Chapter 5 The School Curriculum Making of Ji-Sook and Brent

Abstract

As the bell rang, sounding the beginning of the school day, Ji-Sook (Elizabeth) entered the classroom, her pink tweed coat and mittens still frosty from the snow outside. This was Ji-Sook's second year of school in Canada and her first year at Streamside School. She really liked it here and loved her teacher, Ms. Song Lee. Ms. Lee was always sharing stories with the class about her experiences growing up in another country as well as her arrival to Canada and growing up in small towns where Ms. Lee was often the only Chinese person in her school. Listening to Ms. Lee's stories helped Ji-Sook think about Korea and her family there.Removing her coat, Ji-Sook moved quickly to hang it up, her dark curly bobbed hair bouncing as she skipped. Her newly permed hair felt different, but she liked the way it looked. Today Ji-Sook was wearing a favourite outfit, a knitted sweater with a matching plaid skirt. After hanging up her coat, Ji-Sook turned to face the class and noticed that along with her teacher, Ms. Lee, was Ms. Mitton and Ms. Simmee. Ji-Sook was surprised to see Ms. Mitton and Ms. Simmee at school on a Tuesday morning for they usually came in the afternoon. She greeted them happily and took another close look around the room for Ms. Jean. Ji-Sook asked Ms. Mitton where Ms. Jean was; Ms. Mitton smiled and reminded Ji-Sook that Ms. Jean would be coming Wednesday afternoon. Ji-Sook remembered to ask if Ms. Mitton would read with her during shared reading time.Ji-Sook knew it was going to be a very special day. Yesterday afternoon Ms. Lee had reminded the children that in the morning they were to begin a wonderful art project and create their own Starry Night paintings. Quickly Ji-Sook removed the book about Van Gogh, which discussed his Starry Night painting, from her backpack and, before everyone was seated, showed Ms. Lee and Ms. Simmee her book from home. The night before, she and her mother had spent time reading the book aloud. Ji-Sook felt it was much easier to read aloud in Korean than in English. Today's art lesson was out of the ordinary for she loved being able to bring things from home that fit with what they were learning in the classroom. And today was very special.Before going to her desk, Ji-Sook retrieved the poetry book that had a picture of a boy peering over the end of a sidewalk,¹ Ji-Sook hurried to her desk and sat down and waited for Ms. Mitton to join her for reading. Seated with three of her classmates at a table composed of 4 desks, she smiled at Nathan, Grace, and Dana. There was so much to be excited about as she knew that after school today there were parent teacher interviews. Ji-Sook knew her mother was not working at the deli shop and was going to come to the interviews with their neighbour who would translate for her. Ji-Sook so loved it when her mother came to school. Once Ms. Mitton arrived, she and Ji-Sook spent a few minutes reading aloud together before Ms. Mitton went to join Ji-Sook's friend, Hailey, who had also asked Ms. Mitton to read with her. Ji-Sook continued to read and look at the drawings in this wonderful book.Adjusting her headset and microphone, Ms. Lee asked Ella, the class's ‘star-of-the-week’, to tap on the desks of each group to indicate that they were to come to the sharing area. Ji-Sook waited excitedly for Ella to tap her group's desks and then she hurriedly joined Grace, Nathan, Dana, and the rest of her classmates on the foam mats by the picture window. Ms. Lee began the art lesson by showing examples of Starry Night paintings completed by the students she had taught last year. Ms. Lee then shared the rubric with which Ji-Sook and her friends could assess their paintings. Ji-Sook knew that Ms. Lee worked with Mrs. D, the other Grade 3 teacher, and that students in both classes would be making the paintings. Once Ms. Lee finished explaining the steps of their art lesson, she asked Ji-Sook if she would like to come and share the book she brought from home.Sitting at the front of the class in Ms. Lee's chair and wearing her microphone, Ji-Sook read aloud from the book. The book was in Korean and Ji-Sook scanned each page quickly before explaining to the class bits and pieces about Van Gogh's life. Ji-Sook, reading from her book, explained that Van Gogh cut off his ear because he couldn’t draw his own portrait properly. Ms. Lee later returned to this detail and asked about how this piece of information in Ji-Sook's book was different from what they had previously read about the artist. The children remembered that Van Gogh cut off his ear for a woman he loved and had offered his ear as a gift to her. Ms. Lee asked the class to think about these two different pieces of information. Following this question Ms. Lee asked what the children might do to ensure the information they found was accurate. Logan suggested that reading many sources would help.Ms. Lee then drew the children's attention to Ji-Sook and said that as Ji-Sook read she was doing two things at the same time. She asked the class what they thought she was doing. Mya suggested Ji-Sook was reading and then talking. Picking up on Mya's point, Ms. Lee emphasized that Ji-Sook was reading in Korean first and then translating what she read into English. Ms. Lee asked Ji-Sook if she would like to read aloud in Korean. Ji-Sook momentarily hesitated but responded with a smile when her classmates encouraged her. Ji-Sook read one page aloud. She read quickly and the rhythm of how she read aloud in Korean sounded very different from her reading skills in English.Paper and crayons were distributed. Ji-Sook, Grace, Nathan, and Dana were quiet as they began their Starry Night paintings. Looking over the rubric that Ms. Lee had explained, Ji-Sook understood the first step today was to plan the sky and landscape of her painting. She knew the sky was to be about 2/3 of the paper and that everything she drew was to be in small dashes. It was important for the sky of her painting to look like it was moving. Ji-Sook was aware of Ms. Lee moving about the classroom, helping her classmates check, whether or not, the sky in their paintings was approximately the right size. As everyone worked, Ji-Sook heard Ms. Lee remind the class to press hard with their crayons so that the paint would have something to cling to as it dried. Taking Ms. Lee's advice seriously, Ji-Sook pressed firmly each time her crayons touched the paper, and soon her right arm grew tired. Ji-Sook now had a better idea about what Ms. Lee meant by this art project taking a long time to complete. (Interim research text based on field notes,² November 21, 2006)

Citation

Huber, J., Shaun Murphy, M. and Jean Clandinin, D. (2011), "Chapter 5 The School Curriculum Making of Ji-Sook and Brent", Huber, J., Shaun Murphy, M. and Jean Clandinin, D. (Ed.) Places of Curriculum Making (Advances in Research on Teaching, Vol. 14), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 69-90. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-3687(2011)0000014007