The story of communication... part two

In the last few days since writing the first part exploring our adult role in communication I have seen an increasing number of posts about setting up the environment ready for the new academic year to begin (in the northern hemisphere that is... of course in the Southern hemisphere the school year is different, and it is winter right now!)

So I decided that this next post in the series should take a look at the classroom... the learning environment ... the third teacher..

as  Reggio Emilia inspired educator I reflect a great deal about my colleague, the third teacher, and over the years I have written quite a lot of blogposts on the topic, as well as sharing images from settings I have visited...

What I have always struggled with is that many educators focus on how the third teacher looks a little more than how it functions... imagine if that is how we educators were treated too. That how we looked, fixed our hair, the clothes we wear whether we work out over not... all of this had more importance than how we teach, communicate and interact with the children... it was more important than the knowledge and experience we have gained over the years... or more important than the relationships we create with the children, parents and colleagues...

I think we would consider people that looked at us in that way as superficial and missing the point of us as educators... not seeing or valuing what we really do.

Of course the early years does not get the value it should, but not to be valued by our own ECE peers would not be healthy for our teaching self-esteem.

So in this post I want to look at how the room communicates... with you as a teacher, with the children as learners, with the humans that spend time there...

Start with the question...
what is the intention of the room?
The intention of the room at the start of the year might be about making the children feel welcome, feel settled and feel comfortable to interact with others...

How do you with the resources that you have meet these needs?
How are you going to arrange the furniture to create space for the children to meet and talk with each other? Do you want them in just big groups or smaller groups? or able to change the size of their group throughout the day (which would mean a selection of space sizes from large to the small).

Do you want the children to feel independent and competent? How do you set up a room to do that?
If you have EVERYTHING out and visible at the beginning and the children do not like to tidy up or are not ready to cope with the amount of resources then you are setting the children up for failure and yourself for frustration and hard work picking up after them... Why not limit the resources in the beginning to see how the children manage those, allowing them to feel in control of the space by being able to play and tidy up after themselves without feeling overwhelmed? New things can be introduced bit by bit... and these introductions can allow you as an educator to enhance the play and learning you see the children engaged in and allow the classroom to meet those needs. It also allows you the time to explain some tools and how they can be safely used... rather than having everything out at the same time and a feeling of risk in the everyday is higher than what it maybe should be.

For instance I have worked in groups where scissors are a great creative tool and all the children knew how to hold, transport and use them... while in other groups the scissors have posed a problem, carried in a dangerous way, not being held properly and accidents happen (too frequently) or children use them inappropriately which switches the scissors from risk to dangerous...
Access to scissors is based on the children's ability to use them and their relationship with them... the room needs to communicate I trust you... and if you are placing materials in the room that require you to police the children then the room and you are saying you do not trust.
When I have had groups with children unable to happily and safely interact with scissors (regardless of age) then I put the scissors out of reach and in a space where they need to ask me to use them, I will bring them down and we can work together, communicating with the children how to hold them, how to carry them and how to use them so that they can get creative... with the intention that as soon as they are ready the scissors can be placed in a place where they can reach themselves.
Just as we do not let people drive cars without lessons and learning first and proving that they can drive safely, I think we need to use the same approach with tools in preschools... so they do have that competence and I avoid coming in saying no.

I want to create a room that says yes.

And more importantly that allows me to say yes rather than no.

Look around the room. Do you see anything that might make you say no to the children? Why does it have this no potential? Can you make changes so that the room clearly allows the children - permits their play - rather than requiring you to police and possibly restrict their play and learning?

Take the time to look from the child's height. It does look very different from their height. Does it look inviting or intimidating? If the latter what changes can be made?

Children have a very different sense of beauty than what adults have. Attempting to clone what others do is not always the best option. Find out what your  children need and like.  Will baskets, neutral colours and the like calm them or send them to sleep? Is that their sense of a learning environment? I am personally not an educator that likes a lot of visual clutter and lots of colours brightly challenging my eyes... but equally I don not like the opposite where there is no colour and devoid of all clutter. I like a learning space that says welcome - come play, come learn, come share your ideas with others... and also a space that celebrates this process, the children can see their value, the value of their ideas etc as this is communicated in the space too. We do not need fancy furniture and expensive materials to be able to do this. We get creative with what we have.
Not all learning spaces have the financial means to get exactly what they want from the catalogues - it is about recycling and upcycling... which is a very sustainable approach to education and also has its own beauty/aesthetic

When we look at images from other people's settings we need to always take this into consideration... we do not know what kind of budget they have, we seldom know how the space is used and what kind of children's needs and abilities they are meeting, we seldom take the time to ask about how the space communicates with the children... it is so often judged on how it looks.

This is part of the reason why Malaguzzi did not want people to take photos of the settings in Reggio Emilia... he did not want others to simply come and take photos to then replicate the space elsewhere... he wanted the educators to start a journey together with their third teacher... where they get to know each other and learn how to communicate with the children... to communicate a joy for learning. The downside is that there are many educators out there in the world saying you need to have this or that, or get rid of this or that for it to be truly "Reggio Emilia" inspired... and yet there are no images to say this is right or wrong, just word of mouth that seems to have been distorted over time - where no plastic, or natural baskets or loose parts or nature are the must do or the must have in order to be Reggio...
Start with the children.
Your relationship with the children.
How do you view childhood and what they can do, should do? How is this reflected in your learning space (indoors and outdoors). How do you communicate with children? How is this reflected in the space? What is the intention of your learning space? How does this impact the room?

What about sound, light, smell, touch - and why not taste... how do these all fit into your room? Do these elements hinder or enhance learning... what can be done to ensure that the room enhances learning rather than hinders, considering all the senses.

we also need to think about how the room communicates inclusion.
Does every child feel welcome?
Can every child feel they can identify with the room or elements of the room? ie does a child with a foreign language have access to her own language through books for example... even if you as an educator cannot read them, their very presence in the space says that her language is valued.
Does the learning space require that some children need extra help? Why do they need this support? Can the room be designed so that all children feel competent.

