A grown-up returns to kindergarten in pursuit of learning and happiness
I’m entering my third week of elementary school. So far I’ve spent:
- 3.5 days in one kindergarten class, beginning with the first day of school
- 5 days rotating through five first grade rooms, spending the morning in one class and switching to another in the afternoon
I’ll spend this Tuesday through Thursday in second grade, and Friday through next Tuesday in third. (Yes, I’m moving quickly! The teachers think I may be a prodigy.) There are a couple of major changes I want to make:
1. Participate in the kids’ activities more than teaching them as a volunteer. So far, I’ve been experiencing my return to the classroom from an adult perspective, whereas the point is to reconnect with the joy, wonder, and intuition I had as a child. I can go volunteer anytime, anywhere, but this is my chance to learn to be a kid again. I plan to roll Play-Doh, read kids’ books, run around at recess, and build with Legos.
2. Write more about the feelings and memories triggered by being in my elementary school classrooms. I’ve written observations of my surroundings — the changes in the school since I was there, and amusing stories about the kids — but I haven’t yet shared the memories that are coming back to me. I’ll do that this week, along with posts about:
- Eating hot lunch in the cafeteria for the first time in decades
- Kids’ creative answers to “What’s the name of this letter of the alphabet?”
- Recess, P.E., and other elementary school memories
- More on IDEC, the amazing educators involved, and democratic education
If you can think of other things inquiring minds want to know, leave a comment or post on the new forums.
Flickr Creative Commons image courtesy of EJP Photo.
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2 Responses to “Second Grade, Here I Come”
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About Reschool Yourself
Reschool Yourself is a year-long exploration of how school shaped the person I became, and how I decide to educate myself from now on. This fall I'm returning to my old classrooms week by week, to understand how school influenced my identity and to regain the happiness and creativity of childhood. In the spring I'll pursue learning opportunities in the U.S. and abroad to become as autonomous as possible. I'll share my experiences of "reschooling" and personal development through this website and provide a forum for readers of all ages to exchange their own. This site is a place to tell our stories about education: our experiences past and present, and our vision for future generations.
— Melia Dicker
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Maggie
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Melia, this really sounds amazing. How is the interaction between you and the other students? I’d love to revisit the 8-year-old mentality; i’d imagine it would be very refreshing.
Melia
September 5th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Thank you! The older the kids are, the more they seem to wonder why I’m sitting with them in little chairs or on carpet squares. They still ask me to help them with their math sets or spelling, as they would a classroom aide. At recess they follow me around and talk-talk-talk, as much as I’ll listen. I apparently wowed the 2nd graders with my dragon-drawing skills yesterday — I’m supposed to make them copies. I’ll post the cartoon masterpiece.