Unexpected Learning Opportunities

     Today I had the great opportunity to chaperone a trip to the Peabody Essex Museum with a fourth grade group from my school who is studying China.  A docent led us through the Yin Yu Tang House, a late Qing dynasty merchants' house that was originally located in southeastern China and then re-erected at the museum.  We also toured the new exhibit entitled:  The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City.

     While the docent did a great job walking us through the multiple rooms of the exhibit, she was also flexible enough to take advantage of an unexpected learning opportunity when it arose.  While the students sat in front of a display of large calligraphy couplets adorning a wall, a patron of the museum, an older Chinese woman in her seventies, asked the docent if she could speak with the group.  And then she began to tell the kids about what her life was like growing up in China, as they sat there captivated, hanging onto her every word.

     In China, she began, there were four subjects that everyone had to learn, not including academics: music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.  Everyday after school, her father required her siblings and herself to write a page of calligraphy, write large calligraphy couplets, and date them.  When her dad wasn't home and it was just her mom, she used to change the date on a page of calligraphy she had previously completed, hoping that her dad would not notice.  The woman left the students with a final message of:  Young people don't work hard but older people understand the value of hard work.

     At the end of our time at the museum, the docent asked the students what their favorite parts of the museum were.  Among their list of several items was hearing the speech of the older Chinese woman.  The students had clearly enjoyed this unexpected learning opportunity and I appreciated the message that the older woman imparted onto them.


Questions to Ponder:

1.  What are the benefits of taking advantage of unexpected learning opportunities in the classroom when they present themselves, even if that means deviating from the schedule?

2.  Think of a time when this happened.  What was the impact of this on yourself?  on your students?