Engagement

I spent a year working with kindergarten to 2nd graders as a sort of assistant teacher. I had a specific job title, but I don't think it is very descriptive of the work I did. I would teach groups of students, ranging in size from 2 to 24, in areas of literacy, math, and occasionally social studies. Everday I would teach groups from each grade level who were in need of reinforcement or enrichment related to classroom lessons. Based upon this, I would expect that all teachers can relate to the experience of teaching to students who are checked out and distracted - despite being instructed to pay attention!

I know I related to one such account that began an article I recently read about teaching literacy (The Donut House: Real World Literacy in an Urban Kindergarten Classroom by Powell and Davidson.) Reading this article and the introductory anecdote made me consider, why should students pay attention, if we're not giving them any reason to do so? It's not enough of a reason to say that there is a rule requiring attentive listening. This article tells of one effort to give young students a reason to want to be engaged. The reason? Because the lesson was interesting, related to their life, and involved elements of play.

Kindergarteners visited a nearby donut shop and took notes as research into the donut shop they would create in their classroom. The project provided many opportunities for them to learn, dissect, and play with language throughout the process. They wrote letters to stockholders, created labels and props, and had their work catalogued in a book documenting the process which they could read and review. It certainly sounds like a more interesting way to engage with language than a dry lesson.

I wonder however what other literacy teaching and practicing was going on at the same time. I would also be interested in a more detailed account of how the project worked. Was the donut shop integrated into the class learning everyday? What was the time span in which the project took place and how was it ended? Was the donut shop removed at the end of the project? Were there actual donuts for sale at the grand opening!?!

I'd love to see a project like this in action. The writers acknowledge some things they'd do differently the next time, like getting parents more involved, but regardless it seems like a success. The students engaged in literacy and learning in ways that connected to their lives. Hopefully the only time the students checked out, was when they were making a purchase at The Donut House.