Sailing, Planning, and Reflecting

As many of you know, I do have the opportunity to sail off shore quite a bit. As a matter of fact, my most recent sailing adventure occurred during the first couple of weeks in October (2006) when we left Westerly, RI with a Norfolk, VA destination. Incredibly rough seas and gale force winds forced us to hunker down in Ocean City, MD before continuing the jaunt to VA. All in all, it took five sailing days and nights and a couple of days eating and drinking our way through the establishments of Ocean City on the Delmarva Peninsula, the only port on that Atlantic shore that would accommodate a five foot draft boat. The good news is no one got sick….the bad news is no one got any sleep for days……… This trip had me thinking about other sailing I have done that was more pleasant and less taxing on the mind, body, and spirit. Following, is a recollection of a just such a trip and the teaching and learning outcome it produced. I have included an abstract for those of you who would rather not have to read the entire story before deciding whether or not you want to read the entire story!!!

Abstract

Sailing, planning, and reflecting provide an opportunity for me to create a piece of curriculum for a fourth grade classroom. Through the use of storytelling, a narrative in journal form, I detail the discovery of a bottle on the shore which led to the development of a learning activity for children. Curriculum developed for this learning activity is designed for active learning, is inquiry oriented, and considers experiences of children a critical component. Children investigate, cooperate, discover, and imagine as they learn. My reflection validate many of the instructional strategies and learning theories employed in this teaching and learning activity; I review current trends in teaching and learning and offer possibilities for professional development and staff evaluation.

Beginnings:
Once upon summertime, a number of years ago, I spent most days sailing the Long Island Sound, Narragansett Bay and the outer islands of Cape Cod in Southeastern New England. When sailing, there is a lot of opportunity for thinking: reflective, active, passive, personal, and professional. Some of the thinking came and went. Some stayed for a while and found a place in my memory. And some became written stories and plans to be carried out. This is a "story" of one imagining that became a reality, an activity, and a piece of integrated or developmental curriculum for a fourth grade classroom that I would be teaching in the autumn following the summer sail. The events are as accurate as the distance of time permits. Contemporaneous notes have been used to reconstruct this narrative.

The story:
One day, while walking a lonely expanse of beach in southern Rhode Island, I came upon an odd shaped bottle lying partially covered with sand; its globe-like bottom glistened in the bright sun. Reaching down to rescue this treasure, I pulled the bottle out of its partial entombment. It had a long neck with a rusted metal cap screwed on top. It is very unusual in these days of plastic to find anything on beaches of this design and composition. I brought the bottle back to the boat and kept it displayed on a shelf in the saloon where its daily presence provoked my thoughts and elicited comments from everyone who came aboard.

What if this bottle had a message in it? What would children do if they found a bottle with a message? How might a child's foundational experiences be utilized when planning learning programs? How might this engage a child in profoundly active learning? How might this generate discovery and inquiry based curriculum in a classroom? How can an activity be created that would “fit” curriculum objectives and also be multidisciplinary? These questions were not as clearly formed that many years ago. But playing with the notion of stimulating the natural curiosity of children in a classroom setting was always upper most in my teaching plan. And so I set about imagining how I might weave this bottle into a learning theme.

When the first day of school arrived and my eager fourth graders entered the classroom to embark on a new year of learning, the bottle was prominently displayed on my desk. Inside, sealed tightly by the rusted metal cap, was a very crumpled up piece of brown paper which clearly had writing on it. The process of "creating" what might be considered an authentic looking piece of paper from one hundred fifty years ago is a story in and of itself. Let me digress to share with you how a brown paper bag became a castaway’s last hope of rescue. First, I wrote the note. (More about the contents of that little ditty later.) Next I soaked it in water, dried it with a hair dryer, crumpled it, ironed it, crumpled it again, and finally rolled it up to fit in the bottle. Voila! An historic document with all the allure of ages past.

