New York City is looking to follow some guidelines that were put in place during the 1918 pandemic by bringing instruction to the streets of New York. Schools with outdoor spaces in the form of gardens and lawns or parking lots will be able to set up outside instruction. Streets in front of schools without such access will have the streets around their perimeters closed during the school day to allow for outdoor learning spaces to be installed.
Taking students outside to learn is nothing new and may be a wonderful alternate to the cramped, and sometimes poorly maintained environments of NYC public schools many of which are over 100 years old. I taught in a building like that many years ago in Queens. It was there I realized that my students might receive a better education is I got them out of that building and opened them to the wonders and discoveries they could explore in the greater New York City. Once a month we would all take a subway ride into Manhattan to do just that. Each of these Fourth Grade students was equipped with a subway map so they could determine the journey over bridges and rivers and through tunnels passing through various boroughs as we made our way to some destination like a museum or library or park.
I learned this technique as a young assistant teacher in the first summer of Head Start. The master teacher I supported would take the students for a walk every morning to explore some aspect of their neighborhood in Ocean Hill Brownsville. This was in the middle of the riots mind you in 1967. We visited florists, bakers, mechanics and street pavers to learn about their trades and how they contributed to the neighborhood. We bought food at the local market for lunch as the children learned to understand and manage the costs. We talked to people on the street and learned about the community. Oh, by the way Jesus and Moses both were in this class.
Later as a Vista worker in the Rockaways, our task was to transform an old Victorian beach house into a community center. With the help of the children, parents and neighbors in this community we made the building a show place. The beach was our playground and we would take walks in the afternoon and gather treasures found in the sand. We were visited on one of these walks by our program supervisor, an Assembly Woman from the area. Upon questioning the children about the ocean and bay that surrounded them she marveled at how little they knew about their surroundings. “These children must lean about their environment.” This became her mission. Five years later Beach Channel High School of Oceanography was built in coordination with the area becoming Gateway National Park the first Urban National Park in the system. The children of this community would be taken out on boats into Jamaica Bay to learn ways to save and protect their environment.
Taking children outside to learn might be a great way for them to better understand, appreciate and maneuver through their world.
