In Gr. 6 Social Studies in Ontario, we look at the different groups that immigrate to Canada and why they came (push and pull factors). My grade-colleagues generously shared an assignment that they had given their Grade 6 classes. I liked the idea of having students select an object that was so sacred they would have to take it with them when they left their home country and immigrated to Canada, but I wanted more from the assignment and from my students. This had the potential to breed empathy among classmates with all the other positive residual effects of a Building Outside the Blocks project: covering a lot in a little class time, personalizing the learning for my students and building a shared experience as a class community. Pack it Up became a BOB in a few easy steps.
In order to alter the assignment from something to submit to the teacher for assessment to a BOB that would be presented to the class, I had to make only a few tweaks. First, the students were going to have to bring their selected item or a photograph of it to show the class. They would complete the justification for their choice and why it was so precious to them, but they would have to prepare to share that with the class using the iterative verbal and non-verbal presentation skills they had used in the previous BOB, What’ In a Name (aka W.I.N.) as well as through their spiralling tri-BOB, What’s News. Finally, I would determine the presentation dates, no more than three per day, over the course of the unit titled A Better Life. Then, after reviewing the outline and the success criteria noted in the rubric, the students could chose their presentation date in view of their personal timetable, interest and will. As always, presenters would take feedback from the class in the form of questions, comment and critiques to support presenters and articulate next steps. My role would continue to be as evaluator but also as facilitator of learning.
I often use picture books to complement learning in my classrooms, regardless of the age of my students. After reading a picture book called When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest in preparation for the unit, I knew the title for this BOB. I thought about the double entendre in the title that I settled as something could mean both an object and a living thing, and infer a journey. That is how I named my newest Building Outside the Blocks project: Precious Cargo.
When I introduced Precious Cargo, I was upset to find out that their English teachers had just introduced a Show and Tell assignment (BOB-style). In the hopes of redeeming the task, I added a component to the project asking students to differentiate between what they would be presenting for Show and Tell and Precious Cargo. This added a unique dimension to the assignment that unfolded with each new presentation.
Precious Cargo was very personal. Through the assignment, I learned of students who had already been through that experience in real life, having to leave behind things as precious as their favourite furniture, their friends and, even, their pets. Students shared objects that weren’t even on my mindscape when I altered the outline. They told of their blankies, their bears and other stuffed animals that had helped them get through their first days of school, surgeries or whatever life threw at them. Precious Cargo was becoming a project worth sharing.
After a month of presentations, with only a few each class, the students felt it ,too. They wrote reflection that included things like:
“…this assignment made us really think out of the box, and that is something that I really need to work on.” Ethan I
“I got to be creative and talk about a question I never would have thought I would be asked.” Jacob W
“I think Precious Cargo was very fun and interesting because I got to learn new things about other people and I got to share my item with other people.” Guy C.
“We got to learn about each other, while talking about things that mean a lot to us.” Maya E.
“…most days I would look forward to seeing whatever someone brought in.” Alyza A
“I thought it was really interesting to see what everybody would bring if they were moving. I liked this assignment and I really liked listening to everybody’s presentations.”
Jadyn M
“Once I had to think of what to bring I had so many things in mind. It made me realize how lucky I am with all the stuff I have. Another thing I loved about this task was being able to hear other people present. I liked this because some of the people I have known for so long and have been to their house tons of times, I still got to learn many new things about them. I also liked hearing people present who I don’t know very well because I got to know more about them too.” Cole R.
“I really enjoyed doing this project. I found it was an interesting way to find out more about people and their history and heritage. I learned so much about people that I never knew before.” Jamie W.
“I loved the Precious Cargo project. It was really interesting to see what everyone chose, and we learnt a lot about each other in the process. I really liked how everyone’s project was personal…” Naomi W.
“Watching others share their most precious cargo that they would bring with them if they had to move, makes other people know more about the other person. I learned a lot about my friends a lot only by they telling us what they would bring with them if they would move to another place. For example I learned that one of my friends like to paint and draw. I also learned about other people’s culture and objects that their family passed down to generation to generation. When I presented first I was nervous but when I began I started to feel better because it looked like the people were actually were listening and not laughing about it. They were serious on my presentation.” Beni B
(emigrated from Hungary last year)
I am so grateful for these projects that helped me see my students’ histories, with vastly different experiences and from even more places than I had imagined. Because of all that I learned, I redesigned their summative assignments to be immigration stories and many of my students are choosing to tell their own. I even have colleagues who have offered their stories so that we can all bring the curriculum to life and use a BOB approach to build community, shape learning and construct meaning through each other’s experiences. You can’t personalize unless you find a way to see through a person’s eyes. The Building Outside the Blocks approach will always be precious cargo for me.
Here are a few of their Precious Cargo items:
