Living with the child

Media

Part of Philippine Educator

Title: Living with the child
Language: English
Year: 1952
Rights
Fulltext: * . !Q·· I Living With the Child ,.._ DOREEN B. GAMBOA Note - the situations here described took pl,ace in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo under Superintendent Jose Aguilar, whose invitation made these experiences possible.-Author OFTEN TEACHERS HA VE asked, "What is an exeprience unit?" "How does one begin?" Many a teacher today, secure in the tradition of his forbears in the teaching profession finds it a very upsetting experience when told by his superiors that he must now use "integration." Perhaps it would be wiser if we could just drop that word from our academic vocabulary and say 'instead "Let us just try living with children through the most vital experiences we can share with them and see if we and the children will not learn much more about the world we live in and will not also develop the values, the &kills, appreciations, and the understandings most needed to help us get along with the people and things that populate this world! In March 1952 I left my city teaching to spend two weeks in the country ·and fell heir to a fifth grade classroom of some 47 boys and girls ranging in age from ten to sixteen with the average ·age around twelve years. I knew nothing about the individual children present. As always, when I face a ·group of children whom I have never seen before, I was ap• prehensive. Supposing we could find no common interest? Supposing I should blunder and arouse hostility, or worse still, generate boredom. The anxiety I feel when facing a group of children for the first time generally wears off as soon as things "get going'' but I had never been with children in the "province" before and I felt a greater anxiety than usual. The · children were seated at iheir two seater desks when I entered the room. They looked stiff and proper and seemed very silent. There was a friendly curiosity however that gave me hope. I took one look at the heavy t;gly classroom desks, the "standa:rds" for oral and silent reading framed on either side of the blackboard, at the a b c to z alphabet above and then I looked back at the children. Real children, alive, flesh-andblood-Children.-Seeing, hearing and feeling children! -And then I sat down on the floor, the nice clean floor of that grade V class room an(! beckoned the children to join me. Down they came pressing in and close together to me. It was hot but they seemed to like being close so I 37 38 THE. PHILI.PPINE EDUCATOR said, "I've got a so~ .to si:p.g. I've · were abOut ready to go on with got a terrible voice, but ,1 won~t , the:work itself. The picture which mind if you don't. I love to sing. they framed would be hung· in If you like my song,: you can sing ··homes. it too." Then I sang, "It could be While they were talking I kept a wonderful world.'~ . looking at the empty walls of the I guess they must bave _like the ~lassroom, .~mpty. except. for those song because by the time I started standards on either side of ~he to sing it for the second time they · black boar~ and that alphabet runwere already beginning to pick up · n~r. Dari~ all, ~ began. "It'~ the tune with a word here and ~1c: to have be:i-ubful homes, but there and by the fourth round they JUs~ look at this school home we all seemed to know the three verses ha_ve. We. hav.e to live here too, I .arid .chorus. · guess . maybe. if w~ could find a · · way to do somethmg . about our I had never seen children "learn room we could also firid lots of ·it that fast ·before and I expressed ways to add to· the ·beauty· of our my pleasure. One boy had. been homes. Suppose .we look around eatl~ time with such "gusto," I for a little while· and see what· we asked him tO come and sit by me, could do here.'' so;lie could lead. He said he di~n't ~'That's how it. started. We took ·know how· to ~ing. - "Yes, but you down those sacred Standards first know how to beat time, you don't .of all. After all who can enjoy have to sing.'' He caine and ·then r.eadi~ when he has to sit straight in a low voice asked "what's the · h" h · 1· h" · . ·t·1·'me s1·g· nature?" I _lo. o_. ked bl.a. nk.. m is c air and ho d is book in one hand SO with the other hand "ls. that important? .. We'd better free to turn the pages SO. W,_at_. ch ask· the others.'' We did consult h"l the Class· and . o.ne girl. said~ ~'It a c 1 d when he gets· his favorite must be '3/4' ." We beat. oaj; the 'comic book or a fairy. tale. It is time ·and 3/4 s.eemed right. more ·than likely that you will find . . . him lying on the floor, tummy ~ So. it was that Santiago who down or in an arm chair with his -coulqn't carry a tune. became the legs onr the arms,. or on the porch leader. of our chorus. .step elbows on knees with the book between his feet! The child's body settles into its ·most comfortable position· far lo~ ·but moves in strange. way;s and poses before he finfahes his story. So it was that we wer~ able to.· enjoy readi~ periods in school, too! ·. ·When we had finished our· so~. :1. cl1.atted w!th them for a. '.While to discover what they were then .working:. on in .school. It seemed -that t};rey were trying to find ways of beautifying their -homes and had brought to school that day materials · for•. ftaming the pictures ·they had collecrted. (Most of the -ehlldren bad cut. the dried stalk of· the sugar 't?ane blossom to be ·used f~r frames;), : . . : · .They· had . evidently discussed :a 'few principles about their work ·.with their teacher previously and · Before .the two we_eks were up ma_ny. changes had come and many learnings had gone on. One of the sweetest outcomes was the state·m.ent of ~berto; who when crit,. ic'isfng. the. · hangi~ qf .. a· picture said,. '"You· ar-~ hangi~. that at the "eye level;' of an adult but this room belongs to children." THE PHILIPPINE EDUCA1'0R 39 One morning the children were discussing reports that were being made in the class and a leader of one of