FTLComm - Tisdale - January 29, 1999
We showed you some pictures of these projects January 11 but without the occupants. Here are some pictures taken at 12:30 Thursday afternoon of the Tisdale Elementary School Playground. All around the yard, up against fences, beside the building, out in the open, children digging about in the snow. Some like those on the right seem to be laying down on the job, but others seemed quite serious about their endeavours as you can see those below working along the fence in small work groups. Play is often described as the work of children and in this case, the motivation and desire to work together or independently, on achieving a dubious goal is focused on the process. These valuable experiences make adults who can pitch in and work together even when the job seems
impossible. Though we would never consider the overwhelming importance of children's free time in an educational environment, there is no question that for these children on this page, their activities and successfully learned skills would far outweigh the formal structured learning process that would make up the classes of the day.
As you see them planning, organising and executing their decisive actions, you can actually see the process that will be of such value through the rest of the individual's life. Yet when mom asks, "what did you do at school today?" the response of a shrug or evasive answer will not be because the child didn't learn anything, but it will take him or her twenty more years to put today's lesson to work, perhaps even more. The development of a child, is not a random series of events, but each individual seems to have a built in personal curriculum of the things they know they need to learn and building a snow fort is right up there near the top of the list.