Re: [xmca] Artifacts, tools and classrooms

From: bb (xmca-whoever@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jan 21 2006 - 10:48:44 PST


 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Geraldine McDonald <geraldine.mcdonald@clear.net.nz>

> I appreciated the child's eye view of the classroom provided by bb. Lots of
> artifacts on the walls. Do they function as wallpaper? Or, do they function as
> mediating tools? (Treat these as proxy questions for the AERA presentation!)

In the panorama, scroll to the far right and you'll see in the blue corner the set of rules for behavior acceptable in the classroom that the children created with the guidance of the teacher. It is their text. Scrolling left, the shark is an historical artifact from an earlier class with a prior teacher. It's there perhaps because it takes no effort to leave it there, and it does not occupy space that could otherwise be used.

On the windows are child-created artifacts. These kinds of artifacts are constantly appearing and dissappearing from public display around the room. They are part of the shared literacy practices through out the school (and in many elementary classrooms across the US where firecode can be supportively interpreted). "Reading the room" is an independent reading lesson where children use supportive materials such as a pointer or cardboard tube to go around the room and read everything that is readable in the room! The complex arrangement of textual artifacts is highly functional. Thanks for asking!

bb

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