Mike James/The Independent
Catlettsburg — Coached by their teacher, the children in Stephanie Mullins’ class fold down one corner of their square sheets of paper, and then the opposite corner.
A high-pitched yelping fills the air, signifying the children recognize their simple origami creations as puppy dogs. Mullins invites them to pencil in eyes and other canine features.
The children have just completed an exercise in listening, observing and following directions and are learning important lessons about teamwork and following directions, Mullins says.
They have done so in the span of about 10 minutes. And since origami incorporates geometry, they’ve used every bit of that 10 minutes learning core academic concepts.
Also it was fun.
The origami interlude was part of a yearlong experimental curriculum called Mutt-i-grees. It uses shelter dogs to teach children social and emotional skills.
Each of the primary classes at Ponderosa Elementary is using the curriculum, including preschool. Ponderosa was the first school to try the curriculum, which is planned for nationwide use.
The curriculum was developed by the Yale University School of the 21st Century, which partnered with the Pet Savers Foundation to help kids explore emotion and social interaction through their natural bond with pets.
“Children have a natural affinity to dogs and other domestic pets and the kids love the idea of Mutt-i-grees,” said Matia Finn-Stevenson, director of the School of the 21st Century.
Research shows development of social and emotional skills leads to better academic performance, Finn-Stevenson said. “Many researchers call it the missing piece of the academic puzzle.”
The Mutt-i-grees lessons introduce concepts like empathy and compassion toward pets and then nudge children to apply what they have learned to each other.
In a first-grade class across the hall, for instance, children are drawing puppy faces on paper plates. Their assignment is to portray feelings — sadness, happiness, anger and so on. Then they talk about feelings and what they mean. “The dogs help kids open up and talk about their feelings,” said Bethany Hale, their teacher.
Each class that uses the curriculum gets two canine hand puppets and choose names for them. The children also may make costumes to personalize their puppets. One group dressed a puppet in “Star Wars” garb and named it Luke Skywalker.
Teachers take out the puppets to launch each lesson and they say the sight of the puppets elicits an immediate hush and rapt attention.
Another goal of the curriculum is to raise awareness of shelter animals and their needs, which is the purpose of the Pet Savers Foundation.
Some of the classes have taken field trips to the Boyd County animal shelter to see for themselves what shelter dogs are and how they live. The children have brought in supplies to donate to the shelter.
More funding for developing the curriculum came from the Cesar and Ilusion Millan Foundation, which supports animal shelters and organizations that help abused and abandoned animals. It also funds spay and neuter programs.
Shelter animals were chosen as models because they symbolize diversity. Through them, children learn to value classmates who come from different backgrounds.
Not incidentally, they learn that shelter dogs make excellent pets.
Mutt-i-grees came to Ponderosa through Norma Meek, a district administrator who is a senior associate for the Yale 21st Century school and a longtime associate of Finn-Stevenson. “She got Ponderosa to buy into it and they have done more than I expected anyone to do with those lessons,” Finn-Stevenson said.
Meek has a grand vision for the program. “The concept is to create a peaceful world where children are humane to each other,” she said. Emotional intelligence, she said, is equal in importance to academic intelligence.
Teachers at Ponderosa are seeing evidence every day that children are applying the lessons. “Animal Shelter” is the newest popular game on the playground. Children look for chances to talk about their feelings and say kind things about each other. Some have gone back to the shelter with their parents and adopted pets.
Meek and two of the Ponderosa teachers will get the chance to go to Yale and present their findings. Meek hopes to see the curriculum expanded in Boyd County at least to all the elementaries. It could go through high school once age-appropriate lessons are developed.
MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2652.
