The immediately-obvious benefits of preparing for a 2G-Led All-School Gathering include:
A massive dive into reading-skill development: fast decoding (of unknown words), fluency (for video, or singing) and comprehension
A major focus on “executive function” skill development, especially impulse control (e.g., handling streamers safely), interpersonal skills (e.g., in a team, rolling up a carpet so that the edges are even, and safely carrying that carpet through “touch terrain”), and planning ahead (e.g., to carry a streamer under the eaves without hitting beams requires constant looking ahead)
Building background information and experience. Background information is essential to learning: the more a child knows, the more s/he can know in the future
Practical math: frequent ordering of script pages, diving the class into various groups (fractions), and a huge emphasis on time (“If we only have 40 minutes and the opening takes 6 minutes, how much time do we have for everything else?”)
Yesterday we were reminded of the not-immediately-obvious benefits.
My Zoom camera was on, and one group was having fun watching themselves “on TV.” Naturally, students were jostling to fill the frame with their own face only.
Then a puzzled face turned towards me.
“How are we going to get everyone in the class on Zoom?”
Clearly, if everyone’s face was as big as hers on Zoom, there wouldn’t be room for everyone else.
I asked the other students present about this and — clearly we had a problem.
It took a few minutes, but with a little bit of experimenting we got an answer.
This group worked out for themselves that if a person’s head fills the camera’s “field of view,” this blocks out everything behind it.
And the way “to get everyone on Zoom” was to have them stand further away. Indeed, the four students present quickly figured out how to get all four of them on camera by watching the Zoom screen, noting how many of them could be seen, and making adjustments.
This physics of “angles” is the same in soccer: you rush the ball carrier to fill up her/his “filed of view,” thereby reducing her/his passing opportunities.
I wish I could have found a way to capture the THRILL of having worked all of this out for themselves. It’s hard to remember what it’s like being a 7 and 8 year old, back when everything was still pretty new and every day brought new discoveries about the world.
It’s worth mentioning the impulse-control battle here: “I want to be on TV!” vs. “Let’s share the spotlight.” The latter means stepping further away from the camera, one’s image becoming smaller, and sharing the screen real estate with others!
Now, when sharing when I use a telephoto lens (our brooding white tern) and when I use a wide-angel lens (photographing everyone on the playground from atop the play structure), this is bit of knowledge I can leverage.
Background knowledge again: The more a child knows, the more s/he can know because s/he has something to build on.
Incidentally, that’s why an “Oh, I don’t have to learn facts, you can just look things up on Google” can be such a dangerous perspective for young learners.
What’s on Google isn’t in the student’s head.
When s/he’s out and about in the world, new experiences and information will stick to what’s in her/his head, not what’s on Google.
More, what we “learn” on Google is quickly forgotten. What we commit to long-term memory may last a lifetime. Like addition and multiplication facts!
Back Monday!