Ownership of Learning

With no set curriculum, a large part of my job at Xara Garden School is to take a lot of notes on what kids are doing and saying, so I can help guide them further along in their thinking and interests. One of the more formal ways these notes come together is in the weekly "documentation" or reflection pages I send home to the parents.  Since these are such great glimpses into specific moments in our classroom, I thought sharing them here would give you a nice "day-in-the-life" picture of what happens in our alternative school environment. To protect the children's privacy, I'll replace the names with letters, and will only include photos that don't show their faces.

Wondering About Wasps

On Monday, R was interested in painting a wasp during Open Choice time. After he
carefully painted and labeled everything he thought he knew about the red wasp, (along
with a Japanese beetle, too) he asked if he could share his knowledge with the class.
What ensued was a respectful discussion and questioning session, fueling further
exploration of the topic.

R: This is my painting that you can make, too. This is a red wasp. They are eleven times
more aggressive.This one here is a Japanese beetle. They have ten legs, antennae…
J: Are there really ten legs on a Japanese beetle? I thought they had six.
R: Oh darn.
F: Don’t be so hard on yourself.
M: What about the first bug?
R: (pointing to his labeled painting)This is the thorax, and here is where it spits out the honey.
F: Do you know if wasps make honey?
M: Do you think they are bees?
R: No, it’s not a bee. It’s an arachnid. They lay eggs, but ... maybe they don’t make honey.
F: Is there, like, a family? (meaning, what category of animal is it?)
Alexis: How might you find out answers to some of these questions?
(Assortment of suggestions of television and internet programs)
F: Or, instead of watching a TV program, you can go to the park and observe them.

The following day, R hunted down a book about insects. He was excited to learn and
share new information about wasps, even when it contradicted his earlier misconceptions.
This is a great example of constructivist learning. It doesn’t mean he discovers it all on
his own. But instead of being given a chunk of information, R had some ideas to begin
with, which raised some questions, sparking further searching, and resulting in an expansion
of understanding. That’s rich learning that he now owns.