The big lesson for me on these posts is to respond in a more timely manner. It has been 6 days since I've been at Merry Lea. The teaching reflection might be better closer to the date...
I think Farmcraft is a REALLY cool program. If I were a teacher, I'd look at the description and say "that's the one for me!". And it is fun. I was there the day that Matt describes, where we lost time to a shortened program. We were really limited by schedule. We persevered, everything was completed, children, chaperones, teachers and MLers were successful and mostly happy. But I was reminded of my daughter Betsy's experience with kindergarten. She really didn't like just getting into play at some station, then having the bell ring and having to shift gears and move to the next thing. She wasn't much of a talker, but she told me this and made sure that I understood it. I had that feeling a bit with Farmcraft. The fact that we had to omit both laundry and toys that day, both of which allow some free play, really accentuated this experience.
I was a bit nervous about WBY. There seemed to be little structure to the program, and I don't think I know enough about bugs to be the "expert". Because of that, I asked for a younger group and was given the 7yearolds. It was great. We were really lucky to have the nets for our first sessions, so everyone (but one, maybe) was excited and involved from the beginning. I remembered advice about fun and adventure, and that was how we spent our morning. The limited structure to the schedule allowed us the freedom to stop and focus where the learning was, and to embrace the fun.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I'm with you, Sara. I wish I had just sat down and reflected on my teaching last week, right after I had done the programs. I'm glad you were able to feel like you succeeded! Overall, I think I did, too. I mean, heck, I got hugs from the kids on both days I taught! There were certainly things I could have done better, but I suppose that's all part of the process.
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking about this: having more freedom in a station is scary because you have to really play it by ear, but it allows you to have the freedom to play it by ear. I can definitely see the benefit of both structured and unstructured forms of learning - whether it is going entirely with the group in a purely inquiry based environment, or going along a set path.
ReplyDelete