So, there the bottle and "message" remained for most of the first week before one child asked about it during an afternoon whole class activity session. These weekly sessions were used for developing and planning learning experiences which would occur in coming weeks.
"Hey, Mr. Cleary! What's that bottle on your desk for?" Asking one of the children to retrieve the bottle from my desk and bring it to the group, I related the story of how it came into my possession. Noting the paper inside, I assured them I had not opened the bottle to read the "message".

There began quite a bit of buzzing and humming among the children, as one could well imagine. After they personally and individually inspected the bottle, I suggested that each person take a turn making a comment about this unique treasure that had landed in our room. Children's comments ran the gamut. Some mentioned the odd shape of the bottle, others mentioned the note inside, wondering what it might say, while others questioned where it may have come from and how long it had been stuck on the beach where I found it. We began making a list of questions and comments about this bottle at random times throughout the next week. When group planning time arrived on Friday of the second week, children demanded we begin with our list of questions and comments developed about the bottle throughout the week. I suggested we review the list and come to some agreement on the questions and comments that seemed to be most important and interesting to the group. "What did the message say?" "Where did this bottle come from?" "How old was it?" "How long was it there?" "It is really different looking!" (Coming from children raised in a world of 2 liter Coke, the fact that it was glass made it very different looking!) "Can we open it?" With those questions as a starting point, I asked children to talk with their parents over the weekend about the bottle and their new found interest in it. I suggested they each write a journal entry about their parent discussion for Monday. Unlike most journal entries, these would be shared with everyone in a group meeting Monday afternoon. Not really knowing where this might go, but committed to developing learning through the natural curiosity of children, I scheduled much time for discussing, planning, researching, and writing about the bottle in the week to come. At that time, if an administrator saw my "plan book" with that much empty space I would have been questioned about my adequate use of time for academic matters. “Where’s the Math?” “How do the reading standards align with this activity?” “Why would you spend time talking about a bottle? Is it something that will be included on state assessments?” And maybe, just maybe, the answers to these questions will surprise you!

As the week began, the bottle became more and more the topic of random conversations throughout the classroom. The weekend journal entries were shared. They seemed to reinforce the natural curiosity ebbing and flowing in the children's minds. Parents too, wondered what secret this bottle contained. It was decided that the bottle needed to be opened and our questions needed to be explored. Our Friday afternoon group planning time was established as "bottle opening" day. Even some parents joined the in. It was like an audience participating in “Deal or No Deal”!

Eagerly, the children gathered for group and a hush fell over the class as Jesse, the classmate selected by class vote, began removing the rusted cap. Because of the small neck of the bottle, the "message" had to be squirmed out with the eraser end of a pencil. It was carefully handed to me. Slowly, with all the thespian qualities I could muster, I painstakingly smoothed out the brown wrinkled paper exposing a very faded hand written note which began, "to anyone who finds this I hope..."

We read the message together. It indicated a man named George Dodge, from Block Island, RI, had been out fishing for the day in an area at the mouth of Narragansett Bay, when a sudden storm came up blowing him and his boat many miles into the bay. The boat finally sank and George swam to the nearest shore. He later discovered he was on an island. There were no other people on this island. It was late fall. His note went on to say he had set up a lean-to shelter for the time being and was searching for something more permanent, in case he wasn't rescued "before winter set in". He included the date of October 14, 1814 in his closing plea to search the islands of Narragansett Bay and "find me or my bones" and return them to B.I. Quite powerful stuff for the imagination of a nine year old to roam with!

This note confirmed it. The children definitely wanted to know more about George Dodge, Block Island, Narragansett Bay and the Islands, weather, fishing, and what was actually going on in this part of the world during 1814. Facilitating the formation of study groups around the original questions and these newly identified interests, we outlined roles and responsibilities of group members whose learning activities would be to gather information and develop a presentation for the class that reflected a specific area of interest which the bottle and message had prompted.

