The pandemic affected our teaching in myriad ways - but I think the one I most lamented was the loss of culminating events. There's a T.S. Eliot line "not with a bang but a whimper" and when we were in pods, unable to connect to each other, themes ended in a whimper, even when we did everything we could to make it great. Preparing to teach real people in a dynamic setting where we have to be "ready for everything" raises the bar and motivates us. For me at least, learning is never solely about the process -- working to create a great product provides necessary propulsion to go just a little bit further. It makes it real (here's a blog post from earlier this year about progressive education and the need for a real reason to learn.)
According to the Oxford dictionary, a culmination is "the highest or climatic point of something, especially as attained after a long time." I have to admit, I'd never looked it up until today but I love this definition. I believe that our culmination should be our highpoint. There is a different energy as we get ready to teach at a culmination; the rhythm of our work changes. Everything is coming together. The word "attained" also feels very appropriate. The students work hard to get ready to teach. Students shift from receiving information to being the transmitters. This is an achievement. To teach something you must know it more deeply. You must attain a fluency with the topic in order to share about it and answer questions about it. Without a culmination, our learning can remain murky and indistinct. We get it...mostly...but we "can't explain it." When we prepare to teach new people, we have to put words to concepts and push on the things that don't yet make complete sense. We discover the gaps that we still need to fill and have a reason to fill them.
In our pre-revolutionary theme, the majority of our time was spent learning about the politics and events between 1750 and 1776. In order to put those events in context, we needed to learn a lot about daily life in the 1700s.We also needed to learn about the economic forces that shaped the colonies and eventually created enough tension that people were willing to risk a revolution against Britain. We read parts of the Declaration of Independence and learned about the failure of the Articles of the Confederation and the adoption Constitution. The Herons used their knowledge of the colonists' frustrations to list what rights they would have wanted to guarantee in the Constitution and their list included almost all of the Bill of Rights.
When we reached the end of our lessons, I asked the Herons to reflect on what they had learned. We filled the white board with information. Often when a student mentioned something, a chorus of "Oh yeahs!" would erupt and more hands would shoot up with additional information. We categorized everything on the board and prioritized it - what do we really want everyone to understand when they come to our culminating event? The students came up with the structures they wanted to use to teach - a play about the events and a museum of daily life. Through this process, students synthesized what they had learned and it began to come into greater focus.
We began to work simultaneously on our museum and our play. Students chose their topics for their museum exhibit. Most felt they needed to gather a lot more information than we initially learned. They planned out their work, breaking it into smaller steps and setting their priorities. They set their "must dos" and dream up the "sparkle" they want to include if they have time. They gain so much independence when they work in this way. I am not the one who is telling them what to do -- they are the ones who make the decisions. With students moving in so many different directions, I am not able to be there to answer every question or solve every problem. Instead, students are empowered to figure out solutions. They support each other. When one child made a mistake on a poster, another showed him how to make a patch of paper to cover the mistake and make a change. This is a small example, to be sure, but it illustrates the independent problem solving that happens constantly when we are getting ready for a culmination. Students know that they are the deciders. They don't have to get an okay from me (unless it involves blowing something up!). This is their project.
Our play afforded more opportunities to synthesize what we had learned. What were the most important events? How could we summarize them in a way that would make sense? We decided to drop a few events such as the Boston Massacre because it was too complex to explain in a few lines. Other jokes (like the French soldiers using forks) we included knowing we might be the only ones who laughed (in this case because the English who had been at war on and off with the French for a hundred years viewed forks with suspicion because they were so popular in France.) We had the time to practice our script repeatedly and I was firm with the students about being off script, speaking clearly and being "on" and acting the entire time they are on stage. The repeated practice had the additional benefit of solidifying the time line of events in students' heads. Almost every kid knows every line -- and when they study the revolution again in highschool they will recognize everything and be ready to dive even more deeply.
On the day of the culmination - students will feel a little stressed. They will bustle about, getting everything they need set up. They will help each other and encourage each other. For a little over an hour, they will teach the school about what they learned and none of them will need an adult to tell them to stay on task. They will take pride in what they have attained and what they are able to do. They are now the teacher. My favorite part is that I get to fade into the background and watch them shine. There is no greater goal as an educator than to be irrelevant.