Thanks to Lauren, who tipped me off that this discussion was going on! I
don't know if my experiences and thoughts might be useful, but here they
are, in no particular order:
I teach students to use computers in a small, private elementary school.
Because it is private, we are not tied to the test-driven curriculum
teachers in public schools must work within--we get to decide what we think
is important, and how to teach it. I am lucky enough to work with an
experienced, creative, and open staff. In conjunction with the art teacher,
I teach 4th and/or 5th graders a little basic bobbin lace once a year (It
depends on the characteristics of the class exactly what we do and with
which students). I've played with different projects--the fish is one I
came up with several years ago. The last two years, we've made cloth-stich
bracelets. The kids love it! I work in a little bit of history, tying it
both to the Elizabethan age for 5th graders, since that's often a
curriculum focus, and to colonial America, since the 4th graders usually
study that time.
I should add that the art teacher incorporates at least one fiber-arts
technique project each year for each grade--embroidery, weaving She's
also considered knitting and crochet, and might do those some year.
What do the kids get out of it, other than the delight of creating
something (in itself valuable)? As others have mentioned, fine motor skills
is one important thing. The whole staff has observed a general
deterioration of fine motor skills in the entering students over the years
we've been teaching. (I should add that at this point, we are one of the
schools that still teaches cursive, in addition to touch-typing.) We do our
best to get them using scissors, tying knots, folding paper, drawing,
painting, gluing, etc.
I'm convinced, although I've not seen research to back this hunch up, that
using the hands for fine-motor work develops brain structures that affect
more abstract learning--spacial thinking in particular, although I suspect
it's much broader.
Here's another thought: This year, one of my students was autistic. He is
highly intelligent in many ways, but struggles with certain kinds of
learning and particularly with social skills and managing his emotions. We
didn't know if the bobbin lace was going to be too frustrating, or if he'd
just take to it's rhythm and enjoy it. It turned out the latter. In fact,
his primary teacher, watching him with the project, observed she'd never
seen him so contented. He was the easiest student in the class to teach.
His mother was so thrilled to find an activity that keeps him happy, she
went out and bought equipment (unfortunately, yes, the Horror Kit, before I
had discussed it with her--but we salvaged the bobbins, and ignored the
rest). She asked for a lesson with me so she could help him. I think we'll
be continuing, adding skills as he likes, although he has now graduated
from our school and will be going on to middle school next year. This
experience makes me think one place we could look for interested
teachers/students is the special-education programs working with autistic
spectrum students.
But I am lucky. I have enormous sympathy for the public school teachers who
must give several precious weeks of teaching over to testing, and are often
locked to a curriculum focused almost entirely on their students'
performance on the tests.
I think I have more to say on this topic, but I have to leave it for
another post.
--Julie E. in Seattle
weft.wlonk.com
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