the groups threw out a question to the group then reporting. After some consultation the leader of the reporting group stated that they were sorry but no one of her group knew the answer, whereupon the other group leader answered the question herself. The animosity could be felt and seen in the look on the children's faces. The group leader stood and said very pointedly, "Why did you ask the question if you already knew the answer!" . The embarrassment on the other child's face could also be seen and felt. Here was a chance to get at the beauty of school and home .which was more than the decoration on the walls but which was in the spirit of the members who lived in that home. So we stopped for a while to think about what had happened and out of the discussion came. some .new objectives for us to work on. Beauty in the home also meant happiness of members. Since Febe' s information was of much help to the group, it was good that she . or any other member of the class . should contribute all they could · even if they were not involved immediately in the reporting.. Why then was our good group feeling . disturbed? The children decided . that it was the intent of the "ques·. tioner" that was important. Did · Fe be want to put down Linda. and · her group and show that she ·and others knew more? Was it to see who was "best" in the class? The old competitive motive in classroom recitation was rearing its · ugly head to break the fellowship , of ~ooperative and helpful l~ving. , So it came about that the children decided it would be good for ·a leader to ask if there were any other suggestions or information that could bring light on the subject under discussion. Furthermore, if any class member had o t h e r information that t h e y thought might be of interest to the class they could.·also .(1ontribute their idea by saying, "I have also heard, or read or seen •.. " Thus consideration for each other in a new understanding of the beauty of cooperative group feeling and living. Beautifying the room didn't take up our whole day everyday. Many other things were going on at the same time. In an interest inventory all the children had revealed an interest to ·find out more about the earth they lived on. They revealed wonderings about many ·of the :.atural phenomena of thei.r everyday lives. · Where did the earth come from? What .are the planets? What make the clouds·and .rain? What makes wind? Why · do we not fall off the earth? What causes earthquakes? What makes the lightning and thunder? What causes seasons? What is water? There were no books available in the school, so we had to try and figure out where we could find the answers. One child suggested the High school lib:r:ary, another,. the library of a college in a nearby city and ·the ·teacher knew of a. USIS center in that same city. Since the children had no way ·0f getting this material, I offered :to get the materials together and the next morning came to school with . several bundles'. of books, ·chosen 40 THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR ' ' not only for the purpose of answering the above, but also to stimulate other kinds of reading as well. There were story books, biographies, fairy tales, and poetry. The books were chosen for varying levels of reading ability. When the children saw me get off the j'eepney with the load they ran forward to help. Their eagerness was unmistakable. While the room committee was setting up the room, the library committee set out to arrange the books. The rest of us discussed how we would manage the use of the books considering the small library space we had and the large number of children. At first it was suggested that we .line up and get the books one by one, but we decided that would mean a waste of time considering the wide variety of topics we had to look for. Then they suggested I could give them the book for their assignment but most of the children were quick to oppose that suggestion. They were eager to do their own choosing and. get a chance to go over more of the books. Another suggested that the library committee arrange the books in such a way that story books could be placed in one corner and the science and other reference books in another place and then group leaders could choose a committee to work with them in finding the books they needed. There were still a few who did not take. to .this suggestion, however. Finally, they agreed. "We will all go and get the books we want, but we will take turns and not shove or ·push.'' "This won over the entire group and that was actually what happened. They all moved toward· the library corner but they conducted . themselves in helpful ways. Their feelings were good, therefore . in acting .as they felt, they w'ere helpful toward each other. The group feeling was good because individuals were accepting their responsibility as members of a group. The entire morning was spent in reading and discussing their reading informally with their friends. The ·beginnings of reports were taking shape in these "conversations," so that some two days later when actual reports were made they were truly a product of the thinking of the group at work. During this period, I, as the teacher, went about helping as I was needed. Sometimes I found too difficult material in the hands of the child so I helped him find something mor.e suitable. I noted that others were not as interested· in reading the science materials as in reading the story books, which was all right.too! They were reading in an absorbed manner. Time enough for the other information when reporting went on. Rogelio discovered, in his reading, an experiment that would help explain the ideas of his group and asked if he could work it out. That was a wonderf:ul suggestion since it would be difficult to understand "the movement of the earth around the sun and the relation of this movement to day and night and the seasons" in term~ of words alone. The demonstration would help. His group agreed to bring the nei:essary