Going to school can be scary for some children. There can be an innumerable amount of reasons for this, however, reason aside, it is obvious that being scared to go to school is bad for student learning. In grade three I was defiantly one of those kids, seeing that I was transferring schools, going to a new place with new people I had never met before. Adding to this was the fact that the language of instruction was changing from French to English, meaning that I would need to learn to write in a whole new language. To my third-grade self, this transition seemed very daunting.

Thankfully I moved to a school that had great staff and a less strict educational style than my previous school. My teacher Ms. Dodge, liked to focus on tactile learning as a major part of her curriculum. For me, this was great as these projects allowed me to show my strengths and make friends in the classroom. For me, the most memorable of Ms. Dodge’s many projects was the “Pig Hour” project. In this project, each student would set to work on constructing a paper-mâché piggy bank made out of a balloon for structure, cups for feet/ nose, and newspaper with flower water acting as the glue to hold the whole thing together. This project took the entire second half of the year to complete, leaving us with a final product of a giant pink piggy bank.

For me this project was amazing! It gave me an opportunity to relax and see myself as a skilled equal to my peers. For me, this was great, given the fact that I was struggling with most other subjects. For once my classmates would come to ask ME questions or talk to the teacher about sitting with me for art time. As the year went on, I became really good friends with many people in my class, leading to a renewed feeling of confidence in myself, and school in general. I ended my grade three year feeling really good about myself. I had lots of friends, and English was becoming easier to write and learn in. Although I battled with my spelling for the remainder of primary school, I feel that the “Pig Hour” project and Ms. Dodges tactile approach set me up for future success.

If I were to chose an analogy to sum up my grade three year, I would say it’s a balloon. In our pig project, we started with a balloon filled with air. Weeks and weeks of work covered that balloon in countless layers of newsprint transforming it into something strong and durable. Much in the same way that the balloon was strengthened by patient cutting and pasting, I feel that I was strengthened by the slow and gentle learning process that I received in covering the balloon. Because of this, I feel that the balloon and I were almost molding each other to be something more than we currently were. If that’s not how a student should feel about their work, I don’t know what is!