this post now exists on my new website
https://www.interactionimagination.com/post/2018/11/27/scaffolding-inquiry
Showing posts with label Board of Children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Board of Children. Show all posts
Saturday, 23 June 2018
Friday, 18 May 2018
The Board of Children - Barnstyrelsen
In October of last year I started a project together with Gästrike Water Authority where a group of children formed a "Board of Children".
The aim for Gästrike Water Authority was to learn more about how children learn about water issues, as well as trying to design ways to disseminate water knowledge - to the group and also eventually to others as well.
I was brought on board due to my work with children philosophically and also democratically - to not just create a veneer where adults gave children the impression they were contributing, but to create a genuine space where the children have a real impact. You can read about how the board started - here.
Yesterday was our last meeting before the summer, and we wanted to find out whether or not we had achieved this goal of empowering the children - so our dialogue focussed on their thoughts about the board, was it as they expected, had it impacted their daily lives in any way and also how could we improve it.
In the last 7 months we have met once a month - we have had dialogues and also explored water with aesthetically and with experiments, we have also done a field trip to Uppsala where they have an exhibition about water and sustainability and we went there as "experts" to analyse how effective it was a communicating water/sustainability to children.
When the group started they were aged 8-12, they are now aged 9-13.
Of the ten children nine of them said that participating in the Board of Children had been better than they thought it would be, one of them said it was as they expected. The reason all gave for it being better was that it was not just talking it was also hands on... we then went more into what this "just taking" meant, as one of the children piped up.. "but this kind of talking is fun" (as we have been using a philosophy with children approach).
They made the point that in school they are being talked at - while with the board of children we all talk as equals. They also pointed out that at the Board of Children there has been space to deviate off topic and explore together... funnily enough this is something that I have struggled with, and Patricia (the other leader with Gästrike Vatten) and I have talked about this a lot... do we always keep on topic, how much do we deviate - how much is wasting time and how much is creating that community we need for learning.
I think that the fact we only meet for 2.5 hours a month means we need to create space for the children to connect with each other and not just delve deep into water issues. That through laughter (another point the children raised was important, because we laugh a lot together at the board of children) we are creating trust - through that trust we are creating the space to dare to share ideas and knowledge with each other.
This brings me to another point worth reflecting on... Patricia wondered why none of the children mentioned friends and making new friends as being a part of the process... and I think it is, that although we have created a safe space for the children to express ideas, that adults tend to have a different interpretation of what friendship in childhood is than the children in the middle of that childhood experience.
My son gets infuriated with his teachers that keep on about his friends in school... his point being, they are not my friends, I can't even remember the names of most people in my class, and there are some of them who I really don't like because they are just mean and rude to me and others... why would I call these people my friends? I know who my friends are.
And I think this is the same for the group... they have not yet got to friendship status yet... maybe if we met fora few hours every week then friendships would have formed, but just once a month maybe takes more time for friendships to blossom - especially when we have the age span that we do. The children are certainly friendly with each other... and yes I can see that friendships are forming - especially after spending a day together in Uppsala. This made me think that maybe we need to do a full day meeting earlier if a new board was to ever be formed... to help trust form even quicker... and as the children thought that even more experiments would be a good way to improve the Board of Children then maybe a workshop day of testing experiments would be optimal? When I asked them about how would more experiments help them the answer was, well we would know what works and what doesn't, it would give us an idea of what would work in a classroom with lots of children and what would need small groups... the competence of children.
Back to the friendship idea... the oldest child pointed out that what had surprised her was the fact that it was fun to be with "small kids" (småbarn... usually a word used for preschoolers in Sweden... a word I, personally, avoid because it is more loaded than saying "younger children").
Before the board was formed we toyed with the idea of what sort of age span there would be and how this would impact the group - and the fact that the oldest child has been given the chance to appreciate the competence of the younger children feels like a real win for us as adults, as this was something that we wanted.
if children are to be empowered... they need to see their own power, and not that age impacts power.
I always struggle with my power... as an adult I come to a group of children with more power... and school children are very used to situations in school where they sit and receive the "wisdom" of their elders - ie they are told what and how to learn.
This means that part of my process with the children is to unschool them. And this means exerting my adult power to ensure that this happens - in a way it is a kind of scaffolding. I see them as competent learners... this was also something they commented on themselves yesterday, that they learn from each other, that they all have different knowledge that they can share and expand their own thinking. My scaffolding has been the process of empowerment - firstly to encourage them to talk and share ideas, in the idea that there needs to be space for all the children to share their thinking (ie a democratic approach) and bit by bit I can take down that scaffolding and they will be able to manage the dialogues, idea explorations and decision making on their own. With the group having different ages this means my scaffolding seems to go up and down - sometimes the older children have the energy to take responsibility to keep it developmentally appropriate for the younger ones... and at other times they do not, and I assume the responsibility, and let their inner younger child shine and play. It means I have to be constantly aware of the balance and try to be responsive to their needs as individuals and group - and this has at times meant challenging their thinking, especially when at times some asked questions, not to find out a myriad of possible answers but with the intention of hearing a specific answer and would not let it go until that answer was heard. For me this is typical school approach to learning... but in this forum we wanted something different for the children and it feels like they have appreciated that.
All of the children have evolved in how much they participate and listen, in how they articulate ideas and also how they appreciate there can be several perspectives.
It has been interesting to hear their opinions - and how we can move forward after the summer. It will give Patricia and myself more food for thought in how to develop this board of children in its final few months... with the hope that it might continue in some form in the future.
this is a link to a film, in Swedish, from out first meeting
and under is another short film of the day in Uppsala...
I oktober förra året startade jag ett projekt tillsammans med Gästrike Vatten där en grupp barn bildade ett "barnstyrelse". Gästrike Vattens syfte med en barnstyrelse var att lära sig mer om hur barn lär sig om vattenfrågor samt att försöka utforma olika sätt att sprida vattenkännedom - till gruppen och även så småningom till andra. Jag blev en del av detta projekt på grund av mitt arbete med filosofi med barn och också demokratiska klassrum - för att inte bara skapa en fasad där vuxna gav barnen det intryck att dom bidra, men för att skapa ett genuint utrymme där barnen har en verklig inverkan. Du kan läsa om hur styrelsen började - här. Igår var vårt sista möte före sommaren och vi ville ta reda på om vi hade uppnått målet om att ge barnen möjlighet att uttrycka sig och ha inverkan - så vår dialog inriktad på barnens tankar om styrelsen, var det som de förväntade sig, om det hade påverkat deras dagliga liv på något sätt och också hur kan vi förbättra barnstyrelsen Under de senaste 7 månaderna har vi träffats en gång i månaden - vi ha haft dialoger och även utforskat vatten estetiskt och med experiment, vi har också gjort ett utflykt till Uppsala där dom har en utställning om vatten och hållbarhet och vi åkte dit som " experter" för att analysera hur effektivt det var att berätta om vatten/hållbarhet för barn.
