In 2004 my Introduction to Aerospace class learned to make kites so that they could in turn teach/assist the elementary students of Countryside in making kites. It was a large scale project that grew larger as more and more elementary teachers learned of the plan and asked to be included. The much anticipated “mass fly day” turned into a couple of different days with various clusters of students, lots of tangled string and too many kites collapsing suddenly from undetected flaws. And it was a lot of fun. Overall a reasonable success and we learned enough from our mistakes that I have been anxious lo these many years to repeat the exercise; only “next time we’ll really do it right”.
We are three weeks into “next time”. Wow. What a project. In open defiance of Robert Burns and his “scheming mousie” we’ve planned and practiced, plotted and persevered. We’re not there yet but we have reason to hope. To the poet’s doubt I offer the pilot’s antidote, “Plans Made. Precautions Taken. Prayers Said. Now. Fly”.
This last Friday was a day of Quality Control. We’ve drawn a good percentage of all the high school students into the project and have produced quite a cadre of kite experts. At the end of the day, just before the last period I collected about twenty five of these experts into my lab and we practiced; identifying good construction from poor and, the skills and methods to avoid or correct mistakes.
Toward the end of the period I took note of the nearly breathtaking harmony of the overcrowded room. It was ‘almost’ quiet. Just a background noise of kids working hard. The focus was incredible to behold. The room has never been a more magnificent masterpiece of a mess. Paper, sticks, string, tape, fabric, patterns, meter sticks, scissors, piled high EVERYWHERE. I ran across my lab with the intent to cross the hall, grab my Ipad from my classroom and capture what I was sure would be the best video of my teaching career. I know. I know. You’re thinking, don’t tell me, show me! Well, I can’t show that moment because I’ve got zero video from that moment. But, I’d like to use something less than a thousand words on an event that I had no intention of capturing on camera.
When I stepped into the empty hallway I saw one lone freshman; a young man I’ve expended a great deal of my finite patience on during this last school year. I called him into the lab doorway and asked him to survey the class, hoping that he would note as I had the irresistible appeal of teamwork and fellowship and productivity. Together we looked for one person not on task. “There must be one. There she is; on her phone”. Without noticing that I’d noticed she put the phone down and went back to the materials in front of her. The wandering freshman told me that he wished he could be in the room. I observed that the lab was full, no; over full, and that we did not have room for everyone who wanted to be there. I reminded him of the mantra that he’s heard through the year, “you are auditioning right now for your future; every day is practice for tomorrow”. He assured me (again) that he intended to demonstrate the maturity required to participate in these elective projects. I’m fairly certain he’s not familiar with Burns’ skepticism concerning the schemes of mice and men, but Oft is not Aye, and I have great hope that very soon our kites will fly; and this young man will too.
With care, this project may be about more than making kites.
We are three weeks into “next time”. Wow. What a project. In open defiance of Robert Burns and his “scheming mousie” we’ve planned and practiced, plotted and persevered. We’re not there yet but we have reason to hope. To the poet’s doubt I offer the pilot’s antidote, “Plans Made. Precautions Taken. Prayers Said. Now. Fly”.
This last Friday was a day of Quality Control. We’ve drawn a good percentage of all the high school students into the project and have produced quite a cadre of kite experts. At the end of the day, just before the last period I collected about twenty five of these experts into my lab and we practiced; identifying good construction from poor and, the skills and methods to avoid or correct mistakes.
Toward the end of the period I took note of the nearly breathtaking harmony of the overcrowded room. It was ‘almost’ quiet. Just a background noise of kids working hard. The focus was incredible to behold. The room has never been a more magnificent masterpiece of a mess. Paper, sticks, string, tape, fabric, patterns, meter sticks, scissors, piled high EVERYWHERE. I ran across my lab with the intent to cross the hall, grab my Ipad from my classroom and capture what I was sure would be the best video of my teaching career. I know. I know. You’re thinking, don’t tell me, show me! Well, I can’t show that moment because I’ve got zero video from that moment. But, I’d like to use something less than a thousand words on an event that I had no intention of capturing on camera.
When I stepped into the empty hallway I saw one lone freshman; a young man I’ve expended a great deal of my finite patience on during this last school year. I called him into the lab doorway and asked him to survey the class, hoping that he would note as I had the irresistible appeal of teamwork and fellowship and productivity. Together we looked for one person not on task. “There must be one. There she is; on her phone”. Without noticing that I’d noticed she put the phone down and went back to the materials in front of her. The wandering freshman told me that he wished he could be in the room. I observed that the lab was full, no; over full, and that we did not have room for everyone who wanted to be there. I reminded him of the mantra that he’s heard through the year, “you are auditioning right now for your future; every day is practice for tomorrow”. He assured me (again) that he intended to demonstrate the maturity required to participate in these elective projects. I’m fairly certain he’s not familiar with Burns’ skepticism concerning the schemes of mice and men, but Oft is not Aye, and I have great hope that very soon our kites will fly; and this young man will too.
With care, this project may be about more than making kites.