Arts, Environment and the Child: Walking the Wheel of the Seasons

So many things going on in there: they were drawing their 'monthly' person drawing, the teacher was calling out various things toinclude in their picture, she said: "In honour of Veterans Day (which is in Nov.) draw a flag in his hand" They said: "Which flag?" ahh, yes, not yet indoctrinated...When she said draw hands, they asked what colour, she said whatever...one kid rushed loudly searching for "that crayon" and came back loudly proclaiming: "This is the colour of our skin, isn't it, Miss Evans? This is the colour of Our skin, right?" hmmmmm...

But then, there was Michael... I got to do some one-on-one reading, and out came this little one, who didn't answer to Michael, so then I asked what his name was, and he said: "That one there, that you just said...my mom changed it"..."What did it used to be?" "Tigger". "Why did she change it?" He squirmed all around in his little chair (chairs, I must add, that are all just my size!), and finally said: "She thought I wanted to be Tigger." Half fearing he might have some dissociative personality disorder, I asked him: "Did you wanna be Tigger?", and he enthusiastically declared: "A' Course!" What a silly dolt I am! Of course! Who wouldn't wanna be Tigger?! He was the best...He was utterly bored with the book, as he'd read it about 4 times before already, but when I talked with the teacher about that she said that basically they 'need to learn' to do things that they might not want to do, and even if they've read that book a bunch of times, they still have to read it again...I thought: indoctrination...I also thought: This is how you turn a kid off of reading for the rest of his life...

Basically I am involved in 3 different things: Tuesdays, I go with one of the 1st grade classes, thursdays with the other - about 15 plus kids each, ages 6-7. I am also helping to coordinate a school wide tree planting project. There are a number of trees that are going to be cut down in front of the school, so the kids have saved their pennies to buy new ones to be planted. Urban Foresters are going todonate the trees instead, so the pennies can go toeither bulbs, or plaques, etc. Each grade will pick one of three trees to plant; there will be a planting ceremony, and then activities about their tree all through the rest of the year, whichI will be allowed to contribute to. On Arbour day, near the end of April, there will be a school wide celebration.

This thursday I began a Nature Journal project with my thursday group. We just cut paper in half, stapled it together, and will go from there, bringing in different objects for them to draw over the rest of the year. But first, I began with a sort-ofPainted Word project: their first pages will be their own names and ages...I worked with 6 kids today, and they all went nuts with the glitter...as kids from other classes passed by, one of the girls would gleefully exclaim: "Look what we're making: BOOKS!" Each kid wanted to know which direction to do it in: left to right or right to left: I told them different cultures have different ways, and that it was their book, so they could do whatever they wanted - I think they all opted for standard english style. I really notice their still thriving individuality, the freeness of thought they still have, the assumption of possibilities, I would say...but I'm also noticing all the ways they are getting pruned down: Eyes Straight Ahead, Hands By Your Sides; no you can't do that, you have todo this; no you can't go get a drink of water...etc...yikes...

Pouring rain all day long...With my new gloves on I was directed to pulling out Bracken Fern, and Horsetail...I have such a hard time, ethically, just yanking these plants up out of the ground...I just don't understand why exactly I'm doing it...they're not harming anyone, and they are probably perfectly happy there, and have probably made friends with all their neighbours...It left all the poor mushrooms exposed, too...I did it, though, thinking: Hey, what do I know...I wanna leave it all alone, but, that's not the way things are right now...So, I contented myself with the accomplishment of the given task, and was happy when I was done to see this little clearing freed by my hands of the so-called offenders...

It was quite lovely to listen to the rain on my poncho and on the leavesthe whole time...and it was fun to be digging into nooks and crannies of Sword Fern and Raspberry vines and mud...took some cedar trimmings home...they smell sweet like fruit...

At Madison, the kids made flags, and made flag hats, and...I noticed that on the doorways there are signs that say: Eyes Forward, Hands down, Mouth zipped...

Meanwhile, there was the kindergartner boy who was crying because he had to choose between where the stuffed cat took it's time out, in the classroom, or in this other room...the kid had taken the cat from a room he shouldn't have taken it from, and - I missed the beginning of the whole scene, but the kid just wanted to hold the cat, and kept being given this choice - the cat had to take a time out first, either, time out here, or time out there...Finally, in exasperation, the kid yelled: 'But it's a FAKE CAT!!! The cat is FAKE!!"...I tried not to laugh out loud...How can you argue with that?

Yesterday, while hanging out in the Kindergarten class, waiting for the teacher, I listened to her reading some version of the Thanksgiving story to the kiddies...I just don't know how I could consent to reading such bullshit to little minds....lying to them like that...but how do you tell them the truth? Or do you just wait til they're in their 20's and blow their paradigms?

Where do I consider teaching? Public Schools, where lots of kids have no sorts of "privileged" lives? Or Private Schools, where the kids don't need as much because they already have it? Do I consider my own comfort level? My integrity factor? Do I believe you can change the system from within? How could I (could I?) make little kids do things I don't believe in doing myself?