När gruppen började var de 8-12 år, de är nu i åldern 9-13 år. Av de tio barnen sade nio av dem att deltagande i barnstyrelsen hade varit bättre än de trodde det skulle vara, en av dem sa att det var som de förväntade sig. Anledningen till att alla tyckte att det var bättre var att vi inte bara pratade men att det var hands-on ... vi diskuterade vad "endast prata" menade och då en av barnen berättade .. "men den här typen av prata är kul" (vi har använt en filosofi med barns tillvägagångssätt). De poängterade att de i skolan pratas på - medan vi tillsammans på barnstyrelsen pratar med. De påpekade också att i barnstyrelse har det varit utrymme att avvika från ämnet och prata tillsammans ... konstigt nog är det något jag har kämpat med, och Patricia (den andra ledaren med Gästrike Vatten) och jag har pratat om det här mycket ... ska vi håller till ämnet, hur mycket ska vi avvika - hur mycket tid slösa vi och hur mycket av detta hjälpa till att skapa en gemenskap som behövs för att lära oss.
Jag tror att det faktum vi bara träffar i 2,5 timmar i månaden innebär att vi behöver skapa utrymme för att barnen ska ansluta sig till varandra och inte bara dyka djupt i vattenproblem. Att genom skratt (en annan punkt som barnen tyckte var viktig, eftersom vi skrattar mycket tillsammans i barnstyrelsen) skapar vi förtroende - genom den förtroendet skapar vi utrymmet att våga dela med sig av idéer och kunskaper med varandra. Detta leder mig till en annan punkt som är värt att reflektera över ... Patricia undrade varför ingen av barnen nämnde vänskap som en del av processen ... och jag tror att även om vi har skapat ett tryggt utrymme för barnen att uttrycka idéer, att vi vuxna tenderar att ha en annan tolkning av vad vänskap är inom barndomen än barnen som finns i själva barndomen. Min son blir rasande med sina lärare som fortsätter prata om sina "vänner" i skolan ... Hans poäng är att "de inte är mina vänner, jag kan inte ens komma ihåg namnen på de flesta i min klass och det finns några av dem som jag gillar verkligen inte för att de bara är elaka och oförskämda mot mig och andra ... varför skulle jag kalla dessa människor mina vänner? Jag vet vem mina vänner är." Och jag tror att det här är detsamma för gruppen ... de har ännu inte fått vänskapsstatus än ... kanske om vi träffade några timmar varje vecka hade vänskap skulle bildats, men endast en gång i månaden kanske tar mer tid för vänskap att blomma - speciellt när vi har åldersskillnad som vi gör. Barnen är verkligen vänliga med varandra ... och ja jag kan se att vänskapen bildar - speciellt efter att ha tillbringat en hel dag tillsammans i Uppsala. Det här fick mig att tro att vi kanske behöver göra en heldagsmöte tidigare om en ny styrelse någonsin skulle formas ... för att hjälpa tillit forma ännu snabbare ... och eftersom barnen trodde att ännu fler experiment skulle vara ett bra sätt för att förbättra barnstyrelsen är kanske en workshop-dag med experiment en bra idé? När jag frågade dem om hur skulle fler experiment hjälpa dem var svaret, "vi skulle veta vad som fungerar och vad som inte gör det, det skulle ge oss en uppfattning om vad som skulle fungera i ett klassrum med massor av barn och vad skulle behöva små grupper" ... snacka om barnens kompetens. Tillbaka till vänskapsidén ... påpekade det äldsta barnet att det som hade förvånat henne var det faktum att det var kul att vara med "små barn" (ett ord jag, personligen, undviker eftersom det är mer laddat än att säga "yngre barn"). Innan styrelsen bildades lekte vi med idén om vilken typ av åldersskillnad det skulle finnas och hur det skulle påverka gruppen - och det faktum att det äldsta barnet har fått chansen att uppskatta de yngre barnens kompetens känns bra för oss som vuxna, eftersom det var något vi har eftersträvt. Om barn ska ha befogenhet ... behöver de se sin egen makt, och inte att åldern påverkar makt. Jag kämpar alltid med min makt ... Som vuxen kommer jag till en grupp barn med mer makt ... och skolbarn är mycket vana vid situationer i skolan där de sitter och tar emot sina "äldres visdom" - det vill säga de får veta vad och hur man lär sig. Det innebär att en del av min process med barnen är att "unschool" dom. Och det betyder att jag utövar min vuxna makt för att se till att det här händer - det är en slags ställning (scaffolding). Jag ser dom som kompetenta elever (learners... don't like that I cannot find a good word in Swedish for this)... det var också något de kommenterade sig själva igår, att de lär sig av varandra, att de alla har olika kunskaper som dom kan dela och utöka sitt eget tänkande. Min ställning/scaffolding har varit en "empowerment"(bemyndigande is how it wants to translate that right now) process - för det första att uppmuntra dom att prata och dela idéer, samt tanken att det måste finnas utrymme för att alla barn ska kunna dela sitt tänkande (det vill säga ett demokratiskt förhållningssätt) och ibland kan jag ta ner den ställningen/scaffolding och dom hantera sina egna dialoger, idéutforskningar och beslutsfattande på egen hand. Med en grupp som har olika åldrar innebär det att min byggnadsställning/scaffolding verkar gå upp och ner - ibland har de äldre barnen energi att ta ansvar för att hålla det utvecklingsmässigt lämpligt för de yngre ... och andra gånger gör de inte, och jag antar ansvaret och låt barnets "inre yngre barn" skina och leka. Det betyder att jag måste vara ständigt medveten om balansen och vara lyhörd på deras behov som individer och grupp - och det har ibland inneburit att jag utmanar deras tänkande, i synnerhet när det ibland är kring frågor som ställs inte får att ta reda på en mängd möjliga svar men med avsikt att höra ett specifikt svar och inte låta det gå förrän det svaret hördes. För mig är detta en typisk skolförhållningssätt till lärande ... men i detta forum ville vi ha något annat för barnen och det känns som om de har uppskattat det. Alla barn har utvecklats i hur mycket de deltar och lyssnar, i hur de formulerar idéer samt hur de uppskattar att det kan finnas flera perspektiv. Det har varit intressant att höra deras åsikter - och hur vi kan gå vidare efter sommaren. Det kommer att ge Patricia och jag själv mer att fundera på hur man utvecklar denna styrelse för barn under sina sista månader ... med hopp om att det kan fortsätta i någon form i framtiden.
The aim for Gästrike Water Authority was to learn more about how children learn about water issues, as well as trying to design ways to disseminate water knowledge - to the group and also eventually to others as well.
