Documentary showcases an innovative way to educate children

"A Shared Space: Learning from the Mustard Seed School," will make its west
Michigan debut at 8 p.m. on Friday, February 11, 2011, on the big screen of the
Covenant Fine Arts Center Recital Hall.

The project, which includes a half-hour documentary and a dozen two-minute
webisodes, tells the story of the Mustard Seed School, which sits in the shadow
of the Empire State Building in Hoboken, New Jersey.

In January 2010, Calvin media production professor Brian Fuller and a few of
his students moved to Hoboken. They spent three weeks capturing video of what
happens inside the walls of the Mustard Seed school--a school that brings
together students from a wide range of racial, ethnic and socioeconomic
backgrounds.

"At first if felt like a reality TV show," said Christine Metzger ’89, head
of school at Mustard Seed, "but after a while they became a part of the family
and the fabric."

Rachel Kuyvenhoven, a media production major, worked on various aspects of the
project. When she watched all the footage and logged all the interviews for the
film, she realized what made Mustard Seed different than other elementary
schools.

"Everything was stuck together so holistically," said Kuyvenhoven. "The
footage shows what's actually there."

Fuller is delighted to showcase an innovative educational approach, especially
given the gloom and doom surrounding the U.S. education system. From teaching
multiplication through building blocks to learning about the history of world
exploration through painting famous world explorers, the Mustard Seed School
holistically integrates the arts into everything.

"The show of knowledge is equal, except they [students] know why they know it.
It's not just a formula. They know it with their eyes, with their brains, with
their hands," said Fuller.

Metzger, a Calvin alumna, said her school is preparing students the way Calvin
prepared her and the handful of alums that now work at her school.

"I love Calvin grads because they get it," said Metzger. "They understand
children being made in the image of God and they understand the integration of
faith and learning. It's the process as well as the product."

The documentary will be shown at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.. A Q&A period with Fuller
and Metzger will take place following each showing. Tickets are available
through the Calvin box office.

For more info on the project, contact Fuller at 616-526-8787 or visit
www.mustardseedschool.org/documentary

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Received on Tue Feb 8 14:30:13 2011