From the Preschool/Elementary School Principal

 

We Learn By Doing

At ISA, we strive to create learning spaces and devise opportunities for students based on our Learning Principles. These research-based principles guide teachers when considering the ways in which student learning can be effectively supported and enhanced. Previously, I have written about the importance of establishing and maintaining a safe learning environment. This week, I would like to use the Grade 5 First Note Day to make a point about the nature of learning that is embedded throughout our Learning Principles: namely, that we learn by doing.

Last Friday, the Grade 5 Band students had their first ensemble lesson with musical instruments. The room was full of excited students and assorted noises emanating from trumpets, trombones, clarinets, saxophones, flutes and drums. Although some of the children had started their band journey last year, for many of the children, this was their very first chance to play a note on their instrument as part of a group. What made this event (known as "First Note Day") particularly poignant was that this first effort was going to be done together, as an ensemble, in the context of a BAND setting. This is not a widely-shared experience, and that many adults only ever learned to play an instrument in isolation, through private lessons. Kent Walter, our Instrumental Music (or, Band) teacher is passionate about the importance of learning by doing, so it makes perfect sense for children to take even these earliest steps in the context of what it is they are striving for - namely, to play with one another, as a band.

Noted teacher and educationalist John Holt refers specifically to this idea when he says: 

“Not many years ago I began to play the cello. Most people would say that what I am doing is “learning to play” the cello. But these words carry into our minds the strange idea that there exists two very different processes: (1) learning to play the cello; and (2) playing the cello. They imply that I will do the first until I have completed it, at which point I will stop the first process and begin the second. In short, I will go on “learning to play” until I have “learned to play” and then I will begin to play. Of course, this is nonsense. There are not two processes, but one. We learn to do something by doing it. There is no other way.”

The children in Mr. Walter’s band classes learn to perform as members of a band by performing together, as members of a band. Yes, there is a time and place for individual practice and tutorials, but the key is that the children don’t have to wait before having the opportunity to play together. The two processes (learning to play and playing) are actually one and the same. We also apply this principle across every subject and in every grade level, from Preschool through Grade 5, whether it is in PE classes or Mathematics classes, in which students are routinely given opportunities to act and think like athletes while developing skills, or to act and think like mathematicians while learning procedures.

I’m sure that the families of these budding musicians will be treated to a lot of new (perhaps unique) sounds as the children explore the potential of their instruments at home. Mr. Walter does an excellent job of combining both the excitement of being a musician, and a sense of the serious responsibility and dedication it takes to learn the skills required for playing and caring for an instrument, with each of his young musicians. It is wonderful that ISA gives these children the opportunity to learn an instrument during their school hours. I know we will all look forward to the performances from the Grade 5 Band, which are scheduled as early as December!

A Few Reminders

• The school day officially begins at 8:15am. The first buses arrive at school just after 8:00am. Those children that enter the school building before 8:10, by whatever means of transport, go to the cafeteria tables to chat informally with their classmates under the supervision of ISA staff members. However, this supervision is only in place from 8:00am. We are not in a position to guarantee the provision of appropriate levels of supervision for children before that time. For this reason, we ask that you do not drop your children off before 8:00am. 
• The wide range of after school activities on offer for your children is made possible by the dedication and enthusiasm of the teachers plan and run them. The planning and preparation that goes into getting ready for the next school day is put on hold while the teachers provide additional learning experiences for children between 3:00-4:00pm. In order to show appreciation and respect for this extra effort, I ask that you please make every effort to collect your child from school at 4:00pm sharp.
• Children in the Elementary School should not be using a mobile phone at any point of the day while on campus. If contact needs to be made between a child and his/her parent or carer, this can be facilitated quickly and securely through the school's telephone system. 
• Preschool & Elementary Healthy Lifestyle Week. 2 - 6 October.  Join our assembly at 8.30am, Monday 2 October.  If you would like your child to be part of a video montage of healthy activities, please send your clips to gbrace@isa.aberdeen.sch.uk. Videos should be no longer than 10 seconds, with no volume.  Include the full name and grade of your child in the email subject line.  No later than 17 September.