I have been seeing this image going round facebook the last few weeks, and it made me think of education... (in fact there are several versions that can be found if you google equality, equity and justice meme - so I included a few here)

What I feel we should be aiming for in our classrooms is the justice or liberation - the sad fact is the education is mostly set up for equality which means those that can thrive, those that struggle struggle more... there are schools and educators that strive to ensure that there is equity, that the children get what they need to be able to achieve... but really what we should be doing is designing our learning spaces so that all can be who they are and thrive and achieve and not have to conform to a school norm with standardised learning and tests that is so exclusive.
The really sad part is that reality seems to be going to some kind of extreme that there are those who have that keep getting more boosts and opportunities to achieve and thrive, while others get more taken away - not everyone is getting the chance to rise to the height of their own potential.

So designing your classroom and what it communicates is an incredible complex task. It is so much more than beauty.

How do you include the neurodiverse? Children of different colour, culture, language, religion etc? How do you include families that are not the norm... where the norm is seen as a mother father and children... not all families look like this... does your learning space make all children feel welcome, that all children can find their personal identity reflected?

is the room designed so that the children follow orders, learn obediently, or is there space for joy, laughter, care? What feeling/emotion does the room communicate... does it communicate an openness to learn and explore?

Then there is language?
Language to communicate?
Is your space set up to create a space that encourages children to communicate with each other, verbally and non-verbally?
Do you have words hanging over the room on shelves, walls and the floor, down from the ceilings? Why? Who are they for, especially for pre-readers? Does it overwhelm or enhance the children's desire to read? Or do they become invisible to the children... which in a way is devaluing the written word in the eyes of the child?
Are there other ways you can support language and communication? For instance Soledad at her preschool in Norsborg (see link below) has lists of words for the educators, they are tucked away, but visible enough to remind the educators to diversify their language - to not just rely on the same stock phrases. I like to hang question samples in the documentation room/office to remind educators that there are many many questions that can be asked... to the children, and ourselves as we make changes in the classroom and write up our observations...
Get the children involved in the documentation process so that they see that their words can be written down... this has far more power than vocabulary hanging from the ceiling or on shelves. The children's own words.
Are you communicating your expectations of the children by hanging these words... or the ideas and potential of the children by sharing their words? And this is not just an either or thing... both can work together... it is about mixing things up to create a space that works for you in your context.

Below are some links to posts that might be useful...

The story of communication part one
Open ended materials vi closed ended materials - this posts looks on the materials used and offered to children... do you avoid plastic, why? What is an open ended material? Are closed ended materials bad - always? Why?
The Political Nature of Reggio Emilia - this post is here to remind you that this is NOT a pedagogy about beautiful materials... it is a pedagogy of communication of rights, values, and respect.
The benefits of BIG play - a post to remind you that BIG play is important... how are you designing your learning space so that children can learn with their entire bodies?
Visit to Anden preschool in Haninge
The story of eating together - a post to reflect on WHY to you serve the food the way you do? Is there a more correct way? How does culture and context play a part in all of this?
Story of a word - looking at language
A visit to Aspen preschool in Norsborg - this is Soledad's preschool, as I mentioned above
Inspiration not cloning - please always be inspired by the posts that I share, the images I share... but always always always reflect and think why is this meaningful and relevant for you and your children?

Some images

The Story of communication

This post has been brewing for a while... and my reflections have deepened due to chats with Kierna Corr who has stayed with me over the last few days and we have visited a preschool director (Soledad from Aspen preschool - link at the end to read a post about a previous visit to her preschool) in Botkyrka (Sweden's most immigrant rich commune) and also Annika who is responsible for the preschools in the Rinkeby/Kista area (another immigrant rich area).
The purpose of our visits have been to learn more about how can we better support the children of immigrant families - especially with language... with communication.

But before we can start with the children there is a need to start with ourselves... as educators. So this post will focus on that before moving onto the children and learning...

How do we communicate?
To create a safe space...
Knowledge...
to explore ideas...
learning...
etc

Do we speak in different ways depending on who we are talking to... and why do we do this? Is it appropriate?
When we communicate are we leaving enough space for others to communicate their ideas? Are we actually, truly, open to these ideas, or are they just words?
Why do we listen to some ideas and not others? Whose ideas do we give the most value to? and why?
What part of communication do we prioritise? Listening? Speaking? Reading? Writing? Why?
What are our expectations of others when it comes to these four areas of communication? Do we hold ourselves to the same standard of expectation as we do our peers, or the children...

Sometimes I think as adults we can struggle to create democratic classrooms, or listening classrooms, or even respectful classrooms because we did not experience this ourselves - we do not truly know what it looks like or feels like. So we have to be creative.

I also think that schools tend to focus on teaching children how to debate... and so teachers are debaters rather than skilled in dialogue, which is very different.
Debate is about getting your point across (whether you believe in it or not in school as a practice in the art of debating) - therefore debate is not so much about finding the truth, or the strength of the facts, but about the ability of the person talking - their passion, their ability to communicate, their ability to out-voice other ideas and opinions.
While dialogue is exploring ideas and opinions together, being open to learning from them, being willing to change your mind if the facts, the research point in a different direction from what you thought you might take at first... or it might just lead to understanding others better and a deepening of your understanding of your own opinion. Not just repeating your own opinion over and over without it ever evolving or without ever benefiting from a greater understanding of others. 
I feel that teaching children to debate is a great skill, but it is just one form of communication, and is not a great one for creating a great classroom atmosphere, of allowing children to learn from each other, for allowing children who are weaker in communicating but have amazing ideas and opinions that can benefit from others to shine.
I also think that debating means educators might be less open to try new things, because they excel in proving that what they know is the right way.
I also think that a school system that tests and has right and wrong answers is also going to produce teachers/educators that are going to need a whole load more bravery to try new ideas... as getting it wrong meant failure in school... that is a hard feeling to shake.

Are we, as educators, really comfortable with unpacking our own prejudices so that we can face them, learn from them and evolve? I think there are many things that we do without reflecting on, small, everyday things, that are steeped in stereotyped behaviour and tradition. These actions can accidentally exclude, even if that is far from our intention. This is why we need to be open with ourselves and how we communicate with others. What is a our view of the child? How does that impact the way we talk with them... do we see them as competent, do we worry about risk, do we stress about physical contact (you don't hug in school)... how does this impact the words and intonation and your body language?

