Again and Again

What do you do when you learn a new skill? Or when you know you've mastered something? 

Do you want to do it again and again? Just to show you can. Or show it to all your friends.

Do it again to make sure you remember how to do it just right?

Experiment a little, adding some new elements to your achievement?

Sometimes you just like to do the same thing again...to keep your skills honed.

You never know when that skill may become useful.

(I watched this boy repeatedly build his blocks in a line and knock them down. Day after day. Around what the other kids were doing. Sometimes he would build something else. But he always went back to this familiar--and really cool--construction.)

Experimenting with Punches

A few weeks ago, we were making mountain collages. I put out the hole punches and scissors so kids could create pieces to glue on their mountain shapes.

We haven't used the punches much, so we had a quick tutorial on what to do - insert paper in the slot, make sure it's all the way in, punch, move over so you have enough paper to punch again, etc.

We made some great collages.

But we had lots of paper shapes where the kids just wanted to practice and experiment with the punches.

So the next week I put out the punches in the writing center. They began experimenting again.

We started having lots of shapes that no one really wanted to use or keep. So I put out a cup. "If you don't want the shapes," I said, "place them in here." Kids dropped shapes in the cup throughout the morning. I was surprised that they didn't want to keep them or use them in a project.

They were just interested in using the tools. These are hole punches I got on sale in the scrapbooking section of a craft store. Not really tools for kids.

Real tools - just the thing for kids! I was reminded that kids need time to explore and experiment. Sometimes my end goal is not their end goal. Making a collage wasn't as important (to them) as exploring the paper punches and how they worked. So I put them out again so they could explore.

At the end of the day, I had a cup with hearts and stars. Of course, I can't toss anything. But what to do with them? I dumped them in my shredded paper bag - so the next time we use shredded paper to dig through, the kids will find some shapes, too.

Long-Term View

Yesterday our children's choirs in church performed a musical. They did a great job. One of those choirs is the one that I help with. We've been working since January and it was good to see the realization of our work. This weekend was also the Music City Marathon in Nashville. (No, I did not compete.) As these two events rattled around in my reflective brain, I began thinking about teaching preschoolers and kindergartners. (Of course!)

Our teaching is a long-term project, a marathon. So many times I repeat a concept or a rule or just help with common courtesy. ("It's her turn to talk. We cannot all talk at the same time. No one can hear.") It seems that some kids will never "get it." It can get frustrating at times.

But I must remember that teaching young children is a marathon. I'm working to build foundations for future strong learning. That repetition is spreading the mortar and laying a brick in that child's knowledge. That repetition makes sure that the brick is secure and strong, that the mortar is smooth and cured.

Marathons are not won in the first mile; it's the continued pushing and steps that bring the finish line--and marathons are not won on race day but in all the steps of training and preparation.

Life and learning are not short sprints. Repetition and practice are musts for true learning...and true life impact...to occur. That's not always easy to remember, especially when you work and work and seem to get little or no visible results.

But when I see the light bulb go off for a child; when I hear a slight gasp and "Oh"; when a hear a child put pieces together to form a new understanding - I know I'm clocking another mile in the marathon. I will probably not be the one that helps that child cross the finish line on a particular point of learning, but I can help him along his route to it.


Photo from Flickr.com
Photographer: darkmatter

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdm/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0