Yesterday I showed you some various tools I use every day in our learning lab. Today I'll give you a peek into a few more things that help me keep us organized and learning. It's all pretty basic.
These are portfolios.
They're simply huge three-ring binders that I create for each subject. As the year passes, the munchkin adds work to his portfolios, printed info from Google, and any other sort of thing that is necessary, interesting, or helpful. We lump spelling, reading, grammar, and writing into one big English binder. There is a history portfolio as well as one for science, math and art. For more information on setting up a portfolio, check out The Well-Trained Mind.
Here is the English portfolio. It's kind of a big dog : )
Tucked away in the front pocket is a copy of Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour which we began paraphrasing this year. It was fun, and we had some great conversations that delved into lots of things from what it is to be human to world history.
Here are some reference books we use again and again throughout the year. These books often inspire us to Google various aspects of whatever subject we're researching, and Googling always seems to turn up something new, updated, and interesting. And then, of course, we print it and add it to the portfolio :)
Portfolios aren't just a collection of work; because they contain drawings and anything else the munchkin finds interesting, they become almost an art form as the year passes. The older he gets, the more interesting the portfolios become because he writes more, his interests grow ever wider, and his natural wit comes through. He makes me laugh! In another way, the portfolios are almost like scrapbooks that record wonderful moments that I never want to forget.
I am a firm believer in, and a great lover of, life-long learning. I am convinced that life-long learning is something that must be caught, not taught. In a sense, it's a life to life transfer. Kids need to see us interested in things and actively learning and working on those interests.
While the kiddo is working independently, I am typically right across the table from him, and,I'm not sitting there doing nothing. If you stop and think about it, I have a fantastic opportunity to do some quiet mentoring (even though he's busy on other things) by pursuing my interests with him sitting across from me. I'm working on that life to life transfer of the importance of life-long learning.
I'm interested in a ton of things, but first, I love art. I love drawing. I wish I were better at it, and of course the only way to become better at it is to do it regularly. So, I always have a sketch book and pencils close by for my own artistic growth while he's working independently.
The day I stop reading and learning will be the day I turn up my toes and die. I'm not kidding. I have absolutely no idea what it would be like to live a life where I didn't have 25 books on my "I cannot wait to read this" list. The books are on many different subjects--everything from aquifers to educational philosophy and practice to a good work of fiction (I refer to fiction as brain candy because it's not on my regular mind menu). I want the munchkin to remember me as an avid reader, and I want him to really catch the reading bug. Thus, I always have a book going. Actually, I have about 5 going at any given time, and I can often be found reading during his independent work. It's all conducive to a very happy, peaceful atmosphere.
Something I've done when I teach biology is sketch right along with the children. They see me enjoying it and valuing it (authentically--you can't fake it), and they seem to give themselves more fully to the process as well. Here is something from a class I facilitated for several kiddos a while back. I ended up not using that sketch book again because the paper was so chintzy. Yuk. I'm all about great paper. I'll be devoting a whole blog post to my very favorite sketchbooks in a couple days. Stay tuned.
Of course, working along side the children whenever possible is a grand thing. They just love it because I'm partnering with them in the work. It's a very real way for me to express my belief that education shouldn't just be top-down-because-I-said-so work that I, myself, wouldn't even find interesting or enjoyable. I truly believe it makes a lasting impact on students particularly if I want to inspire them to be life-long learners who are both interested and therefore interesting people.
For core work that I try to keep us moving through at a fairly good clip throughout the year, I have come to the conclusion that for us it's more workable to write out simple to-do lists rather than elaborate assignments. Quite frankly, things change when the student gets into the lesson and does what I hope he'll do--create his own meaning, his own way of interacting with the material. That's not something I can just "plan" because him being deeply involved in his educational process is far more important than creating some technically perfect lesson plan. I write down our goals for the week, so we know where we need to be (the form), but within that he is able to tweak things to create an experience that is meaningful and lasting (freedom within form).
I've created my own binder that includes the road map of where we need to go throughout the year as well as a calendar, my CHAMPs checklist, important notes and info, and journal pages. I try to write, as I have time, about what went right, what went wrong, and how I can tweak things to make them better. Sometimes I jot down cute or insightful things that he said or did I would like to remember.
Here is an example of a journal page. Cool pens are mandatory.
