December 20, 2011
Designing Houses, job interviews
I was nervous about today's class, I had a moderately ambitious agenda and was unable to find outside help for class. Neither of the two promised helpers from the school were available. I got lucky, it turns out that Science Club was also meeting this morning, so several homesteaders were not present. I had a nice small group of nineteen today (perhaps it was somewhat the nature of the nineteen that were present that made the group feel "nice and small"). I began the class by setting out pencils and paper on all of the desks. The Spanish class seems to have taken all of my pencils, it was necessary to obtain more. I drew rudimentary side, front and top views of houses on the board.
When the class came in and settled I explained the next step in Village. Everyone will be making houses, presumably out of wood. With a few pointers (you will need to build what you create, you will need to pay {in meeps} for your materials, you will need to use your design plans to actually build your house, real building code is eight feet between a floor and ceiling {it doesn't need to be twenty}) and a few questions (mostly for the trading post) the kids got started.
While the class was working on drawings, I began the job interviews. Morton and Michael both applied for the position of trading post manager. Morton has quite a lot of experience, so I hired him as manager and Michael as assistant to the manager with the stipulation that Morton train Michael as his replacement. Next I interviewed for Bank manager. Only one of the applicants, Carman, was in class today. She seems to have a bit of useful experience herself. Carman also doesn't have a problem with being the boss, and working above people. I haven't hired her yet as I still need to interview the other applicants. I interviewed Maria for the position of Newspaper Editor. I think she would be a great fit for this job, she is certainly qualified, but she wasn't sure she wanted to be in charge of others. She decided to instead apply for a job as a journalist.
After the interviews I worked with those who needed a little bit of help. I think the class was extremely productive today, especially considering most of the work was independent. Before class was done I asked the students to keep a look out for certain types of trash (plastic windows) in their holiday wrappings.
After vacation I will bring in the empty cereal boxes for those who finished their house plans today to begin building cardboard models. Over the break I will write up a parent letter about Village and what we are doing in class and to solicit volunteers and materials.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Week 14, Marlborough School
December 14, 2011
Currency continued
This mornings Village was well attended, I had 24 of 27 students present! This was another town meeting day. We began the class with a little refresher from last week. I wrote all of the currency names up on the board and invited the kids to make more suggestions. We had about fifteen ideas in all. When narrowed it down we had: Tiny Tips, Meeps, and Pee Pee Bucks. Meeps won by a large margin. Moving right along we decided that next we needed a symbol for our currency. The moderator called on her classmates to draw their ideas on the board. Some winning suggestions for symbols were: a lightening bolt, a three dimensional star, a cursive letter M, and an equilateral triangle with a square inside, with a pentagon inside the square, with a hexagon inside the pentagon, finishing with a crossed M in the middle of it all. The three dimensional star won.
The class was a bit distracted today. This is a result of me not inviting the class to have a free for all with the craft supplies during meeting today. In light of this less than admiral behavior and constant distracted murmuring, one student (the hopeful future trading post manager) made some announcements regarding trading post import policy (much of the murmuring was about items being "smuggled" into village). He informed everyone that the trading post would assign tariffs to all imports, regardless of the suggested real world value of the items. He then took questions. Unfortunately I haven't assigned jobs yet, so specific answers to many questions were unavailable.
With few minutes remaining the class decided to revisit government talks. This was a challenge because at this point, those who were unable to be respectful during the meeting could not be convinced to quiet down so we could hear those who had been called on.
While we have a bit of unfinished business and there are a few behavioral things I would like to discuss with the class, I am not in favor of having another meeting until sometime in January. I can talk until I'm blue in the face about the virtues of respect... but my message would not be heard because some of the group were simply bored today. I can't expect more of the kids than I would of myself. So next week I need to find a couple of helpers to come in and support the lesson so I can move forward and assign jobs. I would like to start designing houses next week; and get the bank, newspaper and trading post up and running.
Currency continued
This mornings Village was well attended, I had 24 of 27 students present! This was another town meeting day. We began the class with a little refresher from last week. I wrote all of the currency names up on the board and invited the kids to make more suggestions. We had about fifteen ideas in all. When narrowed it down we had: Tiny Tips, Meeps, and Pee Pee Bucks. Meeps won by a large margin. Moving right along we decided that next we needed a symbol for our currency. The moderator called on her classmates to draw their ideas on the board. Some winning suggestions for symbols were: a lightening bolt, a three dimensional star, a cursive letter M, and an equilateral triangle with a square inside, with a pentagon inside the square, with a hexagon inside the pentagon, finishing with a crossed M in the middle of it all. The three dimensional star won.
