Last week I had the joy of working with year two and three pupils training to become primary and early years teachers at the University of the West of England in Bristol. The day started fresh and cold with a brief introduction by myself and the diverse projects I've been lucky to run; highlighting that in many ways I am in a very similar position to themselves with respect to learning the craft of working with primary aged pupils.
After initially gathering an understanding of their expectations of the session and what they understood the concept of Storywalks to be, we then journeyed into the wild woods of Bristol in both heart and mind, straddling the line between fact and fiction as Storywalks can do so very well.
I had prepped up two tales, one for the morning and another for the afternoon, each with different strengths and target audiences, but we started with The Forest Tree King and found ourselves comparing our favourite leaves on the woodland floor just five minutes from the UWE campus.
I insisted that we take it in turns to read the narrative and as they were all training to become teachers I knew there would be no shortage of competent readers. Usually the first chapter to this tale is read by myself or the leading teacher then the pupils take it in turns reading to their small group so all get a chance to read.
During the narrative I was also able to reflect on the language used inside the story, how one character could use mathematical words like symmetrical and balanced while and another could use translucent. There was much debate within the story on the winner of each round followed by an analysis of why this task was useful learning.
On return to the classroom on both morning and afternoon sessions we pulled the story apart in much the same way I do with KS1 and KS2 pupils, followed by a work shop developing new characters and story to sew into the storyline. There was also a discussion on how this could and should be integrated into current schemes of work rather than be a modular add on.
There was also a debate about outdoor learning really suiting specific learner profiles with anecdotal evidence of individual pupils who'd hardly uttered in class but once outside they really blossomed as if the physicality of the classroom environment was a learning inhibitor. I wonder if step changes were made to their education after this blossoming or did the classroom suppress them once again when back inside?
As educators I believe we must try to observe and quantify this if it's at all possible and it also questions what research has already been garnered by Forest Schools or similar in this area.
The day was especially interesting to me and has really engaged a new depth of thought regarding the possible potential of Storywalks in education. I was honoured to be invited to the University and champion both Storywalks and my literacy practice, it was great to see how the pupils were itching to integrate these works somehow into their future practice and I really hope to facilitate this in the future.
