Almost all of my favourite elementary school memories come from the same teacher, who I had for both grades 2 and 3. The project I remember enjoying the most was planning a journey from our current town to a town of our choice in any other province or territory. We had a lot of choice when working on that project: which province we chose, what form of transportation we took, and how we wanted to present our journey. I remember being able to choose from either writing a story, making a scrapbook or making journal entries.
“Our Great Nation”
Looking back now, I realize this was part of a thematic unit our teacher planned about Canada. A few weeks before we did this project, we starting singing “This Land is Your Land,” and were told to pick a province other than BC that either meant a lot to us or we wanted to travel to one day and present a research poster on that province to the class. The theme of “Our Great Nation” was integrated into nearly every subject area for one month, and used as a tool to inter-relate all aspects of the curriculum.
I remember the entire class loving this theme, especially myself as I had never traveled outside of the province. When learning about the different provinces, our teacher asked everyone to bring any pictures or memorabilia they or their parents had at home. This style of teaching reflects Vygostky’s idea that learning is social and can happen both in and out of the class (Tompkins et al, 2011, p.8).
Adjusting and Inspiring
I realize now that by allowing the structured choices, my teacher allowed each student to choose which format worked best for their level. Students who still struggled with writing could make a scrapbook, so they only had to write a few sentences per page. Other students, who excelled in writing, were encouraged to write stories or journal entries. With this type of approach, she was able to support each student at his or her individual level, helping to scaffold all of us. I had my heart set on doing the project one way, but I remember her convincing me to write a story about the journey instead. She said that I had an amazing imagination and she loved the stories I came up with. With her encouragement, I was able to step outside my comfort zone, but still within my zone of proximal development, and grow as a writer.
What interests you the most?
This project also incorporated inquiry-based aspects as each student chose which form of transportation interested them most. Whether we chose traveling by car, train, hiking or flying, we were given time to research the steps needed to travel across Canada. We had done a few research projects before, using encyclopaedias and some online sources, but this was the first project where we did nearly all of our research online. We were encouraged to team up with other students if we had troubles with our plans, again gathering support from our social network.
End Result
Though this project seems overwhelming when looking back on it now, I never felt that way when I was working on it. Part of that was because while my teacher gave us many choices, it was all within a pre-determined structure that she used to guide us in our choices. In the end, we had over 20 incredible journeys planned and a fire within all of us to travel across the country. I haven’t made my trip to Newfoundland yet, but I still talk to my penpal I met in that very same classroom, and I will make the trip to see her soon.
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