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Author’s
Visit Inspires Learning and Giving
A
sixth grade art/drama students draw specific facial features
to show “surprise.”
Next, she will draw a haiga to accompany
their haiku. |
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Mountain Climber Greg Mortenson experienced compassion
in a country that most Americans associate with hostility. He
was
sheltered by a small Pakistani village when he became dangerously
ill after climbing K2 in 1993. His experiences are recounted
in the book Three Cups of Tea. Co-Author David Oliver Relin will
be presenting a free slide show and leading a discussion at Lakeside
Middle School on March 12, at 7:00 p.m., sponsored by the Libraries
of Stevens County. Teachers at our middle school, high school,
and the PTN at Lake Spokane Elementary have incorporated this
opportunity into learning and giving activities.
Part of Lakeside Middle School’s touchstone, “The Lakeside Way,” is
DOING THE RIGHT THING. Demonstrating compassion is part of doing the right thing.
In conjunction with Mr. Relin’s visit to our community, some of the classes
at Lakeside Middle School are exploring ideas about compassion.
Because one of art’s functions is to express feelings or communicate ideas,
several classes of student artists are being challenged to consider what compassion
looks like; how can it be expressed through the arts? The sixth grade art/drama
class, taught by Mrs. Linda St. Clair, worked on a unit that allowed students
to create a short haiku poem expressing a moment of personal or global compassion.
Cheryl Allen, NMFSD literacy coach, assisted Mrs. St. Clair’s students
with the haiku writing process. For three days students developed their ideas
of compassion using the form of haiku. As one of the Washington State Classroom
Based Performance Assessments (CBPA), these sixth grade drama students will
be performing their own haiku in the next two weeks.
Combining text and images has
long been part of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese tradition. The illustration
of a haiku is called haiga. From the haiku’s tiny sketch
in words, students developed accompanying paintings or collages
to help an audience see the
haiku more deeply. In the first art lesson students practiced drawing several
faces,
concentrating on facial features and emotions. They used these ideas to
construct some of the haiga that portrays moments in the poems.
Art work by sixth and
eighth grade students will be on display at the community presentation
of Three Cups
of Tea for all to enjoy.
In Mrs. Jeana Vierra’s science class, experiments call for working cooperatively
in small groups. As middle school students can be a bit cliquish, and this can
inhibit them from working well together, Mrs. Vierra seized the opportunity to
work on “doing the right thing,” on communication skills, and
on compassion. For a part of class on two days, students made compassion
cards.
Cards could be made for a certain person or to be given in general. Her
hope is that students will learn respect for others who are different and
help the
students to find the good in a person. This in turn will help her students
achieve more in science as students learn to work with everyone, not just
friends.
Both the middle school and Lake
Spokane Elementary School are using Mr. Relin’s
visit as part of a global community service project. To show his appreciation
to the Pakistani village, Mr. Mortensen pledged to return and build its first
school. He accomplish this and has built 57 schools in rural areas across Pakistan
and Afghanistan through his Central Asia Project. Pennies for Peace raises funds
for Central Asia Project. Lake Spokane’s PTN began a school wide giving
project on February 19th for Pennies for Peace. Each classroom has a jar for
this penny drive; they will present Mr. Relin with the proceeds during his March
12th visit. Lakeside Middle School’s ASB is also sponsoring a Pennies
for Peace penny drive, but will use the evening’s presentation as its
kick-off event. Pennies for Peace premise is that children can make a
difference in this
world and that it is through education that we may find peace.
Current World Affairs is a social
studies class at Lakeside High School. Mr. Brian Dunn teaches
the class to
seniors, adjusting his curriculum
as world
news occurs. His goal is to create an awareness about global politics
in our teens.
One class requirement is to attend two public meetings to learn about
government organizations. As Pakistan and Afghanistan are currently
in the news, seniors
may attend Mr. Relin’s presentation for one of their meetings. In addition
to the kind villagers, Mr. Relin will share about Mr. Mortenson’s
encounters with the Muslim culture and Taliban officials.
With Mr. Relins’ visit, students in the Nine Mile Falls School District
have an opportunity to learn and to give. High school students can learn about
a region that is often in the news. Middle school students are exploring how
compassion fits into the Lakeside Way touchstone, while honing art and science
skills. Through Pennies for Peace middle and elementary students can make a difference
in the world by helping to build schools. “Teaching students about the
world is not a subject in itself, separate from other content areas, but should
be an integral part of all subjects taught. We need to open global gateways and
inspire students to explore beyond their national borders,” Vivien
Stewart, Becoming Citizens of the World, Educational Leadership.
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