4/20/16 At EVCS today, worked with the 3rd grade team on their Turkey unit. I always wonder how much help I can really be—we laid out the rough strokes of the day-by-day unit plan last time—how much is there left to do but execute it? And then the day always ends with the teachers walking away SO grateful, with lesson plans in hand, a purpose in mind, and pumped up to try it. I am, in turn, invigorated by the ideas generated and become so invested that I want to teach the unit myself! What I keep forgetting is that it's so easy for us teachers to get caught up in planning the steps of a lesson (what we will say/do/teach & what the students will say/do/learn) that we lose sight of the bigger purpose of it — why make the choices we make? Why bother and how much does it really matter? In other words, what will the kids really learn that's important? Where I can be helpful is in stepping back and thinking about the design of a lesson more profoundly: as a critical piece in an unfolding process of discovery. In re-examining the unit we worked on today, we thought about: What knowledge/experiences/skills can we build on that makes our students feel ready, willing to jump in? EVCS 3rd graders created a school newspaper on their own initiative — they do the reporting, writing, distributing. As a hook we can create the need for experienced reporters — get them to volunteer themselves for the job (pro-active) instead of telling them what they're going to do (passive). What is the big idea of the unit: what do we want students to walk away with? We continue to return to this question to help us give purpose to and shape each lesson. For example, even for the simple "Tour of Istanbul" lesson on Day 4, we considered what we want them to see: just the city or the whole country? tourist attractions and landmarks? the geography of the country? When considering the big idea & purpose of this unit — to expose the students to a country/culture in the Muslim world and compare it to our own and others they've studied — we realized it made more sense for students to see images of daily life (homes, neighborhoods, playgrounds, people on the streets, modes of transportation, shopping districts, places of worship, etc.) and allow them to compare to their own city. No need for tourist sites like Topkapi Palace that might confuse their developing knowledge of Turkish life. What material do we give them to help them grapple with and explore the issues? The hardest thing is not to fall into the trap of thinking that they need the information first in order to understand. Perhaps some information needs to be activated (which means they already know the info and simply need an opportunity to find their relation to it) prior to the experience, but I try to hold off giving information until after they have had an experience. The experience is what provides a framework for inquiry and receiving information (Dewey), not the other way around. For example, the article on headscarves is given as homework after the drama in which they witness a girl being kicked out of school for wearing a headscarf. The problem — which is a current issue in both Muslim and none Muslim countries, and gets at a universal question of self-expression — is introduced after four days of learning about various aspects of daily life (home, food, family, clothing). We drop a scene into the day they visit a Turkish school (through drama) to elicit curiosity and wonder. Their questioning leads them to go back to the 'Turkish family' to find out more. Through the various points of view of the family members, they learn the complexity of the situation and of modern-day Turkey. Only then do they do their reading on the hijab — after they themselves are seeking answers. What situations can they be in so that they want to know more, dig deeper? We insert problems into the drama for purpose of eliciting questions/inquiry, not necessarily to answer right away. "Wow, there's stuff we don't know/want to know more about" is the stance of the researcher. (See above) How do we raise the level of inquiry to encompass authentic, global, universal themes? Even though the overall study is to learn about a culture different from ours, we have the students live out a problem that is actual and current to Turkish society, and in a global context — the issue of traditionalism vs modernism, of a religious vs secular way of life. These are issues that go to the heart of Turkey’s history and identity as a nation. Students do not need to know this (as Lucy Sprague Mitchell noted, at this age students can grasp here and long ago OR now and far away, not both simultaneously). How do Muslim girls today establish their identity? In addressing the question, we want to teach students to approach the topic (hijabs) in a neutral way. It's not about the origins of the hijab in history but about how to relate to this difference in our beliefs. Isn’t it a girl’s/woman’s right to dress/define herself however she sees fit? It’s not about right or wrong, it’s about respecting differences. We then raise the stakes at the end by bringing the issue to Islamophobia in the US. How do we make it fun, active for the students? Give them passports, have them pack, go through customs, get on the plane — have them go on a trip! Enroll them as participants in the unfolding drama, have them interact with characters (e.g. the Turkish family) who shed light on the problem and its complexities (multiple points of view).
