“They are out of control.”

It’s the phrase I hear often when we all gather to talk about our experiences at the schools. Right now we’re taking a course, Field Study Seminar, which among other things gives us the opportunity to “observe” one school over 6 different observation periods (all in the morning). We all observed different municipal (public) school in Santiago…some of us observed high school and others elementary schools (which includes k-8th grade).

I observed at an elementary school, mostly k-3rd grade classroom rooms (since that’s the age I’m hoping to work with). The school has a large population of students from Ecuador, Argentina, Peru. I’m frustrated with the monotony of the class. From first to third grade the students sit in rows, copy down the assignment on the board, complete the assignment, wait for everyone to finish it…and then repeat.

They have a break almost every hour and they literally run out of the classroom. Some stay in the hallways, others go to the courtyard. There are usually two adults in the center of the courtyard. Occasionally they blow their whistle and tell some kid to stop doing something, but mostly the kids are own their own. The teachers go to the staff room and drink tea and chat. It’s fascinating to watch what happens when “no one” is looking. They are constantly fighting…but I have yet to see someone get seriously hurt or cry. Both parties seem to smile as they bother the other person. I think this free time, really gives them the opportunity to release their energy from being cooped up in a classroom for the past hour. And since no one seems to “get in trouble” during this time…they do what they want to be doing---yelling, screaming, bothering their friend by poking him continuously---they’re being kids. I like watching that.  And I’m pretty sure that these kids aren’t “out of control.” I think they actually know exactly what they are doing…they are playing. Different from the U.S. where behavior is constantly being watched and “disciplined”…so as to make our “out of controlled” kids “controlled.”

I don’t think they release all of their energy during this break (but I’m not sure if a 10 year should be completely calm after 10 minutes of running around). So they enter back into their classrooms to return to their work.

They practice pseudo inclusion here. Students with all types of abilities (with many exceptions…I have yet to see students with intellectual disabilities…I’m not sure where they hide these kids in Chile) are put in the same classroom. They are all given the same assignment to do. The ones that finish it first…well, finish it first and wait. The ones that don’t finish it…well, don’t finish it. All of the kids often get out of their seats…talk to a friend…start poking their neighbor until their neighbor starts poking them…or organize their fellow peers backpacks (I like watching this kid the most)…eventually some part of the work/assignment is completed and the teacher calls for their attention. I have rarely heard a teacher yell here.

The classrooms here challenge me to think about what type of classroom I’d like to help create. We are taught that order, silence, discipline is good…and chaos, loud noises…movement is bad. What if it was the other way around? What if we expected classrooms to have lots of noise…what if it was okay to run in the hallways…what if it was okay to interrupt your teacher…what if the students, as a class, decided when they wanted recess or when they wanted to have math class outside…what if every time a kid poked another kid, the teacher didn’t yell at the poker…the teacher instead just watched them figure it out (and if it lead to more poking…that’d be okay too)…what if kids could walk around during class…

I don’t think these kids…the kids I’ve been observing are “out of control.” I think they are just challenging all of us to think of a new way to look at education.