materials and to practice so that the group would be able to understand their explanations. · ' The group working on planets were to make a paper mache relief to scale to show more clearly the relationship of sizes and distances of the planets. When the arithmetic involved stumped them THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR they asked for Lorenzo, a member of another group to come and help them work out their problem, "because he is the best in arithmetic." Cirilo who had a harder time with reading was excellent in the mechanical problems involved so he was also asked to help. Some of the children had discovered other things while reading on their problem. They discovered that one could build up a museum based on collections of various materials taken from nature. In one book were pictures of a wonderful collection of colored rocks. We had been planning a walk to the river one afternoon after school, but now we had another reason for going! We could go exploring for specimens for our museum! We added that to our plans for the next day, so that we could prepare what we would take with us when we went out on what was now to be a Field Trip! One afternoon period when it was time for the children to leave for their physical education class they asked why we couldn't have our own "physical Education." There didn't seem to be any reason why we shouldn't, so, we planned for that too. Playing games was one way. Then I saw the bamboo vase Wenceslao had been working on and I remembered the free rhythms I had seen performed in the Rizal Stadium and I' thought of the Kindergarten children's responses and wondered if these ten and twelve year olds would also respond without inhibition. I picked up the bamboo vase and a stick and beat out rhythms - the great steps of giant marching across the earth, the tiny flying steps of fairies, and the uneven . secretive movements of the elves among the bambo() groves. The children responded with hay laughter and full, free ·rhythmic movements and begged for those rhythms again and again. Those were children who had written once about their fears. Giants, fairies, witches had been first on their lists. This was a chance to play out their fears in rhythm. Having themselves, become giants and elves and fairies took away some of the fear. Then we wove a story about a. little girl lost in the forest with the giants in close pursuit and how the elves hid her in their thicket and then called the fairies to speed her through the air home and how the little lame girl walked again . and grew to love the "little peo~ pie" of mountain and river bank. The children danced and acted out the story with the aid of the bamboo vase." Some time later Roberto made a little poem called "Fairies" When you meet a fairy Do not run away She will not hurt you She only wants to play. Often when we needed a rest from work or when the afternoon was too hot for activities, we sat under the shade of a tree in the school yard and read fairy tales. One day as I closed the book from which I had been reading I said. "You can make up stories and poems, too, you know. Tonight before you sleep while you lie watching the stars outside your window see what stories and poems will come to you and tomorrow you can tell them to us while we sit here under the tree." Surely enough, the next afternoon, Santiago began with first,. "The Singing Elf," followed by "The Cat's Wonder." 42 THE' PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR The Singing Elf was some sort of a fungus. All l One morning 1 heard a little elf can say is, I wish that small insect singing would stop burrowing! When I'm so frightened, I jumped We had been trying out our new out of bed information about, clouds, rain Down in the garden to hear and soil as we walked along. When The little elf singing. I stumbled as we were crossing a But she ran so fast when she heard dried up riCe field, Roberto steada noise from me ied me and said, "This is the surWhen I heard my mother calling face of the Philippines very rough that breakfast is ready for me. to walk on." Here was a new kind The Cat's Wonder of appreciation. Francisco looked up and identified the clouds as "Cirrus" and finally as we lazied on the bank of the river and watched the more energetic members of our group building marvelously artistic sand castles for the "giants and fairies," children began throwing out lines here and there which were ·poetry again both in the appreciation expressed and in the rhythm of the expres. sion. This is - the cat that wonders Every morning Sitting in a tree to wonder If where the man is going on. One Friday morning She followed the man, ·She noticed that the man was going ttJ market So she never wondered t;tgain. The day we went on the field trip to the river, we carried cans, jars; baskets, bolos, and even a pick! We found insects, leaves of fruit trees showing signs of disease, shrimp; fish, crabs, . shells and a marvelously varied collection of colored rocks. It was all new territory to me so the children told me the names of trees, ·they pointed out wild shrubs that were·poisonous or scratchy. Some ·of 'their stories sounded like a mixture of fact and fancy. Being .a. "City· il!acher" I was inclined to be skeptical. However, I now confess; Noel warned me not to pick .an·· interesting dried flower because inside was a tiny insect that would burrow into my skin and it would be , very itchy. I smiled,· and picked· ·the flower saying I wasn't afraid. ·Now some three weeks .after that trip I am . still scratching a; wide .area on one · arm that still ·holds . a tinge . of the red area that city doctors ·say It was a beautiful afternoon. The experience is one to be remembered and treasured and was summed up in one of the poems ·made by the group which they called "Happiness" Oh how. happy we are On the bank of the river Making stories and poems that seem to say how happy we are. In talking over the experience of the two weeks with the supervisor we both