The methods of educating our youth has drastically changed over the years. Today’s learning is taking on a much more hands on approach and thinking way ahead into the future instead of the curriculum of the day. Students are starting to think at much younger ages of what they want to be when they grow up and the decisions of what classes they should then take while in school start at very young grades.
Prairie Waters Elementary School has started an initiative that is allowing students to spend time with outside professionals in the community. Having conversations about the professions and the education that got them there – basically a first-hand peek into the world beyond the school years.
On Friday November 20th, grade 5 students at Prairie Waters had this experience during their lunch break. Mentors arrived, selected a table and then forty students joined them and were randomly directed to a table. Each group consisted of one adult mentor and 3-4 students and within minutes of the introductions, deep conversations could be heard.
This initiative came from the hard work and dedication of Prairie Waters second grade teach Amber Mrak. As she watched the conversations happen, tears welled in her eyes as this was exactly everything she hoped this program would be. Mrak shared with us how this concept came to be.
“Last year I got accepted into a RVS (Rocky View Schools) Fellowship. This fellowship allowed a team of us to go to a school in San Francisco (Brightworks) to observe. Among many of their wonderful innovations and initiatives, they had what was called “Community Fridays”. A day dedicated for students and community members to connect, build/foster relationships.
That was something that really resonated with me and something I wanted to scale to work at PWES. During our School Ed Plan creation last spring, we talked about our goal of building and fostering community relationships. Our vision is to have a revolving door of community and school-one that works on give/take, not just the school taking. We want to break down the walls of our school and get community in on a regular basis. Imagine how powerful the voice of our students would be, if we started connected with community members and these skills as early as Preschool or Kinder?”
Mrak explained that the goals of this program are to build social skills , work on self-introductions (shaking hands, clear speaking voice and eye contact), get students comfortable connecting with adults in a clear and confident manner and to build their confidence.
Some of the adults that participated in this round of the event were Scott Dry, Gillian Parmar, Jennifer Massig, Tommy Fleger, Mo Speidel, Dwight Mervold and David Petrovich. Mr. Petrovich is the Economic Development Officer for the City of Chestermere and said that he loved his time spent with the students and was extremely impressed with the maturity and intelligence that the students showed.
“I was inspired to participate for a number of reasons. My sons never had the opportunity to have adults talk to them in this fashion and I always found that they had a gap in their knowledge base making it more difficult for them to adapt to a business-like attitude. I was excited that I would help the children understand the larger world, the world they will eventually become part of; including, some of what the City does for the residents in return for the residents paying taxes. Finally, I wanted to give back to the teachers who so often go above and beyond their duties”.
As these bright students are our future community leaders, Petrovich commented, “Specific to economic development, this format teaches children that business owners are people who need and receive support. Those children that remember our discussion may be more likely to start a business knowing that support is available”.
The students that participated had a hard time wanting to end the lunch time session as they were so engaged and soaking up everything they were learning. Some of them commented on the schools grade 5 blog saying things like:
“I think our conversation went amazing because we talked most of the time about community and their job. Something that I learned was about a new job that is called economic developer the economic like the person or like the way you do it. Developer like the making or the maker. HG”
“I think my conversation skills were great because I had good eye contact and stood up when I shook Mrs. Crawfords hand. I also think my conversation skills were good because I also stood up and shook her hand when we had to leave and lunch was over. LS”
“What I learned about the community is that Mr. Dry loves to do alarm systems and I learned that maybe the community might need another expert like me and he told us that winter is the best time that people like to break into other people’s houses. Bonus fact: Also Mr. Dry offered me a job as an alarm work plus he gave me a business card! LD”
This is the second Lunch Box Talks that has been held at Prairie Waters Elementary and the next day is already full of community members wanting to participate. |My grade 2 class started it off in October, two grade 5 class hosted in November and a grade 5 and grade 2 class is set up for December”, said Mrak.
The schools also has dates selected for every month, January to May. The January 22 event is already taking names. If you would like to participate, you can email Amber Mrak at amrak@rockyview.ab.ca