I was brought on board due to my work with children philosophically and also democratically - to not just create a veneer where adults gave children the impression they were contributing, but to create a genuine space where the children have a real impact. You can read about how the board started - here.
Yesterday was our last meeting before the summer, and we wanted to find out whether or not we had achieved this goal of empowering the children - so our dialogue focussed on their thoughts about the board, was it as they expected, had it impacted their daily lives in any way and also how could we improve it.
In the last 7 months we have met once a month - we have had dialogues and also explored water with aesthetically and with experiments, we have also done a field trip to Uppsala where they have an exhibition about water and sustainability and we went there as "experts" to analyse how effective it was a communicating water/sustainability to children.
When the group started they were aged 8-12, they are now aged 9-13.
Of the ten children nine of them said that participating in the Board of Children had been better than they thought it would be, one of them said it was as they expected. The reason all gave for it being better was that it was not just talking it was also hands on... we then went more into what this "just taking" meant, as one of the children piped up.. "but this kind of talking is fun" (as we have been using a philosophy with children approach).
They made the point that in school they are being talked at - while with the board of children we all talk as equals. They also pointed out that at the Board of Children there has been space to deviate off topic and explore together... funnily enough this is something that I have struggled with, and Patricia (the other leader with Gästrike Vatten) and I have talked about this a lot... do we always keep on topic, how much do we deviate - how much is wasting time and how much is creating that community we need for learning.
I think that the fact we only meet for 2.5 hours a month means we need to create space for the children to connect with each other and not just delve deep into water issues. That through laughter (another point the children raised was important, because we laugh a lot together at the board of children) we are creating trust - through that trust we are creating the space to dare to share ideas and knowledge with each other.
This brings me to another point worth reflecting on... Patricia wondered why none of the children mentioned friends and making new friends as being a part of the process... and I think it is, that although we have created a safe space for the children to express ideas, that adults tend to have a different interpretation of what friendship in childhood is than the children in the middle of that childhood experience.
My son gets infuriated with his teachers that keep on about his friends in school... his point being, they are not my friends, I can't even remember the names of most people in my class, and there are some of them who I really don't like because they are just mean and rude to me and others... why would I call these people my friends? I know who my friends are.
And I think this is the same for the group... they have not yet got to friendship status yet... maybe if we met fora few hours every week then friendships would have formed, but just once a month maybe takes more time for friendships to blossom - especially when we have the age span that we do. The children are certainly friendly with each other... and yes I can see that friendships are forming - especially after spending a day together in Uppsala. This made me think that maybe we need to do a full day meeting earlier if a new board was to ever be formed... to help trust form even quicker... and as the children thought that even more experiments would be a good way to improve the Board of Children then maybe a workshop day of testing experiments would be optimal? When I asked them about how would more experiments help them the answer was, well we would know what works and what doesn't, it would give us an idea of what would work in a classroom with lots of children and what would need small groups... the competence of children.
Back to the friendship idea... the oldest child pointed out that what had surprised her was the fact that it was fun to be with "small kids" (småbarn... usually a word used for preschoolers in Sweden... a word I, personally, avoid because it is more loaded than saying "younger children").
Before the board was formed we toyed with the idea of what sort of age span there would be and how this would impact the group - and the fact that the oldest child has been given the chance to appreciate the competence of the younger children feels like a real win for us as adults, as this was something that we wanted.
if children are to be empowered... they need to see their own power, and not that age impacts power.
I always struggle with my power... as an adult I come to a group of children with more power... and school children are very used to situations in school where they sit and receive the "wisdom" of their elders - ie they are told what and how to learn.
This means that part of my process with the children is to unschool them. And this means exerting my adult power to ensure that this happens - in a way it is a kind of scaffolding. I see them as competent learners... this was also something they commented on themselves yesterday, that they learn from each other, that they all have different knowledge that they can share and expand their own thinking. My scaffolding has been the process of empowerment - firstly to encourage them to talk and share ideas, in the idea that there needs to be space for all the children to share their thinking (ie a democratic approach) and bit by bit I can take down that scaffolding and they will be able to manage the dialogues, idea explorations and decision making on their own. With the group having different ages this means my scaffolding seems to go up and down - sometimes the older children have the energy to take responsibility to keep it developmentally appropriate for the younger ones... and at other times they do not, and I assume the responsibility, and let their inner younger child shine and play. It means I have to be constantly aware of the balance and try to be responsive to their needs as individuals and group - and this has at times meant challenging their thinking, especially when at times some asked questions, not to find out a myriad of possible answers but with the intention of hearing a specific answer and would not let it go until that answer was heard. For me this is typical school approach to learning... but in this forum we wanted something different for the children and it feels like they have appreciated that.
All of the children have evolved in how much they participate and listen, in how they articulate ideas and also how they appreciate there can be several perspectives.
It has been interesting to hear their opinions - and how we can move forward after the summer. It will give Patricia and myself more food for thought in how to develop this board of children in its final few months... with the hope that it might continue in some form in the future.
this is a link to a film, in Swedish, from out first meeting
and under is another short film of the day in Uppsala...
I oktober förra året startade jag ett projekt tillsammans med Gästrike Vatten där en grupp barn bildade ett "barnstyrelse". Gästrike Vattens syfte med en barnstyrelse var att lära sig mer om hur barn lär sig om vattenfrågor samt att försöka utforma olika sätt att sprida vattenkännedom - till gruppen och även så småningom till andra. Jag blev en del av detta projekt på grund av mitt arbete med filosofi med barn och också demokratiska klassrum - för att inte bara skapa en fasad där vuxna gav barnen det intryck att dom bidra, men för att skapa ett genuint utrymme där barnen har en verklig inverkan. Du kan läsa om hur styrelsen började - här. Igår var vårt sista möte före sommaren och vi ville ta reda på om vi hade uppnått målet om att ge barnen möjlighet att uttrycka sig och ha inverkan - så vår dialog inriktad på barnens tankar om styrelsen, var det som de förväntade sig, om det hade påverkat deras dagliga liv på något sätt och också hur kan vi förbättra barnstyrelsen Under de senaste 7 månaderna har vi träffats en gång i månaden - vi ha haft dialoger och även utforskat vatten estetiskt och med experiment, vi har också gjort ett utflykt till Uppsala där dom har en utställning om vatten och hållbarhet och vi åkte dit som " experter" för att analysera hur effektivt det var att berätta om vatten/hållbarhet för barn.
