Blue School

While teaching yesterday and I noticed some students being hypnotized by the sink--running the water over their hands and squeezing the sponges, watching the riot of colors disappearing down the drain. It was hard to get the kids to take turns because the sink was such a coveted location. I told one girl to move on and she just nodded her head with a dreamy look in her eyes and stayed right where she was. As I saw the students enjoy the sensation of the water running over their hands as they cleaned the brushes and rubber stamps I wondered if students are getting enough "tactile" time at school. They sit in desks and touch paper and pencil all day, but what about all the other thousands of textures life presents to us? During gym they feel the pebbly surface of the basketball, they might jostle the polyester and cotton of their fellow players' clothing, but maybe they need more texture, more color, and more environmental stimulation

This morning I thought about books I've browsed through on Italian educator Reggio Emilia. He made sure that preschool students explored the world through their senses in creative ways. In fact he saw the environment as the "third teacher." What a simple but stunning concept. Imagine classrooms built on these basic Reggio Emilia principals:

--The aesthetic beauty within the schools is seen as an important part of respecting the child and their learning environment
--A classroom atmosphere of playfulness and joy pervades
--Teachers organize environments rich in possibilities and provocations that invite the children to undertake extended exploration and problem solving, often in small groups, where cooperation and disputation mingle pleasurably.
--Documentation of children's work, plants, and collections that children have made from former outings are displayed both at the children's and adult eye level.
--Common space available to all children in the school includes dramatic play areas and work tables for children from different classrooms to come together.

As the Campbell government squeezes funding for education and libraries my mind boggles how the education of children could be made so much more stimulating if the system received the proper funding.

Now imagine what would happen if a bunch of performance artists created and school. The Blue School, an innovative school for young children was created by members of The Blue Man Group in New York. Don't you wish you could have let your creativity run wild in a place like that? Part of what I found exciting about the school is that it welcomes parent involvement and it attracts the kind of parents who want to be involved in the process of their children's education. It certainly looks like a stimulating environment--maybe not the best place for kids who need a more calm and settling space, but finding a balance would have to be a major part of the educational practice in a place like that. Kind of like life outside the classroom.