A New Pattern

In ESL winter camp our mission the fourth day was to introduce our family members. Family can be a very sensitive topic as each child may come from a different family background. We brainstormed vocabulary words for family and I allowed them to include pets and some other words than are not usually associated with family.

Then I showed the students how to make paper dolls by folding a paper like a fan and cutting it out. I told them they can make as many cuts as they want because each family is different.

I was surprised at the results. Most of the families were the normal doll cut, but one resembled more of a squid. This of course was my own son. He is begging me to buy him more fish and a pet snake. You may not notice because he labeled each one in Korean but he replaced his older brother with a snake. Now he shares have a head wih his brother.

This a good activity and works best when the kids are free to create what they want. A lot of kids in 3rd grade cry when they cannot follow the teacher's pattern exactly.

Maybe their crying is healthy. But that doesn't mean that they can't open their eyes. When they finally open their eyes they can see they created something new. If they can see value in what they created then my job is done.

I really do not want to be the one guilty of killing creativity. Each child has a voice and a message. They struggle to be recognize and accepted so they follow the pattern given but not even one fits that pattern.

Today is the day we recognize the child for what they created not for how well they followed the pattern.