The class was a bit distracted today. This is a result of me not inviting the class to have a free for all with the craft supplies during meeting today. In light of this less than admiral behavior and constant distracted murmuring, one student (the hopeful future trading post manager) made some announcements regarding trading post import policy (much of the murmuring was about items being "smuggled" into village). He informed everyone that the trading post would assign tariffs to all imports, regardless of the suggested real world value of the items. He then took questions. Unfortunately I haven't assigned jobs yet, so specific answers to many questions were unavailable.
With few minutes remaining the class decided to revisit government talks. This was a challenge because at this point, those who were unable to be respectful during the meeting could not be convinced to quiet down so we could hear those who had been called on.
While we have a bit of unfinished business and there are a few behavioral things I would like to discuss with the class, I am not in favor of having another meeting until sometime in January. I can talk until I'm blue in the face about the virtues of respect... but my message would not be heard because some of the group were simply bored today. I can't expect more of the kids than I would of myself. So next week I need to find a couple of helpers to come in and support the lesson so I can move forward and assign jobs. I would like to start designing houses next week; and get the bank, newspaper and trading post up and running.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Week 13, Marlborough School
December 6th, 2011
Currency and Government... town meeting
The peeps of Tiny Town met this morning to discuss currency. Our usual moderator was absent so other town members tried to do the job. The discussion began simply enough: What should we call it? What should it be made out of? Then we digressed. It was suggested that each clan have their own currency which brought us back to the conversation of how these clans will actually work. There are many in town who have a lot to say against clans... but only one who speaks for them. Hmmm. How did we wind up with such an unsatisfactory form of government? Perhaps homesteaders are beginning to recognize the importance of paying attention and participating in town meeting. It was moved to repeal the clan form of government. The measure passed and Tiny Town currently has no government at all. At the beginning of class today I stressed the importance of getting the currency figured out and how we really can't move forward with house building and jobs until we decide what, if anything, will be used. I let them know when we began the government debate that we would need to shift back to currency by 8:33, to allow enough time. One student managed to keep our meeting track. It was agreed that we will revisit the government conversation next week. We had a hard time trying to decide if we needed to have government in order to have currency. We discussed things that have passed in the world as currency over the ages. We discussed what early Americans did during the American Revolution when there was not an official government. We learned that each American dollar represents an actual real (although small) amount of gold. With these ideas in place the class decided to move on and offer up suggestions for the actual physical thing we will use for commerce in Tiny Town. Suggestions were: rocks by weight, duct tape, green cloth, tin foil, cardboard, cardboard covered with foil, green paper, paper with stamps. We talked about counterfeiting and the need for a secure object. We voted to narrow our choices. The top three were duct tape, green cloth, and paper with stamps. More discussion ensued. Many homesteaders were concerned with the actual cost of obtaining the materials to create the currency. "Duct tape and cloth are rather expensive you know." At this point one homesteader suggested we just use electronic banking on the grounds that it would save time and resources not having to build a bank or create currency. After another vote the townspeople decided upon paper currency with stamps. "What now? Government?" "We need to name our money."
The remaining three minutes of class were spent offering ideas for names. Next week we will vote on these names and an accompanying symbol.
Class today was amazing. I am rather impressed by the behavior of the students during town meeting. Of 21 students who came to class this morning, only four were girls. During the meeting most of the class was quiet and attentive. Those that are not able to be quiet and attentive were not disruptive.
Currency and Government... town meeting
The peeps of Tiny Town met this morning to discuss currency. Our usual moderator was absent so other town members tried to do the job. The discussion began simply enough: What should we call it? What should it be made out of? Then we digressed. It was suggested that each clan have their own currency which brought us back to the conversation of how these clans will actually work. There are many in town who have a lot to say against clans... but only one who speaks for them. Hmmm. How did we wind up with such an unsatisfactory form of government? Perhaps homesteaders are beginning to recognize the importance of paying attention and participating in town meeting. It was moved to repeal the clan form of government. The measure passed and Tiny Town currently has no government at all. At the beginning of class today I stressed the importance of getting the currency figured out and how we really can't move forward with house building and jobs until we decide what, if anything, will be used. I let them know when we began the government debate that we would need to shift back to currency by 8:33, to allow enough time. One student managed to keep our meeting track. It was agreed that we will revisit the government conversation next week. We had a hard time trying to decide if we needed to have government in order to have currency. We discussed things that have passed in the world as currency over the ages. We discussed what early Americans did during the American Revolution when there was not an official government. We learned that each American dollar represents an actual real (although small) amount of gold. With these ideas in place the class decided to move on and offer up suggestions for the actual physical thing we will use for commerce in Tiny Town. Suggestions were: rocks by weight, duct tape, green cloth, tin foil, cardboard, cardboard covered with foil, green paper, paper with stamps. We talked about counterfeiting and the need for a secure object. We voted to narrow our choices. The top three were duct tape, green cloth, and paper with stamps. More discussion ensued. Many homesteaders were concerned with the actual cost of obtaining the materials to create the currency. "Duct tape and cloth are rather expensive you know." At this point one homesteader suggested we just use electronic banking on the grounds that it would save time and resources not having to build a bank or create currency. After another vote the townspeople decided upon paper currency with stamps. "What now? Government?" "We need to name our money."
