AUSSIE

Blog entry posted December 22nd, 2009 by Dale Worsley

Update on “The Question that Fed My Writing Unit.” You noticed the title change, didn’t you? From “The Question that Ate My Writing Unit” to “The Question that Fed My Writing Unit?” I may be jumping the gun, but my hope is only growing that teacher Tom McMurrer’s second grade writing unit on letter writing is becoming more meaningful in response to the students’ unexpected questions: (“Where do you get a stamp?” “What happens to the letter after you put it in the mailbox?” etc.)

This is the source of my hope: Tom’s eyes shone at the idea of going to the post office with the kids. Then, he took action. He collared a delivery man on the street and got the numbers to set up a visit. The students are producing the final drafts of their letters and, if the timing works out, they could mail them at the post office next week. This would get them in their mailboxes by Thursday. They could bring them back to class by Friday with the cancellation marks, just in time to meet the deadline for a new bulletin board. Remember the initial conflict, that an exploration of the post office would derail the production of letters for a bulletin board? Now we have the potential to produce an even spiffier one!

Here’s an even bigger reason for hope: This spontaneous exploration is taking us toward a big idea, or enduring understanding, that could unify all of Tom’s work for the year. And it’s a powerful one: “Communities are built through communication.” Imagine the essential questions: “What are communities? What is communication? How do we build them through communication?” And the guiding questions for the letter-writing unit: “What are letters? How do we write them? How do we send them? Who carries them? How?”

In discussing all of this with Annabell Martinez, the big-hearted principal of PS 124, she also got excited at the prospects. I learned from her that Vinnie, the UPS deliveryman, actually visits the classrooms from time to time to read to the kids. Wow! After the post office study, the students could do a UPS study, with a gigantic Venn Diagram to compare the USPS with UPS. Their different uniforms, their different emblems, colors, purposes, what they have in common, how both function to assure the communication that builds the community…and none of it off track. All of it helping us understand that Bodhisattva of a big idea about community.

Okay, you’re right. It’s a little odd to be backwards planning halfway through the year. Maybe we should be a little more like Ron Berger, who plans ahead to have his fifth graders do a scientifically valid radon study of a town, which results in better public health policy. Or fills an economic gap in the town by spending the whole year creating and operating a jewelry store. (See his monograph A Culture of Quality and his book An Ethic of Excellence.) All the while tying in the skills and knowledge students need to pass their standardized tests.

But we’re not Ron Berger. We are us. We have to do it our way. Who cares if we set out in the panel truck before we unfold the map (or turn on our Nüvis) – as long as we deliver the right goods to the correct address?

What if there are left-over student questions we didn’t get to answer, you say? Questions that didn’t fit into the overall theme of the study? Questions the students didn’t have time to research on their own? Won’t the students just be frustrated?

Well, I have two responses. The first I entrust to James Thurber, who said, “It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.” The second I entrust to Neil Postman (the name’s just coincidental)…stop…what is that sound? Ah, yes, it’s my friend Gina the Blog Editor, tapping her toes to count the words outside my office door. Sorry, Neil, you’ll have to wait.

Until we can hear from him, think of all the letters and packages sent this time of year, who carries them, and how. Pretty amazing, wouldn’t you say? My wish to you, in this electronic letter, is that you enjoy them, and the loving communities they build.