The Rookery

This is an exciting week to be at Prairie Creek.  Kids are bustling about, posters, props and notecards in hand, anxiously awaiting the chance to teach us about their passions.  

Today I ran into a fifth grade parent who had stayed after her child's honors project to watch a friend's daughter present her 4th grade project.  She shared with me how much she valued the process her daughter had gone through.  Sticking with a topic, working on it bit by bit — these were skills she felt would be useful well beyond middle school.

I had the pleasure of being able to watch many of today's fourth grade projects and I was struck by how much each student's confidence grew as they presented to three different audiences.  Each child found his or her voice by the end.  They shared advice with those who hadn't gone yet, "If you notice the audience getting restless, change your tone or have something for them to do."  "Don't pass out anything to the kids until the end or they'll start to fiddle with it."  "Don't worry if you don't know the answer to a question, just be honest."  I think many students were surprised by how captivated their audiences were.  It's a powerful thing to be able to share information and make it fascinating to one's audience.

Wow. It's almost too easy to point out the contrast between this demonstration of learning and the one students will complete next week.  The MCA's multiple choice format can gauge only the most superficial knowledge.  Knowing how to question, learn and communicate?  Oh, how I wish there was a way to shout out to the world what our kids can do.