Friday, May 25, 2012

Appropriate learning


I love this part of the school cycle.  The kids know what to do.  Some are anxious to cox and they're good at it.  If the wind and tide are right I'll let them dock.  My job is to pull my oar.  My question to the cox once we leave the dock is "What do you want to do?"

Some want me to challenge them.  Some challenge themselves, picking hard targets and not using the tiller.  I'll often suggest we come along side one of the growing number of boats on their moorings.  Ask me intelligent questions.  What is the hauler used for in a lobster boat?  Why is a trimaran designed with three hulls?  Why is that boat a sloop and that one a schooner?  What does radar do on a boat?

The kids are peppered with random nautical facts.  I don't know how much of it they'll remember, but I'm always delighted when, weeks or months or years later, one of those random facts comes back to me in conversation.  The youth of the coast of Maine are learning about the coast of Maine.  All is right with the world.

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