När gruppen började var de 8-12 år, de är nu i åldern 9-13 år. Av de tio barnen sade nio av dem att deltagande i barnstyrelsen hade varit bättre än de trodde det skulle vara, en av dem sa att det var som de förväntade sig. Anledningen till att alla tyckte att det var bättre var att vi inte bara pratade men att det var hands-on ... vi diskuterade vad "endast prata" menade och då en av barnen berättade .. "men den här typen av prata är kul" (vi har använt en filosofi med barns tillvägagångssätt). De poängterade att de i skolan pratas på - medan vi tillsammans på barnstyrelsen pratar med. De påpekade också att i barnstyrelse har det varit utrymme att avvika från ämnet och prata tillsammans ... konstigt nog är det något jag har kämpat med, och Patricia (den andra ledaren med Gästrike Vatten) och jag har pratat om det här mycket ... ska vi håller till ämnet, hur mycket ska vi avvika - hur mycket tid slösa vi och hur mycket av detta hjälpa till att skapa en gemenskap som behövs för att lära oss.
Jag tror att det faktum vi bara träffar i 2,5 timmar i månaden innebär att vi behöver skapa utrymme för att barnen ska ansluta sig till varandra och inte bara dyka djupt i vattenproblem. Att genom skratt (en annan punkt som barnen tyckte var viktig, eftersom vi skrattar mycket tillsammans i barnstyrelsen) skapar vi förtroende - genom den förtroendet skapar vi utrymmet att våga dela med sig av idéer och kunskaper med varandra. Detta leder mig till en annan punkt som är värt att reflektera över ... Patricia undrade varför ingen av barnen nämnde vänskap som en del av processen ... och jag tror att även om vi har skapat ett tryggt utrymme för barnen att uttrycka idéer, att vi vuxna tenderar att ha en annan tolkning av vad vänskap är inom barndomen än barnen som finns i själva barndomen. Min son blir rasande med sina lärare som fortsätter prata om sina "vänner" i skolan ... Hans poäng är att "de inte är mina vänner, jag kan inte ens komma ihåg namnen på de flesta i min klass och det finns några av dem som jag gillar verkligen inte för att de bara är elaka och oförskämda mot mig och andra ... varför skulle jag kalla dessa människor mina vänner? Jag vet vem mina vänner är." Och jag tror att det här är detsamma för gruppen ... de har ännu inte fått vänskapsstatus än ... kanske om vi träffade några timmar varje vecka hade vänskap skulle bildats, men endast en gång i månaden kanske tar mer tid för vänskap att blomma - speciellt när vi har åldersskillnad som vi gör. Barnen är verkligen vänliga med varandra ... och ja jag kan se att vänskapen bildar - speciellt efter att ha tillbringat en hel dag tillsammans i Uppsala. Det här fick mig att tro att vi kanske behöver göra en heldagsmöte tidigare om en ny styrelse någonsin skulle formas ... för att hjälpa tillit forma ännu snabbare ... och eftersom barnen trodde att ännu fler experiment skulle vara ett bra sätt för att förbättra barnstyrelsen är kanske en workshop-dag med experiment en bra idé? När jag frågade dem om hur skulle fler experiment hjälpa dem var svaret, "vi skulle veta vad som fungerar och vad som inte gör det, det skulle ge oss en uppfattning om vad som skulle fungera i ett klassrum med massor av barn och vad skulle behöva små grupper" ... snacka om barnens kompetens. Tillbaka till vänskapsidén ... påpekade det äldsta barnet att det som hade förvånat henne var det faktum att det var kul att vara med "små barn" (ett ord jag, personligen, undviker eftersom det är mer laddat än att säga "yngre barn"). Innan styrelsen bildades lekte vi med idén om vilken typ av åldersskillnad det skulle finnas och hur det skulle påverka gruppen - och det faktum att det äldsta barnet har fått chansen att uppskatta de yngre barnens kompetens känns bra för oss som vuxna, eftersom det var något vi har eftersträvt. Om barn ska ha befogenhet ... behöver de se sin egen makt, och inte att åldern påverkar makt. Jag kämpar alltid med min makt ... Som vuxen kommer jag till en grupp barn med mer makt ... och skolbarn är mycket vana vid situationer i skolan där de sitter och tar emot sina "äldres visdom" - det vill säga de får veta vad och hur man lär sig. Det innebär att en del av min process med barnen är att "unschool" dom. Och det betyder att jag utövar min vuxna makt för att se till att det här händer - det är en slags ställning (scaffolding). Jag ser dom som kompetenta elever (learners... don't like that I cannot find a good word in Swedish for this)... det var också något de kommenterade sig själva igår, att de lär sig av varandra, att de alla har olika kunskaper som dom kan dela och utöka sitt eget tänkande. Min ställning/scaffolding har varit en "empowerment"(bemyndigande is how it wants to translate that right now) process - för det första att uppmuntra dom att prata och dela idéer, samt tanken att det måste finnas utrymme för att alla barn ska kunna dela sitt tänkande (det vill säga ett demokratiskt förhållningssätt) och ibland kan jag ta ner den ställningen/scaffolding och dom hantera sina egna dialoger, idéutforskningar och beslutsfattande på egen hand. Med en grupp som har olika åldrar innebär det att min byggnadsställning/scaffolding verkar gå upp och ner - ibland har de äldre barnen energi att ta ansvar för att hålla det utvecklingsmässigt lämpligt för de yngre ... och andra gånger gör de inte, och jag antar ansvaret och låt barnets "inre yngre barn" skina och leka. Det betyder att jag måste vara ständigt medveten om balansen och vara lyhörd på deras behov som individer och grupp - och det har ibland inneburit att jag utmanar deras tänkande, i synnerhet när det ibland är kring frågor som ställs inte får att ta reda på en mängd möjliga svar men med avsikt att höra ett specifikt svar och inte låta det gå förrän det svaret hördes. För mig är detta en typisk skolförhållningssätt till lärande ... men i detta forum ville vi ha något annat för barnen och det känns som om de har uppskattat det. Alla barn har utvecklats i hur mycket de deltar och lyssnar, i hur de formulerar idéer samt hur de uppskattar att det kan finnas flera perspektiv. Det har varit intressant att höra deras åsikter - och hur vi kan gå vidare efter sommaren. Det kommer att ge Patricia och jag själv mer att fundera på hur man utvecklar denna styrelse för barn under sina sista månader ... med hopp om att det kan fortsätta i någon form i framtiden.
Friday, 29 December 2017
Reflecting on 2017
This year has been quite a different year for me, as I have not spent most of my time working in a preschool, especially the first half of the year.
I have focussed on writing blogposts and on trying to put a book together, and also on my work with the educators in Jenin Refugee Camp in Palestine.
Each year I have had my own "project" to explore... listening for a few years, play for peace and this year it has been democracy... this has impacted the posts that I have written. I do not feel like I become an expert in these areas, but I learn more about what I know about these subjects and how I feel about them, and how I can improve my own relationship with these words.
