So there are all kinds of ways to integrate textile arts into the curriculum.
Metis Finger Weaving
Last semester, I was teaching Metis finger weaving to grade two classes. This brought First People’s principles of learning into math and in some ways made the math part of the activity incidental to the social studies part. The math was essential, but it was activated from prior learning as it was modelled in the example, then applied during a guided process and eventually subsumed into the weaving process as just one step of dancing hands and strings.
As an aside, I think I would modify the S.T.A.R. method to something more intuitive for kids. I didn’t actually follow the steps of the STAR method because arrange and regroup are not enactive words for grade two students. The STAR method actually used arrange to mean make your pattern and regroup to mean put everything nice and tidy back in front of you. I shifted to using the terms to mean make sure everything is flat and not twisted and then make your pattern. It’s not that I think kids shouldn’t learn difficult vocabulary, but that the arbitrary vocabulary used to support learning should be a closer signifier to the process, since its purpose is to trigger the next step.
STAR Method My Adaptation S.T.E.P (because we do it one step at a time)
- S Select S Select
- T Travel T Travel
- A Arrange E Everything flat
- R Regroup P Pattern
Shannon ______ said she would be able to bring in her Metis scarf to show the kids at the school. We tried to find a way to make that happen earlier, but it didn’t come to fruition. So this will be a really good way to authenticate the experience for the grade 2 classes at Queen Elizabeth Elementary.
Core Competencies
Anything to do with design is a fabulous way to help students figure out and progress in creative and critical thinking, personal and social responsibility and communication. My earlier reflection on my cardboard weaving shows that I was trying to move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset
If I were teaching this lesson to children and wanted to focus on growth mindset, I would probably start with an “I can…” statement. For example, “I can explore ways to add different materials into cardboard weaving without worrying about making mistakes.” Then I would have the students reflect by deciding where they fit on this scale: “a bit like me” “quite like me” or “very much like me.”
After the exercise, they could reflect again and see if they had grown. This kind of goal setting fits under personal.
If I wanted to take an inquiry approach, I would pose an essential question. Maybe this one “How can I use cardboard weaving to explore ways to put different materials together to create a unified project?”
This activates their creative and critical thinking as they select materials, examine how they go together, ideate different designs and edit down to one that they think follows strong design principles. As a support person during the exploration, I can further the learning by doing mini lessons on things like design principles, but I expect some of them would have already figured it out during their exploration and so it would be much more relevant to them.
Other cool things
Digital math with weaving
https://theconversation.com/indigenous-basket-weaving-makes-an-excellent-digital-math-lesson-110094