The remaining three minutes of class were spent offering ideas for names. Next week we will vote on these names and an accompanying symbol.
Class today was amazing. I am rather impressed by the behavior of the students during town meeting. Of 21 students who came to class this morning, only four were girls. During the meeting most of the class was quiet and attentive. Those that are not able to be quiet and attentive were not disruptive.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Weeks 11 & 12, Marlborough School
November 29, 2011
Building Fences
The weather has held out and this week and last week were spent on the land clearing and putting up fences. We have a beautiful little spot with a lot of diversity to build on. Many students have claimed land in or around the stream. Last week some of those up stream began building bridges by way of dropping large branches across the stream. Homesteaders down stream were none to pleased about this! When the weather turns and class must be indoors I am sure this will be a topic at town meeting. We were joined by a new student last week and now our number is up to 25! Eighteen boys and seven girls.
At the start of class today I reminded them of what we are trying to accomplish. It has felt like the kids are only putting up fencing to appease me. I let them know that the boundary strings will be coming down and the purpose of the fence is to be able to recognize their land when the winter is over. I think my pep talk had the desired effect because students were a bit more focused today.
The group of seventh graders who are calling themselves a clan found a bunch of beer bottles and cans on the acre, they proceeded to build "Beer-Henge" with these. When I told them the school probably wouldn't approve of them playing with old beer containers they promised that they would not touch them anymore.... only worship at the site. Oh my! I suppose it is a good thing there is such a lack of over site.
We did not have any fifth graders today as they are on a field trip. Ours days outdoors are numbered. I think next week will be the last class to work on the land until the spring.
Building Fences
The weather has held out and this week and last week were spent on the land clearing and putting up fences. We have a beautiful little spot with a lot of diversity to build on. Many students have claimed land in or around the stream. Last week some of those up stream began building bridges by way of dropping large branches across the stream. Homesteaders down stream were none to pleased about this! When the weather turns and class must be indoors I am sure this will be a topic at town meeting. We were joined by a new student last week and now our number is up to 25! Eighteen boys and seven girls.
At the start of class today I reminded them of what we are trying to accomplish. It has felt like the kids are only putting up fencing to appease me. I let them know that the boundary strings will be coming down and the purpose of the fence is to be able to recognize their land when the winter is over. I think my pep talk had the desired effect because students were a bit more focused today.
The group of seventh graders who are calling themselves a clan found a bunch of beer bottles and cans on the acre, they proceeded to build "Beer-Henge" with these. When I told them the school probably wouldn't approve of them playing with old beer containers they promised that they would not touch them anymore.... only worship at the site. Oh my! I suppose it is a good thing there is such a lack of over site.
We did not have any fifth graders today as they are on a field trip. Ours days outdoors are numbered. I think next week will be the last class to work on the land until the spring.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Week 10, Marlborough School
November 15, 2011
Stake your claim!
To prep for today I brought 24- 36ft sections of twine; 24 wooden stakes, numbered in sharpie; and 24 copies of the deed terms from the big white Village guide book. We began by talking a little bit about the Homestead Act of 1862 and how our game models this distribution of land. We read through the deed agreement, line by line making sure everyone understood the expectations and responsibilities that accompany the boundary string. When all of the students had signed on we headed out to the acre.
Armed will stakes and twine, 22 kids charged into the forest! It was not unlike the cover scene from The Last of the Mohicans. The rest of the period was spent staking claim to mini acres of land. Some kids chose land simply because they liked the property. Others chose to claim land near friends. While others had some politics at work and encouraged their class mates to claim all in one area for the purpose of establishing a stronger clan.
