The Teacher - June 2001

ISSN 1480-2611

Enrichment activities identify talent

Southdale-North Woodside School recently completed an enrichment cluster project. Students from Grades 4 to 6 spent four Wednesday afternoons delving into a variety of learning experiences facilitated by staff and community members. Cooking, sewing, mah-jongg, movement theatre, stained glass, photography, puppetry, outdoor games and technology are just some of the 19 different activities students participated in, culminating in a celebration event during Education Week.

Resource teacher Mary Daniels, the "cluster manager", spearheaded the program for the school. "The theme of enrichment clusters is that every student is special if conditions are created that make each student a specialist," she says.

"The enrichment cluster model follows well with the Department's Challenge for Excellence program, which encourages enrichment in schools," she continues.

Joseph Renzulli, Professor at the University of Connecticut, developed the school-wide enrichment model, of which enrichment clusters are a part. Daniels, and teachers from other boards in the province attended Confratute, a summer institute on enrichment learning and teaching at the University of Connecticut, to learn more about developing school-wide enrichment programs. They in turn are implementing these programs in schools. "The enrichment cluster model is just one way to bring enrichment into a school," says Daniels.

Through a survey 20 to 30 different activities/topic areas were chosen. Students were then asked to select their top eight choices and were guaranteed they would participate in one of the "clusters" they chose. They would then share their experience with their fellow classmates.

In Sherri MacDonald's classroom she facilitated mah-jongg, a traditional Chinese game played with tiles which are shuffled, organized as a four wall 18-tile structure, piled two high and then arranged to make a square. Students in her cluster played mah-jongg with each other and/or on the computer and in turn taught their skill to others.

Community members and parents (like Charlotte Bernard), got involved in the clusters. Bernard, whose daughter Arielle is in Grade 5, facilitated a cluster on dreamcatchers. Students learned how to create these legendary native crafts.

"It's a wonderful way to have hands-on, not brains off, education so curriculum is taking place in a different way," adds Daniels. "From the beginning you could sense the excitement in the kids."

Grade 6 teacher Kara Raney who facilitated the myths and legends cluster says the students were able to see teachers in a different light through this experience. "At first it was difficult to stand back and really let the students go with it, but they were really interested in the topic and even created dioramas around myths and legends," she says. "For the teachers, I think it was enlightening as well."

Throughout the process Daniels says students went through three steps -- basic introduction, learning the skills to do it, and showing exceptional interest -- taking it further, like one student who got his own wood burning tools and continued the craft at home. "Talent starts to rise to the top and some children were able to identify talents they may not have known they possessed," she says.

She hopes through positive student impressions and feedback from staff the program will continue next year.