What do you think about crafts, activities, performances etc

Motek

Sun, May 13 2007, 5:15 pm

I could have put this in the Chinuch section because it's a question for teachers or mothers and mothers are teachers!

What do you think the role of crafts, activities, performances - in other words, the non-text based learning, is?

Do you think they are valuable at any age - 4 or 14 and ages in between?

Let's take crafts for starters - what is the purpose of the arts and crafts a 4 year old makes for the parsha or yomtov? I've wondered, when seeing an outline of a chicken with feathers pasted on, for a Kapporos craft for nursery, whether the child can relate this craft to an actual chicken and the kapporos ritual. I don't think they can!

In upper grades, making a succa decoration, flowers for Shavuos - what's the teacher's goal? What should it be?

A graduation from pre-1A, a Chanuka or Purim play, a Purim carnival, acting out the makkos, color-war - what are the educational goals? Is it to have fun because you can't learn out of a book all day, day in and day out?

I'm not on principle opposed to any of these things, but lately, I've been thinking more about: what's the point? I wonder whether many educators no longer think about what the educational goal is and merely do what teachers before them have done.

Tefila

Sun, May 13 2007, 5:25 pm

Quote:

What do you think the role of crafts, activities, performances - in other words, the non-text based learning, is?

A child is bound to remember a lesson far better, when done in fun ways then one that is done by text alone.

Quote:

Do you think they are valuable at any age - 4 or 14 and ages in between?

A 4yr old that gets to not only learn how a shofar is really made but makes one oneself to blow, a lulav and esrog they make using different mediums encourages texture and 3d so they get to shake even if not the real thing the chicken that they can twirl over their heads just like tatty etc is so precious that if they are going to imitate which they do at this age anyways let them focus on the positive. And Not only will they love sukkas but that they too have their very own lulav and esrog , this teaches them so much more then just a lesson or a picture colored imo.

Quote:

Do you think they are valuable at any age - 4 or 14 and ages in between?

Oh yes. When my twelve yr old got to see a real shecita knife when learning about shchita, got to see how Tefillin are made, made his very own shtender to encourage davening this is something they will remember positivley.These activities enforces the text!

queen

Sun, May 13 2007, 5:29 pm

Quote:

What do you think the role of crafts, activities, performances - in other words, the non-text based learning, is?

very important. Some kids are visual learners, and remember better once an item or concept is presented visually. Other kids are not the brightest, but are given opportunity to shine in crafts, activities or performances.... really can depend on left brain vs. right brain

School is educational- but who said education can't be fun? Kids should enjoy school... and not necessarily is sitting quietly and listening for 8 hours straight a day, the best way to go about education in today's day and age.

curlyhead

Sun, May 13 2007, 6:17 pm

I think they are very important as they help interelize the material.
I remember so much better the things that we learned in school that were hands on. Like once we each had to make a model of one part of the Mishkan. I made the Kerashim (walls of the Mishkan) which I knew inside out after alot more then if I would of just been taught orally or inside the chumash. If you act out a story you will remember it so much more.

Different children/people have strengths in different of the 7 intellences. Some learn best visual, some by acting, some musical tc.. Teachers Should try to incoperate all the intellengences

My 4 year old comes home and plays out everything he learned in school. For example on Shabbos he made the 2 luchos with legoes and then made a har sinai and used mentchies (little people) for Moshe and Bnei Yisroel etc... Or recently we went to 2 hachanas sefer torah and then shortly after he built a shul and torah and pretended that there was a hachasas sefer torah.

He loves his crafts which he makes in school and talks about it a whole shabbos. They can relate to a chicken made in school as much as seeing it in a book.

Another point is that kids also need to have a good time and yiddishkeit needs to be made fun not just boring learning. Craft, projects ect helps break up the day and helps make school more enjoyable.

lamplighter

Sun, May 13 2007, 6:39 pm

I teach with a lot of activities, perfomances, projects etc. I think it important bc
1. it caters to all kinds of minds I.e. differnt learners
2 the kids remember it!
3. learnign is an experiance they enjoy and appreciate
4. through these mediums, a lot/most of the learning is figured out/mastered by teh student themselves.
etc. etc. etc.

baseballmom

Mon, May 14 2007, 7:02 am

Just to chime in with what everyone is saying, kids learn better when things are taught in multiple modalities - and some kids are much more visual or kinesthetic learnders than they are auditory learners, and as a result these activities are crucial for them to truly grasp the material.

I am one of those pople who learns best from the traditional frontal teaching method, and to be honest, used to get annoyed when we would have to do a craft or other activity (ie in 8th grade we had to make a scrapbook illustrating different mitzvos in parshas kedoshim, and include 3 different commnetaries on each mitzvah - I would have much preferred to write it up in a traditional report form than to make this beautiful scrapbook, although mine was certainly not beautiful Wink

). But as I got older I realized that some of my peers really needed these activities, and as I began teaching I saw how these were vital for many (even very bright) students. For those of us who learn best from traditional frontal teaching this is particularly important to keep in mind.

gryp

Mon, May 14 2007, 7:07 am

Motek, I do think that a lot of arts and crafts are pointless- meaning that there is no way a child relates it to the real thing, but I've seen some really nice ones that aren't just cut-paste-color projects but are 3D scenes where the child can act out the story of the Parsha or whatever.

pacifier

Tue, May 15 2007, 8:15 am

For those who think that arts and crafts don't necessarily make a child/person relate to the real thing, how much do you think a few black spots on a paper are more real???

I think from the torah we learn that just knowing and learning is not enough, one has to live the mitsvot, put the maximum into practice.
Well, for some, arts and crafts are a way of learning how to visualise a mitsva better and how to see it in practice.

Now, for some arts and crafts mean sticking feathers on a chicken, and for others it would be playing with words I.e. report, poem...

chen

Tue, May 15 2007, 11:02 am

Multimedia also serve the function of allowing children who are less book-inclined to shine in a school setting. School is so heavily weighted towards the 3-R's that children whose strengths do not lie in those directions have little chance to get compliments, win prizes, and generally be the outstanding one for a change. Non-book activities and projects give the talented-if-not-Einstein a chance to be the star now and then.

Activities also allow children to develop other valuable life skills, such as creativity, poise, coordination, public speaking ability, and so on.

Seraph

Tue, May 15 2007, 11:21 am

Didn't read the whole thread, but wanted to say that there are some kids who don't excel in the classroom because they're not book smart, but they could be really artistic. Or a really good actress. Or singer. Or dancer. Its good for school to have activities outside of the main regular structured learning, suchas art projects, performances, etc, to give all kids a chance to excell, even if they aren't so great in the classroom.

And I think I've just discovered that I'm a kinesthetic learner- I learn things better with my hands, enjoy it more than just reading. I internalize things if I physically do things. There are plenty of kids that will chap the parsha better if they make an avraham avinu tent with four open doors...

mumoo

Tue, May 15 2007, 12:08 pm

agree agree agree with just about all the responses

I just want to add: I am an archiver. I save projects (and notable reports, worksheets, homework). Every so often, I go through the project box of one child and we reminisce. I also display/frame the 'better' ones throughout the house. Our sukkah is primarily all child-made. I decorate our house for Chanukah and Purim with school projects- and of course, Pesach gets to see all the beautiful hagaddahs. It's fun for all of us to see preschool/primary work of my now high schoolers. I also have photo albums for each child and a notebook of first/funny things they said and did.