Another thing I have right next to me during the day is a little notepad that I like to call my brain dump. It's where I write down things that come to mind that I've GOT to deal with but can't while I'm teaching. It keeps me sane, relaxed, and helps me get things done.
And yes, that is a Rhodia notebook. I told you I'm a paper maven.
I also have a sick addiction to office supplies. Capt. Canuck is just as bad, so we sorta make a dynamite combination. It goes beyond fabulous paper and fun pens. Did you know that Pottery Barn has the snappiest stapler ever? It's bright and shiny and will bring a little bling to our table (because I just bought it!). I love that thing. And it's hefty! Heaven knows we staple a million papers in the course of a year.
One day the Cap'n asked me to go to Office Depot (this is like giving an alcoholic a pass to a 24 hour bar) and find him some clips to keep papers together. Oh, no problem, honey! Check out these babies--I could NOT say no! My favorite 'cuss' word! And in HOT PINK!! Well, they had other colors in the box, too, and I will say that he laughed right out loud when I presented my nifty clippy find to him.
Not that the munchkin's work is crap or anything. But, I gotta keep things light.
There are lots of tools and thing-a-ma-jigs that I use, but I've only tried to list some of my favorites and the highly used ones here. I am, however, saving the best for last. But first, a story.
When I was a teen, I had a neighbor who played the guitar. I played, too, so we often would talk shop. I had a starter guitar, an acoustic Ibanez, but he had...oh my...a Martin! The guitar was beautiful and had incredible sound. His son loved the guitar and wanted to learn to play, but his dad wouldn't let him play that one. That one wasn't for kids. It was special. Expensive. Exclusive.
And I couldn't have disagreed with him more. You see, if you want your kid to excel at something, share with them the best you have. If he loves to paint, get some quality paper, brushes and paints. If she wants to play the guitar, and you have a Martin, share it with her. What's she going to do? Deliberately destroy it? I think not.
Using quality tools is like getting into a fine, sleek sports car. It's like hitting the sweet spot. The experience is utterly inspiring in itself. Why would we deny that to our kids (if we're at all capable of providing them with it) when they're so interested in it? They care about it! Nourish and inspire their interest by sharing the best you can. You want them to fall in love with it, with the process, with the feeling of creating something that is meaningful. You want them to keep going!
And so I've reserved my favorite tool for last. Trust me, it's used every single day. And not just by myself.
This camera is my Martin guitar. Because it wasn't inexpensive, my first, less generous instinct, was to never let the munchkin touch it. But, I decided that was ridiculous. It was a thing. If something horrible happened, it could be fixed or replaced.
But, amazing learning opportunities cannot be fixed or replaced when you've missed them, and that's what this is all about.
As it turns out, the munchkin has watched my photographic interest and skills grow over the fall and winter. It made him curious. One afternoon in December, while I was taking a nap, the little elf grabbed the camera and started snapping pictures all over the house but didn't tell me.
He even got one of me sawing logs. Shocking. Do I really have my mouth hanging open all the time? I fancied myself a more dainty sleeper than that...
Imagine my surprise when I downloaded the camera! What I saw made me laugh loud and long. And, I also discovered that he has a natural eye for seeing beauty. It was such a gift.
Since then, he's continued to be allowed to mess with it without me eyeing him. It's been a playful experience for him--but a very real learning experience as well--as he has experimented with aperture, shutter speeds, lenses, automatic vs. manual modes, and so on.
One benefit that I didn't "plan" on was him using the camera to document almost all of his science experiments this year and then creating a Pages document for each one. It's been a delightful addition to the portfolio! While he's been focusing on chemistry experiments, he's been learning how to paint with light without hardly even being aware of it. I love that.
And it never would have happened if I'd gotten all huffy about him touching my nice, new camera.
Not surprisingly, he's taken very good care of it, and I've yet to replace or fix any part of it.
Here is a picture he took during a molecule experiment. It's just a bouncy ball, but he can tell you exactly what was special about it because he was so creatively involved in the whole scientific process--and of his own initiative.
On that colorful note, I'll close this little series of posts. I hope you've enjoyed this peek into our daily life. I hope you'll write and share your favorite thingies that help keep you organized and happy. It's always interesting to see what others have discovered!
Ciao for now.
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