du Bois I was exposed to bits of Francophone culture offered to me by native speakers. During my summer, I had a teacher by the name of Morgane, who was from France and remains one of the best teachers I have ever had. She had so many creative ideas that challenged me in my French level. Our final project that summer was a simulation: to apply and interview for a job of our choosing, entirely in French. We were allowed to make up our own credentials and experiences, and dress the part, but we had to conduct the interview with Morgane in French. I not only loved this assignment, but it also was very effective because of how we were allowed to prepare for it and interact with our teacher and our peers.

This time on my way to Prairie Creek I had the misfortune of driving a campus vehicle while it was freaking out at me for no apparent reason, so when I arrived all of the students flooded me with “Isaac Isaac why are you late??” Isaiah even had the audacity to suggest that it was because I had stopped for coffee, per the ldc to go cup I was carrying with me. After I explained that I had been having car trouble, the kids settled down and we got into an exciting feature of the day: gourds. Each kiddo got their own, and we went around the circle introducing our gourds with their names. (Mine were Bert and Ernie) Isaiah, perhaps the most hyperactive kid in Michelle’s class, kept wandering off while we were supposed to be weighing the gourds in order to find the average. He would chuck his gourd about twenty feet into the air while running around. I was able to corral him and get him to sit next to me, which he would put up with because he found me to be the “cool” MKO. Although he still wasn’t paying as much attention as I would have liked, Isaiah did perk up during Michelle’s action based mnemonic related to averages: gesturing outwardly with your hands first to indicate taking all of the values, then gathering them inwards into one pile, and then spreading your hands back out to replicate dividing the total up evenly amongst the number of objects. Isaiah enthusiastically waved his arms about with his peers, so hopefully he took something away from that day about averages.

Being that the Herons are a fourth and fifth grade class, there are more than one hyperactive child in the group. Ben is another good example of this. During woodscraft, the time period in which the students are allowed to do an activity of their choice that involves nature, Michelle taught the kids how to cook potatoes and other foods by slicing them up and wrapping them in tin foil to then place in the fire for a while. After she was done with her demonstration, (which was another great example of scaffolding), she then noticed that Ben was employing some sketchy looking knife techniques to try and whittle a stick into something more compelling. She stopped him firmly and explained that she was worried about his safety, and then offered to give him another lesson on how to properly carve a piece of wood with a pocket knife. She sat next to him on a bench and held the stick out in front of herself so that he could see, and slowly and carefully demonstrated making a cut away from her body while narrating every move she made. Ben was very anxious to continue his project, but he managed to sit still long enough for her to return the stick and knife to him, and was noticeably more careful and successful in how he whittled for the next while. Michelle could see that he was frustrated with his lack of success and inefficiency but also recognized the risk to his safety, so she offered Ben a moment to pause and reconsider his strategy, while also reminding him that he needed to be careful not to hurt himself or someone else with the knife he was using. Not only did she improve his wood carving and knife safety, but she did it in a way that made him feel more confident in his own abilities.

Something that really struck me about the Herons this week was their ability to negotiate conflict amongst themselves without the help of an adult. They modeled this during their recess period, during which I saw a group of boys begin to throw around a football. Generally this would make me nervous as someone in charge of children. Sports can be loads of fun, but also lead to arguments and injuries galore. However, the Herons proved my anxiety to be unnecessary, as I watched the boys pass the football to each person who wanted it, and when a collision occurred, everyone paused to ensure the people in question were okay, and made sure to check in with each other to avoid hard feelings. I wish skills like these were more emphasized in public schools, I have a lot of memories of fights arising over simple accidents that could have been avoided with a conversation.

[Chisom Oguh]

I like how you have already developed a relationship with a student enough for them to consider you a “cool” MKO. Can you teach me your tricks? I tutor 8th graders so I am not sure if your methods would get the same reaction, but I want to be seen as “cool” and approachable.

Reading the last sentence of your response, I was reminded of the fights that happened during lunch back in high school. There would be shouting in the hallway and then hordes of students would run towards the fight, phones out to record the chaos. I never understood what was so interesting about fights. Why couldn’t the students just talk it out in a private setting? I am glad that your students are taking care of each other and checking up on one another. Good sportsmanship is always the way to go. (and so is conversation)

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