All Part of the Plan (Mr. D)

I wasn't planning to write a blog this week. But I needed to share a magical experience from yesterday afternoon with you all. It's a quintessential DGS experience, pure magic, and not something that can happen just anywhere. And, it was also unplanned….

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I went outside around 2 o'clock because the Middle Schoolers were on the soccer field, in the midst of testing for their latest engineering challenge:  "launching" gummy bears across a 20-foot expanse to land "safely" in a 6'x6' square… right side up! A Mr. Ed original and not an easy challenge to complete. But, it's so much fun watching the students showcase their unique solutions—from ziplines, to frisbees, and more. Yet that wasn't the magic moment I'm writing about. That began as I was watching, and an Upper El student called for my attention.

"Mr. Derek?" she called from the Primary porch, standing with a friend.

I turned to face the girls, curious about what had brought them to Primary's porch. After a brief exchange, they allowed me to finish watching the latest zipline attempt by one of the Middle School groups, and then I joined the two UE students on the Primary porch. 

"What can I help with?" I asked. 

The two girls explained their task. As part of Ms. Emily's Sustainability class, the students were currently off in pairs exploring the nature around them–around the Dome, the driveway, the garden beds–and trying to identify what they found. These two found a moth. And it was a cool-looking moth: white, fluffy head, and black spots. One of the girls described it like a dalmation, which was perfect.

They wanted to know what kind of moth it was. That's what they were asking me for help with. But, I knew of someone better for that job….

If you're not aware, Ms. Jennifer Stallings (our lead teacher in Primary) has become somewhat of a caterpillar, moth, butterfly, ladybug connaisseur/collector—my label : ). See the blog she posted yesterday as proof! She's not a collector for the purpose of collecting, but to discover what those caterpillars and larvae will turn into, and to provide this authentic experience for the Primary class. She's really curious about it, and her excitement for it is infectious. What moth or butterfly are we going to get from this caterpillar? She has these netted enclosures with pots in them, where caterpillars can make a home. The kids (and Ms. Jennifer) get to watch the growth process throughout the year, and hopefully witness the unveiling at the end. However, this passion and curiosity have extended beyond the Primary group. And we're now getting to the magic.

I went into the Primary class to see if Ms. Jennifer was available to help us identify the moth. Not because I couldn't Google it or pull out an app myself, but because she loves this. Her passion and joy for this area were more important to tap into than for me to simply provide these girls with an answer.

With genuine enthusiasm, Ms. Jennifer came outside, bringing the entire Kindergarten group with her, to investigate. Then, she got her computer and showed the girls from Upper El how she googles a description to find pictures, hopefully to identify the moth. At this point, Ms. Jennifer is on the porch, the Kindergartners around her, and a couple of Upper El students as well.

Then! Yes, there's more. 

As they are identifying this moth, a Lower El student comes up to the porch. He and a couple of other students from the LE group were taking out the class garbage and recycling. In the process, this boy found a caterpillar. He came running over to the porch to share this news with Ms. Jennifer, unaware of what was already happening. She paused her Google searching momentarily and gave him a basket to try to collect the caterpillar. He ran off to do that.

Back to identifying the moth! The girls from Upper El got their answer, writing it on their clipboards, just as our Lower El friend came back to the porch with a new caterpillar. They all "ooohed" and "ahhed" as they investigated this new friend and then followed with curiosity and excitement as Ms. Jennifer added the new caterpillar to one of her "caterpillar hotels."

At this moment, this magical moment, there were Kindergartners, Lower El students, and Upper El students all fully engrossed in their curiosity, encouraged to follow it, feeling their curiosity rewarded, and all learning something together. Yes, Kindergartners through 5th graders learning something together. And, just across the driveway, the Middle School group was immersed in their activity, encouraging their friends through successes and through failures (and there could be a whole other blog about how amazing they were). 

It was a special moment. And I thought, where else does this happen? Where else could it happen? Authentically and naturally, and often? Because here at DGS, experiences like this happen all the time. It's not something new. But I'm sharing it because it just struck me so deeply in that moment how amazing this place is. How unique DGS is.

And perhaps the most interesting thing about this whole unplanned moment is that it actually is all part of the plan. These moments transpire because we want them to, because we think they should. They're not forced, but they happen because of how we do things here, because of who we are, what we encourage, and what we believe in.

We talk about how we foster curiosity and build problem-solving skills, and we discuss the importance of multi-age classrooms and the special connections our older students have with our younger students. We talk about our passionate teachers, about developing and modeling a love of learning. We talk about all of this. And here was a moment, a brief snapshot of a sunny DGS afternoon, that highlights everything all at once. It's a beautiful showcase of what learning should look like and what it does look like here. And I hope it gives you all, as it did for me, a deeper awareness of and appreciation for how the plan all comes together here at DGS.

Have a great weekend,

Mr. D