Guiding and Working

Sly has a job cutting and edging a neighbor's lawn for $25 a pop. Last year cutting lawns--theirs and ours--was a learning experience for him. He had used the electric push mower some on our previous lawn. Then he had to learn how to use the riding lawn mower we inherited with the new house we bought (along with rebuilding the thing so it would work!). He also began learning how to use the weed eater last year. Habeeb cut lawns for pay when he was a kid and did a lot of guiding and coaching Sly along the way (including the tractor repairs).

Now, last year Sly really wasn't very good at any of these jobs. He was learning, and it showed. It took a lot of "QA" from mom or dad to make sure the job was done, and done decently. He was also a very 'poky' worker last year, taking very frequent and very long breaks. But again, he was learning, little bits at a time and at a pace he could deal with.

This year lawn season is here again, and Sly is once again responsible for cutting and edging our yard (a very large yard for a subdivision) and the neighbor's too. But this year we can see the maturity that has happened since last year. Sly still needs a little "QA" to make sure he's not missed some details, but unlike years past, it only takes pointing out once.

But what pleases and impresses me the most is that he's sticking with the work. He has gotten up and out the door while it was still cool in the mid morning (we don't do 'early!'), gotten his gear and equipment, and gotten to work. He's taken very few breaks and of rather short duration before getting back to work without being reminded. He's actually DOING the job! And on top of all that, he's mostly remembering to put the gear back away and to sweep up the grass clippings from drives and sidewalks too. Amazing the difference a year can make!

Today he added a new skill to his repetoire of yard services: trimming hedges with the electric hedge trimmer. The neighbor's threw in an extra $10 if he'd do the hedges for them. Sly was game, but didn't know how to work the equipment to do the job. But that's what dad's are for! Sly new he had a competent guide who would teach him what to do.

First, Habeeb gave Sly an introduction to the equipment and an explanation of the job. Then Habeeb demonstrated for Sly how to work the equipment, with a particular emphasis on safety. Next, Habeeb told Sly to try while Habeeb was there coaching and supporting. Sly was getting the hang of it, so Habeeb kind of backed off and supervised. However, Sly just didn't have the height to be able to reach around and clean up the back side of the hedges. Rather than trying to scaffold some way for Sly to be able to do that, Habeeb erred on the side of safety and continued to help Sly as much as necessary with that part of the job, including doing some of the back of the hedges himself. Habeeb continued to hang out and supervise the job, offering little advice and reminders, such as being careful around window screens and making sure that the trim work was done evenly instead of with a wave. All in all though, Sly learned from Habeeb and Habeeb transferred more and more of the responsibility for doing the job over to Sly as he became increasingly capable and confident. It was a beautiful snapshot of the principles of Guided Participation, providing scaffolding, and working within the Zone of Proximal Development.

It also was a great activity for building positive episodic memory. After lunch today, after the mowing and edging were done for both yards but before the hedge trimming was started, I was commenting to Sly how I had noticed how much better he was working this year, working through the job instead of taking lots of long breaks and needing lots support. He answered back that he feels more confident this year and also stronger physically. It clearly shows in his work effort. I have a feeling that by the end of the summer he may need very minimal QAing of his yard work. Perhaps next summer he'll even add in another yard or two and make a few more bucks, and grow even stronger and more confident. And in a few more years, he'll be doing some guiding and transferring responsibility to SB3!