Playing Catch: A Metaphor for Child-led Learning
I have used many metaphors to explain student-centered, self-directed learning. This one is borrowed from Sydney Gurewitz Clemens, a celebrated early childhood teacher who writes about her experience applying the methods of Reggio Emilia and Sylvia Ashton Warner. In Seeing Young Children With New Eyes, co-authored with Leslie Gleim, child-led learning is illustrated in "Negotiation: Tossing the Ball" (I:7). “Playing catch” describes more than an exchange of ideas; it is the basic tenet of teaching with a student-centered approach. The child tosses the ball to us by expressing their interest, sharing their ideas and questions. We toss the ball back by offering resources, asking more questions, and responding with our own ideas. It is through this game of catch that we inspire the child to do their own learning, to search out their own resources and develop skills. Each new resource raises the skill level and directs the child further. The child initiates the game and puts the ball is in motion. Tossing it back is almost effortless. We just have to bounce or deflect it in a way that keeps the ball moving back to the sender. So we offer a resource in order to encourage curiosity, not to end the game.
It is important not to overwhelm the child with resources, just as it is important not to pander to them and offer them only abridged children's material. It may not be as easy to read a newspaper article as it is to browse the pages of Ranger Rick, but that does not make it less interesting to a child. I encourage students to use resources designed for all ages and levels, and often see witness eager enthusiasm for material far more advanced than their “reading level.”
Tossing the ball back can be asking the child how to find the resource. My typical response is "Great question! How are we going to find out?" The child might suggest the internet, even a specific site perhaps where they’ll start. I might take this opportunity to discuss the flaws vs. the convenience of Wikipedia, and coach the student through a more advanced search, taking turns suggesting key phrases (another back-and-forth game). Or the student’s question or expression of interest might lead us to a specialized library or bookshop, studio or museum, fabric store or box of art supplies. When my older son asked, "How can I make a wizard costume for Halloween?" we ended up going to all of these places.
More important than the next resource is the next question. Hopefully the first search leads us to a more interesting question, and then to a more interesting resource. The process, if done well, will include primary sources, where the student truly becomes the researcher (rather than learning from someone else’s research). Primary sources include eyewitness accounts. Interviewing someone with first-hand experience makes research come alive, and is one of many techniques used by professional historians, scientists, researchers, and authors.
When one of my first homeschooled students had her high school graduation party (yes, homeschoolers have graduation parties, and proms too!), she thanked two people: her mom and me. I was surprised. It was not the first time I had been publicly thanked, but I did not expect to be singled out in a huge crowd of well-wishers made up of teachers, relatives, and friends. Her mother gave her endless support and was the strength behind their decision to homeschool through high school. I was just one teacher of many. My student explained her reasons and thanked me for what I had given, in a single word. Resources! Before she met me, she had thought you could find the answer to any question in one place, and that just one or two resources were enough. But whenever she asked me a question, we started with one source, and then found another and another, each one more interesting than the one before, until we were gazing at original art from the period, or reading an ancient tale, or finding correspondence written at that time. We had shared an endless array of resources, giving us continued delight. How we enjoyed our game of catch!
Resources on Child-Led, Self-Directed learning
Letting Them Lead: Adventures in Game-Based, Self-Directed Learning by Laurie Block Spigel
Education Uncensored by Laurie Block Spigel
Seeing Young Children With New Eyes by Sydney Gurewitz Clemens and Leslie Gleim
Pay Attention to the Children: Lessons for Teachers and Parents from Sylvia Ashton Warner by Sydney Gurewitz Clemens
Project-Based Homeschooling: Mentoring Self-Directed Learners by Lori McWilliam Pickert
Child Led Learning article by Manisha Snoyer of Modulo (free online)
Educating the Whole Child article by Laurie Block Spigel (free online)
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