expressed our surprise at the ease with which the ·children had expresseft feelings as well as ideas. They were used to working in groups, to planning, ·to carrying out :plans through work experiences,. for this was a Community School. Basically, there was a :readiness in these children for good group ·experience. But why was . ·it tnat the8e children ·had been able to express themTHE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR 4.3. selves so spontaneously and in such a variety of ways during these two weeks? It was beyond the expectations of the supervisor and it was also far beyond anything I had ever experienced in my ways of teaching in the city. I am not an "experienced" teacher of eleven year olds, my experience in teaching has been with the very young. I have worked with elementary teachers but had never before · that time taught an elementary grade. How was it that good living had been so easily experienced? The answer I believe lies in the fact that there were no "pressures." My job did not depend on any efficiency rating. I was there for only two weeks. The attitude of co-teachers in no way could place· me on the defensive. They had nothing to fear from me so they were not on the defensive either. Set free within myself for achievement of self-determined goals, ·I coulq. ex~l,ore · n.ianY pos"" sibilities without ' self conscious:. ness. The childre~. too, were freed, from imposed action other than that which was determined by the goals .they set and these were determined by interests and needs of the group of which they were true members. We were. participants in shared experien~es which built values, appreciations, understandings and skills necessary; for good living.. Proof was that life was ,good. (might we all, teachers, supervisors; administrafors not do well to explore ways of removing "pressures?") As the supervisor and I were walking across the school grounds, talking, we were joined by a group of the children who walked along with us. I suggested that perhaps the children might have some of the answers we were seeking as to what made for a good school experience for them. These were their statements. "We do not like cruel teachers." I asked, "What do you mean by cruel teachers?" Note carefully their reply, for it deals not with physical aspects of cruelty but emotional responses. "Teachers who get angry easily, especially if we are wrong." "Teachers who say . hurting things." "Teachers whose eyes flash when they look at us." "We like our teachers to play with us." "When we are wrong we wish our teachers would explain things to us." "We want our teachers to be happy so that we can be happy too." · If happier teachers make . for happier children, this ;ppses • another problem for administrators. Can we bring to our work consideration and appreciation. for each other? Can we in our classrooms stretch mind and spirit to take in all of God and man so that we. can all live richer and happier lives? What is there to stop . us? · Analyzing our "Curriculum experiences" it can be seen that we wrote, we read, we gave reports; we solved problems in arithmetic .and with people, we. explored, ex. perimented, collected, classified, we sang, we exercised, we drew pictures, we took care of our room, we walked with God in His fields and woods. ·All "subject areas'~ were inv.olved, but it was not the 44 THE .PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR hour that decided this· · but the · · esteem allowing one to give fully need. The amount of time varied even as he was given unto .. depending on how much work We are not building children for needed to be done. a good life tomorrow. We are disThere was reality in content for covering ways of making life good .content was related to the under- today, we are not telling children :Standings of children, it was how to live but we are living with meaningful for it was in answer children as we ought. to live that to their own .questions a. nd it was individual and social goals can be realized in action. €ff ective since it found its reason We learn through experiencing. for being in use. Generalizing from our learnings This was possible because the we are provided with new insights method allowed full interaction into the. problems "'e daily face; within the group to take place. Setting goals in terms of widest It provided security through affec- possible social good we discover tion and the sense of belonging- self fulfillment in these social ends ness, it made it possible for each and purposes. The teacher who .child to feel a sense of achieve- can make it possible for children ment through his contribution to to move with confidence out int" the group through a wide variety ever widening areas of . experi-0f media, it made possible mutual encing cart be sure that integrarespect and consideration for each tion is taking place. Try living -0ther which built a sense of self- with children. Bafflegabb in the Program of Studies* H.E.PANABAKER Teachers in Canada a're perplexed as to the manner of attaining certain educational objectives that you cannot place your finger on; Aren't teachers in the Philippines bewildered by the same type of "bafllegabb" in the statement of our educational objectives? There is a difference, however, between the Canadian teacher and the teacher in the Philippines. While the bafllegabbed Canadian teacher raises his arnJ,8 · in surrender. and looks into the want ad column for new jobs, the Philippine teacher sticks on, pretending that he is not really bafflegabbed.EDITOR. The most serious occupational disease among Alberta teachers to- · day is frustration. The disease has several causes ; but among the most serious is bafftegabb in the program of studies, or, to be more precise, the curriculum guides. Baffiegabb has been defined as follows: "Multiloquence characterized by consummate interfusion of circumlocution or periphrasis, inscrutability, incognizability, and • Reprinted from the Educatio1t Digest, Sept., 1962 issue.