Creating a democratic classroom/democratic learning is so connected to both listening and play for peace... that I feel I will continue with this thinking for another year, I do not feel I have finished exploring democracy and being democratic with children.
During the year I have written posts that I am proud of and there are posts that seem to have struck a chord with others - they are not always the same posts...
I am proud of the fact that I challenge how we use words... not because I think people are wrong using them the way they are used... but that I add another layer, another perspective - and hopefully those that take the time to read my posts will be offered the chance to reflect and think about how they use these words, what their own reactions are and develop their own opinions.
My posts are not about me thinking I have got it right... it is about me exploring possibilities ... it is an open dialogue with my reflections that I share with those interested.
I am also proud of the fact that I participated in several online conferences, and right at the moment I am preparing for another one (Fairy Dust Teaching Winter Conference) where I will be talking about Natural Learning - I am proud of this because I have had to work with my own fears of speaking on phones/skype and recording myself - being "live" is so much easier, as I react to the audience - and I am a very visual listener, and also I move a lot when I talk, which is not entirely suitable for skype... but being a visual listener means I have become a talker with my whole body for the sake of other visual listeners! Stepping outside your comfort zone is such an important part of learning... we should feel safe, but there needs to be an element of risk when we learn... the risk of failing. And learning that failure is not a bad thing, but just a part of the learning process has been an essential for me to overcome some of my social fears.
I am also proud of my autism. That has also been a process for me in the last few years... working out, through the diagnosis of my son, that I am autistic has been an eye-opening experience. Suddenly the world makes so much more sense. I know who I am, I have spent long enough with myself to get an idea of that, but suddenly I have a better understanding of other people around me, of why I get so tired in social situations (I love being social, but I know now that if I am social active for a while I need time to pause afterwards to recuperate and reload my batteries... I see my son and one of my daughters become exhausted after every school day in part due to the social requirements of school).
My own autism has allowed me to understand the needs of other children who are not neuro-typical... to understand that there is an extra level of exhaustion in a day that neuro-typicals do not experience or even consider. And also that many descriptions of autism just do not apply to either myself or my children... this lack of empathy and imagination that is assigned to autism is just so incredibly far from the truth - but sometimes you just have to shut down the outward expression of emotions just to survive the day. In other words sometimes the empathy is so overwhelming that you are depleted of energy to such a level it becomes non-functioning, and to prevent this you put up a wall to shut out the feelings of others. I have walked into rooms where colleagues have been stressing so much (about things that are not worth stressing about... the children are noisy, they are not doing what you say fast enough) that I have had to walk out because I was absorbing their stress to such an extent that my heartbeat was in overdrive... I accept the fact that children will be noisy (even though it is sound pollution) and that children will not do what you want them to, if they are not active participants - they will push boundaries if they have not been allowed to create those boundaries with you, or know why those boundaries are there.
My most read post this year is...
Pedagogical Documentation - a beginners Guide - session one
in fact all the sessions and the film that I made in connection with this series were well read and watched.
Border Crossing from analogue to digital and back has been another well read post...
in fact this year has been the year where more Swedish people have been reading my posts. Which has been great, because I live and work in Sweden, so it feels good that I have a sort of relevance here too... not just sharing my story with others from around the world. Of course writing in English is going to have an impact on my accessibility here in Sweden... after a long day reading in a foreign language is not always the most relaxing.
I have written a post in Swedish, maybe even two... but my written Swedish is hampered by the fact I cannot write in the same style that I write English (well they are different languages) - and that I will try to use metaphors etc that really just do not work in the same way in Swedish. Sure I am understood, but it's different !! But maybe I should just embrace that too? Something to work on!
Another most read post has been...
The attitude of autism
this year has been yet another year of seeing the school system fail my son... the system has not found a way to ignite the joy of learning... which I see he has in other situations and he had before the school system has tried to enforce their one way of learning on him. He has as a result developed an attitude that really does not do him any favours... and as a parent is embarrassing at times, even though I understand why it is there, I hate the way others see him.
Anyway the principal/director/head of this school is now being replaced - so I am hoping next year will be a better year.
I am proud of introducing two new terms - that make sense to me, and hopefully will make sense to others... Original Learning (which I will continue to explore in 2018) and also together-led play/learning (rather than just child led, or adult led - so very much in tune with democratic learning that I had been exploring all year). You can read a post here...
Original Learning and together led play
In the latter half of this year I have started a project with Gästrikevatten (Gästrike is an area of Sweden in the Gävle area north of Stockholm - about 2 hours by express train). A board of children has been started to get the children more involved in their learning... to find out more about how children learn, and to get the children involved in designing learning situations for the children. This is very much about creating a democratic situation where the children are guided by adults... where they are seen as participants with equal value, where their words weigh as heavy as our adult words. It is an exciting project to be a part of... and I take my role seriously in lifting the voice of the child.
This year was the first time that I have not been working at a setting at the same time as the International Fairy Tea Party - a play event I started 5 years ago to celebrate play and imagination - to encourage educators and all adults to indulge in play and fantasy with the children. It is a worldwide event - anyone can join in... just look up the facebook page and say you want to be a part... in the lead up to the September equinox (where we are united by the same number of daylight hours regardless of where we find ourselves on the planet) if you let me know on the page the name of the party (it can be a school, class, nursery, family or imaginary name, and your location - (town/village is enough detail) then I can add you to the fairy map... which allows the children you are celebrating with to see how many others are celebrating play around the world with them. And by the sharing of images afterwards we get to see the similarities and differences of how we use our imaginations...
I have collected images for a film, a short film is available to see of the worldwide celebrations, and I am well behind schedule putting the longer version together... hopefully it will be done in the coming weeks)
I have also been working at a preschool as a substitute - which I have enjoyed, but also saw that the reason I left the preschool world this time last year is still very prevalent - still not enough support is being given to the teachers/educators working with the children... and yet they take all the responsibility... the system makes it hard for educators to give children what they know they need if they are not given enough time to develop they competence they need for the group of children they have (just any education is not right), enough time to plan together as a team, enough time to communicate with each other (or develop a mode of communication that actually works for all of the team). I saw hard working educators on virtual burn out and instead of being given the support to prevent fires they were constantly putting out fires. This is exhausting and non-productive for both children and educators.
I have written to the boss of this preschool twice, once in early autumn pointing out these things I saw- where the response was management was aware of all of this and was dealing with it. I wrote again just before Christmas saying that I had not seen any support given to the educators and that the situation was unchanged. I offered that I could help -something that the educators there also asked me for, but I cannot do if I am a substitute, because then the children are the focus not the educators - these people need someone to go in and coach them and support them where they are now, they need to be lifted - their morale as much as competence development, and new strategies of communication and planning so they can support each other better in their roles.
