A personal blog sharing experience, reflections and inspiration about education, in particular early childhood education, listening, democratic learning and introducing the idea of Original Learning.
This week I visited several preschools together with Niki Buchan and a group of fabulous educators from Great Britain. I almost wrote last week, as I feel I have done so much this week it could not possibly have fitted it all into one week.
Over time I will be sharing some of the images and my reflections of those visits, but as I head to Palestine and Israel next week my focus after this blogpost will be on my preparations for there.
Last Monday afternoon we went to Förskolan Tjädern in Haninge.
Since I had been to the Border Crossing exhibition it was very clear that this exhibition had influenced them. The preschool was spiced with nature and technology working together for the children to explore and play with.
The other main thing that struck me as I walked around the setting was the energy of the staff working there. They seemed happy and eager to share their important work with us... it is always an absolute joy to see educators being proud of their work. And so they should be. The children were all busily engaged in an array of activities.
The photos I share below may look like the preschool was empty, but I was cleverly trying to avoid having children in the frame...
as you can see in just about every room the children had access to natural materials to explore and play with, and in different ways... you felt the hundred languages... not one way to explore nature
furniture was customised to meet the needs of the preschool and to support the play and learning. A small raised surface to build on allows the pieces to remain and the floors still to be cleaned, and at the same time makes it easy for several children to reach and interact on. And for the youngest children I wonderful platform to sit on and build, or crawl over or jump off (if no others are using it to build on) it is a suitable risk for one year olds. No danger, but the wonderful tickle of excitement if jumping off when new at jumping.
the one year olds had plenty of small spaces to climb into... all the rooms had small spaces for the children to hide away in, but it was lovely to see that in the one year old room the spaces were really small... adapting to the smallness of their bodies... creating a cozy space, but also the physical challenge of getting in and out. My own son simply adored to be squashed up in shelves like this... as have many many children I have worked with... including much older preschoolers!
space to explore nature with digital media... microscope egg to see details... using the i-pad to make films and take phtos of the close-ups
the children in the preschool had access to many of the same materials throughout the preschool, regardless of age. The difference was that in the younger years where small parts can present a hazard for some children who are in a very oral phase the small loose parts were put up high on a shelf so that they could be brought down to work with the children when an educator was sat along side to support the process and ensure nothing dangerous happened. One year olds working with toothpicks is a good risk together with a guiding adult.
I also appreciated how windows were being used, with shelves along them, so that natural light lit up the materials. It also created a well lit play-space. Of course here in Sweden we have to maximise that daylight as in winter there are not many hours of it.
the natural light also contributed towards making shadows... this made having a construction area by a window extra dynamic. There is also a lot of up-cycling and recycling materials being used. Plastic is used too. it is not a taboo if it has a valid play and learning purpose.
getting the children involved in making learning materials.
another construction area... this time for the youngest children and with wheels and movement as a focus
instead of just a flat surface to drive vehicles on blocks had been put underneath to create a variety of heights... small hills for the vehicles... and to strengthen small hands as they drive up them, and wonder as they roll down...
here the youngest children have a small patch of living grass to play around and with
different phenomenas to explore... not just natural, but man-made too
many of the role-play areas had different themes, with natural elements and forest etc being observed mostly. This was the only "traditional" style role-play space and it was in the one year old's space. I liked the idea of creating a space that reminded them of home at a time when they are first transitioning between home and preschool. It makes sense for them to play here and to feel safe... and as they get older then their play gets more daring, as the preschool space is familiar.
a homemade light table to construct on
another version of a home-made light table... this time more like a light-bin, so all sorts of sensory materials can be used in it.
a small world area for play
art studio for the older children with lots of materials easily accessible
art studio for the youngest... less overwhelming with materials. The small parts are, as I mentioned before, kept high on a shelf and brought down to work with the children with guidance... a healthy risk and not a dangerous hazard. Children are given the time to master materials so that when they are older they can have free access to them all.
sensory play
the window sill as a work surface. I have worked with so many children who love to play in the window. My own three children loved to do this at home... and my mother reported that when I was a young child this is where I did most of my playing... on the window sill. Maybe children are like flowers and search out light to grow and evolve?
severla rooms use projectors to inspire.
the absolute joy of dry rustling leaves to play with inside... sounds, smell, touch... and to observe how the leaves with eventually crumble... This room had a board across the doorway so that the leaves did not escape and end up everywhere.
digital and analogue crossing borders...
the simplicity of the younger rooms to allow them to develop relationships with the materials at their own pace
a rich variety of loose-parts to construct with.
a mini-atelier, using the natural light to its fullest
The educators here are in a process, they tell me... this is not the final product of a preschool, but just the start of a journey to understand how to create a preschool for all children... so they all feel included, they all can express their ideas, they feel valued, and learn to value others... the third teacher is their colleague to help them with this journey.
