Fire starting

[Isaac Fried]

The Herons, being between 9 and 11 years of age, would fall in the industry versus inferiority stage of Erikson’s theory. This is interesting to me, because when I look at all of the Prairie Creek kids as they play in the woods, no matter their age, I do see a literal industry at work that is run by the fourth and fifth graders. It is a beehive of activity, everyone is carrying something: a stick or a pine cone to trade at someone’s store. Children barter with each other and negotiate any issues that arise.

Michelle and the other teachers at Prairie Creek continuously support healthy identity development for their students. There are few ways to “fail” at Prairie Creek as I have observed it so far. Children are set up for success, which helps build their confidence and reassures them of their potential as good students.

I consider myself identity achieved. Although I struggle at times with various issues, I feel confident in who I am as a person. I have gone through the questioning processes of both gender and sexuality, and now I am taking steps to make my body fit who I feel that I am. I would also add that I don’t believe gender or sexuality can be “resolved” as I think these are fluid identities. I have experienced existential crises of several different kinds, and while some are recurring or ongoing, I have learned lessons from them. I have goals for my future self and I know who I am.

Something Michelle told me during my most recent visit to Prairie Creek was how anxious her students were this year compared to in the past. She noted that this was likely an effect of being “potted” during the pandemic, that children had lacked opportunities to challenge themselves or put themselves out there. In Michelle’s eyes, her students were much more concerned about failure than is developmentally appropriate. She said that “usually there are one or two anxious kids, but this year there are so many more.” This has changed how she teaches, and on Wednesday instead of doing a normally math lesson, she instead let the Herons have a longer woodscraft. I can see how this was beneficial for the kids, they were able to relax and enjoy a more creative activity rather than focusing on a graphing or average type problem. However, I noticed towards the end of the period that many kids were losing interest in their activities. Even something more fun than math still couldn’t hold anyone’s attention for longer than forty minutes.

One activity that did lead to some entire class interest was starting a fire without matches. Sky, an extroverted boy with hair reminiscent of a child aged Thor spent much of his woodscraft time attempting to get some kindling to light. Eventually he discovered that human hair worked as a particularly combustible material, and every so often he would shout “I got it! Human hair is amazing!!!” While not many students took notice when Sky successfully ignited something, the entire class cheered on another boy named Leo when he got it. Perhaps I had missed an earlier inside joke pertaining to the encouragement of Leo, because whenever he got a spark to catch, literally every student would jump up and yell “Leo Leo Leo!!” At any rate, the fire starting was a popular activity, even on such a blustery day.

[Molly Schwartz]

Isaac I really appreciate how you explain what it means for you to be identity achieved. I think one concept I’ve been struggling with in all of these theories of stage development is the absolute black and white nature of all of them. I really appreciate your explanation of how part of your identity achievement in gender and sexuality is accepting the fluidity and unresolvedness of them.

Michelle’s explanation of how the students are more anxious after not socializing for a year makes a ton of sense. This summer working with students I was given files on all the kids before I met them and almost every group had at least one or two kids who were dealing with anxiety issues. When I spoke with their parents at the beginning of each trip they mentioned how they were so excited for their kids to get to be in a in-person group because the pandemic had really taken a toll on their ability to socialize. I definitely agree giving students more opportunities where there is less pressure to be right will give students more confidence.

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