What about the classroom? Does the layout/design of your classroom encourage communication? What kind of communication? Between the children or only from teacher to children - where they listen passively? How do you design a classroom to support active listeners? What is your knowledge about how the children listen? What does real listening look like?

I received a letter from my son's school in preparation for the new term starting in the latter half of August... there it stated (yet again) the need for "studierro" STUDY PEACE - what does this mean? Sometimes it feels that the teachers are expecting silence and to sit still so that the children can learn... but really there is only a small minority of children who need silence in order to be able to learn.. and even fewer that appreciate sitting still as an effective way to learn.
If children are spending their energy on trying to be quiet and trying to be still, then there is less energy being spend on listening, language acquisition, learning and participating in lessons... and also less time for the educator to be facilitating the learning as time is being spend on micro-managing children to sit still and be quiet. So how do teachers create learning environments? That allows all the children to learn... including those that need to move and need to make noise in order to access knowledge?

This might mean the traditional classroom will not work... and there is a need for flexible seating... but equally it might mean a traditional classroom does work with a particular class and a particular teacher (as long as the teacher is open to seeing the needs of all the children and is not just trying to convert all the children into sit still and be quiet learners... as no matter how good you are at making that happen it does not guarantee you that all the children are learning effectively. Silence and compliance does not equal learning.

The norm is an important part of what makes up our society... our expectations of others, what we accept and what we do not... that hitting, violence, being rude, murdering etc are not part of the norm... what we wear is also part of the norm, how we speak, the words we choose, swearing, what foods etc... there is a need for them to create community and also to create a kind of ethical code. The problem is that these norms can be too small and too restrictive and they have a nasty habit of excluding... this is why, we as educators, need to look at the norm we participate in, our own context, and how that impacts our communication.
In the below images if have drawn the norm as a rectangle... the small circles are groups, for a variety of reason that get excluded from the norm, and very often educators strive to include them. The problem is that these children, these groups have to learn how to become a part of the norm, and their differentness is highlighted as a problem... my son with autism/ADHD refuses to adapt, while my daughters have been able to (but at a great personal expense... complete exhaustion and sometimes depression - in fact when I was with my 17 year old as she got her ASD diagnosis the doctor complimented her on her self awareness and the fact that if she continued to work on that her autism would go away... I pointed out, as a mother with ASD that the autism does not go away, what happens is that we get better at hiding it so that neurotypicals feel more comfortable - we learn how to step into that box)

Educators learn various strategies etc to help children enter that box, become a part of the norm... and in this very process alienate even more the identity and the differentness of the child. Whether it be autism, or being an immigrant, a different home language, a different culture or religion, or skin colour, or family or. or , or ... there is no real inclusion.

What we need is to expand the norm... this idea of what is acceptable... to learn that neurodiversity, languages, cultures, religions, ethnicity etc etc enrich our communities. We need to communicate, to listen and to understand... to allow not just the educator but the whole classroom and the whole of society to understand and include and to accept.
To ensure that the rectangle that represents the norm includes all the children and all the groups and that there is a mutual respect and adaptation so that all can stay true to their identities.

I sometimes hear that this cannot be done in a classroom that we need change in the whole of society... but I argue that it is in the classroom that we need to start making the change... so that bit by bit the future looks more accepting, more understanding more respectful, and more peaceful.

If we are learning to dialogue instead of debate
If we are learning to listen to understand rather than listening to answer
if we give children the time to learn rather than instructing at a hurried schedule
If we are open to evolve as educators rather than just do what we have always done
If we are brave - to face our mistakes, to stand up for what is right.

Communication is essential for change. And language is a part of that. so the up and coming posts will be about communication and language... and since I believe in the 100 languages I will attempt to reflect from many perspectives and also on the many ways we communicate and can support language acquisition.

In the meanwhile... here are a few posts to read...

The story of a word - one of my posts exploring the importance of discussing what words mean between colleagues... are we communicating on the same page, or are we interpreting words differently and creating mixed messages?

Oral Language - the verbal child - another of my posts reflecting on language development

The importance of the spoken language - another of my posts... this one reflects on why there is so little focus on non-verbal communication.

Teacher Child Conversations - Dickinson
quality dialogue, open ended questions, also about non-contextural, not just context based vocabulary (ie past and future)...

Why the babies brain can learn two languages

Body Language - how we read body language for deeper understanding of what others mean... that women are better than this than men on the whole, that women with young children are even better... and men with nurturing jobs like nursing arts etc are good too... dues to being in tune with non-verbal. Films without sound had actors gifted in body language to communicate the story... with words/sound, this is not needed, it needs to be verbally good as well as body language skills
negotiating over the phone it is about the words and the stronger argument... face to face it is about the performance

Aspen Preschool in Botkyrka

Reggio and the power of words - a blogpost from Without Windows.

Learning for Life - here you can follow Kierna's 4 week adventure with the Churchill Fellowship - learning about migrant children and the early years in Berlin, Norrköping and Stockholm.

The story of Intolerance

In America at the moment it is Pride month...
It will be Pride month here in Sweden in August...

Pride did not start as a big party... it started as a protest against the abuse, the prejudice and the hate - it was an event to stand up and say "here we are... we are human..."

There are many around the world that choose not to accept people in the HBTQ community (in Sweden it is H and not LG - and I really prefer that we do not have to divide it into genders... H is more inclusive) - because they have been raised to believe it is wrong and a sin. And that sits in their core.

In the last two days in the Facebook Group "The Reggio Emilia Approach" several dialogues have had to be shut down due to the fact that a few people shared their opinions that they felt HBTQ was wrongful, that it should not be included in any way in preschool/school (especially preschool) and despite loving all people felt it was inappropriate to share this love with some communities or about them.
There is an unawareness that this is prejudice... that this is conditional love (I will only show it if you behave in a certain way)...


