I introduced kumihimi (it's a Japanese braiding technique) to the group yesterday. Primates worked in partners--one observing and the other practicing. This is a technique one of the primate parents taught me afterschool a few weeks ago. The mom--an art teacher--also donated supplies, and our yarn basket is filled with other yarn donations from parents. "It takes a village"--so true!
I met with my documentation team this week and they were soooooooooo helpful--collaboration is critical, with parents and other teachers! We all experimented with the looms and at the end of the meeting I walked away with:
- a fantastic idea for creating a visual model for the kumihimi (and got a good start on it!)
- one teacher grabbed her drill and we made weaving "needles" for fabric with paint sticks and sandpaper
- two teachers donated yards and yards of fabric for weaving on the big loom
- through trial and error (is there a better way to learn???), we were able to troubleshoot some issues on the big loom and this will be invaluable when I begin working with the primates
- I have a plan to make a large loom because the one I ordered is disappointingly small--thanks to the efforts of one of my teammates
- another teacher used her fancy iphone to search the web for much needed instructions for weaving on a big loom
It's amazing to plan a project like this with the support of a group. The exchange of ideas amongst a mixed group--teachers with different areas of expertise and experience, is powerful. I hope they're having as much fun as I am!
Shifting topics....
I have a bulletin board in the hall covered with the primates' photos. Attached to each face (mouths open as if speaking), is a white, laminated speech bubble. Each session I will ask the primates a question, record their answers, and post each primate answer in their respective speech bubble. It is quite a visual display, and I have the benefit of a great view from my chair on the rug, so can I watch people (adults and students) stop and read the board. Last year the questions were related to the theme we were exploring. This year, I am framing the questions around MI....remember that intro to MI lesson I did in Sept? (half the class had no idea what I was talking about when I asked, What is MI?--even though I felt I had done so much with it the previous year--WITH THOSE SAME PRIMATES!!!!)
Anyways, in the spirit of our big idea for the year, "Don't waste your mistakes!", I am making a point to spend more time exploring multiple intelligences theory with the primates. I defined MI as: creating problems and solving problems that matter to society. Gardner's definition is something to the effect: the bio-psychological potential to solve problems and create products that matter to society. So I'm making an effort to stick to the basics while maintaining direct derivation from Gardner. Session One's question was, "How do you solve problems?" and the answers were very interesting. We had just begun using "the Peace Path" which is a system we use for building communication skills and conflict resolution (more on that another time), so many answers came from that interpretation of the question, ie "talk it out", "use words", use the peace path", " think about it". Other answers involved math, fighting with sibling, trying, experimenting. ALL great answers, and very revealing in terms of how primates are thinking--some very concrete, some more critical. This session the question is "What kind of products do you like to create?" . Diverse and revealing answers again--I will post a few tomorrow.
One of the best ways to assess a primate is just asking a question and thinking about what that answer reveals. Almost time for Survivor, gotta run!
And WHAT a Survivor it was! I mean, I knew Laura was going to get voted off (or did I?) but, still... Talk about watching people doing some critical thinking!
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