I assume that these truths were hard to swallow - and I hope that the management takes me up on the role of coaching/supporting the staff. But I guess that is no easy thing from a person who has just been critical.
yeah... autism means you will get the truth from me... and the sad thing is that people do not want the truth, they want the sugar coated version, or the lies, even though they say they want honest people around them. Honesty is not easy to swallow, it does not always taste good... but it is a great place to start learning from.
I make social faux-pas probably more often than I should... I am still learning the at of sweet talking and sugar coating and lying. When put in the situation of lying to parents to save the face of settings I have worked at (yes I have been told not to tell the truth, and have over the years been threatened with court if I told the truth - or that "it would not be good for me" if I told the truth) then I have left these places, because it is just too socially exhausting for me to lie like that and work - it is not sustainable.
In the end will all have to be true to ourselves, or at least comfortable with the lie/story we tell ourselves.
So I wonder what 2018 will bring?
Hopefully a year where I can support other educators find their truth, their inspiration, their motivation...
I will be returning to Palestine, and hopefully also to Israel to meet with educators in both places to explore listening, democratic learning and play for peace.
I will continue my work with Gästrikevatten working philosophically with 8-13 year olds - and I would love to be able to do this kind of work with other groups of children too.
My trip to Pakistan has been put on hold until after the elections at the end of 2018 - as there are concerns for safety - but maybe there will be trips to other places?
I would love to travel more around Sweden... to share what I have been learning with them, and to be deeper inspired by the many amazing settings here.
I have focussed on writing blogposts and on trying to put a book together, and also on my work with the educators in Jenin Refugee Camp in Palestine.
Each year I have had my own "project" to explore... listening for a few years, play for peace and this year it has been democracy... this has impacted the posts that I have written. I do not feel like I become an expert in these areas, but I learn more about what I know about these subjects and how I feel about them, and how I can improve my own relationship with these words.
Creating a democratic classroom/democratic learning is so connected to both listening and play for peace... that I feel I will continue with this thinking for another year, I do not feel I have finished exploring democracy and being democratic with children.
During the year I have written posts that I am proud of and there are posts that seem to have struck a chord with others - they are not always the same posts...
I am proud of the fact that I challenge how we use words... not because I think people are wrong using them the way they are used... but that I add another layer, another perspective - and hopefully those that take the time to read my posts will be offered the chance to reflect and think about how they use these words, what their own reactions are and develop their own opinions.
My posts are not about me thinking I have got it right... it is about me exploring possibilities ... it is an open dialogue with my reflections that I share with those interested.
I am also proud of the fact that I participated in several online conferences, and right at the moment I am preparing for another one (Fairy Dust Teaching Winter Conference) where I will be talking about Natural Learning - I am proud of this because I have had to work with my own fears of speaking on phones/skype and recording myself - being "live" is so much easier, as I react to the audience - and I am a very visual listener, and also I move a lot when I talk, which is not entirely suitable for skype... but being a visual listener means I have become a talker with my whole body for the sake of other visual listeners! Stepping outside your comfort zone is such an important part of learning... we should feel safe, but there needs to be an element of risk when we learn... the risk of failing. And learning that failure is not a bad thing, but just a part of the learning process has been an essential for me to overcome some of my social fears.
I am also proud of my autism. That has also been a process for me in the last few years... working out, through the diagnosis of my son, that I am autistic has been an eye-opening experience. Suddenly the world makes so much more sense. I know who I am, I have spent long enough with myself to get an idea of that, but suddenly I have a better understanding of other people around me, of why I get so tired in social situations (I love being social, but I know now that if I am social active for a while I need time to pause afterwards to recuperate and reload my batteries... I see my son and one of my daughters become exhausted after every school day in part due to the social requirements of school).
My own autism has allowed me to understand the needs of other children who are not neuro-typical... to understand that there is an extra level of exhaustion in a day that neuro-typicals do not experience or even consider. And also that many descriptions of autism just do not apply to either myself or my children... this lack of empathy and imagination that is assigned to autism is just so incredibly far from the truth - but sometimes you just have to shut down the outward expression of emotions just to survive the day. In other words sometimes the empathy is so overwhelming that you are depleted of energy to such a level it becomes non-functioning, and to prevent this you put up a wall to shut out the feelings of others. I have walked into rooms where colleagues have been stressing so much (about things that are not worth stressing about... the children are noisy, they are not doing what you say fast enough) that I have had to walk out because I was absorbing their stress to such an extent that my heartbeat was in overdrive... I accept the fact that children will be noisy (even though it is sound pollution) and that children will not do what you want them to, if they are not active participants - they will push boundaries if they have not been allowed to create those boundaries with you, or know why those boundaries are there.
My most read post this year is...
Pedagogical Documentation - a beginners Guide - session one
in fact all the sessions and the film that I made in connection with this series were well read and watched.
Border Crossing from analogue to digital and back has been another well read post...
in fact this year has been the year where more Swedish people have been reading my posts. Which has been great, because I live and work in Sweden, so it feels good that I have a sort of relevance here too... not just sharing my story with others from around the world. Of course writing in English is going to have an impact on my accessibility here in Sweden... after a long day reading in a foreign language is not always the most relaxing.
I have written a post in Swedish, maybe even two... but my written Swedish is hampered by the fact I cannot write in the same style that I write English (well they are different languages) - and that I will try to use metaphors etc that really just do not work in the same way in Swedish. Sure I am understood, but it's different !! But maybe I should just embrace that too? Something to work on!
Another most read post has been...
The attitude of autism
this year has been yet another year of seeing the school system fail my son... the system has not found a way to ignite the joy of learning... which I see he has in other situations and he had before the school system has tried to enforce their one way of learning on him. He has as a result developed an attitude that really does not do him any favours... and as a parent is embarrassing at times, even though I understand why it is there, I hate the way others see him.
Anyway the principal/director/head of this school is now being replaced - so I am hoping next year will be a better year.
I am proud of introducing two new terms - that make sense to me, and hopefully will make sense to others... Original Learning (which I will continue to explore in 2018) and also together-led play/learning (rather than just child led, or adult led - so very much in tune with democratic learning that I had been exploring all year). You can read a post here...
Original Learning and together led play
In the latter half of this year I have started a project with Gästrikevatten (Gästrike is an area of Sweden in the Gävle area north of Stockholm - about 2 hours by express train). A board of children has been started to get the children more involved in their learning... to find out more about how children learn, and to get the children involved in designing learning situations for the children. This is very much about creating a democratic situation where the children are guided by adults... where they are seen as participants with equal value, where their words weigh as heavy as our adult words. It is an exciting project to be a part of... and I take my role seriously in lifting the voice of the child.
