Just Ask the Children

Katz

Copyright © 2012, Dot Schuler

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN 978-1-300-28818-3

Dedication

To my late husband, Dale, and my children, Christy and Amy…who were always patient with and understanding of my dedication and commitment to teaching.

To my parents…who always proudly believed in my capability.

To my second graders…who repeatedly showed me the positive outcomes of being involved in the learning process.

To parents, family members, and community members...who devoted so much time and expertise for the support of our projects.

Foreword

Just about one hundred years ago, the project method was introduced by William Heard Kilpatrick in New York as part of the progressive education movement. It was based on the influential ideas of John Dewey that he introduced at the University of Chicago Lab School when he became concerned about children’s ignorance of so many important phenomena all around them, in their daily lives. The project method became a major element of progressive education and was adopted by some schools in the New York area and in Chicago and was implemented for about thirty years. However, as the size of school populations increased, more ‘efficient’ teaching methods of teaching basic skills were introduced, and projects and other elements of progressive education gradually faded away.

In the late 1960s, known in Britain as the Plowden Years, the project approach, sometimes referred to in the UK as the integrated day was widely adopted and attracted a great deal of attention and enthusiasm from around the world. Indeed, Loris Malaguzzi, one of the major founders of what we now refer to as the Reggio Emilia approach, told me during one of our early meetings, that he had been strongly influenced by visits to Britain in the 1960s and 1970s where he saw project work in many infant schools (five-to-seven year olds). Malaguzzi indicated that he was especially impressed by the widespread use of the graphic arts in the children’s exploratory and investigation activities during the early years. It certainly becomes clear again in this book that young children learn and also like to learn a great deal by representing their observations and ideas by using the ‘graphic languages.’

In this enriching and informative account of her own journey from formal traditional instruction to the incorporation of the Project Approach in her second grade classes, Ms. Schuler gives us deep and useful insight into the challenging and rewarding learning she and her students experienced as she undertook such a profound change in her teaching. Her diary entries enlighten us about the complex processes involved in change and in finding out, first-hand, about the benefits of the Project Approach. Following her journey helps us readers to appreciate the extent and depth of learning and strengthening of motivation for all involved – the children and their teachers.

Another important contribution of this account of Ms. Schuler’s work is her sharing how the project work addresses the acquisition of basic skills addressed in typical state standards and tests. Today many teachers throughout early and elementary education are easily intimidated by their district and state test requirements. Ms. Schuler’s work makes a very strong case for the way good project work can have positive effects on tests of basic skills. In addition, her descriptions of the children’s work and their daily activities makes a strong case for the contribution of project work to the acquisition and strengthening of a wide range of social skills. This book makes it very clear that a wide range of basic literacy, mathematical, and social skills, are employed by the children in the real contexts of good project work.

The inclusion of photographs of the children in action as well as of their products help to make Ms. Schuler’s vivid account of the effectiveness of her work with her students not only instructive and enlightening for readers, but they clearly serve as a source of inspiration as well. Enjoy this very welcome contribution to the improvement of education – at every level.

Lilian G. Katz, PhD

Professor Emerita

Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting

University of Illinois

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank the following people for their contributions to my changes as a teacher and to my work on this book:

Lilian Katz, who shared her wisdom through her writings, speeches and personal communications while continuing to encourage my work, and who wrote the Foreword for my book; Sylvia Chard, who wrote the practical guides to doing good projects and encouraged me to write postings for the Projects-L listserv; Anne-Marie Clark, who admired my work, studied in my classroom, and opened my eyes to help me see in the forest; Eileen Borgia, who helped me learn about the Project Approach, mentored the children and me during our first projects, and taught me the importance of keeping a journal.

I also want to thank the following people for their contributions to the publication of this book:

Sally Jones, my editor, who worked on my book even though she was dealing with major challenges of her own; Chad Brigham, for all the legal advice and tireless repetition of the same; Pam Cunningham, for taking such good care of my mom while I was working on the book; to all the people who helped me find former students’ mailing addresses; and to all the children, parents, and colleagues who allowed me to share their photos and other works.

Preface

Changing from more traditional teaching methods to the Project Approach and discovering the power of engaged learning generated my personal desire to share the events in our second-grade classroom in Grafton, Illinois with other teachers and education students. Since the spring of 1996, as I changed the role of myself as a teacher, I began to interact with children in a way I had never experienced before. My enthusiasm as a teacher took on a new philosophy as I became more and more optimistic about the ability of children to question, hypothesize, experiment, research, and produce and share representations of new knowledge. By spending quality, uninterrupted time on project work, children applied curricular skills as needed to complete their various investigations. By completing assignments at learning centers, systematically taught skills were practiced in much less time than the traditional way, thus allowing the curriculum and project work to complement each other. My book will hopefully diminish uncertainties and concerns from teachers who are hesitant or doubtful about using the Project Approach in their classrooms solely because of their apprehension of assuring that their students are prepared for mandated tests.