When we went back inside, one student was very concerned (to the point of hostility) that anyone would claim land near the "river". His point of view wasn't really shared though, those that chose wet land defended their choice by stating that their home might hang from a tree or that it might be built on stilts.
Today's class went very smoothly. No one fell in the stream and no one got hurt. All in all I think the kids are quite happy with their land choices. We did find some old barbed wire in the forest, I will be revisiting the acre before next class to clear it.
The custodian said that we could borrow rakes, so next week we'll set up fences and clean up our land.
Stake your claim!
To prep for today I brought 24- 36ft sections of twine; 24 wooden stakes, numbered in sharpie; and 24 copies of the deed terms from the big white Village guide book. We began by talking a little bit about the Homestead Act of 1862 and how our game models this distribution of land. We read through the deed agreement, line by line making sure everyone understood the expectations and responsibilities that accompany the boundary string. When all of the students had signed on we headed out to the acre.
Armed will stakes and twine, 22 kids charged into the forest! It was not unlike the cover scene from The Last of the Mohicans. The rest of the period was spent staking claim to mini acres of land. Some kids chose land simply because they liked the property. Others chose to claim land near friends. While others had some politics at work and encouraged their class mates to claim all in one area for the purpose of establishing a stronger clan.
When we went back inside, one student was very concerned (to the point of hostility) that anyone would claim land near the "river". His point of view wasn't really shared though, those that chose wet land defended their choice by stating that their home might hang from a tree or that it might be built on stilts.
Today's class went very smoothly. No one fell in the stream and no one got hurt. All in all I think the kids are quite happy with their land choices. We did find some old barbed wire in the forest, I will be revisiting the acre before next class to clear it.
The custodian said that we could borrow rakes, so next week we'll set up fences and clean up our land.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Week 9, Marlborough School
November 8, 2011
Stringing up a town
Today's class was visited by Margaret, Owen, Pari and Mr. PeepT. While we waited for our guests to arrive we had a brief discussion about our town meeting last week. Namely, what do we do now that we have clans? How is this going to work? Several students commented that they didn't really like the idea, it will be too complicated. The originator of the clan system let us know that each clan would have their own government and rules. With the clan system, peeps would be expected to attend town meeting with their clan as well as the general town meeting with the whole village. Hmmmm... extra meetings? This plan is losing popularity rapidly.
After Margaret and Owen joined us we split the group in two. Those who wanted an opportunity to work on peeps stayed inside and also helped our guests with some peep interviews. The rest of the group went out to string up the "bog" acre that we selected last week. I passed out the eight 100ft sections of string and twelve kids ran in as many directions... the only guidance I gave them was to not unravel the whole piece of string in one spot and that all of the pieces would need to tie together. At the end of half an hour we had claimed our land! It has a few dead trees lying on their side, a nice rock wall, a "river", some wetlands and plenty of forest for everyone! We rejoined the indoor group and had a brief conversation about the clans again. The majority of the class would like to stake their claim next week, claiming land is kind of complicated with the potential clan separations, a few would like to hash out the clans and government instead. It will be interesting to see how peep land choices effect the clan situation.
The plan for next week will be to string up mini acres and begin fencing in the land. If it is raining or freezing we will try to figure out this government.
As we haven't collected or painted any rocks for property markers, I need to remember to bring some numbered sticks in next week to identify individual lots with.
Stringing up a town
Today's class was visited by Margaret, Owen, Pari and Mr. PeepT. While we waited for our guests to arrive we had a brief discussion about our town meeting last week. Namely, what do we do now that we have clans? How is this going to work? Several students commented that they didn't really like the idea, it will be too complicated. The originator of the clan system let us know that each clan would have their own government and rules. With the clan system, peeps would be expected to attend town meeting with their clan as well as the general town meeting with the whole village. Hmmmm... extra meetings? This plan is losing popularity rapidly.
After Margaret and Owen joined us we split the group in two. Those who wanted an opportunity to work on peeps stayed inside and also helped our guests with some peep interviews. The rest of the group went out to string up the "bog" acre that we selected last week. I passed out the eight 100ft sections of string and twelve kids ran in as many directions... the only guidance I gave them was to not unravel the whole piece of string in one spot and that all of the pieces would need to tie together. At the end of half an hour we had claimed our land! It has a few dead trees lying on their side, a nice rock wall, a "river", some wetlands and plenty of forest for everyone! We rejoined the indoor group and had a brief conversation about the clans again. The majority of the class would like to stake their claim next week, claiming land is kind of complicated with the potential clan separations, a few would like to hash out the clans and government instead. It will be interesting to see how peep land choices effect the clan situation.