This year was the first time that I have not been working at a setting at the same time as the International Fairy Tea Party - a play event I started 5 years ago to celebrate play and imagination - to encourage educators and all adults to indulge in play and fantasy with the children. It is a worldwide event - anyone can join in... just look up the facebook page and say you want to be a part... in the lead up to the September equinox (where we are united by the same number of daylight hours regardless of where we find ourselves on the planet) if you let me know on the page the name of the party (it can be a school, class, nursery, family or imaginary name, and your location - (town/village is enough detail) then I can add you to the fairy map... which allows the children you are celebrating with to see how many others are celebrating play around the world with them. And by the sharing of images afterwards we get to see the similarities and differences of how we use our imaginations...
I have collected images for a film, a short film is available to see of the worldwide celebrations, and I am well behind schedule putting the longer version together... hopefully it will be done in the coming weeks)
I have also been working at a preschool as a substitute - which I have enjoyed, but also saw that the reason I left the preschool world this time last year is still very prevalent - still not enough support is being given to the teachers/educators working with the children... and yet they take all the responsibility... the system makes it hard for educators to give children what they know they need if they are not given enough time to develop they competence they need for the group of children they have (just any education is not right), enough time to plan together as a team, enough time to communicate with each other (or develop a mode of communication that actually works for all of the team). I saw hard working educators on virtual burn out and instead of being given the support to prevent fires they were constantly putting out fires. This is exhausting and non-productive for both children and educators.
I have written to the boss of this preschool twice, once in early autumn pointing out these things I saw- where the response was management was aware of all of this and was dealing with it. I wrote again just before Christmas saying that I had not seen any support given to the educators and that the situation was unchanged. I offered that I could help -something that the educators there also asked me for, but I cannot do if I am a substitute, because then the children are the focus not the educators - these people need someone to go in and coach them and support them where they are now, they need to be lifted - their morale as much as competence development, and new strategies of communication and planning so they can support each other better in their roles.
I assume that these truths were hard to swallow - and I hope that the management takes me up on the role of coaching/supporting the staff. But I guess that is no easy thing from a person who has just been critical.
yeah... autism means you will get the truth from me... and the sad thing is that people do not want the truth, they want the sugar coated version, or the lies, even though they say they want honest people around them. Honesty is not easy to swallow, it does not always taste good... but it is a great place to start learning from.
I make social faux-pas probably more often than I should... I am still learning the at of sweet talking and sugar coating and lying. When put in the situation of lying to parents to save the face of settings I have worked at (yes I have been told not to tell the truth, and have over the years been threatened with court if I told the truth - or that "it would not be good for me" if I told the truth) then I have left these places, because it is just too socially exhausting for me to lie like that and work - it is not sustainable.
In the end will all have to be true to ourselves, or at least comfortable with the lie/story we tell ourselves.
So I wonder what 2018 will bring?
Hopefully a year where I can support other educators find their truth, their inspiration, their motivation...
I will be returning to Palestine, and hopefully also to Israel to meet with educators in both places to explore listening, democratic learning and play for peace.
I will continue my work with Gästrikevatten working philosophically with 8-13 year olds - and I would love to be able to do this kind of work with other groups of children too.
My trip to Pakistan has been put on hold until after the elections at the end of 2018 - as there are concerns for safety - but maybe there will be trips to other places?
I would love to travel more around Sweden... to share what I have been learning with them, and to be deeper inspired by the many amazing settings here.
Tuesday, 31 October 2017
Democracy and Original Learning... (and play)
I have just read Peter Gray's post - Social play and the genesis of democracy
and found that it struck a chord with my thinking about both Original Learning and Together-led-play - (although I struggle a little with his use of stereotype gender descriptions - bossy Betsy and bully Benjamin - why not the same word for both, either would have done, to show the equality of how we view this kind of behaviour - if we are talking about democracy then we are talking about equal values... and the words we use also have value as most have a history with the person using or hearing them).
We value democracy. As citizens, we want our children to grow up holding and abiding by democratic values. We know that democracy is not easy. Democracy implies freedom, but it also implies responsibility. The balance between the two is delicate and takes wisdom that can only be gained through practice. People in a democracy are free, yet they must follow rules, cooperate with others, respect differences among individuals, and recognize that their own needs and rights are no more valuable than are those of every other person. How do children acquire such values and learn to live by them? Peter Gray.The above is the first paragraph from his article and this is why I think together-led play is so vital... it is a part of the adult relinquishing power over the children and taking on equal status - to avoid the "dictatorships" of schools that Peter Gray goes on to describe where "activities (are) autocratically run by adults". Children in preschool and schools need to be active participants in their own learning.
I also feel, like Gray, there needs to be more time for children/adolescents to engage in free play - but I am not sure that the school/preschool environment is the place that should be taking all the responsibility for this... as a whole society we need to value children's free play. We need to trust in children's competence and we need to trust in the society we live in... we need to communicate with each other better instead of small isolated pockets.
As a child I remember how the whole neighbourhood looked out for us... not control or supervise... but had an eye out just in case. It meant that we, as children, knew we had to spend energy on self-regulation - it was not just about if we did not play fair that others would not want to play with us, it was also the fact you never knew who was watching, and did you want that behaviour being reported back home? This does not mean everyone was always super nice to each other - social boundaries were tested, things happened, we got the opportunity to learn about who was fun to play with and who was not. The older we got the further we got to explore.
Tim Gill reflects on how children are an indicator species for a city - the more children you see on the streets the more the city is thriving - you can read more about it here Rethinking Childhood:The child as an indicator species for cities
When parents today look out from their front doors, they see a world that is at best uncaring about their children, and at worst hostile to them. And no wonder, thanks to relentless traffic growth, run-down parks and green spaces, and eyeball-grabbing scaremongering in both the mainstream and social media Tim Gill.This is something that we need to address as a whole community. As the saying goes it takes a community to raise a child.
The together-led play that I have been describing does not exclude the need for children's own free time to play and explore - if we are leading play together then we know when to back off as adults, if it is always adult-led then we will be afraid to let go of that power, and if we are only prizing children-led play then we will see adults only as interfering rather than as equal participants in the realm of play.
I state here again how using philosophy with children has helped in my process to better understand the power I have as an adult over children - as being a facilitator in the dialogue without an agenda other than supporting the children communicate their ideas and deepen their own understanding as a community of learners means you get to practice relinquishing your power and becoming aware of it.
Recently I held a philosophy with children session as part of the "board of children" project in Gävle. This time with 8-12 year olds. The other adult I am working with this on this project has not participated in this kind of dialogue before, and, despite us talking about it before, found it difficult at first - the children are new to each other, I knew the dialogue would be slow at the start (despite us having warm-up/team-building beforehand) not only because of their newness to each other, but also because this method of communication is new too. It was obvious that the children are used to being lead by an adult/educator, and I was only acting as a guide... I felt comfortable with the fact that there was silent patches that seemed to indicate a struggle, my colleague started to fill in with her opinion... which I stopped before she had come very far, reminding her and the children that this is a board of children, that it is ONLY their opinions that matter during our meetings, that I am there only in a capacity to support their thinking, and that my colleague is there to write everything down - like a secretary on a board.
