The Values of Learning Outside of School

The Values of Learning Outside of School

Upon reaching the old church, a familiar feeling came over me. It was like going back through time to when I was about nine or ten years old. I started to remember when I had attended an after school program. Prior to this event, I had not been back to a children’s organization in over eight years and nothing had really changed. I noticed that still no one was doing their homework or even wanted to talk about school. I was very nervous about going because I didn’t know how the kids would react to new faces, but now I was starting to remember what kids were like. I was extremely happy to find all the smiling faces when I entered the building. Once I began to know more of the kids, I tried to gather them to do some learning activities. None of them wanted to do anything even close to schoolwork. I saw that they liked dancing so I asked them if they wanted to learn a routine. I found that I was giving the children a chance to learn independently.

I found that many of the children were practicing the routine on their own. They tried to remember each step by remembering what I had named the step. What I really liked about this experience was that the kids look up to me as a role model and that made me feel a lot more mature. As I walked around, I found myself being called upon from every direction. I had never worked that close with children before, and it was one of the best experiences I ever had. I felt like I was helping the children in doing something productive. I didn’t expect to see the children wanting to learn anything after school hours. I guess this explains a little of Paulo Friere saying, “The teacher’s thinking is authenticated only by the authenticity of the student’s thinking. The teacher cannot think for his students, nor can he impose his thought on them.” If the students didn’t find the activity interesting they wouldn’t want to learn and therefore would not continue to try to learn what I had taught them after I was finished.

I guess that learning can be done in or out of school. The subject that is to be learned must be appealing. If it isn’t, then the teacher must find a way for the learning process to get students interested. I believe that the students will now come back to me wanting to learn more. On my last visit, some were still showing me what they had remembered. In the weeks I have remaining, I plan to teach them more to help them to do some more independent learning each Thursday.