I wrote this post for Teachwire about messy play within a Reggio Emilia Approach setting... that it is not just about pristine classrooms. This was a year ago, and I made the decision to share it on my facebook page yesterday... so I found it interesting to read a shared post about "clean classrooms" today...
Every "clean" classroom I've ever experienced in my observations (and in my time teaching) is not the product of well-behaved students. It's the product of a naggy teacher.
Children learn to equate the absence of clutter as "neat", "clean", and "organized". We tend to forget that organization starts in you. You see something that can be more efficient for you, so you set it up in a way that makes sense to you, then you maintain it because it works for you.
When you've organized a classroom and you seek to keep it organized, you're asking children to see things from your perspective and try to make sense of it, even if it just doesn't make sense to them, because it makes sense to you. That's pretty selfish, and definitely not anything I tend to see teachers reciprocating for the children they teach.
In a preschool classroom, when a teacher says "pick up" I watch what the kids do, not what the kids accomplish. If you look for what the kids accomplish, you'll see that things are no longer strewn out on the floor or haphazardly thrown across tables and shelves, and eventually it looks like organization--but is it?
If you watch what the kids do, you see them pushing things from the shelf into the crevice between the shelf and the wall. You see things get picked up from the floor and plopped into any open bin. You see kids hiding or even trashing toys because they've learned that the absence of clutter is what's expected when someone says it's time to clean up.
This teacher thinks that their kids have learned to value organization and that they've learned that cleanliness and tidiness is important in life, when really, this teacher has bestowed upon children a bad habit that's really, really hard to break.
I remember in the first grade, my desk (a small, one-seater desk with a compartment for books and utensils) was so "disorganized", my teacher singled me out in front of all of my peers, screamed at me, picked the desk up off the ground like The Hulk, and Hulk-smashed it onto the ground so everything in it flew out onto the floor. There was so much clutter in it, such a reaction seemed necessary to her. She thought she taught me a lesson--that she wouldn't tolerate my disorganization... by literally making the mess 100x bigger. And what was I expected to do in front of all of my peers? Put it all back in the desk. No practical assistance on what she wants it to look like. No guidance to help me get rid of trash I didn't need. That didn't make me an organized person, but it did desensitize me to the idea that organization and success aren't correlated.
I'm not being "too easy on kids" or engaging in wishful thinking when I say they'll pick up and organize things when they're ready to. I see it all of the time. When a kid steps on a lego and picks them up off the floor to avoid it, I see it. When a kid knocks a bin off the shelf and notices there were cars in it when it's the bin for blocks (maybe he doesn't pick it up, but he NOTICES it), I see it. In those moments where the mess is so overwhelming that nobody can move without breaking things and I sweep everything into a pile, start sorting things myself, and kids join in to help me, I see it.
Disorder is part of the culture of childhood. It's part of their culture we don't have the right to seek to change. Children are not wild animals we are charged with the task of taming--we're not that important. Children are also not premature businesspeople we are charged with the task of preparing for the workforce--we're not that unimportant. Everything they move, place, or scatter is there for a reason, even when it seems silly and ridiculous. As they explore routines and patterns--as their neural pathways start to form organized connections--they start to see value in certain forms of organization. And they may never see our ways as the right way.
And that's okay, because organization is about YOU, and what works for you--singular, you.
If you've got to clean up, don't expect kids to be doing it if you're not doing it.
If you've got to clean up, do it yourself, while they play, once you know the kids have lost interest or moved on (like workers at a Children's Museum do!).
If you've got to clean up, be there, watch them, thank them, and don't force them. Don't be my first grade teacher.