When I asked the children about how do they learn (as the board's purpose is to help design a new education about water issues) they all mentioned reading, watching films, making presentations for their class - typical sit down learning that happens in a classroom... I had to push a little to find out if there was any other way that they could learn - despite the fact that they had already expressed that it was easiest to learn when it was fun. Eventually they came to play, experiments and hands on activities and suddenly the dialogue became animated - it was like watching them walk over the threshold of what they think we expected learning should look like to suddenly being able to see this is how learning could look like (in schools).
In a way, it was for the best that my colleague made the "mistake" and started to share her opinion, because it gave another opportunity to illuminate that this meeting really was about the children's ideas, and will continue to be in the future meetings. That we adults are there in the circle as equal members, not to share our ideas, but to share our experience and our knowledge. That by listening we can provide future meetings with the experiences and access to the information the children need to make better informed decisions. And many of those experiences will be play. It was clear from the team-building that the 11-12 year olds enjoyed playing just as much as the 8-9 year olds.
 |
| blowing bubbles is fun... apparently it does not matter how old you are!!! |
As I have often written in my blog... it comes back to time... taking the time to allow children to play, taking the time to step back, taking the time to enjoy the complexities of learning and play and not feeling the need to simplify things so that it all gets done (in the sense of a one size fits all, rather than the diversity of real life)
 |
| I think this is the case for many adults too, raised without the being given the time and space to learn how to think. If we do not how to do this ourselves as adults it becomes so much harder to be able to enable children to do this. Therefore time also needs to be spent on supporting educators to reflect more about their roles and actions in the classroom - as an individual and together with others. |
 |
| if you don't know happiness, how can you provide it to others? If you don't know play, how can you provide it to others... hence educators need the time to play in order to better understand play. There needs to be joy... those who are learning and those who are co-learning/teaching. |
Saturday, 14 October 2017
Board of Children
I have just started a project with Gästrikevatten (Gästrike Water Authority) in Gävle (north of Stockholm) to start up a board of children (barnstyrelse) as a way to learn more about how children learn and how they can be informed about water issues.
Instead of adults thinking they know best about how to teach children abut water this will be a collaboration with 10 children aged between 8 and 12 living in the town of Gävle, the suburbs and neighbouring villages all serviced by Gästrikevatten.
The aim is to have a mix of ages, a mix of genders, a mix of where the children live and go to school, a mix of children with confidence and children that seemed a little shy, a mix of children who seemed to know a lot and children know little but are curious to find out more. At the same time trying to create a mix that will create a positive space for interactions... a space where all children can take space, where there will be mutual respect and also where the children feel competent...
The idea is that I will present challenges and questions like a piece of gravel in their shoe... just big enough that they will notice, but not too big that it overwhelms and hinders progress... but not too small that they don't notice it at all and its all just too comfortable and no progress is made.
Through activities and philosophical dialogues the board of children will explore ideas relating to water, with the aim to try and find out optimal ways of sharing this information with others...
During the dialogues we will discover what we need to learn more about... and we will turn to experts to find out more so that the children can make informed decisions. The activities will be designed so that the children can gain hands on experiences, not only about water but also about ways we learn.
We will be exploring ideas about what is a board of children, what is learning, what is teaching, what water issues are important for us to inform others about and why... they will also learn about using philosophical dialogues as a tool to explore ideas...
Patricia, who works at Gästrikevatten, is my partner... I will be taking the 1.5 hour train journey to Gävle 1-2 times a month to met the children and hold the dialogues and then plan the next session based on what I have learned form the children. I am fortunate to come into this project with no agenda other than facilitating the children's dialogues and explorations of water... to ensure that they have access to the knowledge they need to deepen their dialogues, to ensure that it is a respectful and inclusive environment and also to provide new experiences for them to try out
Patricia does have an agenda... and that is to try to find out how a better education about water issues can be created.
It means we both have to listen... but we will be listening in different ways... and in ways that will support each other, the children and the whole project.
Children are competent... we need to give the time and space for their voices to be seen and heard (I am a visual listener) and I am so excited to be a part of this project where space and time is being given to children. That their opinions will be being genuinely valued.
This will be a year long project... and there is the hope that it might be continued beyond a year - in what form I can only think might be better or improved as we learn during the coming year.
Instead of adults thinking they know best about how to teach children abut water this will be a collaboration with 10 children aged between 8 and 12 living in the town of Gävle, the suburbs and neighbouring villages all serviced by Gästrikevatten.
The aim is to have a mix of ages, a mix of genders, a mix of where the children live and go to school, a mix of children with confidence and children that seemed a little shy, a mix of children who seemed to know a lot and children know little but are curious to find out more. At the same time trying to create a mix that will create a positive space for interactions... a space where all children can take space, where there will be mutual respect and also where the children feel competent...
The idea is that I will present challenges and questions like a piece of gravel in their shoe... just big enough that they will notice, but not too big that it overwhelms and hinders progress... but not too small that they don't notice it at all and its all just too comfortable and no progress is made.
Through activities and philosophical dialogues the board of children will explore ideas relating to water, with the aim to try and find out optimal ways of sharing this information with others...
During the dialogues we will discover what we need to learn more about... and we will turn to experts to find out more so that the children can make informed decisions. The activities will be designed so that the children can gain hands on experiences, not only about water but also about ways we learn.
We will be exploring ideas about what is a board of children, what is learning, what is teaching, what water issues are important for us to inform others about and why... they will also learn about using philosophical dialogues as a tool to explore ideas...
Patricia, who works at Gästrikevatten, is my partner... I will be taking the 1.5 hour train journey to Gävle 1-2 times a month to met the children and hold the dialogues and then plan the next session based on what I have learned form the children. I am fortunate to come into this project with no agenda other than facilitating the children's dialogues and explorations of water... to ensure that they have access to the knowledge they need to deepen their dialogues, to ensure that it is a respectful and inclusive environment and also to provide new experiences for them to try out
Patricia does have an agenda... and that is to try to find out how a better education about water issues can be created.
It means we both have to listen... but we will be listening in different ways... and in ways that will support each other, the children and the whole project.
Children are competent... we need to give the time and space for their voices to be seen and heard (I am a visual listener) and I am so excited to be a part of this project where space and time is being given to children. That their opinions will be being genuinely valued.
This will be a year long project... and there is the hope that it might be continued beyond a year - in what form I can only think might be better or improved as we learn during the coming year.
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