Groups formed and began brainstorming where and how to gather information, what to do with the information gathered, and how to present their new found knowledge to their classmates. Some children used our school library to begin their search. Others selected the community library as their starting place. One group began by writing letters to the town hall on Block Island asking if any information about our George existed. They also wrote to the Department of Environmental Management in Rhode Island asking for tide charts, nautical charts and maps of Narragansett Bay, and any weather information they might also have available. As the investigations continued, children brought in books, maps, nautical charts, almanacs, pictures, and even model boats. Each group decided on which question or topic they would investigate deeply. With some assistance and coaching from me, children went about their inquiries, gathered information, and put together their presentation. Students' personal journals were used to record information about their research process, George Dodge, boating, weather, Narragansett Bay, and fishing. I checked on progress and the amount of work being done by each group, recording in my own journal each child's name and the things he/she was doing. I set time lines to guide activities and established dates for written work to be completed and class presentations to occur.

By the end of September the children had gathered a wealth of information. Using a "panel presentation" format, each group told the class what they were able to discover about the ideas and topics surrounding the bottle and its message. They discovered that the Bay had many islands, some big and some quite small. They learned about tides, currents, weather, fishing, and that actually there was no record of a George Dodge living on Block Island in the early eighteen hundreds. They built shadow boxes, dioramas, and environment boards to represent everything from Narragansett Bay and its islands to George Dodge's lean-to and island living area while marooned. They read, wrote, drew, measured, deduced and induced, worked cooperatively and individually. They studied science and geography, math and reading, art and writing. They presented themselves as being eager to discover and seemed to enjoy the process of research and the presentations of their classmates.

When each group had completed their presentation I brought the entire class together to again look at the original list of questions and concerns that were raised. As a group, we felt comfortable that we had acquired information which responded to these questions and concerns.

Reflecting on my practice:
Only today, after much time has passed and professional growth and development have extended my learning, do I find myself prepared constructively to inquire and reflect on that classroom investigation from many years ago. I enter into this inquiry oriented reflective practice as a veteran educator eager to enhance my own practice. It seems then, I have reached that "higher ground" so as to reflect on the "nature of things” that Jerome Bruner in his book Actual Minds, Possible Worlds (1986) suggest we all come to in our lives. Even Lev Vygotsky, writing in 1962 in his book Thought and Language suggests that I am engaged in a “consciousness or reflection which is providing me a means for my mind to turn around upon its own thoughts and see them in a new light” (p. 115). And so, I begin to assess what actually happened with children's learning while seeking and discovering bottle information.
This inquiry/discovery oriented environment which I established was an essential feature of children's learning and the foundation of their bottle investigations. Throughout these investigations children engaged in "...a variety of internal developmental processes that ... operate only when the child is interacting with people in his environment and in cooperation with his peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 90). Children's experiences also are critical components needed for learning to occur (Dewey 1902; 1938; Shannon, 1992, p. 48). The construction of this activity encouraged children to venture into classroom learning discoveries based on interest. Implicit in a child's interest area is a foundational level of experience. (Living in a "beach" community, all children had made their own "beach discoveries"). The group work clustered children having similar interests and structured opportunity for peer interaction. Learning was active and involved children's minds reaching out to discover and learn. Children constructed knowledge and developed meaning from their learning by having personal and environmental interactions.

By creating an environment and opportunities which engaged children in active learning I established the ingredients necessary for learning to occur. Children were very much engaged in learning about the many topics they developed relating to the bottle. From the moment they discovered the "message" each and every one of them was wild with imagination and eager to discover. This was clearly evident in their journal writing, group work, and personal daily conversations.

I was able to move beyond the traditional segregated curriculum, the didactic instruction offering the "facts" of learning. By developing and initiating this activity my classroom curriculum was "...generated within the life of the classroom by all members of the classroom community" (Cordeiro, 1993). Learning was constructed so the curriculum for children would be inquiry-oriented. That is to say children inquired about possibilities, selected direction to discover, and chose their own methods, means, and materials for learning. I designed this piece of curriculum for children to work in groups, using a range of resources for information, which would be relevant to the world outside of the classroom, and encouraged students not only to produce knowledge but also to reflect on their learning. There was actually "...hands-on, minds-on, hearts-on learning..." (Wells, 1995, p. 265) occurring in my fourth grade classroom.
Children, and even their parents, became the primary constructors of this curriculum through the initial development of questions and comments which ultimately drove their research and discoveries. The structuring of the learning group around common interests, the selection by children of where to and how to gather information, and the decision on how best to share with others what was being learned became largely the responsibility of the children. Responding to issues, promoting group inquiry, facilitating student learning by encouraging and guiding, and creating the environment which fostered and encouraged student inquiry and student choice was my focused role.