That's how you really teach kids to be clean. (Travis Manley)
I feel that children have a responsibility to each other - I always talked about it with them - why we put things back when we were finished. Because I believe in the competence of children. I know that if they are given the chance to understand why then they will see their play differently... not just their own play in isolation, but there play as part of a whole series of play that intertwine with each other. We are responsible to create a play space for others - so that others knew where things were - and that meant even they would too as they could rely on the process. Of course MY role as educator has the bottom line responsibility to ensure there is space for the children to play... I often tidy things away as I see children playing, in an invisible manner to ensure their play continues and they have space... or ensure that things are not left out that can present a danger (risk for a little hurt is OK, its part of the process of understanding that when things get messy there is a risk of stepping on something and it hurts, or tripping, or sliding or whatever... or that things get broken... but that leads me to a possible future dialogue about how so many children are not the slightest bit bothered about breaking stuff... they shrug their shoulders and say we can buy another... it does not feel like a sustainable approach to play... but it is part of the whole theory of not putting blame on a child for breaking something as it might break their self-esteem.... but as I wrote, I will save that for another post) As educators we need to be a part of the process - always helping - it did take some convincing others that us clearing up too was not taking learning or responsibility away and that it was part of the democratic classroom approach - if we want help then we help others - in this way we could be role models - often I heard from children "I did not play here" as a way to say, no I don't want to help - and I would answer “no I did not play here but I help anyway so that it is ready for play tomorrow or later or...” - I would never force them, but would remind them that help is a two way thing.Boys tended to be slower to catch on to this and girls more eager - so I would say to the girls I see you have done your share you can go do something else and let the boys finish off - in this way the stereotypes of good girls who tidy up is broken - and I feel that IS important
I wonder how this impacts how educators react to the "clean classroom" concept... I mean in my many years working in early years settings it has been nearly always men that have challenged the whole order and tidy idea... let there be mess... Is this because as children boys always got off tidying up because "boys will be boys" while girls strived to be good and show their worth by pleasing the teacher by tidying up. So girls learn that tidy and order is part of pleasing others, a part of being socially approved, while boys never got to participate in this learning in the same way? And don't you in your head envision a female teacher rather than a male in the text above??? I am not saying the girls have got it right and the boys have missed out on something... what I am writing is that both have missed out on something. Of course I would send any child- boy or girl - on if they had contributed enough - not like this every time but enough for the children to get an idea that helping others is a part of what a society does - and that if I want help I also need to help others. Some children have required so much order - but for me to create it for them in their own personal chaos - others needed more freedom and flow but most children are in the middle which makes sense, as children are learning to connect and master left and right brain thinking as a whole - it’s going to swing - we want flexibility (chaos) and order (rigidity) but too much of either is going to limit - so the classroom needs to be able to offer both not only as a way to support the children but also to challenge them.
over the years I have had colleagues that have loved chaos and been vehement anti tidying and also colleagues who are order freaks - and everything in between. Children are just as diverse - so it’s about trying to find balance and trying to create the space that suits the group/class
Being npf, having three npf children and having worked a whole load with npf children over the years has lead me to understand that chaos and mess can be extra stressors - extra sensory input - so helping these children find routines to tidy up to de-clutter is essential. So the above statement that classrooms are tidied for the teacher's sake is rather a general sweeping statement that is also, I feel, incorrect. But I guess there are some educators out there that are not listening to the children and the clean classroom is about control rather than support and challenge.
Tidy up is a part of math - sorting - sometimes a part of film making - we made stop motion films of the tidying up - they were hilarious to watch together afterwards. Tidying up is not just about learning how to organise... it is about empathy, responsibility, cause and effect, sorting (get the children involved in how things should be sorted/tidied), collaboration skills, memory (where do things go), democracy (we all participate and contribute) - this means the teacher/educator is a part of the process not an observer - messes in preschool are always "ours". Once a child I worked with had been let into the sensory room on his own (after I had left for home) the child had the most marvellous time throwing the lentils rice etc etc all over the place making it rain (at least this is how I imagine it as I found lentils etc on the highest of shelves - hahaha). What saddened me was that my colleague did not tidy it, even though he knew that I arrived just before morning gathering the next day and that that was the room we sat in to chat about what we would be doing during the day... there was a layer of rice and lentils on the floor. So first I had to deal with the shock that my colleague thought the fact that since I had introduced the sensory table it must my responsibility to clean up (not all staff were keen on those sensory tables you know) - then I had to make a decision about where are we going to have our gathering. I made the decision to postpone the meeting and ask the child to come and help me sweep the room. Not with anger or disappointment but just a simple matter of fact please can you help me. he came, he helped. I asked if he had a good time - which I think he must have for so much to be everywhere - he shook his head, I assume it was because he thought this was the right answer to give. I then said it was fine to throw the sensory stuff around, if everyone in the room was in agreement, and as long as he helped to clean up afterwards... or maybe we could take something outside instead that birds could eat afterwards... he opted for the second option...
"Messes" are often left out to continue another day, sometimes weeks, if it is an active play area. In fact for a while I took a series of photos called "Traces of Play" - as i loved seeing those small/large traces of play that some call a mess... its like the image of a dandelion with the meme - some see a weed others see a wish. Below are 8 photos from the Traces of Play series... things I found strewn/constructed/left with no children in sight...
I have images of BIG messes of a whole room littered with play - as all the contents of the preschools seemed to have ended up in one room... but the most marvellous play had happened in the process of that. By leaving the mess to the next day the children could decide whether it was play worthy or not... they made the decision to clean up first... because that was not the play for the day... apparently.
