One lens we use to examine the concept of Identity is that of power and privilege. In any given society, there are disparities in privilege and power within and among groups. Art in its various forms has a way of revealing these disparities and challenging dominant narratives.

I noticed this piece of art, which can be found on a telephone pole between our campus and a nearby shopping area while taking a walk and wondered what my students would think of it, both how it was made and what the intentions of the artist were. The students observed the piece, shared what they noticed, along with the thoughts, feelings and questions they had. After, we shared our thoughts, I shared the story of the woman in the piece, Aura Rosser. Suffering from mental health issues, she was killed by the Ann Arbor police within 10 – 15 seconds after they arrived at her home, responding to a call from her ex-boyfriend.

The students had several opinions and questions about this. They wondered why less force wasn’t used and shared stories of similar events they have heard about. Some asked what it was about police training that made this possible thinking it must be due to “clumsiness.” Others insisted that this wouldn’t have happened if she was white citing instances of violent acts committed by white men where police acted very differently. Some felt this was just typical of police action while others wanted to make sure that we weren’t labeling all police as guilty. When asked how the police officers involved might view that photo, some thought remorse while others imagined being them being afraid.

We talked about why an artist might make a piece representing her and the students were quick to share how an image had a humanizing effect on what might be just be a story.

The students began discussing how they would behave if they were black, cautious at all times to avoid any and all possible conflicts with police. We talked about what kind of effect this might have on us if we had to be that aware of how are actions may be perceived by those who had negative expectations of us.

I reached out to the artist (through a parent that spotted the piece and shared) and we are hoping to meet to discuss his process, purpose and the context in which this piece fits in with his other work as well the larger movement working to raise awareness of systemic violence perpetrated against African Americans.

Wondaland Records – Hell You Talmbout

Music has always played a role in the Civil Rights Movement. This week we listened to this song, taking note of the words that were repeated and emotions we heard or felt, specifically when one voice was heard vs. more than one.

Repetition plays a powerful role in this song with, “Say his name,” and “Say her name,” repeated throughout. The act of naming each victim serves as an act of remembrance which the students were quick to notice. There is power in saying these names which we shouldn’t forget. We also talked about the power in these words. While many of the names were of relatively recent victims, others (Emmitt Till and Amadou Diallo) are decades old. I explained that to the students to highlight that the recent events are not new but instead a sad continuation of the realities of life for African-Americans.

When listening to one voice in the song, the students noted the anger, sadness and grief, as if the person singing had lost something or just finished crying.

When listening to the choir of voices, the students felt uplifted, with the voices sounding “strong” and “like a prayer.”

When I asked whom they thought the song was addressed to, they offered several different audiences including, the African-American Community, White people, and police, with a different message for each.

As a teacher, I always question whether or not my students are ready for these conversations. I know there are some people who think that 3rd and 4th graders are too young to think about these things. What I’ve found is that they already have thoughts about these circumstances which we sometimes try to shelter them from. The chance to process feelings and reactions to events with peers and identify actions that can be taken helps the child develop a sense of capability which helps alleviate anxiety and encourages her or him to step into a role as advocates for social justice.

 

 

We continued our exploration of identity with a visit to the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn. Before and during the visit, we talked about what helps define Arab identity, including a shared culture and language. The students heard various musical instruments and made connections and distinctions between the instruments they heard and those they are familiar with. We also played a game matching English words derived from Arabic words, including coffee, orange and giraffe. After discussing aspects of the immigration experience, we saw an exhibit that focused on Somali-American Muslims designed to challenge negative stereotypes about Muslims.

We finished our visit with a demonstration of the Dabke, a communal dance performed in countries throughout the Arab world at weddings and other celebrations. According to one folklore tradition, it originated when constructing houses with roofs made of wood, straw, and dirt. “Dabke” which means “stomping the ground,” in English was a great way to compact the roof materials evenly.

sk – 3/4 – Dabke Demonstration – Arab American National Museum from Chris Swinko on Vimeo.

Though it can be unnerving at times, many students love sharing their work, especially when unsure about how to proceed. One tool we use to address this is our “Writers’ Block” a dynamic writing group that students form or join as needed. Students, in a small group, share their writing. The writer shares where they are feeling stuck. Peers then share feedback using the Notice, Appreciate, and Extend Protocol (Project Zero). This structure encourages students to notice instances of strong writing in their work as well as those of their peers. It also gives writers multiple perspectives to incorporate as they think about ways to move their writing forward.

The Phylo(mon) Game was inspired by the popularity of Pokemon and designed to foster a similar immersion into the natural world in order to learn about biodiversity and ecological principles. I was reminded of the cards by Lisa (our science teacher) and introduced the idea during our elective. The students were hooked and immediately began looking through cards making decisions related to content and design. Our focus will begin with what we have on our school grounds and will be growing in the garden, with a focus on relationships between plants, beneficial insects and pests. We will also create cards that will focus on soil and the microorganism that are fundamental to its health. It was amazing to see how quickly they began thinking about rules and event cards that incorporated the seasons or increased a plant’s abilities. More to come.