Then there are those who fight passionately for the HBTq community - or are a part of the community and carry so much pain and hurt from how others have treated them or loved ones. This can make it hard to share with others the information that they might be needing... the wrong information, in the wrong way is supplied and the leap is too great to make... instead defences are put up to explain why the leap is not being taken.

Then there are those who mean well, but just do not know enough about it, or are misinformed - and are maybe over zealous when approaching this topic with young children... then these situations are brought up as to why we should not "teach" about HBTq because of  a few mistakes...

Learning is about mistakes... we ALL have to make mistakes to be able to learn... but if we are all made to feel that we have to hide mistakes then we lose these opportunities to learn and improve and make our world a better place.
School is very much a place of right and wrong answers... it takes time to detox from that approach too.

My time in Palestine made me realise the importance of listening...
I have written about this before, and I have spoken to several about it too, as it had such a HUGE impact on me, not only as an educator but as a human.
The group of educators hit the children as a correctional tool - as just about every other educator (and parent does) - this was enormously hard for me to deal with, but I also knew that if I came in with a so called higher moral pathway that it would reduce my chances of being able to reach out to them. I had to back down from everything I thought I knew, to be open to how they understood the world, learning, children and play... and to work from that

In the exact same way I work with children according to the Reggio Emilia Approach - the pedagogy of listening.

After knowing the women for four months (two trips and almost daily contact online) the time came to be able to talk about what I wanted to from the start... stop hitting children...
They asked ME - how can we stop the children hitting each other... I answered "I don't think it helps that you hit the children"
They answered, "But we don't hurt them, it is just so they learn" and I answered "yes, I see the children using that strategy too... trying to "teach" their friends and that they see if adults can do it, then why not children"
My daughter was with me at the time and they turned to her and asked her if I had ever hit her. She looked shocked and said no. All the women where mothers and all thought my daughter was polite, respectful, intelligent etc and they were surprised that she could be like that without being hit.
They had never seen an alternative.
Afterwards I went out with one of the women and her daughter into town. Her daughter has issues with white matter on her brain which means that it has affected her development and learning. She suddenly swayed out into the road, the mother lifted her arm to hit her to correct her, looked at me, put her arm down and then saw how her daughter self corrected. The mother was amazed... that her daughter could self correct like that was something she had never seen, because she had always been controlled.
It was a powerful moment for her, and myself.

But it also proved to me that we cannot force feed ideas and opinions on others - we need to be aware of how to present ideas and when to present them so that they will be accepted. Because really what we want is to create a more accepting world. We cannot force feed opinions no matter how healthy or important they are. This is not the same as accepting hate speech. We all need to say no to what is hurting others and to make them aware that what you say is hurting... but it has to be done in a meaningful way, so that they can see the impact...
Saying that "your words make me feel scared" in a dialogue on facebook when all parties do not know each other and live far away from each other is not concrete enough. It does not enable the person to comprehend how their words impact another.
Facebook is great for many things but some dialogues are just hard online. And its not always a place to build trust, and the kind of trust we need to change core values is huge. And sometimes I think people who are fighting for HBTq rights don't always fully appreciate that... and it feels like they are expecting a person to jump from one core value to another due to a few sentences pitched at them, in often a offensive way (because they are fighting for rights) which then puts the person into a defensive position.
And once in a defensive position they either will stop listening and only repeat what they know, or retreat and not listen. Neither is good. If we want to make change and make our world more inclusive for all, make it safer for everyone then we need to be communicating with everyone...
why are some people core values excluding others... what will happen to them if they change their core value. Why do they feel keeping their core value is important? Why are they not open to other opinions? Why do they not see how their opinion impacts others? How can we help them see that?

This is not overnight fixes. This is an approach that requires time and space, trust and love.
Most people tend to hang out with like-minded people... so within our social groups it can be hard to find the people that can help us broaden our perspectives.

I am happy to say that by far the largest majority of my friends are people who accept diversity - and proud to say that there are many that actively make a stand for minorities and groups that experience the negative backlash of bias and prejudice. REALLY PROUD that I have people like this at my side around the world.

I have raised my children to be accepting. I wanted them to be open and I wanted to normalise things that were outside the norm. This meant that at the age of 12-13 my daughters were shocked at a school lesson on sex education to hear the prejudice, that bad words that many in their class were using when HBTq issues were raised. They had never even considered that this was different, just simply a part of the great diversity of life.

I also see this prejudice against children with autism, ADHD,  etc etc ... where they do not fit the norm, and there seems an unwillingness to allow them to be a part of an expanded norm - its always special rights or special needs... which irritates me... we need to make an inclusive space where all can be... but that is a whole other dialogue.

But I raised it because we need to think that we can't try to normalise one group without normalising the others... we are all human. We all need to be treated humanely and we can't exclude people just because they are not approved by a religion or culture. And I am not talking about people who harm other people, I am only talking about people who live their lives respectfully alongside others but just differently from the norm...

The member of the group that was upset with the idea of teaching about Pride in preschools left the group with a final post...
this post saddened me... as in the post was this person who was not understanding what the others were talking about, her core values were strong in the belief that HBTq community was wrong... but there was also a desire to love all people. She was not connecting the dots - and the responses she got put her into a defensive position instead of a position where she could connect the dots from her core values to love for all.
Yes, It was inappropriate to leave the group with such a post and not deal with it... but maybe that was a good thing because I feel quite ashamed of many of the comments - they were not there to support a person in their learning journey, only there to point out she was wrong. This is not helpful.
And that SO many kept on doing it, even after some people were commenting on the fact that maybe that was not the way to go - especially when you could see that the person  was no longer a member and was no longer addressing the situation, so why the continuation of personal attacks?

I am going to take down the threads, BUT in the thread connected with THIS post I would like resources for reading that can support diversity of ALL manners. That support educators in understanding anti-bias, that support educators to look at our social norms and how to make them more inclusive for everyone...
No dialogue - I will delete all dialogue... ONLY links.
If you wish to comment on this post... please do that in this blog, write a comment here instead.

