Progressively Unnecessary

Okay-- so I'm sure most of you feel like you know my lovely little third graders by now. They're headed in the right direction, believe it or not, and will soon be 4th graders (we start count on the first day of summer).

Lately, we've been working on Weslandia */ Community projects. The students made their own groups, came up with an idea in which to base a civilization upon, and together created a product to show evidence of their work. Please keep in mind that I have taught all the Social Studies content that was necessary to do this project, and I set up the guidelines and expectations, as well as provided time and a few materials. Everything else was left up to the kids.


The projects were due today, and after work time, we sat and talked about the project itself.
What I found out was amazing. I knew the project was a good one-- lots of third grade content and concepts...high interest and all that jazz. But what the kids learned was, as stated before, amazing.


This is what they told me about the learning from doing the project.

• "It's hard deciding who to work with. We had to choose people that we knew we would work with rather than play with, but didn't want to hurt any feelings. Best friends don't always make the best work partners."
• "Coming up with an idea we could all agree upon was next to impossible. Everyone brings different schema to the group, and different thoughts and wants. You have to compromise part of yourself in order for the group to work well."
• "It was hard to organize who would do which part of the project. We ended up needing a leader that took charge of making sure everyone had something to do and actually did it."
• "We had a hard time staying on task. It was a fun project, and easy to go off on one thing" (yes, they're a bit tangential-- like their teacher!) "and then we forgot about the other things until it was almost too late."
• "We had a hard time staying on task, because we were so interested in what the other groups were doing."
• "It's hard working with someone who doesn't think like you do."
• "We did what we thought of as the "fun" things first, which got us excited about the project, but then it left the more difficult things to do later, when we really felt the time crunch." (yes, they used that term!)
• "I signed up to write the laws of our land. It was REALLY hard to come up with things I thought would be fair for everyone, but I ended up having fun with it and it all makes sense in our world."
• "I worked on the project myself, and it was great being able to do exactly what I wanted to do, without having to compromise with anyone or get approval. I could just do it."
• "We worked together, and my partner would come up with an idea, and then it made me think of something, and our project was better because there were two of us."

I could go on and on. Wow. Can you imagine these 8 and 9 year olds discovering this for themselves? I provided lots of supervision, but I was clear that how they performed as a group and how they worked through problems was a big part of their grade. Once in a while, I was asked for supplies, and occasionally help with behavior, but for the most part, my standard response was, "So how will you work this out?" or "How will you accomplish this?" They were forced into really working through things themselves, knowing that their accountability comes in presenting their "best" work to their peers, along with their peers (a little unspoken comparison never hurt anyone!).

And by golly, they grew. They figured out a lot of things. I mean-- how many of you read the comments above and thought about your work place? These problems don't go away or change-- in fact, I would venture to say that they just get bigger. What does change, is how we deal with these problems and difficulties. How do we deal with people who don't think like we do, or don't understand our schema, or won't compromise, or stay off task and don't get work done, waiting for someone else to do it? Do we have these behaviors? How do others perceive us?

Watching these kids go through this learning process has been amazingly eye opening. I spend a good part of the year reminding them that the T.A.K.S. test is just the first of the standardized tests they'll take in their lives, so they might as well learn how to take one now. :) But you know what? I've learned that it goes double for this group work thing. Wouldn't it be great if people could learn how to work together in groups BEFORE graduating high school (or college) and being thrown into the work place?

There's a teacher on my team who didn't do the Weslandia project. Too much freedom for the kids-- too little control on her part. (...and I learned a long time ago-- from working in a group--not to bust into her room and insist that she do the project!) Sure-- you could have walked into my room at any given moment these past 2 weeks and thought that I had flipped my lid with the seemingly chaotic atmosphere. But I guarantee-- after the talk I had with these kids today-- every bit of the loudness, and messiness (that always got cleaned up, thankyouverymuch), I know that they have experienced some GREAT life lessons. It's worth handing the control over to the kids. After all, they're the ones they have to live with; I won't be around forever to make sure they've got their checklists done.

As Thomas Carruthers** once said (and this is posted in my room):

"A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary."

I hope I've measured up to his standard.

* Weslandia is the story of a Robinson Crusoe-ish type character that creates his own society, based on the plant life in his back yard.

**Thomas Carruthers is either a golf club maker or the great-grandson writer of the golf club maker; either way, I am sure he's had a teacher or two who have let him hold the reins once in a while.