sometimes being in charge means having wet pants

From Making Learning Visible on teaching "there is also an element of improvisation, a sort of 'playing by ear,' an ability to take stock of a situation, to know when to move and when to stay still, that no formula, no general recipe, can replace."

I've been reflecting moment to moment on when to step in and when to simply listen and watch children. I've stepped back more than usual as a bit of an end of the year experiment, which has resulted in moments of awe as I re-realize how completely capable children are and there have also been moments where all I can say is "oyyy!" and smile at our reality. one of those "oy" moments happened during outdoor play as children noticed puddles dotting the landscape.

First, children explore with gentleness and the help of nearby twigs.


One child enters the puddle slowly, with caution...

and heavier steps soon follow.

Soon many feet took the plunge, some even stomping in the puddle, sending waves of water up their pant legs. With this I said "what happens when you step in the puddle like that?" As they peered down at their leg I heard a resigned "you get wet." With that a few abandoned the puddle and a few persevered, stomping until their shoes and pants were, well...soaked. The puddle jumping and as we went back in the classroom - a few shoes checked at the door - it was well worth it. I don't think me a year ago would have allowed the puddle insanity but really this is what learning is all about - being curious, getting messy, wishing you had done something just a little bit differently, doing it different the next time, timing how long it takes your pants to dry, and really just having fun.

repeat after me...

Oh Kumon...These feel a bit like TD bank to me. It's like one day I just saw five Kumons and TD banks throughout NY, whereas before that day I didn't even know they existed. I know parents at our school choose to send their children to Kumon so I will avoid too much commentary. What I will do is share this article from the NY Times and two quotes from the article that resonate with my own educational philosophy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/fashion/with-kumon-fast-tracking-to-kindergarten.html

“We are in a culture where education is the path to success, and it’s hard for people to recognize how deep and profound learning is when children are just playing.”

“When you’re putting blocks together, you’re learning how to be a physicist,” agreed Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a psychologist at Temple University and an author of “Einstein Never Used Flash Cards.” “When you’re learning how to balance things and calculate how tall you can make your building, you’re learning how to be a physicist. Having your kid drill and kill and fill in worksheets at 2 and 3 and 4 to the best of our knowledge so far does not give your child a leg up on anything.”

We want to nurture a generation of thinkers, innovators, creators, and leaders. I fail to see how worksheets and following the commands of adults, without question, does this. Okay, I'll step off my soapbox now...and get ready for a day of play.

no boundaries, a trial run

It can be tempting (and simpler) to impose many structures on you young children and in classrooms. As child-centered as I believe I am - I have come to realize that I am hesitant to relinquish too much control. I've been reading Making Learning Visible by Project Zero and Reggio Children and it has provoked a great deal of thinking, especially in terms of time, space, transitions, and control. I truly believe that when we're lucky enough to be inspired by something read, heard, or thought of in a moment of clarity that you just have to go for it...or chances are you won't ever again. 

So this is what I did. After a weekend of perusing Making Learning Visible I came to school intent on letting the children determine a great deal about time and space - the goal for us all to be in control of our own learning.

During our play in centers, I have an urge to contain centers. You know builders stay in the block area, writers stay in the communication area. The provocation for me was in reading "Many group activities are taking place at once. The children move from being protagonists in one activity to being audience in another, an audience that helps and learns, thereby becoming a competent audience." I'm curious how other educators navigate this idea of movement during play and project work.

The images below, share a story of one child intensely interested in the observation of worms and meal worms and the ebb and flow of friends becoming participants along the way. 

 

First thing in the morning, as we welcome children to school one child chooses to sit at the observation table, where worms and a new tabletop magnifying class are laid out as a provocation. Other children pass by, a few linger longer, but only one child remains for the full morning arrival time.

During our morning meeting I asked children about their plans for the day.  They decided a terrarium created from recycled materials and brought in by our friend needed more details so a few got to work, another group who began building a castle in the morning determined they needed to continue their work, and our worm observer was eager to get back to watching. So he did…along with one more friend.

Soon, another child appeared. At first watching and then her fingers gently pushing aside soil searching for a sign of life, “I see a cocoon, a cocoon” she said. Followed by another voice “You know how I know it has a baby? When I touch it on the bottom with the stick I see it.” Their interest in these tiny creatures, has been since the beginning, a desire to know if they have families like us. Big worms are daddies and when worms are side by side they are often labeled as mommy and baby. This forging of a personal connection is still present – even after we have read nonfiction books about worms informing us that, in fact, they do not live with families like us.

The excitement of finding a cocoon (spoiler alert it’s a pebble) quickly drew an audience of two more friends. They watched at first and soon began vying for space, fingers in the soil searching.

They leave , called back to their castle creation by their friends, “we’re making a roof, come on.”

