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Know Your Town
Katherine Coady
Howard Herbert, Curriculum Center East Brunswick Public Schools, East Brunswick, New Jersey
Subject: Community Studies
Grade: 4-6 (Gifted and Talented)
"The camera was the key that opened the hearts of people
in the community-including students, businesspeople, senior citizens,
farmers, government officials, scientists, and other school personnel."
Purpose and Description of Project
Katherine Coady and Howard Herbert worked with fourth- through
sixth-graders from three schools to help them gain a sense of
history and pride in their community, learn nontraditional research
methods, and exercise planning and organizational skills. Initially,
teams of students chose various aspects of their community- geographical,
historical, cultural, or political-to research as the topic of
a pictorial study. In addition, students and teachers produced
a photo album documenting the highlights of their project and
drew from the team studies the material for a photo-illustrated
guide to their community titled "Our Town." Finally,
in the summer following the project activities, Coady and Herbert
developed a teachers' manual so that colleagues could gain from
their experiences.
In the course of the project, the students' activities generated
such interest that it grew to include the participation of many
other students in their schools and of numerous community members
as well. These school/community activities were recorded not
in still photographs alone, but on videotape and in motion pictures
as well.
The teachers were delighted-and amazed-at the extent of community
response to the children's exploration of their hometown. A farmer
loaned a helicopter for aerial photos, officers of the municipal
court allowed a fifth-grade group to reenact a day in court, the
manager of a fast-food outlet permitted students to work behind
the counter, and curators of the city's historic district participated
as actors as a student screenplay was captured on videotape and
in still photos.
As in many a learning experience, the teachers found that the
project produced many more-and different-outcomes than they had
envisioned. The students did not just research and record the
past and current life of their community in museums and contemporary
operations but stimulated their own events, such as the proclamation
of "Tom Sawyer Day" and the planting of a colonial herb
garden. Thus the students were not just passive observers but
both relived the past and became active participants in numerous
aspects of community life.
As a result, report the teachers, the students have gained an
appreciation of the problems facing their community (such as traffic
congestion), learned to communicate with and respect senior citizens
(who were the source of oral history and historical artifacts),
interacted with a wide array of adults in government and business,
became aware of a variety of careers, began to understand the
interdisciplinary nature of knowledge, and became sharp observers
of the world around them.
In short, the "Know Your Town" project has been "a
viable, exciting, and creative way to allow our students to break
away from compartmentalized textbook learning and experience meaningful,
interdisciplinary problem-solving" say the teachers. And
it was the eye of the
camera,
they stress, that really opened the children's eyes.
Activities
In the process of developing their pictorial studies, the students
were involved in an enormous range of activites, and not all students
necessarily participated in all aspects of the project. As Coady
and Herbert note, "students at each school molded the 'Know
Your Town' idea to suit their needs and interests." The students,
in groups of five to seven, generated lists of local places, events,
people, and things they wanted to know more about. The teachers
then helped them plan local trips and walking tours, arrange interviews,
attend government meetings, and participate in other activities.
At the Bowne-Munro School, the youngsters focused on the human
and physical resources of the East Brunswick Historical Museum,
which is in the state-designated historical district within walking
distance of the school. Their activities, all documented on
film
included:
- "A Day at the Museum," a tour guided by a renowned
local historian.
- Review of an art exhibit by a local artist, many of whose
paintings show nearby sites.
- A fireside chat with the owners of a house that has been designated
a landmark.
- Organizing, advertising, and assisting with a museum tour
for the public.
- Study of flower arranging (a traditional community recreational
art) and presentation of arrangements to museum personnel and
community people.
- Planting a colonial herb garden in a plot adjacent to the
museum and setting up an exhibit titled "The Spice of Life."
- Studying the life and times of Mark Twain; producing a playlet
adapted from "Tom Sawyer;" Planning "Tom Sawyer
Day," which involved students and teachers dressing as characters
from the book and reenacting a 19th century festival; and showing
a videotape of highlights from his event on the local cable TV
station.
- Writing and producing an original screenplay in which a child
from today is mysteriously returned to the 19th century and meets
her own grandmother as a child.
Memorial School students focused on the workings of local government.
Their activities, again preserved on film, included:
- Conducting interviews with municipal officials such as a tax
collector. Meeting and talking with an individual who had visited
imprisoned relatives in the Soviet Union and comparing and contrasting
the principles of democratic and totalitarian systems.
- Observing courts in action and writing scripts and enacting
a series of court cases "on location" in the court chambers.
- Studying city planning, including such aspects as commercial
blight, traffic congestion, planned vs. unplanned development,
and making models of how various parts of the town may look in
the future.
Central School students organized themselves into the "Rainbow
News Team," and, as a roving journalistic crew, explored
in photo and videotape essays such topics as: waste recycling
efforts, recreational resources, residential development patterns,
high-technology careers, and the districtwide sixth-grade Olympics.
From this rich reservoir of material, students and teachers then
developed their community guide, "Our Town." They also
produced photo displays and photo essays expanding on various
topics for various audiences.
Materials, Resources, and Expenses
The equipment used included a Canon AE-1 35 mm camera, a Panasonic
l/2-inch VHS videotape camera, a Canon Super-8 movie camera, a
darkroom for black-and-white film developing, film for slides,
prints, movies, and videotapes. Since much of the equipment was
on hand in the district, the only major expenses were for
the AE-1 camera, the film and processing. Costs of the
field trips and other materials were absorbed elsewhere in the
schools' budgets, and many goods and services were donated.
Outcomes and Adaptability
The project succeeded beyond all expectations, report Coady and
Herbert. Its success is recorded in the students' research and
photographs, the community guide to "Our Town," and,
most of all, in the enthusiastic response of the participating
students, the entire student population, classroom teachers, parents,
and the "hordes of others who helped us and became part of
'Know Your Town,'" say the teachers. As one of the student
participants put it, "One of the things I learned was how
important it is that everyone works as a group. I also learned
that you have to be willing to put in time and effort in order
for the play, skit, or movie to be a success."
The students learned nontraditional research methods, honed their
planning and organizational skills, developed hometown pride,
and became, through photography, sophisticated observers of their
environment. In addition, the teachers add, town and school have
developed real appreciation of each other's goals and problems
and began a degree of interaction that will continue to benefit
each. Coady and Herbert also emphasize that this project is adaptable
to any school and community. Those schools that do not have the
resources to branch out into videotaping and movie-making could
carry out many of the same activities in this project using only
still photography. As Coady and Herbert say, all children "are
naturally curious and have talents and interests they wish to
explore" and all communities comprise "settings, stages,
and laboratories for myriad learning experiences. "