Below are a series of quotes that speak to me in this context... I hope they can speak and inspire you as you reflect on this topic. We need to learn from each other. We need to be open. We also need to understand how our own words and opinions impact others.

me, yesterday, just before I left home to stand outside the American Embassy here in Stockholm to protest against the humanity of how children and families are being treated at USA borders. I would like to point out there are many children suffering in the world... far too many.

this is why I believe it is important that we create open and inclusive environments with even the youngest children... so that we expand the norm, rather than perpetuate it

maybe one of the hardest things to do

sometimes things are going to be said that you don't agree with, and you can feel frustrated... but once you start talking from anger then the chance for learning is reduced.

this has been my motto for the last 6 years... it has helped me SO much.

listening is so important

yes, we will offend each other at times, but hopefully not intentionally, but if we are always scared of offending people because we have different opinions then we are not free. This is not a free card to be rude... it is the fact some people are offended by different opinions.

this is my new year message... but I felt it suited being here today.

equality brings more freedom

if we are being competitive then of course part of the process will be making other lesser than yourself... But if we are creating community of learners then we can create better learning environments and more acceptance
standard testing and the competitive nature of schools is not healthy

there in not name attached to this quote... because it is a quote by me.

Please comment here about this post if you feel the need to...
please share resources, articles and book suggestions etc in "The Reggio Emilia Approach" facebook group.

The Story of Community.

(på Svenska efter bilderna)

People who have been following my blog for a few years will have picked up on the fact that I believe strongly in a sense of community... philosophy with children is about creating a community of learners... creating a democratic classroom/learning environment entails the children and adults create a respect community where there is participation and responsibility and empathy.
You will probably have read about my posts that focus on the we rather than just the me... it is all very well valuing the unique child, but not if they are seen as small islands not connected to each other.
I like the word "MWE" it is about the individual and the community... it is about valuing each individual person and the group.
What I found working philosophically with children is that every individual could shine when we focussed on the group... as it was not just me the educator that saw each individual and valued them, but every member learned to value our individuality and what it brought to the group. The children were empowered, because they were no longer dependant on me to see and meet their individuals needs... everyone could validate each other.

So I was really pleased to read about Frome in Somerset, UK, that has made special efforts to create community and combat loneliness - and that they have seen the enormous health benefits from that.
you can read about it - here

This is one of the main reasons why I want to talk about working philosophically with children, about creating community of learners... about focussing on well-being, so that energy is not being wasted on trying to manage the social environment of the classroom.
This is not just about NOW... it is a life-long skill we need.
It is about humanity... and I think we would all agree that there needs to be more humanity - and that it needs to reach out into all corners of our shared planet.

Loneliness is something we can avoid if educators were allowed to spend more time on the social and emotional learning and development of children rather than just the "academics" which tends to be seen as the "learning" part.

The health benefits of a more holistic approach to learning... where social and emotional is of equal value to school subjects... are on their own worth it... but the fact that creating community of learners where the children/students are more at ease with each other, trust and value each other means that there will be more focus on learning subjects, that there will be more opportunity for the children to work and think together creatively... and that trust means they can think critically and fully explore ideas without the fear of others ridiculing..

Original Learning is the best way to describe this... a more holistic approach to learning.
You can read more... here - there are 17 posts in total that reflect on Original Learning in various ways... if you are interested please take the time to read more...

Personer som har följt min blogg i några år kommer att ha fattat att jag tror starkt i en lärande gemenskap ... filosofi med barn handlar om att skapa en gemenskap av barn/elever ... skapa ett demokratiskt klassrum/läromiljö innebär att barnen och vuxna skapar ett respektfullt gemenskap där det finns deltagande och ansvar och empati. Ni har säkert läst mina inlägg som fokuserar på "vi" snarare än bara "jag" ... det är bra att värdera det unika barnet, men inte om de ses som små öar som inte är kopplade till varandra. Jag gillar ordet "MWE" (me och we ihopsatt) - det handlar om att värdera varje enskild person och gruppen. Genom filosofiska samtal med barn har jag upptäckt att varje individ kunde lysa när vi fokuserade på gruppen ... eftersom det inte bara var jag, som lärare, som såg varje enskild person och värderade dom, men varje medlem lärde sig att värdera vår individualitet och vad det medförde till gruppen. Barnen fick befogenhet, eftersom dom inte längre var beroende av mig att se och möta deras individuella behov ... alla kunde bekräfta varandra. Så jag var väldigt glad att läsa om Frome i Somerset, Storbritannien, som har gjort särskilda ansträngningar för att skapa gemenskap och bekämpa ensamhet - och att de har sett de enorma hälsofördelarna med det. du kan läsa om det - här Detta är en av huvudorsakerna till att jag vill prata om att jobba filosofiskt med barn, om att skapa en gemenskap med barn/elever ... om att fokusera på välbefinnande, så att energi inte slösas bort när man försöker hantera klassrummets sociala miljön

Det handlar inte bara om NUET ... det är en livslångt färdighet vi behöver. Det handlar om mänskligheten ... och jag tror att vi alla skulle vara överens om att det måste finnas mer mänsklighet - och att det måste nå ut i alla hörn av vår gemensamma planet. Ensamhet är något vi kan undvika om lärare/pedagoger fick mer tid att fokusera på barnens sociala och emotionella lärande och utveckling snarare än bara "akademiska lärande" som tenderar att ses som den "lärande" delen. Hälsofördelarna med ett mer holistiskt tillvägagångssätt för lärande ... där social och emotionell lärande är lika värde för skolämnen ... är på egen hand värt det ... men det faktum att vi kan skapa en grupp där barnen/eleverna är mer tillfreds med varandra, lita på och värdera varandra betyder att det kommer att bli mer fokus på "skol"-ämnen, att det blir en större möjlighet för barnen att arbeta och tänka tillsammans på ett kreativt sätt ... och att förtroende mellan barnen betyder att de kan tänka kritiskt och utforska fullt ut idéer utan rädsla för andra som förlöjliga dom.

Original Learning är ett sätt som tillåta man undervisa på ett holistiskt sätt... ni kan läsa mer om det - här - det finns totalt 17 inlägg om ämnet, om ni har tid och lust.

