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Sophia, reading this story warms my heart!! It is impressive that you managed to connect so deeply with a single student in your class, I did not have the opportunity to forge such a close relationship with any of the students in my class. I hope you continue to stay in touch with Allie. Mentorship/friendship with a child can be such a valuable experience for them, and for you! Not only are you functioning as an MKO, you are also simply believing in and supporting Allie, which is something she seems to need in order to do well at school. It is so hard for students who function differently than the neurotypical, “Normal” student. Special education is of course an option, but there are issues with that as well. Thank you for sharing this story, it made me smile.
Paul, it makes sense that the kiddos aren’t yet realized any issues of racial diversity. This is something I adore about young children: not necessarily their ignorance, but rather their pure and optimistic view of the world. While this could be interpreted as me saying that ignorance is bliss, I just mean that I like how little kids really, truly don’t care about issues that adults have literally started wars over. They are able to see past any differences, and can connect with anyone, regardless of their race. While they might lack some insight and vocabulary that can be slightly annoying (ie small children misgender me sometimes), they don’t actually mind that I look and act the way I do. They believe me when I say my name is Isaac, and they enjoy spending time with me, even if they don’t necessarily realize how complex my own gender actually is.
Clarissa, I really like the observation you made about how some students prefer visual aids when trying to do something like writing an essay. My brain definitely can appreciate a map to help lay out concepts, and I think for some students visualization is really difficult unless they have a physical aid. It makes me wonder about development and whether schools are doing enough to teach younger students the structures that they need to remember and implement for later usage. You would think that visualization would be harder for younger students and come easier/be less necessary for older ones, but that doesn’t always seem to be the case.
Ah the escape room activity sounds so fun! I actually tested out a high school geometry teacher’s homemade escape room challenge (he is the friend of my partner, a Carleton grad, and coincidentally my little sister’s teacher!) I really enjoyed the embedded reinforcement of literally unlocking the next clue, finding the correct room, and getting the right code to solve the challenge! It feels good to be rewarded, but I do see how struggling initially (and without positive reinforcement) can be discouraging and lead to failure.
Kara, I think the comments you made about Prairie Creek being a gendered space are accurate, and observations about the compliment circle would probably be echoed in the 4/5 Herons group that I work with as well. However, I want to push back a little on the idea that Prairie Creek is extremely gendered. (Not that you said this, but I think it is both a very binary and very non binary space and I want to highlight that) I’d encourage you to read my post, and also just to think about the ways that the school discourages gender binaries. I think that the very idea of Wednesdays being entirely outside encourages girls to become comfortable with the outdoors and work on skills that boys are more exposed to, yet skills such as cooking are taught to boys as well. It’s interesting to see how socialized behavior from outside of Prairie Creek appears within the school, but I do admire how the school seems to counter some of it with its curriculum.
I was with the Herons in the morning as they were preparing for the culminating event! It’s cool to hear another perspective on the skit and the groups they split into to teach about mushrooms. I feel proud of the kiddos for doing a good job, I wish I had been there to see the results of their hard work.
I agree with you that Prairie Creek does a good job of facilitating positive identity development for its students. The school offers many opportunities for growth and confidence building, particularly for the oldest kids. Your thoughts about the ways students are allowed to sit in their chairs illuminates the way that Prairie Creek operates: to empower their students and let them learn and implement the ways in which they learn best.
Your observations about the tiktok challenges are eye opening. I thought I was on tiktok too much but I don’t take the things I find on it that seriously! The fact that the ninth graders place so much stock into social media shows how the pandemic affected their development. When there was no in person interaction, online communication took on a whole new importance. I also agree that the pandemic likely impeded these students ability to advance past the concrete operational stage. It’s hard to learn new concepts during that transition between the two stages when you are also forced to learn online!
Ah it is too bad to hear that the class you are tutoring in doesn’t include as much French as you would like. I agree with your opinion that immersion is actually a beneficial and effective route to take with languages. Not only does it provide students with an example and end goal of communicating and voicing their own opinions in French, it also helps them in their listening and comprehension skills. I think immersion places the child into an environment filled with MKOs, therefore enabling them to develop and achieve higher levels of language learning while also making them feel more comfortable in the language regardless of whether they are speaking, reading, writing, or listening.
