The City Curriculum

The City Curriculum
By
Tarsha Semakula

Instead of pouring knowledge into people’s heads, you need to help them grind a new set of eyeglasses, so they can see the world in a new way
-John Seely Brown

So, what is your curriculum? This is the question that is usually asked when I tell folk that I homeschool C. Breezy. …I create my own. I am more of an eclectic unschooler. I find ways to reach my daughter via inspiration, her interests, and the jewels that we find along the way as we canvass, the city.

The essence of intelligence is skill in extracting meaning from everyday experience
–Unknown

Sure, I checked out the state standards in regards to assisting me with the subject matter. I used the standards as a back drop to what C. Breezy and I needed to accomplish for the school year, then I moved on.

It’s off to the city. There’s our usual jaunt to Brooklyn’s Central Library. Last week, we went there to research info about creating pie charts to compare the economy of each of New York City’s five boroughs. There’s the geography lesson that compliments our jaunt. We map out our route from central Harlem to Brooklyn, survey the subway maps, and plan out our strategy. We take the one train from 137th and Broadway and transfer to the two train at 96th street. We know once we get to Brooklyn, we’re gonna cop us some beef patties and coco bread.

The library was built to resemble a huge open book. The inside is filled with three floors of texts. On the second floor there’s a room stuffed with wifi users. We usually park ourselves in there. Before we make it to the wifi room, we check out the exhibits that the library has ongoing. Currently, in the library’s grand lobby is an exhibit by artist Lucille Nurske titled “ Beautiful Brooklyn- Collages that celebrate the city.” I’m inspired and make a note to start a new art project with C. Breezy…hmm…collages about everyday life in Harlem?

We like to take fieldtrips to the Social Science library in Manhattan. C. Breezy reminds me that this library was famous for the part it played in the movie The Day After Tomorrow. Jake Gyllenhaal and his classmates were trapped inside it after New York City is taken over by global warming.

The route to this library opens itself up for a study in Art, Greek Mythology and Architecture. On our way to the library, we pass through Grand Central Station and look up to admire the beautiful blue and gold painted backward mural of the zodiac which looms over the commuters’ heads. In the library, there is a photography exhibit by Stephen Duponts titled “Afghanistan, or the Perils of Freedom.” C. Breezy is impressed because she is a photographer as well, her collection is on view at Photobucket and her My Space photo gallery. Duponts’ pictures give us a glimpse into the lives of the Iraqi people, as they live through a war that is still ongoing. I am amazed at how the photographer was able to get so many Iraqi people to sit for portraits with their guns, and farming tools.

While there, we also check out the Map Room. I requested that we look at maps of our neighborhood. We are supplied with maps that were created in 1911 (fire insurance maps) and we compare these old maps with current maps of our neighborhood. C. Breezy discovers that the public school that sits behind our apartment building was once an orphanage. However, the neighborhood is laid out with the same stone apartment buildings and even in 1911 the one train ran alongside Broadway.

On our way back home from our jaunts, we usually are witness to impromptu performances of young men dancing or getting light in the subway isles. I notice that sometimes, their laceless Adidas are spray painted gold.

No week of feildtripping is complete without a trip to the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle. We step into the huge center and set our eyes on Williams and Sonoma, famous for its seasonal culinary tools, gadgets, etc that are being sold in the store’s pimped out kitchen. The second floor of Williams and Sonoma is dedicated to interior design. This floor is a study in color, art, and creativity. The second floor of the Time Warner Center houses an open art exhibit, the Cartoon Network Store (filled with cartoonists’ original drafts and sketches), and a busy bookstore. In the bookstore, C. Breezy discovered a new series of fiction geared toward urban teens called Tru. She just finished Jaded by Monica McKayhan and is now reading Hustlin by L. Devine.

The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet. -Lord Chesterfield

When there’s no fieldtrip, C. Breezy and I usually hit it over to La Pregunta, an arts café that sits around the corner from my house. It’s the closest thing that she gets to a classroom. C. Breezy sits in there with her laptop, revising her essays, researching via the net for an upcoming project or listening intently to a You Tube math tutorial.

I admit, sometimes in the café, we people watch. Let’s face it, Manhattan is famous for the cast of characters that roam about in the city. Since the café sits across the street from City College, we get to listen to impromptu student meetings, college professors gabbing about their courses, or watch patrons munch on the café’s famous revolutionary sandwiches.

I am often questioned about how C. Breezy is learning to be social. I think about the many people we encounter and converse with as we trump through the city and I let out a sigh. C.Breezy is a member of a church peer group that meets on a regular basis. Her peer group assists her with learning to socialize, network, and develop appropriate social skills. I am happy to say, via her city unschooling, that my daughter is not only confined to socializing with teens, she also networks with adults, the elderly, and folk who live in different parts of the globe. Recently, we attended an event for entrepreneurs held at Columbia University’s Low Library. The speaker for the evening was Susan Taylor, editor emerita of Essence Magazine. C. Breezy and I had a chance to meet her in person, and I am proud to say that my daughter did a wonderful job socializing with Mrs. Taylor and the other entrepreneurs who attended the event.

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.
-Eartha Kitt

As a trained middle school language arts teacher, homeschooling, via city unschooling, has proven to be a journey dedicated to ingenuity, unlimited resources and a new perspective on what is considered educational. This new perspective has not only me but my daughter looking at and experiencing the world in a totally different way. The curriculum is not only seen as a set of books or texts with themes interspersed for comprehension, but now curriculum is seen as living breathing moving parts of a city on the move. It’s a collection of portraits in a library, a series of workshops at a museum. It’s a conversation with a tourist visiting from Canada or an ad hoc performance of break dancers kicking it on the corner of 42nd and Seventh Avenue.

Buttafly offers a wonderful workshop for those young city dwellers who love to write about their neighborhoods.

The Urban Planners Writer’s Workshop- What’s going on in your students’ neighborhoods? Have they ever written a letter their city councilman? What are some things, if any, that they would like to change about their neighborhoods? Have they ever considered composing their own neighborhood proposals? They’ll take a look at the dynamics of a neighborhood, while at the same time developing creative and critical compositions that explores the question, how can we make our neighborhoods a better place to live?

To inquire about or book this workshop please click here