Learning to be free

Today was my first session with the the group of educators that are on the introduction course... so we spent essential time getting to know each other... I shared my history, my experiences and my education with them... and they did likewise...

part of teaching is understanding the learners... if I want to be a good educator for this group of women then I need to know who they are, what they are interested in so that I can create learning experiences that are meaningful.
This should be the same for all educators... whether we are working with adults or children... developing real relationships allows us to better understand how we learn and how we can create environments suited to this learning.

By listening it became clear that these women are passionate about what they are doing. They are eager and open to learn. And they are striving to offer children the very best they can. There was talk of freedom, of resistance ... not the kind of resistance that means fighting... but the resistance to be formed by someone else's story of them.

In a way the dialogue reminded me of why the preschools Reggio Emilia in northern Italy first started at the end of the second world war... parents and educators striving to ensure that their children would not follow blindly another fascist leader... but to have the ability to think for themselves, to make informed decisions and to act with humanity... to value others, to respect others and to participate in making the world a better place for all and not just a few...
Here are educators and children living in an occupied territory... they desire freedom, respect and value and peace... to be able to live without fear, without trauma and to be open, creative and participate with equality. it is powerful.

So we have decided that this course shall proceed to meet those needs... to provide learning situations that will give children the strength to feel brave, to feel valued, to feel respect, to feel loved... so that they know how to protect others, value others, respect others and care for others...
This will give them the emotional space to feel safe, to find joy, to play and to learn.

As we discussed what made a good teacher, based on their memories from their childhood of the good moments from school it was clear that we need to make each child visible... to see them, to validate them, to care about them, to listen to them and to create a space that is safe... not only physically safe but emotionally safe too.
We discussed how important it is that the whole community gets involved... it is not enough that the educators do this, the parents should not put pressure on children to learn in a certain way, but should support children to learn.

We then did some sorting exercises... this hand-on activity had several points...

1.  the educators needed to collaborate, 
2. two the educators were sorting things, as we had been sorting our thoughts
3. there are many ways to sort the same things as there are many perspectives
4. an opportunity to expand out thinking about the materials, what materials can be used, how we use them
5. an opportunity to see learning in a different way
6. an opportunity to reflect on what aspects of collaboration are easy and are not
7. a way for me to observe the hierarchy of the group
8. a way for me to observe how they first tackle the task and then respond to instruction

The first two times they got to sort without instruction... well I gave them the pots and a box of loose parts and told them to sort... they did this individually, sorting themselves, making their own individual collections. This is as I thought they would... each working well side by side

Then I asked them to sort together, but still I did not tell them how to sort the things... and this took me by surprise as they sorted by imagination... they created a work of art and sorted the loose parts into sky, sun, stars, water, ground, tree... I love to learn a whole new way of sorting.
The I told them to sort by size... biggest at one end, smallest at the other.... which they said was easy because the instruction was so well given - so I gave them another "well given" instruction - to sort by beauty... the most beautiful at one end and the ugliest at the other - this was not as easy and they needed to dialogue with each other a lot to find compromises... thus learning that clear instructions are not always about what makes it easy...
The they sorted on a time limit... and felt the stress of that...

To end the session we watched a film about button play... images of young children playing with buttons in different ways... from sorting, to creating art, to stacking, to telling stories to making stop motion films... etc

I am looking forward to sharing more and learning more with this group of educators.

sorted by their individual choices

sorted by collaboration... which turned out to be by imagination

sorted by beauty... most beautiful closest to the camera... they could not decide so chose to have two as the most beautiful as a compromise.

time for much dialogue... a way to support language building with children, participation, sorting skills, negotiation skills... the teacher can observe how the children interact with each other... does one child dominate not allowing others to make decisions... why? Is there a child not participating... why? Are the children able to compromise... why/why not... what can you do as a teacher to help them be better at making compromises or making decisions together as a group? Do the whole group agree? If not, why do they not agree? Did all children feel they could participate? Why? Why not? Finding out the why will help making other lessons and play work better, finding out the why not, might help with individual needs as well as group needs.
Do some children prefer to talk about this on their own because they feel shy? Maybe do the same activity with fewer children so they can feel more safe before trying to do it in a large group.
Do some children need more language support to be able to participate?
Fine motor skills are being given plenty of chance to be exercised here.
and there is so much more that could be discussed that a whole blog post on its own could be written... so I will end there.

Hygge in preschool

In my social media feed there has been a noticeable increase in the number of posts about hygge in preschool... as in hygge is a thing that should be done to increase empathy and a feeling of well being.

Hygge is a Danish word... very similar to mysa in Swedish or gemütlichkeit in German

hygge -  a Danish word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment.

mysa - is a Swedish word for cozy,  to enjoy a calm atmosphere, often with candles, usually in contact with others. Happy, satisfied, content.

gemütlichkeit - a German-language word used to convey the idea of a state or feeling of warmth, friendliness, and good cheer. Other qualities encompassed by the term include coziness, peace of mind, and a sense of belonging and well-being springing from social acceptance

So to be honest I feel a little concerned when "hygge" is being sort of "marketed" as a pedagogical approach - especially if you ask adults about what hygge is in Denmark they will probably mention beer, spending time with friends in candle lit pubs having a good time and eating food.

Yes I think this feeling of contentment, of wellness, satisfaction and friendliness is something that should be found in all preschools... in all workplaces in fact... I wonder whether hygge is the answer - or whether listening to the children or creating democratic settings where the children are truly valued and value each other. is needed. first.. I mean to achieve "hygge" these things need to be put in place - so why not just talk about these things straight up and not put in that extra word of hygge that needs explaining... and from a Scandinavian point of view seems somewhat strange in an early years setting...
I asked a friend in Norway about the use of the word... and she reacted in the same way as me... that "being polite and friendly" should be an every day thing, creating places of well-being should be a priority for early years settings - no child can learn if they do not feel safe - and young children are learning all the time...

