As per my usual style, I like to make lessons a little bit different and exciting for the students by including different forms of learning and stimuli.
The teacher wanted me to lead the students in brainstorming creative ways to express their thoughts as they were starting a unit on how to write different types of paragraphs: persuasive, expository, narrative and descriptive. For this lesson, they were brainstorming to write descriptive paragraphs.
I thought it would be a good idea, thus, to introduce sounds as a foundation to get their thoughts going. I produced 4 different soundscapes: forest ambiance, waves crashing on a beach, "space noises,"and children on a playground. As the students listened to each soundscape they had to write down what they imagined and I also provided a guided description to get their thoughts going. During each soundscape, the students had to write down what they could visualize with their minds eye.
I felt that the students were quite engaged. It took some students a bit of time to fully immerse themselves in the activity, but once they did, they seemed to really get going. After each soundscape, we discussed as a class the types of descriptions they came up with. For example, with the beach soundscape, students said things like they envisioned ice-cream, squishy sand, water, etc.
Before the activity, I advised them to tap into their five senses...what do you smell, what do you see, what do you hear, what can you touch?
I did find that students had a bit of trouble making their sentences very descriptive, creative and a thought does cross my mind that perhaps this technological era has aided in stifling the creative minds of our younger generations.
I feel in a way, perhaps it is hard for all of us to be still and really take in our surroundings and lose ourselves to the beauty of what we see and experience everyday and just appreciate this beauty for what it is: beauty. Why have we lost this wonder for life and why is it hard for youth to cultivate this wonder? Would it have something to do with the fact that a lot of teaching these days is stuck in the classroom or maybe that learning is heavily based in worksheets, handouts and textbooks, rather than perhaps going outside, fieldtrips and creating experiences.
I think in many ways I may have lost some wonder I once had, or perhaps never had a chance to cultivate wonder for certain things. My mom has a hummingbird feeder that she keeps in our back patio. She fills it with nectar water and hummingbirds come to feed and while I think it is really wonderful that she does this, I feel that I do not have the awe and wonder in seeing these beautiful creatures that she has. My best friend, when she came over, was so enamoured by the fact that we own one of these that her family bought one for themselves, and it was really nice hearing from her and her excitement when she saw hummingbirds coming to her feeder that it created in me a type of shared joy. Certainly this reflects God's glory.
Today as well, on my way to volunteering, I noticed that there was snow on the mountains and it was stunningly pretty and another day driving to work, the moon was a juicy yellow-orange and so penetratingly huge that it frightened me in awe. I feel that it is very important to create and cultivate wonder in students. A lot of them have lost this wonder for the world or perhaps never really created it. What makes us lose our wonder when the world is so full of it? If wonder is not the thought that runs through our minds when we experience this world, what other thoughts are replacing it. I am finding that a lot of the students in the classrooms I enter seem very tired, disconnected, disinterested or distracted. How do we ground them into the things that will activate them and make them feel alive and why do they always seem to be so tired? How can we ground them? How can we ground them? I keep asking myself this question and I keep toying with different answers.
I think if I was to make any alterations to this lesson, I would want to take the students to these different soundscapes so that they could actually hear, touch and see with their own eyes, and write descriptions of what they are actually experiencing in that moment.
Overall it was a good experience. At the end of the lesson, I had the students try their best to make this sentence more descriptive: the car stopped at the sign.
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I saw this posting below from a page I follow on Facebook: Youth Launch Initiative: Helping Parents Navigate Through School and Beyond
If we can agree that education is not simply the filling of an empty vessel but the ignition of a flame inside a vibrant soul, full of its own potential...
Then where do we start?
We start with intrigue, curiosity.
WONDER.
At the world around us. At nature. At numbers. At connections...
What IS the moon? What is beyond it? Look at all those stars...
It is easy to get overwhelmed with program plans, homework and curricular requirements.
Don't forget to take as much time as you need with your kids to observe and admire all the beautiful and mysterious things around us.
Wonder and awe are not experiences relegated to the forest or the night sky, but an attitude with which we approach ALL of life.
All kids start out with this amazing appreciation for curiosity and intrigue... it's our job as parents to help them treasure and keep it ❤
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