Into the Outside

Re-discovering Our Natural Past

Towards the end of the summer, I was seized with the overwhelming feeling that I could not breath in Manhattan’s inescapable cauldron of warm concrete and recycled air. Having caught wind of the existence of Native American caves, I embarked on an investigative journey to the northernmost tip of Manhattan into what I discovered to be its last remaining natural forest. My destination, the Inwood Hill Park Nature Center, a division of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, stands on the northern edge of Inwood Hill Park at 218th street in Washington Heights and serves as an in-park community center for public education, recreational activities, and environmental studies. There I met with the personable and well-informed head ranger who introduced me to the variety of programming they do under the auspices of “The Natural Classroom,” an educational program developed by the city parks department built around the natural and cultural history of each park involved. Before leaving, I took my own walk through the high canopied forest, breathing in its rich, oxygen-filled air and exploring a series of meandering paths that wind uphill and curve around the western edge of the park, revealing breathtaking views of the Hudson River below.

Just last week I returned with a group of Middle School students for their program centered around the Native American history of Inwood Hill Park entitled, “Native Americans: Pathways to the Past.” The head ranger greeted us at the Nature Center and conducted the first part of his talk indoors with a display of artifacts - eating implements made from hollowed out squash and pumpkins, a rubbing stick for making fire, a lacrosse stick, a series of arrowheads, and a guest visit from the center’s resident snake. The ranger then headed towards the forest where he spoke of the various trees and herbs used for medicinal purposes, showed the disputed site on which the Lenape purportedly sold the island of Manhattan to the Dutch for a mere $24 in 1626, and ended with a couple of natural rock caves that were used for shelter.  As one would expect, students really loved being able to climb in and around the caves. Before we exited the forest to return to the students’ “natural” urban environment, we paused and asked the kids to look around them at the trees, the rocks, the glistening sun and crisp air, and to imagine that this was their living room, their hospital, their drug store and kitchen all in one. If they needed to keep warm, they would have to conduct the laborious task of creating a pelt from a live animal. If they were sick, they would use the plants themselves to remedy their sickness. Above all, this close relationship to Nature that is so central to Native American thought and practice was a lesson that only the natural world could teach, and we were fortunate to have found it in our own backyard. 

Learn more about the Natural Classroom and its programs.

NMAI: The Gem of Lower Manhattan

Many people think of the Wall Street area as a part of Manhattan frequented mostly by the more economically savvy New Yorkers. Since I have been working on an early American History project though, and Native Americans in particular, I have found myself in the Battery Park area almost every week - the main destination of my interest: the National Museum of the American Indian.

Located at One Bowling Green adjacent to the corner of Battery Park, the building alone is monumental. Housed in the former Alexander Hamilton U.S. Customs House, a seven-story neo-classical architectural masterpiece – deserving of its own in-depth study – the museum takes an awe-inspiring role of prominence in an area filled with the historical markers that shaped New York as we know it today. The museum is free to the public, open seven days a week, and stands as a cultural Mecca for American Indian studies in New York City.  (Check out their exhibits, hours, etc. at www.nmai.si.edu)

This week I brought two different classes to tour the museum, focusing in on its Iroquois Discovery Room, a small, interactive exhibit open to the public on Thursdays and Saturdays, and used for the museum’s educational programs. The teachers and I designed an activity sheet that would keep the students active and focused on the materials around them, ranging from a basket filled with essential items for the Iroquois (a beaver pelt, a skunk pelt, beans, squash, a wampum belt used for expressing friendship and political agreements) to a painted mural on the wall depicting the Iroquois Confederacy to a steel beam meant for kids to lift in pairs to exemplify the role of the Mohawk Iron Workers in NYC. We also took the students to the resource room, that contains books, additional artifacts, and a friendly staff that can help guide the way to further inquiry. One of the real gems currently on exhibit through July 20th in the main gallery is “Listening to Our Ancestors: The Art of Native Life along the North Pacific Coast.” The exhibition is representative of 11 native communities who have shared their perspective on ceremonial and every day objects that influence their way of life: from the most ornate dance regalia and large, dramatic masks to intricately carved serving utensils, woven carpets and seafaring implements. While this wasn't necessarily directly related to our investigation of the Iroquois, the room is so beautifully displayed and the objects equally impressive that the students were really able to absorb and admire this region’s way of life.

In further tribute to Battery Park and the NMAI, I was enticed down to the area two weekends ago for CultureFest NYC 2007, which featured free dance and music performances from an array of local performance groups as well as over 100 information booths designated to museums and non-profit arts organizations all over NYC. As part of Culturefest I wandered back into the NMAI to see the Git Hoan Dancers of the North Pacific Region who had flown in for the weekend – if only the students could have seen that! Did anyone else have a chance to visit Culturefest and walk away with any brainstorms for classroom activities?

Small Groups, Outide the Classroom

This past June, my husband and I were visiting Kyoto with friends of ours from the States. Kyoto is the historical and cultural capital of Japan —the city of a million temples and shrines. It’s a beautiful place and oozing with history, whereas in Tokyo you have to dig through the ugly concrete to just get a glimpse of the past.