The observation pioneers for the day, just two. A full circle.

try saying terrarium three times fast

There is something truly fascinating about watching a tiny creature wiggle, burrow, and crawl. We have a small group of children fascinated by unearthing this buggy world each day. Yesterday, I overheard voices declaring "that's mine" and "I want to keep it." I stepped in to ask how this child thinks the worm feels when taken out of it's home and I was met with no response. If we are committed to letting children make sense of the world through their own choices and experiences then how far can you push? I chose to ask a few more questions but my friend remained unconvinced and so the worm stayed in their hand. It died. Ultimately the want to posses seems to outweigh thinking about the worm sometimes it seems.

So today I had a bit of an agenda. As I chimed in with the last few lines of the book Each Living Thing (which is a beautiful book), Be watchful and let them be I gave one of the most gentle children a bug jar for us to study a few of the worms and insects. I'm still hesitant about this choice as I don't want to encourage possessing another living thing but it seemed necessary to limit any more unnecessary worm deaths.

When we came back to the classroom we studied the small bug habitat and considered how long we should leave them in the classroom for observation. Soon the idea of building a large and comfortable garden for the bugs came up, so they could stay indoors longer. The idea of a garden made me think of a terrarium and as I explained the little I know about terrariums it was decided that we could do that.

Some children looked for terrarium pictures with me on the computer and were quite taken with the idea that some terrariums have fun sculptures in them. You can view a slide show of terrariums here,  http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/06/02/garden/20100603-terrarium-slideshow.htmlThis inspiration led to sketches of our own terrariums and it seems we have a plan.

There's a lot to think about as I read up on terrariums and adding insects into the mix. Has anyone out there in the blog world tried this with children? Any tips, ideas?

The building of a terrarium which will also house a few insects still does not sit completely well with me. The idea of taking an animal from its natural habitat and placing it in a man made one is something I would like the children to think about in terms of fairness. But a message I am trying to keep present in my thoughts is that I can not be the gatekeeper of knowledge or experiences. My repeating of "be watchful and let them be" is not resonating with everyone. The desire to bring insects back to the classroom for observation is strong. Spoken eloquently by one of the speakers this weekend...but I forget who "when you view children as protagonists, constructors of their own knowledge, then you don't think about telling them anything." So this experience is one that I will support and we'll fully engage in but I am curious to see if by the end the desire to let the insects go feels just as strong as the urge to keep them is now.

See, Think, Wonder...a mantra

The Reggio Institute was inspiring this weekend. The focus on documentation led to a deeper presentation of the topic and rich dialogue. Ms. Anna came as well, which was a great opportunity for us to share excitement and hopefully keep one another motivated back in the real world. I will try to share a few of the things I learned from the women of the Bishop Strachan School in Toronto and L’atelier in Miami (both of which I hope to one day visit).

You choose the pictures that tell the story

Mary Murry of the Bishop Strachan school shared a great deal of her own classroom documentation. One of her daily forms of documentation that I thought was so relevant and useful for parents, children, and the teacher was her use of a documentation clipboard used in each center. As she said “When someone goes into a center they should understand what the children value and what was done two days ago, or a month ago. Make the learning visible.” She has a clipboard in each center with a few photos, anecdotes, and maybe some dialogue if it is relevant. This is something she updates daily or as needed to make visible what children are currently experiencing. This is something I put into practice right away, but am starting small with just light center, building, and communication center for now.

Can you feel the story in this series of photos? 




I’m curious how other educators make learning visible through the centers. I am curious to see if the children refer back to the clipboards and if they do what their motivation is for revisiting.

Documentation should be a provocation for what will come next, not merely an artifact.

Using arms and hands to express the idea of how the girls think the pink tulip will continue to grow and open soon. A sentiment stated and restated during the weekend - to value children's theorizing. It's important to document children's beginning theories and later theories so they can see how their ideas have grown and changed.

The hesitancy in exploring the materials and the wonder - why?

Their entrance to exploration through storytelling, planting rock seeds as princess's.

A boat full of people sailing away.

 "All experiences and theories, from the simplest to the most refined, need to be narrated, documented and listened to in order to exist." - Carlina Rinaldi

do we really need ants?

I'm off to another Reggio conference this weekend, this one through Lesley University. It will be a weekend focused on documentation. Right now, I feel overwhelmed with a collective pile of photographs, drawings, and even memory cards filled with candid conversations. We have been immersed in nature for the last week, spending more time outside each day digging and discovering one amazing bug after another. And now...it's time to reflect, make sense of, and use that documentation to inform what comes next.

For now, I'll just share a few photos with you. As we consider our natural world and discover the natural interconnectedness of all living things, I'm hoping that connection becomes visible and conscious in the minds of the children.

Thanks to a colleague's yard sale (Thanks Ms. Freeman) plants are now a part of our classroom environment








Found natural materials and recycled materials have become an inspiration in creating artwork in the classroom.




We have visited the Botanical Garden nearby twice in the last two week and have found much inspiration in our small garden in the back of the school. Watching children dig in the dirt, hearing shrieks of excitement for finding yet ANOTHER roly poly has been such an inspiration.