Braden was sitting quietly at the edge of the table, as he carefully wrapped masking tape around a coffee can. I asked what he was working on: “If you put enough tape on this it will be kinda like leather and I’m gonna make armor from it.” I asked him why he was making the armor. A bit reluctant to reply (perhaps he thought I would judge!), he finally said that he and his friends sometimes sword fight with foam swords in the wash. He showed me a sample piece of armor he had made earlier in the week. It was clear that today he was aiming to go much bigger. Jaime, having noticed his interest in using the tape, brought over some duct tape and offered it to Braden. Calmly, he abandoned the masking tape coffee can and began a new approach with the duct tape: “I’m making a chest plate right now.”
“The duct tape is bigger so it takes less time, and it’s stronger.” Though he realized that two layers of duct tape attached to each other wasn’t quite as strong as he thought. We discussed other possibilities, such as many layers or even using a stronger material like cardboard. He stopped working at various points to try his armor on to see if it fit and how he could get it on. After creating a loop which he had hoped would go around his chest, he realized that when he attempted to put it on over his arms it would break apart, noticing that his shoulders are larger than his chest. What could we do to solve this problem? “Maybe a buckle…I was thinking about safety pins!” Is this work really about sword fighting and armor? Perhaps it has much more to do with exploring ideas about strength, scale, construction, efficiency, material quality, and problem solving…
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Zoe entered the classroom after lunch carrying a very large tree branch with her. During EBL time, it was clear she had a plan for it. Walking up to her, I told her I was really into her large branch (being a lover of natural materials myself). She was already in the midst of creation at this point, using a thin rope to attach a much smaller piece of thorny branch to her large one: “I’m gonna make it deadly. Maybe not deadly, but super sharp. I’m gonna hot glue stuff to it.” I asked if she had found these items in the wash: “I used this stick [the large branch] to wack this stick off another plant. Then I decided they would be cool together.” I left Zoe working and when I came back to her she was hot gluing other various natural materials to her self proclaimed “stick of pain.” We began to chat about making art with natural materials, which I told her I really enjoyed, and she replied that it “takes non-natural materials [hot glue, rope] to make it stay.” I shared the example of Andy Goldsworthy, who makes art with only natural materials, using things only made from nature to help keep his work together. Zoe mentioned a friend of hers who makes clay, noting that maybe what Goldsworthy did was something similar. I photographed her work once it was complete (from both sides, though she did note that the back was “not as cool”). I can’t help but wonder if next time she will attempt to use only natural materials in her next work? Worried about children engaging in “violent” play/art? Don’t be! There is a great deal of research about children’s violent play and art, as well as the way they talk about this kind of work with adults. Feel free to contact me [email protected] if you’d like more information!
The kiddos who signed up for the “create your own Pokémon cards” workshop sat eagerly around Jaime on the rug, laptops on almost every lap. The technology and online learning skills needed to begin this workshop were apparent right away. The kids first needed to open Google and sign in to SeeSaw where they would find additional directions necessary for their Pokémon card creation. Then Jaime asked them to open a new tab, open Google drive, and create a “Pokémon” folder. Then they needed two sub folders – one for images and one for their completed cards. The value of a multi-age classroom shined at this moment. Some of the kids struggled through these steps, where they needed to draw not only on their technology skills, but literacy ones as well. “I could help you! I could help you!” Jovian declared, coming to Julian’s aid. The kids were excited when they finally mastered each step which would make it possible for them to save their work: “I have a tab!” “I see what I need to do now!” “Oh awesome! I got it!”
At this point the room quieted down as the kids settled in to watch the video links provided about the details of Pokémon card creation – some alone, some in pairs, and some in small groups. Ernesto was the first to begin to create his cards. He sat, quiet and focused, navigating his way through the card creator. He was especially conscious of each choice, and spent a few minutes deciding, “what I should do for a power.” As the other kids began to create their cards, the room was a buzz with excitement. They maneuvered through the Pokémon card creator, a website they were not familiar with, vocalizing their struggles and successes – “oh my god! I just found out how to make a different card!” The skills the kiddos used and were learning during this workshop seemingly based on “Pokémon” are relevant to their daily interactions with technology and online learning. They worked on navigating their way through Google (searching for and saving images), Google drive (naming and creating folders), and figuring out how to use a program without being formally directed in each step – skills that reach far beyond Pokémon itself. |