The plan for next week will be to string up mini acres and begin fencing in the land. If it is raining or freezing we will try to figure out this government.
As we haven't collected or painted any rocks for property markers, I need to remember to bring some numbered sticks in next week to identify individual lots with.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Week 8, Marlborough School
November 1, 2011
Naming the town, discussing government
The original plan for today was to continue scouting for land and string up the acre for our village. Mother nature had her own plan and sent us about two feet of snow over the weekend. As many students did not have snow boots I decided to keep the class inside and have our first official town meeting. Ostar was selected as moderator without an interview as she was the only one who applied for the job and had previous experience.
The first item on the agenda was choosing a town name. Before we got started we glossed over parliamentary procedure and the role of moderator. Many names were submitted for consideration. The group moved in fairly rapid order and narrowed the nominations down to: PizzaHut, Miniborough, and Tiny Town. A vote was called and Tiny Town won!
Next on the agenda was government. This discussion began with a few seasoned villagers suggesting a representative democracy with three select peeps. It was suggested that we could select one peep from each grade to have better representation. At this suggestion the seasoned villagers sort of withdrew their motion. Another villager suggested direct democracy, in which everyone has the option to be a part of our legislative process. Anarchy, tyranny, Free State and the Mafia were also suggested. There was much discussion about possible benefits and disadvantages of all of the different governing types the students had suggested. Ultimately the seasoned villagers came up with another proposal to split the village up into three clans, each clan will live within a designated land area of the village and have their own rules and government. It was moved to a vote between Free State, direct democracy, select peeps, and three clans. The three clans proposal passed. Discussion ensued as to the next step. Divide into the clans? Name the clans? Maybe we should select our land first? The group moved to vote on the land for the village. They chose between the woods, the bog and the river. The bog won with ten votes. We moved back to the discussion of clans and what that might mean for everyone. Morton suggested they have three clans plus one neutral clan. Danny offered that the clans were really too confusing, what happens when you leave your clan's land? Do you follow the other clans rules? How do you know where the boundaries are? The discussion became a little heated at this point, a motion was made to have a thinking corner for those speaking out of turn. "I second that emotion!" Three strikes and you're out to the thinking corner. This measure passed unanimously. We next moved onto naming the clans and this is where we left it because the bell rang. I wonder what will happen next week?
Naming the town, discussing government
The original plan for today was to continue scouting for land and string up the acre for our village. Mother nature had her own plan and sent us about two feet of snow over the weekend. As many students did not have snow boots I decided to keep the class inside and have our first official town meeting. Ostar was selected as moderator without an interview as she was the only one who applied for the job and had previous experience.
The first item on the agenda was choosing a town name. Before we got started we glossed over parliamentary procedure and the role of moderator. Many names were submitted for consideration. The group moved in fairly rapid order and narrowed the nominations down to: PizzaHut, Miniborough, and Tiny Town. A vote was called and Tiny Town won!
Next on the agenda was government. This discussion began with a few seasoned villagers suggesting a representative democracy with three select peeps. It was suggested that we could select one peep from each grade to have better representation. At this suggestion the seasoned villagers sort of withdrew their motion. Another villager suggested direct democracy, in which everyone has the option to be a part of our legislative process. Anarchy, tyranny, Free State and the Mafia were also suggested. There was much discussion about possible benefits and disadvantages of all of the different governing types the students had suggested. Ultimately the seasoned villagers came up with another proposal to split the village up into three clans, each clan will live within a designated land area of the village and have their own rules and government. It was moved to a vote between Free State, direct democracy, select peeps, and three clans. The three clans proposal passed. Discussion ensued as to the next step. Divide into the clans? Name the clans? Maybe we should select our land first? The group moved to vote on the land for the village. They chose between the woods, the bog and the river. The bog won with ten votes. We moved back to the discussion of clans and what that might mean for everyone. Morton suggested they have three clans plus one neutral clan. Danny offered that the clans were really too confusing, what happens when you leave your clan's land? Do you follow the other clans rules? How do you know where the boundaries are? The discussion became a little heated at this point, a motion was made to have a thinking corner for those speaking out of turn. "I second that emotion!" Three strikes and you're out to the thinking corner. This measure passed unanimously. We next moved onto naming the clans and this is where we left it because the bell rang. I wonder what will happen next week?
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