I see posts that write about how you can bring "hygge" into your setting - stating that "within a hygge setting there will be a calm relaxed feel to the play space" - some go on to describe the space in detail with little stimulus on the walls etc and cozy spaces... there should be uninterrupted play... soft lighting... in some posts it looks like a check list... and that concerns me... because if it starts to look like a checklist then there is the risk that it becomes a thing you do rather than a thing you reflect on... hygge as been turned into a product... you know, like something you could get from IKEA... talking of IKEA... you can check out this post - IKEA's lesson on how to create hygge - and, actually, if you follow their rules it would make for a great preschool too... - "express your creativity - share good food with good friends - choose a "me time" spot - make something with your hands - take a break for coffee - make simple things special - set up a pamper station".

of course you could take Vogue's advice and forget "hygge" and follow the Swedish "lagom" approach... another of those words that cannot really be translated... but basically means not too much not too little... and this is also a great approach for a preschool...

All these trends...

preschools/education should not be about trends... it should be about the children - plain and simple.
About creating safe spaces, about creating spaces to play, explore and learn, offering opportunities to interact with people, materials and the world around them (and that includes nature) about listening to understand, about creating spaces of equality where all are valued, about creating spaces that expand the current accepted norms... (this will mean constant dialogues about what the accepted norms are, why they are the norms, and how those not being included in this bracket can be included - not by inviting them in, but by expanding the definition - so the "them and us" feeling is reduced... and wouldn't it be nice if we could get rid of it and became "us"), if we support children to tune into their empathy, to understand their emotions and how to regulate them for their own benefit... so that there is more time for play and learning and less time spent on trying to calm down or deal with hard situations... because we all have a better understanding of each other...

The group of children I worked philosophically with for four years had all of this... they took care of each other, respected and valued each other... and I was a part of that group... we valued each other equally and also valued what we brought to the group as individuals. This is that hygge, mysa or gemütlichkeit... although I would have said that we were never aiming for mysig - except sometimes there was a conscious effort to make a meeting mysig, or a play area mysig - but not for the whole day or the whole preschool environment... I like to provide a setting for a hundred or more learning and play languages... not just the language of hygge...
(not that I am saying that any of these blogs are suggesting that we only speak hygge - my concern is that maybe some practitioners start speaking too much hygge as a thing rather than the "state of being" that it is.)

Hygge - the word has become a bit of a thing since Meik Wiking wrote "Little book of hygge" first published in 2016.

Why are Danes the happiest people in the world? The answer, says Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, is Hygge. Loosely translated, Hygge—pronounced Hoo-ga—is a sense of comfort, togetherness, and well-being. "Hygge is about an atmosphere and an experience," Wiking explains. "It is about being with the people we love. A feeling of home. A feeling that we are safe."
Hygge is the sensation you get when you’re cuddled up on a sofa, in cozy socks under a soft throw, during a storm. It’s that feeling when you’re sharing comfort food and easy conversation with loved ones at a candlelit table. It is the warmth of morning light shining just right on a crisp blue-sky day.

The above is taken from a description of the book, and this description pretty much sums up mysig also... and I guess every Swede would agree with me on that. But despite that Swedes would agree with me on the meaning of mysa and its similarity with hygge... I think there would be a huge dialogue about whether we wanted "mysiga förskolor" (preschools) - maybe moment of mys, but not a thing that needs to be brought in as a way to teach empathy.

I do think that a discussion about whether mys could teach empathy would be an interesting one... and could possibly result in a new interpretation of what mysig/hygge is...  but I still feel that mysig/hygge comes as a result of the empathy rather than teaching the empathy... of course it will also reinforce the empathy that already exists... its a time of bonding... with family, with friends and why not then with preschool peers? Except maybe you just don't want to be mysig/hygge with all of your peers at preschool? I mean we do not want to cuddle up to everyone... and there is lots of research about how we should not force/make children hug others when they do not want to - and snuggle /cuddle seems a much more intimate version of hug.

Also when talking about Denmark being the happiest people in the world... they kind of forget to mention the fact that it is one of the countires in the world that have the highest consumption of anti-depressants - Mette Davidsen-Nielsen said to the SVT (Sweden's equivalent of the BBC) "we take medicine, drink a lot of alcohol, eat fat and sugar to survive. While we do that we have hygge" ... so she is asked in the interview... "so your drug yourselves into first place of happiness.?".. she answers... "Drugged ourselves to hygge, yes. You could say that. Maybe as a way to survive, not just a way to solve something"

link to the interview with SVT about hygge being an export success - in Swedish but also talks about why UK and USA in their time of insecurity with Trump and Brexit might need the concept of hygge
information on anti-depressants

This Swedish article about hygge being good on long dark winter nights talks about drinking wine, cozy blankets and millions of candles... it also mentions that it is not about achievements, performance or keeping to a tight agenda... which I think schools often have their focus on - getting grades, performing well and keeping to the curriculum - and this academic approach is being pushed down to an ever younger age. Educators in the UK are really having to fight against the lack of play, the lack of appreciation of children's own learning as the focus on academic learning being the learning norm - so maybe, in this sense, the word hygge can be useful to challenge the status quo. But I still think that can be done (challenging the status quo... making change) with all the very many research papers out there showing the importance of play and the problems related to learning and well-being by limiting play in favour for an academic approach.
This is something that is also relevant here in Sweden as the new preschool curriculum will include the word "undervisning" for the first time... a word that translates as teaching/instruction. How can we, here in Sweden, ensure that this "teaching" honours the child's individual learning styles, that play is the main method of exploring the hundred languages of learning... that there is no set agenda about what should be achieved in a specific time, or a focus on academic learning... but on a whole child learning. Where relationships are important - creating safe and respectful settings where all are valued... yes, I am writing that again. It keeps coming back to that...

So, basically, a democratic classroom/preschool is going to be hygge.

Posts that will connect with this idea...
Process not product -  reflecting on the difference between learning and teaching
Learning is fun - a post reflecting that we should not be making lessons fun... but that we should be awakening the joy of learning in each child AND the group as a whole.
Purposeful Play - another post about looking at how a word is becoming a "thing" - are pedagogical trends a good thing?
The Reggio Emilia Approach... short version description - so you get an idea of what sort of preschool I would like, and not a mention of hygge, but I am sure that the state of being in hygge would be achieved in this kind of setting.
Original Learning - how I see learning and play woven toegther
Together-play - how I see together-led play as an essential part of a democratic learning approach... not child led, or adult directed... but where adult and child voices are equally respected.