Steven Johnson is an author and host of How We Got to Now, a documentary series that explores ideas that have had major impacts on the modern world. Last year, when exploring light, we learned about the evolution of photography and how it ultimately led to changes in civil infrastructure, after shedding light on the plight of the poor in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. We’ve now nearly finished the episode on sound, which described our rudimentary attempts to capture sound in the caves of Lascaux, France (the most “acoustically interesting spaces also contain the most paintings”) and the way trials and errors in attempts to capture and broadcast sound led to profound discoveries (the vacuum tube) which revolutionized communication.

Today, we saw and discussed how music and jazz specifically played a powerful role in the Civil Rights Movement. The music humanized African Americans in the eyes of a part of White America that was ignorant or indifferent to the suffering of African Americans. Billie Holiday, in Strange Fruit, shared the horrors of lynching in a way that caused many whites to face this terrible reality. As a result of this artform, some whites began to join African Americans to confront the racism ingrained in the laws of American society.

We finished The Little Prince this week and had an interesting conversation about life and death. Students discussed whether or not they thought the Little Prince was dead and what “dead” really meant in the context of the story as well as life as we live it. Some took the Little Prince at his word when he asked the Pilot to see his body as “an empty shell” too heavy for him to carry back to his star. Others spoke of an afterlife, either in Heaven or in the hearts of those that continue to remember and love us after we have gone.

   

Understanding patterns and relationships is essential to studying mathematics. This week, we explored the triangle most commonly known as Pascal’s Triangle though the triangle was well known in India, China and Persia centuries before Pascal. We completed a small version of Pascal’s Triangle based on some initial clues. Students quickly took over recognizing various other patterns. Finally, we talked about triangular numbers and used base 10 blocks to construct triangles and tetrahedrons by looking at some of the diagonal columns in the triangle.

 

And someone used this pencil to do it.

 

We are in the process of petitioning the city to allow us to raise hens on our school grounds. Before we petition the city, we wanted to make sure that we had the support of our neighbors. We used the knowledge of students and parents in the class who have chickens to help us think through what concerns our neighbors might have and how we could address them. Then, as a group we drafted a letter to our neighbors explaining our intent. On Wednesday, we delivered the letters and were excited to receive the support of our neighbors. Thank you to Select Auto Service and Planned Parenthood for your support. After hearing back from one more neighbor, we will be ready to petition the city.

This week, we began to explore the relationship between the brain and our identity, through the work of neuroscientist, David Eagleman and his PBS special on the brain. We noticed distinctions between the brains of humans and other animals. As a species, we are born helpless and remain so for a significant amount of time compared to other animals which are far more capable of thriving in their environment at an early age. Despite what seems like a disadvantage, the fact that our brains are “wired up” through our experience enables us to be far more adaptable to a variety of environments.

The idea that experience physically alters the brain is also important as it relates to learning. Really grasping the concept that learning involves a physical change in the brain helps foster a growth mindset in learners as difficulties become easier to view as part of the learning process instead of proof of an inability.

We also began work on our Identity Box stories. The students have a shared premise that they are working off of. They wake up in a room with no memory of whom they are or how they got there. They notice a box under the bed and examine it. The box contains a letter from a mysterious stranger and a small number of items. (The students had previously brought in and shared boxes with these identity-related items.) They are now using these items as jumping off points for a story that will blend elements of fact and fiction. Per one of the student’s request, they are also allowed (and encouraged) to bring in additional items to incorporate into their stories with the idea being that these artifacts help shape our identity and reveal aspects of ourselves that we may not have considered.

Homemade Halloween

Our school celebrates Halloween by dressing up in homemade or recycled costumes and then, with musical instruments and parents in tow, and parading nearby. The venue for today’s celebration was County Farm Park. The costumes were creative and the kids reveled in the experience of seeing their friends and marching about.

 

 

   

This week we added trees to our native tree library, a small group of trees planted in order to help with the reforestation of our natural playground.

We learned more about Paul Salopek’s journey by exploring his “milestones” which are short digital records of his experiences that he shares along the way.

http://www.outofedenwalk.com/gallery/2014/03/ceremonial-milestone-africa-to-the-middle-east/

These pieces include captured images and sounds, short interviews with people he meets as well as his written reflections on the place where he is. The students are choosing milestones that interest them, describing what they notice related to the images, words or sounds used and extending their thinking by making personal connections with what they see and asking questions related to what exists outside of the frame.

We’ve also begun our neighborhood maps, exploring the identity of place and how these spaces inform our own identities.

Our class also continued reading The Little Prince. In this week’s reading, the Little Prince described his interaction with his flower, before he left her. He also relayed stories of his brief time spent on other planets with the king who commands absolute obedience to his very reasonable commands, the vain man for whom “other people are admirers” and the drunkard who drinks to forget the shame he feels for drinking – all of whom confirmed the Little Prince’s belief that grown-ups are “very strange.”

This week, our lacewing larvae arrived. Good news for us. Bad news for the aphids that currently reside in the grow bed of our aquaponics tank.

