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Many city farms have different guided school projects for the various age groups, guided by educational farm workers. Every project should be based on the principle: "learning by discovering and doing". Therefore most of the projects should be practical workshops. A project may last for 1.5 to 2 hours or more.
The main reasons for setting up activities that school teachers and youth workers have to carry out themselves, are that it gives educational workers the opportunity to develop new activities and to free them from the frustrating task of carrying out the same activities again and again.
In the beginning it is very difficult to convince schoolteachers that their relatively passive role at the farm has to change into a really active one. Teachers can also be encouraged to carry out self-guided activities if they can still subscribe to an existing limited amount of guided activities. Not every project can be turned into a self-guided activity and you need time to evaluate each project.
Many of the self-guided classes and activities are for the younger age groups. They are good introductory lessons where profound knowledge is not relevant for the children.
The starting point
One cannot expect a teacher to be an expert on city farm work or on farm animals. Most teachers also simply lack the time to prepare a project to such an extent that they might even come close to this. Teachers are (or at least should be) however, experts in their own field: teaching children. In order to make them feel comfortable with the unfamiliar environment and subject, you have to keep in mind the teacher's point of view: "What can (dare) I do?", "Will the children like (and learn from) this?" but also "What do I really hate?". When the teachers experience that it can be done and that it even turns out to be great fun as well, they will be back for other activities and projects.
The objectives and ways to achieve them
Have a clear objective in mind and find practical and logical ways to achieve this. Use your network for already existing good ideas, so that you don't have to invent the wheel. You either can adapt an existing professionally guided project or start a new one. Divide the activity into small units, so that the teacher will always feel in control. A time schedule comes in handy. Alter or reject everything that may be hard to handle for a teacher. If there is a classroom available, adapt it to the project, using posters for instance to create the right atmosphere. Use bright colours. Do not overdo all this to prevent the children from getting over excited. Too many different kinds of animals in the classroom have a confusing and distracting effect. Find ways to protect the animals from too much "discovering and doing" by the children. For instance don't allow the children to pick up the animals themselves.
A simple, well chosen, well prepared introduction is essential for the success of the workshops later. If you have decorated the workshops in a functional way, it will also help teachers as a reminder during their introduction. Slides are very practical for introductions but should not take more than 15-20 minutes. Provide the text about the slides with questions to trigger the attention of the children.
The subjects of the workshops must be clear. Supply them with short written explanations (questions, instructions). For the children who can read and write you can provide workshop booklets that the teacher can discuss with the children afterwards. A booklet should contain clear instructions for the children and not too many questions or text. Use a child friendly lettertype. Multiple choice questions save time. If you are not sure about the educational value of your project, do not hesitate to ask for professional help. When your project is ready, submit it to someone else for professional educational and textual criticism anyhow. Make a complete scenario for the activity, including photographs, for future use.
Preliminary steps for the teacher
An instruction booklet for the teacher is very effective. Such a booklet should contain:
- Description of the objective of the activity
- The contents of the booklet
- General practical information e.g. farm facilities, farm rules, opening hours, contact person(s)
- Suggestions for preparation at school
- The scenario of the project (including a time-schedule)
- A plan of the classroom or farm with specific indications of the whereabouts of the necessary animals and materials.
- Suggestions for introducing the topic by the teacher
- The covering text on the slides
- The description of the practical workshops or a workshop booklet
- Suggestions for evaluation with the children after the workshops
- Background information on the topic for the teacher
- Information on the animals used in the lesson and above all on how they have to be handled. Illustrations work better than a lot of text.
- Suggestions for further work and assimilation back at school
Always bear in mind that your booklet is not the only thing that a teacher has to read. Limit yourself to the essentials and divide the booklet into well-ordered attractive chapters. Clarifying pictures that invite you to read the accompanying text. The intention is to reassure teachers that they do not have to make a profound study and that your information and aids such as slides and clear instructions will smoothly help them through the lesson.
Prepare the teacher for the unexpected, such as peeing animals. The children love this and order is likely to turn into chaos. (If the teacher knows where to find the material to clean up the mess and in the meantime simply asks the children about their animals at home and where they pee, the situation can be controlled in a friendly and positive way again). Make sure that teachers know that they have to recruit parents or other volunteers because the workshops will take place in five or six smaller groups. Last but not least the booklet should contain the message, that teachers are welcome to practise at the farm if they are not sure about handling the animals. Teachers gets really confident if you assure them that they can always call on the farm's staff if anything should go wrong during the project.
Preparations at the farm
A checklist for the necessary preparations is indispensable. Be sure that it is used (also by yourself) because if you do forget something, it is very difficult for the teacher to improvise and this he does not like at all. Slides with a good story may be very useful for teachers, but a projector that does not work properly or slides upside down turn a topic into a nightmare.
An information corner in the classroom invites the teacher to take material with him for further use at school. Have information ready on all the farm projects that your city farm provides to get the teacher interested in other topics and activities.
The animals have to be really very tame (you can handle struggling rabbit and a frightened guinea-pig; most teachers will not) and of course the animals should be housed in a spacious and clean way.
Since you have promised teachers that they can always call on the farm's staff, make sure that at least one of the farm workers is actually available and within hearing distance.
Finally, impact on city farm staff
One might think that these activities, once they are ready, save a lot of time. They do save time eventually, especially for educational farm workers but they also have an effect on the jobs of other farm workers. They have to be well-informed because, depending on circumstances, it might also be they who prepare and tidy up the classroom or help the teacher if necessary. Reorganisation of their activities and educational training might be in order. A good understanding has to be reached with staff.
Pauline Wolters, 1996
Revised 2003
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