Lincoln Elementary School -
Olympia, Washington
#2
Salmon Education Curriculum
Who We Are
We are a group of six college students who have been given the opportunity
to educate a sector of our community about the fate of salmon.
Our Goals
1. We hope to work towards positive change in a non-political way.
2. We are each looking to gain a personal understanding of how salmon
are important to many people and to be able to share that understanding
with our community.
3. We also hope to reinforce our personal connection to salmon.
The Face of Salmon program at The Evergreen State College has given
us a background in salmon ecology and in the politics that are associated
with the decline of salmon. Similarly, the children that we were fortunate
enough to work with at Lincoln Elementary School have been given a strong
base of knowledge on salmon ecology and life cycle and on the relationship
between salmon and Northwest Coastal Native American tribes. This project
is a next step. It provides an avenue through which we can direct our knowledge
towards positive change. This project provides a lens through which we
could view our past and future learning.
Our group: Summer Anderson, Abigale Beeley, Ryan Gross, Claudine Reynolds,
Annie Roberts, and Dobora Schwartz with cooperation and support from Michi
Thacker and her eight to nine year olds at Lincoln Elementary School as
well as our professors Chris May and Nancy Parkes Turner.
Our Project Plan
Day 1:
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We began the day with introductions and an explanation
of the plans for the project and the next four days. We also allowed all
of the students to introduce themselves and say something they knew or
liked about salmon.
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We then divided into groups of 4-6 students, we choose
to have the students pick perspectives out of a hat as to mix up the students.
(The groups should stay the same throughout the project.)
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Each group discussed their perspective roles and
started drawing ideas about their perspective's connection with salmon.
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We closed in a large group and debriefed the day
talking about what went well in the groups and what could be improved.
Day 2:
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We started the day in a large group circle and relived
the days plans.
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We worked in the original groups to plan a skit including
everyone in the group. This was an important time to focus the groups and
further discuss perspectives situation.
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We took this time to make props and practice skits.
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We ended in a large group and shared comments about
how things were going.
Day 3:
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We started the day in a large group circle and reviewed
the days plans.
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We took a small amount of time to prepare at the
beginning of the day.
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Everyone performed their skits for each other.
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We ran out of time but would have liked to end the
day in a large group and share comments about how all of the skits went
and what was learned.
Day 4:
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We started by debriefing the project in a large group,
discussing what what was learned.
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We then did an art project to create a special item
that shows how salmon are special to each individual student. (We made
necklaces and/or magnets with sculpture clay).
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We had all of the students write a critique of the
whole project. The questions we asked were: What did you like best? and
What are two things you would change to make the project better?
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We ended in a large group and had a snack and talked
about what we learned from the whole project.
Note: This
plan worked well for us considering the small amount of class time we had
for this project, which was 6 hours. However, more time is recommended
for a project of this size and content.
What Worked Well, What Didn't
We went into the classroom with the bare bones of
a project. We learned a lot about what makes a good idea flow into meaningful
work when working with children.
We would have benefited from working more closely
with the teacher in order to shape the rhythm of the project to coincide
with the student's own learning structures. We found that the students
became very protective and nervous about performing their own skits, and
many expressed the desire to have more time to practice them. Oftentimes
leaving the students to work on their own proved not to be productive,
and left them with a sense of disorder. We also feel that this could be
due to their age (8-9 years old). It is important to establish a firm understanding
of procedures and expectations within the core facilitators of the project.
Enthusiasm and trust among all members involved
proved to be one of the most vital elements in making this a successful
project. Starting out in a circle and sharing what our plans for the day
included and what was expected of them and us provided needed structure.
We found it helpful to come back to the circle at the end of the session
to discuss what went on and what was learned. Communication was critical
in reinforcing key concepts. Doing hands on work, having college students
in the classroom and sharing ideas in a creative way was really fun for
the children. Fun and excitement sparks curiosity and continued learning.