Deliciousness

This week we prepared the handful of tomatoes harvested from the garden this fall. We quartered them, sprinkled with sea salt and Aleppo pepper, drizzled with olive oil and then let them sit comfortably in the oven (225 degrees) for a few hours. We think you should try it sometime.

Six Sentence Stories

While working on our own short stories, we identified major plot points found in stories and practiced telling stories in six sentences. Our purpose is to recognize the framework that forms the skeleton of stories and then use it to shape our own. This helps foster intentionality in our storytelling and encourages us to consider the purpose that each sentence has in the story. Is it advancing the action? Is it revealing character?

Students worked on retelling favorite stories of theirs (or the one they just had to pick because they couldn’t decide) in six sentences, paying attention to the Exposition, Hook, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution (which we refer to as Denouement because it sounds better.)

Out of Eden Learn

We connected with our learning partners in different parts of the country and globe this week by reading their posts about themselves and posting questions and comments, naming what we noticed and extending our thoughts by sharing connections or asking some follow-up questions. We also shared a little about ourselves and how we connect to the Out of Eden Walk. Next week we will begin working on mapping our neighborhoods, sharing both how these places inform our identities as well as exploring how places themselves have identities.

We are the Forest

This week, we welcomed back brothers Nate and Nick Ayers (We are the Forest) to our elective to share their passion and wisdom with us. We explored the importance of forests through music, history and ecology. We also continued to grow our native tree library with a selection of native trees which we started to plant this week and will finish putting in the ground next week.

Buhr Park Food Forest

We returned to the food forest today to continue our work there. The students prepared a grass barrier by soaking and arranging cardboard and then covering this with wood chips. Some also planted fennel in the pear guild, which will serve as both a pollinator plant and attract beneficial insects including parasitoid wasps and lacewings to help control pests.

 

 

 

This week we discovered that the plants in the grow bed of the aquaponics tank are infested with aphids. Danny and Ishan took on the task of figuring out what to do and directed me to a site that recommended different beneficial insects to take care of the aphids. This way we can avoid introducing anything that might help the plants but hurt the fish, such as neem oil. We now have some lacewings on the way. The aphids were also popular during our time with Lisa this week where the kids were able to explore with field microscopes as the students plucked some of the dead leaves to get a closer look at the culprits.

During our elective, we observed and documented some of the plants that can be found on the school grounds, with the help of C. Milton Dixon of Permaculture Productions. We compared the shapes of leaves and branching patterns (opposite vs. branching.) The students made rubbings of various leaves and sketched others, including the seeds of biennials such as burdock and curly dock. We also found a variety of plants from the mint family, noted by the square shaped stem including mint, basil, and sage. It was amazing to note what we found just outside of the classroom.

 

Out of Eden Learn

This week, we began our work with the Out of Eden Learn Project. The project follows National Geographic Fellow and journalist Paul Salopek as he retraces our ancestors steps out of Africa and across the globe. His purpose is to practice “slow journalism” in order to provide greater context to our current news cycle with the hopes that hidden connections between events will be revealed and understood on a more mainstream level. The journey will take seven years to complete and we will follow his journey as he shares dispatches from the field. We will be using some of his dispatches to investigate how journalists share stories in a way that connect with readers.

Our involvement also includes joining a virtual walking party with fellow members in the US as well as Tanzania. As members of the walking party, we will be slowing down to more carefully observe our own communities, reflecting on how local events connect to global ones. We will exchange stories with others in our party about identity and place and make new connections. During these engagements, students will be asked to situate their own lives within broader historical and geographic contexts.

More information about the journey can be found below:

Out of Eden Walk

Digital Citizenship

Understanding digital footprints is an essential skill for students growing up in our increasingly connected environment. To illustrate the permanence of information they share online, I asked students to share something embarrassing on a sticky note, assuring them that no one else would view the note. I then asked them to erase what they wrote. Murmurs of “I can still see it,” or “It’s not erasing,” were heard. I then asked if they would be comfortable passing the note to the person next to them. There were screams of “No!” Notes were torn. Others were stuffed in mouths. After I assured them that no one else would see their notes, we talked about the permanence of our digital footprints and how hard it is to take back something that has been shared online. Some students then began working with Common Sense Media’s Digital Passport, an online suite of games that address critical skills related to digital safety (privacy and cyberbullying) as well as effective searching.

Seeds

In our elective, we harvested buckwheat seeds from the garden this week. Thus began a craving for buckwheat pancakes. Students researched recipes while others harvested the stalks and collected the seeds. Some of the students also started seeds in rock wool. Once strong enough, the starter plants will be transplanted to the aquaponics tank. We are unsure what will do well but are looking forward to a potential harvest of broccoli, lettuces, eggplant and sweet peppers.

We also began to examine the current challenges we face in the areas of Food Production, Water Management, Transportation, and Waste Management. Students discussed the challenges and agreed that the systems in place were not sustainable. We will be exploring potential solutions being worked on in our community over the course of the year.

Math – Reasoning and Justifying

 

Take a square of origami paper. Now make a square 1/4th the size of the original square. Now that you have done it, convince someone else that you did. This straightforward exercise requires students to reason and justify their responses, essential practices in mathematics. More folding challenges to come next week.