The Oral History Project at Lab School in NYC
Tuesday, May 24, 2005 at 11:14PM Last Friday I had the pleasure of visiting the Lab School in New York City on 17th Street, in between 8th and 9th Avenue. The Lab School is frequently listed as one of the best schools in New York. For the past year, I have been working with some teachers from the Lab School on Content Enhancement (www.kucrl.org), and one of those teachers, Sam Affoumado, invited me to observe a culminating activity associated with one of the projects at the school.
What I saw Friday night was really quite wonderful, a chaotic, joyous, stimulating, learning celebration. Students from several seventh-grade classes had completed an oral history project, and I attended their final presentation. The students interviewed truly fascinating people: a member of the Manhattan project, for example, talked about his mixed feelings about the atomic bomb and being a part of the team that created it. The school was filled with dozens of peoples’ stories, books students had published, videos, excited students, proud interviewees who, it seemed to me, felt validated by the whole process. I watched one fellow stride up to a video of himself and said, “that’s me right there!” emphatically. As important as it was for the students to listen and write these stories, I think, it was also important for the people with their fascinating biographies to have someone with whom to share their stories.
But what impressed me the most last Friday was the palpable sense of what the genuine joy of learning can be. The students clearly grew and learned by conducting their interviews. The people telling their stories had many great comments about the children. The teachers respected their students and were proud of the students’ work, and I think, for that night at least, the teachers were very aware of what a good thing it can be to be a teacher. We shouldn't forget that.
Reader Comments (1)
http://www.truereligionhome.com/ Jeans
http://www.herve-legerdress.com/ Dress
http://www.thesocceruniform.com/ Soccer
http://www.beatsbydrdrestore.com/ Bests