Reflecting on our four days at First Ward Elementary in Charlotte, I am struck by two things: the nature of causality in the classroom and the wonderful intuitive creativity of children.
I’ve heard that good leaders make followers believe that the leader’s objective is actually their own, and that’s certainly true in the classroom. It has been eye-opening to see just how different the same lesson plan can play out with just a few different choices along the way. Getting a group of students to be enthusiastic participants is usually pretty easy, but providing them with the structure and guidance to get the most learning out of the experience and work together is an art that I am just beginning to wrap my head around. The introduction of one errant impulse and the focused energy of the classroom gets splintered in a thousand directions. When you’ve given them all the right tools, you can feel the momentum of learning pick up and we all seem to fly through the material as a team. The more I work with students in the classroom, the better I’m able to guide them in ways that allow excitement to be structured and productive. I felt very fortunate to be learning and growing in this craft every day at First Ward Elementary.
The really cool thing about the students at First Ward is that very few seemed afraid to fail. They were ready to jump in 100% and the results were often fantastic. I’m noticing that students at a schools that emphasize the arts like First Ward have much more confidence than those at non arts-centered schools. By allowing themselves to take chances, follow their intuition, and be creative, they are becoming aware of the vastness of their own potential. Pretty amazing stuff!
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