Anyway, we were taking our time strolling down the Philosopher’s Walk, a two-kilometer-long, nature path that was made famous by a Kyoto University professor who used to walk the path to meditate. Walking the same route, we noticed two or three groups of Japanese students led by, what appeared to be, a teacher. The students were about 12 or 13 years old, dressed in school uniforms, and the teacher seemed to be explaining to them the nuances of this famous site. Likely the Philosopher’s Walk was just one stop on their tour of Kyoto, as we saw similar groups at other sites.

Seeing this small learning group (outside the classroom) really struck me. What a great way to learn! This was a learning environment that was completely removed from the pressures of peers and the confines of the school house. But, to add to it, the small group is so brilliant—no one gets lost at the back of the pack; no one misses what the teacher says; no one gets to get into a tussle with a fellow student when out of the teacher’s sight. This is a great concept to bring back to the US. Even if it was only for a couple of hours, once or twice a year, if one teacher took only three students on a field trip, the specialized learning time and personal attention would likely more significant learning-wise than five group field trips. Those Japanese students were raptly paying attention to what the teacher had to say, they were all participating, and genuinely seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Has any one been able to take the small group learning concept outside of the classroom?

Food for Thought

One of my favorite ways to bring classroom learning to life when students are studying other cultures is to arrange for them to try authentic food. When studying other countries, regardless of age or specific topic, taking students to restaurants that serve traditional food is a fantastic way for them to get a step closer to actually being able to visit. From my experience, most restaurants are happy to accommodate groups of students and ultimately go out of their way to provide a unique experience. Along with the food, these restaurants typically have traditional music playing and/or art hanging on the walls. Over the past few years I have gone on journeys with students to Italy, China, Ghana, South Africa, and Peru. These trips can be a bit costly but in my opinion, worth every penny. It’s not just about the food when we visit these restaurants -- it's about the people and ambiance. Of course, we always go to reputable restaurants are sensitive to any food allergies. We also make sure to teach the students, regardless of age, that “eww” is not a proper way to react to a food that they may not be familiar with or like. In fact, a group of teachers I work with actually taught their (younger) students to either say, “that’s interesting” or “wow” and that seems to work well. Of course, the inside joke among the adults is that whenever you hear a “that’s interesting” exclaimed from across the room you know that someone has not liked something, but you also know that someone was not offended by a negative (albeit innocent) comment. I think the lesson of learning to respect differences in this way is one that, in and of itself, should not be missed. A great follow up activity, if possible and appropriate, is to have students actually prepare a meal that would be served in the country they are studying. Anyone have any restaurant suggestions and/or activities to share?

A Manifesto from Across the Pond

“Every young person should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of learning and personal development, whatever their age, ability or circumstances.”

This is the opening sentence in the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto put together by TeacherNet, which is a site supported by the UK’s Department for Education and Skill and other partner organizations. Yes, that’s right, a MANIFESTO put out by the government about the importance of getting students out of the classroom.

I know most people don’t argue against using outside resources as learning tools but what I really like about this is that it argues for the necessary use of outside resources in order to offer students a truly complete education. I was just talking with our development intern and we were discussing the idea of what is it that people really remember from school. Most years I remember feeling like the world outside of my classroom was a much more exciting place than the one in my classroom. Of course, great teachers can change all that but they can’t do it alone. As this manifesto says: How and where we learn is just as important as what we learn. What this means is that we must make sure that the organizations and institutions that provide students with safe and educational learning environments outside of school keep getting the attention and support they need. Then we must get our government on board with making these types of experiences just as high of a priority as literacy rates. In fact, maybe students would be motivated to read more if they cared about what they were reading.

You can download the entire Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto for free from the site.

The Big and Small of It

Sometimes I feel like all field experiences basically fall into two categories: big and small. Last week I experienced both. The first one was with a group of students who visited the American Museum of Natural History to explore the African Mammals Hall as part of their investigation into the different habitats found throughout Africa. Big museum, big crowds. It is the American Museum of Natural History though and every child in New York (make that anywhere) deserves the opportunity to visit this museum. Most teachers in NYC definitely take advantage of this resource. The museum actually did a good job of getting all of the student groups through the registration process and once we made our way to our hall (after feeling a little bit like we were on a cattle drive), it was quite pleasant. One great thing they have are volunteer docents sitting at a table with artifacts for the students to touch. The adults on the trip did wonder, however, why in a hall like the African Mammals one where there are lots of children visiting, the museum doesn’t have descriptions written in simpler language than on the plagues they have now and why aren’t they a little lower for the inquisitive eyes of a 8-year-old. I can’t imagine that this hasn’t been mentioned before but it is our official recommendation to the AMNH.

The next excursion was to the Brooklyn Historical Society. BHS is one of my favorite places to bring students because the space is small enough that you can have an intimate experience, but impressive enough that you still get that “wow” factor one hopes to achieve while out in the field with students. The exhibit we went to see is “It Happened In Brooklyn” and it provides a fantastic overview of Brooklyn’s history from the 1600s through World War II. This experience was part of an immigration and migration unit and there was a nice little section that focused on just that. A big hit with the students was the rifle hanging under a picture of George Washington as part of the Revolutionary War period. It actually made me a little sad that this is what they seemed most interested in but that's a whole other post. My favorite thing was a picture of a mile marker with the actual mile marker sitting right next to it (pictured here). The educator explained that when a resident saw the street being torn apart, they called BHS and told them they should come get the marker. It makes your wonder about all the potential artifacts you might be throwing away during spring-cleaning, doesn’t it?