Conclusions and implications:
The children's investigations never really established the authenticity of the message or existence of George Dodge*. Not being able to really know for certain if this message was real seemed to be a bit of a disappointment to the class. This activity did however, set the stage for many other inquiries and discoveries this class would embark on throughout the year.
This piece of curriculum encouraged children to become engaged in their learning because of their own experiences and previous knowledge. They inquired, discovered, and acquired meaning from their learning because the environment and curriculum were structured for them to do so. "[I]nquiry is ... the most effective route to understanding, which should be the goal of learning and teaching at all levels in the educational system" (Wells, 1995). This kind of learning insured that my classroom would "...resound with the voices of articulate young people in dialogues always incomplete because there is always more to be discovered and more to be said" (Greene, 1995, p.43).

At times, I felt removed from the learning as children became so engaged in their own discoveries. A strategy I would employ to avoid this concern would be to initiate my own journaling activities. Recording in a log the actual goings-on of group work and children's comments and conversations would have insured more active teacher involvement in the student discoveries and been an invaluable record to support and detail the learning which occurred.

This process of identifying a piece of one's professional practice through story and reflection on the dynamics of current child development theory, instructional practice, and curriculum development has extensive implications for professional development programs and staff evaluation procedures. I can imagine a summer institute for teachers where this process becomes a week of professional reflection documented through writing. Each participant would detail a specific classroom "story" from their personal experience, write about it, share it with a group of peers, review current literature on teaching and learning, and discuss its implications for classroom instruction. Imagine the lasting positive effects on the teaching practice of those participating and the impact on colleagues who read the personal accounts of these classroom practices.

Through a staff evaluation procedure which incorporates teams of teachers involved in reflection of practice based on specific goals established by the team, individuals could identify "best practices" occurring in classrooms and share these instructional strategies with each other. This would structure substantive discussions about teaching and learning in an accountability environment encouraging professional growth and development. Imagine the kinds of dialogue occurring in staff lounges. Imagine the possibilities of transforming instruction in a school or district that considers teaching rather than testing. I guess with all this imagining it's time to go sailing again!

*Actually, the Dodge family was quite prominent on Block Island throughout its history and continues to be a presence to this day!




Some sources that were used to construct this narrative include:

Bruner, J. (1986). Actual minds, possible worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Codeiro, P. (1992). Whole learning. Katonah, New York: Richard C. Owen Publishers, Inc.
Codeiro, P. (1993). Becoming a learner who teaches. Teachers Networking. 12, (1), 1-5.
Dewey, J. [1900, 1902], (1992). The school and society and The child and the curriculum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Collier Books.
Dodd, A.W. (1995). Engaging students: what I learned along the way. Educational Leadership, 53, (1), 65-67.
Donaldson, M. (1978). Children's minds. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the imagination. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Heald-Taylor, B.G. (1996). Three paradigms for literature instruction in grades 3 to 6. The Reading Teacher, 49, 6,456-466.
Hyun, E. & Marshall, J.D. (1996).Inquiry oriented reflective supervision for developmentally and culturally appropriate practices. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 2, (2), 127-144.
Shanahan, T. (Ed.). (1994). Teachers thinking, teachers knowing. Urbana, Il: National Council of Teachers of English.
Shannon, P. (Ed.). (1992). Becoming Political. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Van Scoy, I.J. (1995). Trading the three r’s for the four e’s: Transforming curriculum. Early Childhood, 72, 1,19-23.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wells, G. (1995). Language and the inquiry-oriented curriculum. Curriculum Inquiry, 25, (3), 233- 269.