“-but unlike the slave, they never discover that they educate the teacher.” Paulo Freire
When I started making room in my class schedule, Passion Project sessions were the hardest things to do. How do you make room for learners to explore their interests without your agenda? How do you, as a teacher, stay relevant in this situation? Five years later, and I tell you that Passion Project sessions have been my lifeline. My spark and like the learners, one of the few things I look forward to. They are life-giving, and maybe going forth, it is the only area of my teaching that I will be writing on. These past months have been hard, but I honestly feel like it is a life-giving session, thanks to this time block.
I have a duo of girls who are inquiring into fashion. I must say I have probably been more excited than they are that last weekend, I went window shopping for a sewing machine. I haven’t had any exciting creative pursuits, but their enthusiasm got me thinking. This week, we set up the sewing machine, learnt how to place an order(they need mannequins), sketched their designs, researched different kinds of fabric, and estimated how much they might need. Many of the things we decided to do weren’t even thought of, but we thought, what might we do to this learning worth experiencing?
Another duo of girls is looking at baking. They had to create a shopping list and come up with a budget of how much it would cost them. They had to find the contact of the school chef and create a schedule for when they could access the kitchen — managing themselves by contacting the people they needed to and being organised before their baking session is the most I have seen of them being such self-directed, individuals.
I am super excited about another group that is creating a Roblox game. In an area where there is little to nothing published content for 10-year-olds, the only way for them to learn and acquire skills is through creating. They created a survey to gather information about Roblox, and they will have a gaming session to test out their creations and gather feedback.
My role in this setting changes to pointing them in the right direction, challenging them to think bigger and solving issues. I feel rejuvenated for the next session and looking forward to thriving while at it.
