When I think back to my own school experiences, the ones that stand out are those times where as students we were given the freedom to play. I can disticntly recall collecting dandilions in grade three. The purpose: to sqeeze the liquid from the stem to make our own rubber balls. Now, the fact that I can so vividly remem ber running around the school grounds for a week in the spring picking weeds nearly 30 years ago says something about the power of play. I had to think really hard to remember anything about the product at the end of the project. Finally it hit me: the project itself was a collosal failure. We didn't end up with bouncy rubber balls made from dandilions - it simply didn't work. Upon relfection, it does't seem to matter though that we didn't have our own dandilion rubber balls. The fact that I learned about the process of collecting samples, extracting the fluid and about the components that made rubber was the important part.
This week a colleague asked me to break the rules of the library. She wanted her class to come to the library to play Bananagrams. It seems that her Grade 12 English class had just completed the difficult novel
1984 and she wanted to reward them with some time to play the
Scrabble-like game. She also wanted to bring hot chocolate and sweet treats as part of a reward for the hard work they had just completed. I was eagar to oblige. For the first part of the block, the kids did what they were asked and played the game as it was intended to be played. However, what happened next was the more interesting part of the lesson. Although the game was supposed to be vocabulary building lesson, many of the kids started to create their own games. They were effectively adapting the game to suit their interests. Some began using the tiles to engineer structures, others created a geometric design game, while another group simply used an iPhone timer to make as many words as they could in a minute. It is wonderful what to see what kids can do when you give them the freedom and the time to play. It also reminds me of my last post. Trusting that your students will do the right thing can lead to some pretty great learning.
Students adapting Bananagrams for FUN!
French students working to create iMovies
I have also been working hard to promote the iPads in both the classrooms and in the Learning Commons. Classes have been permitted to take the cart to their room to word (mostly so that other classes can continue to book the space) and then they return to the Learning Commons to present their work. This is working to create quite the buzz. I often pop in and visit the classroom to see how their projects are shaping up. Invariably, when I enter the room, a hush falls over the class; they seem uncomfortable with my arrival and immediatly stop the noisy, playful work they were (until recently) so engrossed in. Now, I am not a scary person, but somehow the students seem to think that I will be angry that they are having fun with the devices. Thus, I think it is importnat that I continue to pop in. I want to reinforce the relationship between the iPads and the Learning Commons. I also want the students to recall the fun they have had while making a French movie trailer, or playing a word game in the Learning Commons.
