Black Ants and Buddhists: Part 1

 “I choose to teach critically because I believe young children are capable of amazing things, far more than I usually expected of them I am not talking about raising a score on a standardized math test (although that often happens).  I am talking about thinking critically and learning to learn, learning to use basic skills like reading, writing, solving mathematical problems, analyzing data, public speaking, scientific observation, and inquiry as an active citizen in your community” (Cowhey, 2006, p. 18).

This is my most favorite quote in the book that I have read so far.  I feel like this is the kind of teacher I want to be.  I want to be able to inspire my students to be critical thinkers.  I want them to be able to take their critical thinking skills farther than just school, but widespread. I want them to be effective citizens of their community and have an impact on their environment.  When I read about Mary Cowhey’s classroom and the culture she creates, I think, wow—the best possible situation fell into her lap and because of the demographic of her school, or the personalities of the kids in her classroom, or those pesky insects she was able to create a culture of inquisitiveness, eagerness for learning, and respect in her classroom.  When I continue to think about this, I wonder if I haven’t been able to completely and effectively create an environment like hers because I haven’t had the perfect storm or because I haven’t been aware of the kinds of matters and questions that come up.  I wonder if I haven’t been as responsive to my students as I could have been. 

I think about how recently, one of my most inquisitive students wondered why my name (Ms. Harrelson) had 2 letters in the first part of it and how my assistant teacher’s (Mrs. Ruff) had 3 and an extra r.  His question sparked this cool large group discussion about marriage and why people change their names, and if people have to get married and if they have to get married, why do they have to? My student made a seemingly small observation that turned into a discussion about why we do the things we do.  This simple observation made me think about the old adage of the questions you ask as a child, still matter when you get older.  The heart of this question, and the heart of his inquisitiveness is something I want to continue to encourage in all my students.

Reading through all the chapters that we read in Black Ants and Buddhists, the most powerful chapter to me was the one on parental involvement and interactions.  I was really inspired by the chapter because I think Mary Cowhey gives her parents and their knowledge a lot of weight in her classroom. I love that she makes home visits before the school year even starts and gets to know the families and finds ways to involve them in her classroom.  This chapter integrate really well with the “Funds of Knowledge” article we read, “It is important to learn how culture is expressed in students’ lives, how students live their worlds . . . Only a part of that child is present in the classroom” (Moll et all, 2005, p.81).  This quote was powerful to me in a lot of ways and is something I’ve been thinking about a lot while reading Yardsticks and Conscious Discipline.  It is important socially, emotionally and culturally to acknowledge a child’s culture and homelife, as well as find ways to integrate this part of them into the classroom culture at school. 

I know it’s already March and it seems almost pointless at this point to start inviting parents into our classroom, but I think I will try to encourage that a lot more for the next few months and just do some observations of how that affects our classroom culture.