Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Today we got up early to observe at a local elementary school. When we got there we were surprised to see a playground full of children playing soccer, climbing trees, on the playground equipment, and not an adult in sight. There must’ve been 100 kids there already. After a few minutes the teachers showed up, but they didn’t stop in the playground, they went straight in to prep. So much for morning duty! Actually, I think it has a lot to do with the Japanese culture. If a child gets hurt, the parent will tell them they should’ve made better choices, rather than asking the adult why they weren’t watching the children better. It makes perfect sense to me.
The principal gave us an overview of their school day, special festivals, and calendar year in a power point presentation in the computer lab. We then had time to walk around and observe individual classrooms. I went in to a 1st grade classroom that was working on Origami. They had a guest in that was experienced in origami, and the students were making little bookmarks. They were doing a great job folding tiny pieces of paper. I then observed a 6th grade class making kites in the gymnasium. There were many elderly men who came in to volunteer. The kites were magnificent – they took 25 lessons (45 minutes long) to complete. The kids were using knives to whittle bamboo. In our school system that would be considered dangerous, or a liability, but I thought it was amazing, and the kids weren’t having any trouble.
After kite making I observed a 5th grade class harvesting rice. This school district is partially self sustaining, it grows it’s own food. The students get hands on experience planting and harvesting rice and irish potatoes, and a vegetable garden. It was amazing to see the kids with small machetes harvesting rice. The ground was very wet so I got my shoes muddy, but I got to help for a small second, the kids were having too much fun. They had a rice picker there, where they would put the stalk in, it would take the rice out, and spit out the stem. What a great experience for the kids.
I also tried my hand at calligraphy in a 3rd grade classroom, and visited a 4th grade art class that was turning out magnificent work. It was a really exciting day. Over lunch, a 2nd grader came and took me to her classroom, and I had lunch in the classroom with the kids. The teacher serves the food, they do pray, and the kids cleaned up after themselves. During recess we played soccer, but most of our time was taken up signing autographs, because I think the kids have never seen anyone write English before, so they were really fascinated with this foreign looking scrawl. After recess, there is a ½ hour time where the entire school population cleans the building. Each classroom is assigned a section. Students wer e sweeping, taking out the trash, hosing down the restrooms, and scrubbing the floor with wet towels. What a great concept. Giving the kids cleaning responsibilities helps them take more ownership in their school. We were then treated to a school assembly, which was the highlight of the day. The kids sang and danced for us for nearly 45 minutes. It was an awesome performance - Even the teachers sang. We were so blown away by their hospitality.
After the school day was over (3:45), we had a discussion with the teaching staff until 5:00, when we headed back for home. It was an eventful day, my favorite so far.