Patience and Perseverance

Fridays have a special feel in a classroom. They bring the week to a close, and as such are good days for tests and other forms of evaluation. This creates a certain seriousness about the day. At the same time, many students already have special plans for the weekend. This can lead to a barely-concealed, almost giddy excitement. I think we felt all those feelings today.

After silent reading, we finished the chapter 5 test. This is one of the toughest ones in the book, despite the fact that money ought to be a relatively easy and accessible topic. Every third grade teacher has noticed this. Part of this difficulty is the fact that some of the children are still pretty weak on addition and subtraction with regrouping. More of the problem comes from the idea of equivalent sets. Now students get the idea that 2 quarters are equal to 5 dimes. They understand that these are equivalent sets. But when we ask them to find as many sets as possible for a specified amount of money -- say 35 cents -- the puzzle aspect of this problem seems to elude them.

And yet, approaching math as a puzzle, figuring out systematically all kinds of possibilities, is a lot more important to their long-term growth in mathematics than merely answering multiplication problems quickly. Children like right answers right away. But in our modern world that kind of math has been relegated to machines which can do it faster than we ever can. People are still needed, though, for careful, thoughtful problem solving. And this requires patience and perseverance, qualities that few children seem to have, particularly in our over-stimulated, plugged-in, multi-tasking age.

Fortunately, there are many ways to develop these characteristics, and Visual Art projects are particularly good. There is, after all, no way to complete a complex art assignment instantly, and children seem to understand that. So providing them with interesting and complex art assignment, and creating an atmosphere of serious concentration, does a great deal to develop patience and perseverance. I certainly noticed that yesterday when we did our leaf paintings. Today's art project was done with the Barnsdall art teacher. She has some wonderful projects that she does with the children, all of which require thoughtfulness and concentration. I would approach teaching some of these differently than she does, but I appreciate her expertise in some areas. Today the children made totem poles out of plastic bottles, construction paper, burlap, and other media. This took a lot of effort, a lot of concentration. In the picture above, you can see a smile coming from a job well done.

In the afternoon, we worked some more on rhythmic machine. This is a tough project because it works on so many skills at once. Carl Orff said, "Let the children be their own composers." Easier said than done, Mr. Orff! Composition is a real important skill for children, but it creates a lot of management challenges in the classroom. It is so much easier to simply present the students with one prepared piece for them to learn. And yet a process of improvisation, composition, practice, and performance creates so much long-term growth that it is worth risking the noise and confusion. We made a lot of progress. But we have more to do.

Homework: Homework for children will return Monday. Have a good weekend. I hope to see everybody Sunday at the auditorium rededication.