Skylar Brown: Getting Back to the Root of Teaching

“We don’t have much technology or resources,” said Ms. Tiara Brown when I spoke with her regarding the curriculum development. This is the last thing an educator would want to hear. Being in and preparing curriculum for Greenwood 50 made me realize how different things were from my small-town school district, where access to technology was readily available. In education, we always say you must modify and adjust whether that be the lesson plan, seating chart, or the activity that you planned for two weeks that turns out to be a disaster. This turned out to be true in my experience as well.

 During the summer I completed my internship with Community Initiatives, Inc, a local nonprofit organization program here in Greenwood, SC. I worked closely with the directors of Community Initiatives to create a series of curriculum for the summer and the intercession days in which Greenwood 50 students will be out of school. Overall, I prepared 3 weeks' worth of curriculum for students ranging in age from Pre-K to 5th grade. This project was important to me, because I am interested in obtaining a Master’s in the Curriculum Development graduate program after I graduate this May.

My supervisor for this project gave me complete and utter control, which seemed at the time to be a serious mistake. There wasn’t a rubric or requirements of what this curriculum needed to include, and there wasn’t a deadline for each lesson plan, but instead an overall deadline for the entire unit plan. I did not know how to pace myself and spread the work out evenly during the month and a half I had to work on the project, and I would push off sitting down to work on it.

 My focus of the project was not clear, so I was not able to align my focus and put my energy into the project like I needed to, which led to lots of procrastination. If I could do it all again, I would have asked better questions about what was expected from me, created deadlines to keep me motivated, and reached out more to my supervisor to get concrete feedback to better prepare my lessons.

 The most challenging part of this project for me was finding ways to still engage students in the curriculum, even with the lack of technology. I worked hard for the first couple of weeks creating activities that students could complete online such as Digital Scavenger Hunts and Virtual Field trips to review the long day of knowledge learned. I found myself being a little more creative when it came to creating curriculum.

 Everything was coming together and was going as planned until I sent some of my lessons for feedback to the assistant director of Community Initiatives, Ms. Tiara Brown. “Most of our students do not have access to a computer or internet,” Ms. Brown wrote in her feedback to me. I was super proud and excited about the work I created for the students, so hearing back from her that most of my activities were not going to work was heartbreaking.

I wanted to create pretty websites and find engaging online activities, but I soon realized that half of the students didn’t have access to a computer or internet, and some didn’t even have access to a pencil and a sheet of paper. This experience showed me that I am more creative and intuitive than I thought, and that flexibility, especially as an educator, is an important skill that you cannot live without.

Because of the lack of resources, I had to become resourceful and design curriculum that focused more on common household objects that students could readily have access to, so that I could provide my students with an opportunity to engage in inexpensive, hands-on learning. Most of the activities and objects students needed to complete these activities were inexpensive, which is great because whether a student cannot afford supplies or I’m at a lower-income school, I must learn to be resourceful and modify and adjust so that all students can receive a quality education regardless of their circumstances.

For example, one week of my unit was centered around Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math, also known as STEAM. During this week students were to engage in a series of STEAM activities that would challenge their ability to engineer, create, and solve problem. One day out of the week students were presented with the challenge to make the biggest, free-standing tower out of straws and tape.

 Another day students were given a similar amount of tin foil and pipe cleaners. With the given items, students were to work in groups to come up with something creative that allows all members of the team to work together. Students weren’t presented with any rules, and they were allowed to twist, mold, shape, and sculpt their items as long as they were creative.

With education becoming so technologized, how was I supposed to find a way to make curriculum that involved little to no technology that would still be interactive, fun, and engaging for little children? I instantly thought this was impossible, but maybe a lack of technology isn’t a bad thing at all.  I learned the importance of being resourceful and the power of flexibility when it comes to new challenges.

 It is so important to be resourceful in whatever you do, and I quickly learned this in my internship. Many of the plans I originally had that consisted of lots of group technology and group assignments/workshops could no longer be done due to the pandemic, so I had to be flexible with my plans and change them to benefit everyone.  I also had to take into consideration what resources students had available, and I had to make my lessons reflect this. An important lesson that I learned was that I must first know and understand the challenges that my students face and the limitation of my surroundings.  

Skylar Brown is a senior elementary education major. Her breakaway was spent virtually creating a series of curriculum for Community Initiatives. Inc., a local nonprofit organization in Greenwood, SC. She will graduate in Spring 2022 and will go on to be a teacher in the state of South Carolina.