Cognitive Mapping with the Kids
Group Members: Luisa, Lillian
and
James
Project: Memory Maps with Mrs. Robinson's 6th Grade Class
at Valley View Elementary
What is a Memory Map?
Do you ever think back to when you had the most fun
in your life? You know
when you were a kid and someone else was in charge of all the
"priorities"? Memory
Maps are a drawn outline of all the fun times you had back on the "old
block".
Remember back to when your best friend broke their arm and you had to
save
the day, or where you had your very first kiss. Memory Maps also
identify
places that meant most to you and the places that left a lasting
impression
on your life.
How does Valley View Elementary
fit
in?
We went to visit Mrs. Robinson's class in an effort
to see how 6th Graders
viewed the surroundings of their neighborhoods. With new
development the
children's neighborhoods are changing at a rapid pace. As a
result, in the next ten years
many of their favorite "hangouts" will be only memories.
Click on any of the above photos to view Mrs. Robinson's class, to the far right is myself and Hugo the Genius.
Heads-Up, 7-Up and Grade School
Dances
written by James Velasquez
Remember back in the day when your elementary teacher
raised her arm high to get the students' attention, and then the
teachers’
pet raised their arm, followed by their best friend and so on?
Yeah, that meant BE QUIET!
That was one thing that I hated back in grade school.
Luckily I was able to relive the experience when I
joined Lillian
Contreras, and Luisa Martinez on a visit to Mrs. Robinson’s 6th
Grade class at Valley View Elementary.
As we walked to the classroom, I could hear many voices quieting and
soon from
the many voices there was only one student talking and then as we
entered the
classroom was silent. I saw the raised hands demanding silence,
as if to say, “quiet,
we have visitors”. Despite my Twilight
Zone relapse into yesteryear, our goal was clear, the students would
draw
a cognitive map of their neighborhood and its surroundings.
Each
students’ “Memory Map” would be an individually different drawing of
their home, elementary school, favorite hang-outs after school or the
best
places to “kick it” on the weekends.
In order to give the students an idea of what we were looking for Mrs.
Robinson
asked Vanessa, a very smart girl in her class, to go to the copy
machine
in the Teachers’ Lounge and make 25 copies of my very own Memory Map as
an
example. I never, ever had an opportunity to go to the Teachers’ Lounge
in
my old school so I figured this was my chance.
I always dreamed their was free pizza, rivers of fruit
punch and
big screen TV’s. Let’s just say my trip to
Neverland was a bit of a disappointment.
As Luisa began to hand out the copies of my example, I
noticed giggles here and
there. It turns out that I was becoming
the target of jokes. Both the boys
and girls were making fun of the fact that I drew a picture of the
house
that my first girlfriend lived in and they said I was a geek because I
told
them the about my days of chasing rascally wabbits in an empty
field across
the street from my house after school each day.
Hey, it was the sixth grade and suddenly I was becoming
very self-conscientious
about myself. That is natural in
the 6th Grade, right?
Soon
after Lillian’s directions were understood the class began their
assignment.
To our surprise Mrs. Robinson took out a pencil and
began to map
here memories. It turns out that
Mrs. Robinson grew up in a South Phoenix neighborhood down the street
from
Valley View Elementary, which is so cool!
Meanwhile Lillian and Luisa were running around like
chickens with
their heads cut off trying to answer each question.
Just like I remembered back in my day, the boys were
trying ask
all the questions, while the girls remained quiet and still in their
seats.
The girls did not yell across the room like the boys, the girls
politely raised their hands when they had questions.
After
getting over being made fun of, I began to speak with the class
anointed
genius, Hugo. He was interested in
why we were visiting his class and what it was like going to college.
Next thing I know I have five students hanging on my
every word,
I WAS A GOD! No matter what they
may have learned from me, I was the person getting the education.
To my surprise a boy named Jonathan told me that I
should not become
a teacher because, “Mrs. Robinson works way too hard.”
Luisa told me another story about one students’ sister
who did not
accept her scholarship to ASU out of high school because she became
pregnant
and would not have the time for education.
The stories were like a slap in the face.
These were kids. They
should
be worried about getting home in time for Sponge Bob-Square Pants.
Lillian was worried that the students were growing up
too fast and
showed me one students’ completed map that had “Drug dealers house with
big
dog” clearly outlined. It was evident
that these students were socially on a level of awareness about their
community
that I had no comprehension of when I was at the same age.
At that moment I had only hoped that they would not be
the rabbits
being chased down by social inequalities.
Nevertheless,
the time went by quick and within a few minutes the students
would be attending their first school dance.
We were invited to stop by so we did.
Lillian and Luisa danced with the girls for a while and
I chilled
with some of the boys standing against the wall looking real cool.
As we walked away from the schoolyard our focus remained
on the
real life stories of each student we spoke with.
Our goal was to find out what kids enjoyed doing after
school and
I wanted to compare their memories to my own.
What we found was reality.
Later
that day I was thinking about when I came home after school as a kid
and chased
rabbits in the empty field across the street from my house.
Then I thought back to the students.
They were strong. They did
not see themselves being chased like rabbits from social inequalities.
This was everyday life, it was as if they were immune
from the visions
that I could see. These students were
mentally
more mature than we could ever have imagined.
We started out to find if Mrs. Robinson’s students would
realize
that many of their favorite hangouts would become only memories as new
buildings
are changing the face of their community.
What we found was that these students are ready for
change as they
wait for the next shopping center to be built and without question,
these
students will met their futures head on, willingly and confident in
their
own abilities.
The following are Memory Maps from Mrs. Robinson's 6th
Grade Class, just point and click:
sorry for broken links below! In the
mean time, try these
others.
Cindy R. Doreen Fuentes Juan Rodriguez Jonathan