Process not product...

I have written about this before... but from an art/creating point of view - you can read that post here ...
This post, though, is going to be a focus on life processes, and the process of preschools/education.
There is a new curriculum ,or rather an updated curriculum, that is coming out here in Sweden soon... and we have been given the chance to read the suggested curriculum and submit our reflections - right now there is a period of these reflections being analysed - and hopefully addressed and utilised in the final rendition of the curriculum.

I have my concerns about the curriculum having a bigger focus on teaching and on digital media - as it takes away from the children's learning and the diversity of media available to the children...
My recent post Mediums explores that... I feel that if a specific medium is being mentioned that many times then there is a clear message being sent that this is a preferred medium, or has a higher status than other mediums. It is apparent, through images on social media, that digital media gets more recognition and appreciation than many other mediums... and yes there is much that is amazing with digital tools... but it should not be a thing in itself, which I sometimes think it is becoming, but just part of the process of learning and play and life. It needs to be relevant and meaningful... it needs to be a part of the process and not a product... it needs to be a language of learning and not a lesson/event to say we have the digital covered.

Sometimes, well maybe often, I feel that the education system is a product rather than a process. And I feel the more we focus on the teaching the more of a product it is going to be... the more we talk about getting ready... for school, for adult life etc - the more it is going to be a product to achieve these things.

As educators (as humans) we need to be in a state of process all the time.
I need to be thinking about my thinking and how that applies to the children I interact with and the people I work with. I need to be in the process of evolving. I see the children are in this state... of being in the process of learning about themselves, each other and the world... and the world is constantly evolving, so we all need to be evolving with it. So if the preschool/education system is more like a product it is not going to be able to adapt with the world.
I think teaching creates a more product state of mind... while facilitating the children's learning is more of a process - as it is more open ended, more flexible.
For me, teaching is like one of those battery operated toys with fixed outcomes - there are set books, there are set ideas, there are right and wrong answers, and testing. The teaching is about meeting the needs of the school and society... of getting grades... or preparing young children for school - it is a product. While facilitating the children's learning means abandoning your adult agenda and embracing a democratic approach to learning, where the educators acts as a guide, listens and learns with the children... supports the children to develop their own ideas and share them with others, enables the children to reach their potential through a variety of learning languages... using many mediums, where digital is just one of many but does not carry more status. Because if we value some learning languages/media more than others the children are going to pick up on that and will value certain learning styles more than others - it means we have created a community where there is not equal value... because more value has been given to those children who learn through a digital language...

As we do not know what the future holds... we need to ensure that children have access to all their "hundred languages" as described by Malaguzzi... and I strongly believe that these languages should not be ranked. Especially when we are striving to create an education system that is based on democratic values, as are the Swedish preschool and school curriculums.

There also needs to be a process during the days, the weeks, the months and years... the the children, the educators and for the setting itself. There needs to be a kind of interconnectedness - for example I would not simply use digital media if there was no reason to... or just because it is cool, or it is required part of the curriculum... I will use digital media because it makes sense in our explorations of a project the children and I are exploring together... for example when exploring "listening" we explored with our whole bodies, all our senses, with a huge range of materials... inside, outside trying, as educators, to provide as many learning languages to approach this project... could we discover something new if a different language was used... did different children shine in their ability to express themselves, how did each language affect the individual or the group as a whole - were there any languages that felt out of range for the children at this moment... was there a way to support the children to acquire skills to master this language, or was it due to physical or cognitive maturity and thus time was needed?
My plans for a term would be enormous... as they would be a list of possibilities... not all would be done.. as the children took us down different paths and more things got added to the list of possibilities. It is like when I prepare for a philosophy session... I prepare with a great many possible questions, knowing I will not have the time to ask them all, trying to think of the many possible directions the dialogue could go, to try and prepare myself not to have a fixed agenda... and then also to be open to the possibility that I have not thought up the follow up questions that the children need me to ask, because my thinking has not taken the same direction as theirs... I need to be a in a state of process.

I think this is hard to do, when there is such a product feel within the education system... and yet there is the demand that educators should encourage child participation, child influence, that they should listen to the children, that the children are active in their own learning... and yet there is the focus on teaching, not the learning. How can teachers meet the expectations of creating a process learning when they are forced to work in a product system?

We should not be teaching subjects, but sharing knowledge, and sharing where we can find knowledge, and how to critically reflect on this knowledge we find.
We should not be teaching children how to do things, but enabling them to learn or master it for themselves in their way..

So instead of asking yourself how do you teach a child to read and write... we should be asking how does a child learn to read and write - and then support that process. Not take a teaching product and implement it in the classroom, or the lesson (and there are plenty of such products (or methods) for preschools - so it is not just schools). I also think that with the new preschool curriculum having a bigger focus on "teaching" now there might also be a bigger trend to more of these products entering the preschool world here in Sweden too.
The more focus there is on the teaching, rather than on the learning... the more focus there is on the teacher and not the child... also the more expectation of what the teacher has to do for the child... and there is not more time given to educators to meet all these "must have to's"  - hence the need for products as time savers. it does not matter that policies and curriculums have written down the child is central in their learning, if we are creating an education system that is rigid and needs to produce children who get grades... its all about the product/the end result and not about the learning. it is about the teaching and the teachers leading the children and not about a democratic classroom.

Of course if you are looking at how children learn, and trying to meet that process, there also needs to be time invested to understand both individual and group needs. And sadly time seems to be one of those things that is been constantly robbed from educators.

Original Learning is something I feel should be a part of the educational system.. a lifelong approach to learning - where play is a natural and valued part of the learning. And of course play is going to evolve with the child... what/how my teenage children play now is very different from how they played as young children... but they continue to learn through play, they continue to need play as part of their balanced diet of learning.

Below are a few quotes that I feel are important to this process of thinking... as this is a process... and is still very much requiring more thought...