5: The Cardboard Tower

June 16, 2108

A small game: Pat on the Back

Lesson 5 was easy— It was Ramadan weekend, and there was a surprise cricket match in the adjacent playground - over the years we have tried to ask the students to allow us some notice about their absences but it’s never the case. Only around 20 students showed up, which meant the class was quieter and more under control.

We started off day 5 with a small game - an energizer called ‘pat on the back’ where we wrote positive affirmations in all three languages on the board and taped a piece of paper onto each students back. After reading out these affirmations such as ‘a fast runner’, ‘a loyal friend’, ‘a good storyteller’ and ‘helps teachers’. Many students made loud suggestions exclaiming - ‘Miss! I’m just like that! That’s me!’. I was amused to discover that this wasn’t a sentiment that students used to associate with each other. Therefore when we first initiated that they write this on each others backs. After a few minutes pause, and some fumbling about what to do, they began. After around 10 minutes we read each others notes and watched them smile!

Some of these notes were like this:

‘Dinithi thinks, Christina is very imaginative!’

‘Aaron thinks Shemara tells great stories!’

(I can't remember these exactly, but you get the jist..)

Finishing the Cardboard tower

For the rest of the day, we were meant to finish last weekend’s cardboard tower - an easy exercise made more challenging by the absence of the older students - who were playing at the cricket match. We started off by stacking the tower into its tallest form and critiquing it. It was the first time everyone saw the tower in its full height, so we hoped that would be incentive to keep going. Due to arguments we had associated with the assigned 3 groups - we decided to hand over a box per student to decorate - and asserted this responsibility by writing each students name on a box with a marker. I really wish we didn’t have to do this- as we didn’t want to undermine teamwork- but it became difficult with younger children in the absence of their group ‘elders’. We also realized that the younger kids may have been getting the ‘work’ done by the older kids and not getting much done themselves.. (Honestly- quite a smart move, little fellas!) I made a note to self that some of these kids felt like the project was dragging on too much, and some wanted the boxes to finish fast because it felt like ‘work’. 

Worked carried on, and slowly, as the boxes finished - we began pairing students up to help others with their boxes. Perhaps a more indirect form of teamwork, where students each get to retain ownership of a box as well. We stacked the boxes back up (in a different order this time) and it looked pretty great! It was well over 7 feet tall so the kids impressed themselves with the scale of their own work.

Thoughts:

Does this feel like work?

We often need to show results of the art class through some material proof. Admittedly, the hope of having something ‘presentable’ for the end of year exhibition may have steered us towards having a ‘finished’ craft. Perhaps this made the students feel like it was ‘work’ without a real purpose. 

 It is becoming clearer and clearer that now the kids have a sense of the three dimensions - now it’s time to steer them towa rd an issue to solve, or a sense of ‘purpose’.