Since the content of this book refers to the events in our second-grade classroom, my book is especially pertinent to lower primary grades, but easily adaptable to other grades, as well. In addition, my book contains many practical, specific examples of how to use project work to complement systematic instruction and curricular assignments. To help clarify the readers’ understanding, many written examples of implementation are accompanied by actual children’s work samples and photographs as they are engaged in project work. However, the book is not a book of ideas that can be duplicated in other classrooms, as the ideas for investigation and representation come from the children as they pursue knowledge according to their interests. The purpose of the book is to show teachers that using project work to complement the curriculum is not an avoidance of teaching tested skills; it is indeed an excellent approach for applying academic skills. In addition, however, it is an excellent way in which children practice and apply their social skills, develop positive dispositions for learning, and challenge themselves intellectually. Teaching tested skills in the more traditional way can completely ignore these life skills and fail in motivating the children to enjoy learning and continually seek to learn more.

Chapter 1

Introduction

A frog is a bug; it has legs and crawls on the ground...

—Levi

When teachers learn about and consider implementing the Project Approach in their classrooms, they may be cognizant of its positive effects on learning but remain tentative about changing their methodology. Using child-focused approaches to education in public school classrooms triggers concerns for many teachers: obligation to teach a mandated curriculum and also follow rigid schedules, accountability for meeting state standards, and assurance that children will do well on standardized tests required by states and/or school districts. However, I have confidence that a child-focused approach to the curriculum[*] can be significantly effective in public schools while fostering true learning, abiding by a mandated curriculum and adhering to schedules, mastering state standards, and performing well on required standardized tests. My own transition from more traditional teaching methods to the Project Approach and my discovery of the positive impact of engaged learning generated my personal desire to share the events in my public school second-grade classroom with other teachers, teacher educators, and education students, as well as with parents. As I changed my teaching role, I was able to interact with children in a way I had never before experienced. My enthusiasm as a teacher burgeoned as I became more and more optimistic about the ability of children to practice and apply basic skills and meet state standards while being academically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially involved in their own learning.

My book, which includes entries from my diary, tells the story of how I began implementing the Project Approach. Subsequent chapters explain the changes I made, how to implement the Project Approach, how to meet required state standards, how to document and assess learning, and the reasons why I believe project work to be an optimal way to teach and learn. In each chapter, I intend to convey how the classroom learning environment can become one in which interactive and integrated teaching and learning are enjoyed and shared with others.

From the beginning to the end of each project, amazing things happen. They may be content-specific; maybe a child will discover and then share something about the topic of study that is notable. That happens frequently. But, more often than not, the amazing things that happen are about the process involved in learning: interactions within and between groups of children as they work together, investigating and planning representations to convey their knowledge; seemingly unending motivation to work on various investigations and share progress with peers; wondering about things and formulating questions for which answers will be sought; pitching in to give advice and helpful comments to peers in order to enhance the quality of their work; considering their teacher to be their partner in the learning process, rather than their director—and more.

As an experienced public school teacher and now a college instructor/consultant, it is my desire that teachers, prospective teachers, administrators, teacher educators, and parents will be able to use this book to acquire/communicate a better understanding of the reasons why the Project Approach is so effective and how it is implemented in the classroom. I will also give examples of the abundance of basic skills that are acquired and the state standards that are met by engaging children in good-quality project work. By taking part in good-quality project work, I feel that children will enjoy applying skills in a meaningful way while challenging their intellect and interacting with others, resulting in the positive attitudes that will encourage them to continue learning for the rest of their lives.

[*] As in Dewey’s first laboratory school in Chicago in 1896, the Bank Street College of Education in New York founded in 1916, Open Education in the 1960s, and the Project Approach.

What Is a Child-Focused Curriculum?

Rather than having the outcomes of learning preplanned, as in a thematic unit, for example, a child-focused curriculum, as in good-quality project work, evolves from the children’s ideas, wonderings, misunderstandings, and suggestions about things in their immediate environment and prior experiences. A reflection (September 20, 2000) from my diary describes the importance of listening to the children:

After watching the children return from recess daily, discussing the bugs they were finding on the playground, we decided to do a project on bugs. Our environmental educator told me that this is a perfect time of year for an in-depth study on bugs. I have planned for us to spend the day on September 20 at a local nature preserve for the purpose of first-hand observation and data collection. For now, Phase 1, we have just been wondering about bugs. We began our topic web today. I have been listening to conversations in our learning centers. Yesterday, Levi told me he found a baby frog on the playground.

Would that help in our study of bugs? I asked.

Uh, huh, he said. A frog is kind of a bug. It has legs and it crawls on the ground...

Another child in the group concurred with Levi.

By the end of the day, as children were gathered at our last group meeting to read from their daily journals, Seth read a short selection from his journal about how he liked bugs. Then, he read my written response (to his journal entry) aloud to the class: What are bugs? This question instigated a discussion and generated the following ideas:

Bugs are insects.

Bugs are insects who crawl around.

Bugs are things that fly and crawl.

Bugs can be nature.

Bugs are animals that walk the earth with us.

Bugs are little creatures that fly and jump around and sting you.

Bugs are things that bite you sometimes and drink your blood.

Sometimes they get mad at you and fly around you and sting you.

A child-focused curriculum uses a child’s prior knowledge as the basis for learning new things. By being a skillful observer, a perceptive casual conversationalist, and an empathetic listener, the teacher becomes aware of prior knowledge and experiences, as well as misconceptions the children might have about the topic of interest. Using this information, being very knowledgeable about the required curriculum, and having a keen understanding of child development, the teacher can provide opportunities to extend the children’s learning within the project. The children ask their own questions and are naturally motivated to discover answers. As questions are answered, new questions emerge. A child-focused curriculum addresses the