There have been several metaphors that I have been coming back to time and time again during my visit in the Middle East and that is the idea of joining dots...
Making connections - not just human connection, but also connecting ideas, connecting knowledge, connecting experience, connecting culture, history etc... and the interconnections.
Learning is like a giant dot to dot... I loved them as a child... following the sequence of numbers to discover the image at the end... The idea that many parts make up a whole picture. Which brings me back to the idea that if we are only supporting one or two of those dots... then a whole picture cannot be made... ie the hundred languages of learning. There are many ways to learn.
The above is an extremely detailed dot to dot with well over a thousand dots - but I have taken rather a large number of the dots away... so if you were to print this image out and try to join the dots together you will struggle to get the whole picture as it is... either you will give up, or invent where dots should be... these inventions will of course impact how the image turns out - you might be be to guess correctly... but it is more likely that your imagination will result in something very different.
Trauma has been something we have talked about on many occasions in Palestine - how to meet the needs of children with trauma... how to help the children connect the dots so that they can process what has happened and not start imagining what those dots are themselves and maybe create a reality that is even more nightmarish to process. We do not need to go into too much detail, but enough so that the children can make those connections without the need for invention.
Then there is this thinking of connecting dots in the sense of neurons... encouraging children to think, to reflect, to experience - to learn with their whole brain (which means signals from their whole body)
image found on http://hmsmedscience.org/
So what we need to be doing as educators is providing experiences that allows every child to make connections in their brains... to evolve, to develop... to learn... to play. We need to learn about how the brain develops, how it works, so that we can support the process. We need to be aware of sensory impact, including how the room impacts the child - how the sound impacts (is there constant noise, how loud is that noise... is it sound pollution rather than a healthy stimulus?); is the room visually over stimulating, or maybe under-stimulating, does it allow the child to feel competent or dependant, does it make the child feel significant or insignificant, does the child have an opportunity to experience diversity, how is the lighting etc; how does the room smell? Is it an inviting smell, or one that is disturbing - smell has a bigger impact than what you would think; is there space to engage the sense of touch, access to different materials etc access to gross and fine motor movements (engaging the outside as well)... is there space and time to engage the sense of taste? Is the room designed to encourage social interactions - how do these interactions occur? Is there space for a variety of interactions - from small groups to larger groups? and even time to be alone when needed to process...
Are we as educators inspiring wonder, encouraging curiosity and giving time for risk and reflection - to allow those neurons to keep connecting...?
Each decision we make as an educator in how we design the learning space, what experiences we provide, what time we make available for a diverse play diet... will impact how those neurons connect... see the film below...
As teachers we also need to keep on connecting dots...
The above image is a little something I put together to try and explain my thinking about this - that we can have various ideas and theories, experiences and knowledge - but by visiting new places, participating in new experiences, interacting with others and sharing ideas we are able to make those blue links... making more connections between our own ideas... making more sense of the world as we experience it.
Play is a powerful tool in making these connections... for adults and children alike.... In this sense we are talking about Original Learning again...
original learning
This original learning is about connecting dots... and PLAY is one of the best ways to incorporate ALL of the above with the understanding that we have created a safe place for play and learning.
In the coming weeks I will be writing about the dots and the connections I have made in the last 2 weeks... and also have been asked about to explain in more detail so that others can make connections that I did not have time to help with the connection at the time...
Another short blog today, as the internet is being temperamental.
Today I have been sharing many images of preschool settings around the world with the educators here in Palestine... with the words do not try to copy this, that I am not expecting them to agree with what they see, or what I show is the right thing... merely that I show them many spaces designed in many ways... so that they can see the possibility of what can be done. A learning space does not have a fixed look.
I talked about the importance of observing how the children use the space they have, are there areas that encourage the children to run and maybe crash into other children's play... and how can furniture help them create spaces where children cannot pick up speed... but at the same time being aware of providing a space and time for children to run freely.
I talked about being aware of colour... that it is not enough to choose bright colours just because it is thought children like them... that as educators we need to reflect on how colour affects the brain and affects the learning... colours that aid learning, that aid focus should be chosen, not colours and colour combinations that overwhelm, over-excite and overstimulate... sure these colourful moment can happen, but not for prolonged period of time.
I brought up how noise impacts children's learning... and if too loud impacts their hearing, and if really loud (like it often is here) can actually cause permanent damage. We talked about how materials and furniture can be added to help absorb some of the sound, so that walls do not just bounce around and add to the problem.
I brought up the need for small spaces so that children have the opportunity to get away and be calm for a while, or engage in play with just a few other children. The need to bring the ceiling down in at least some areas so that the children can feel bigger, more powerful... many places here have high ceilings - very high ceilings... which is great for me as a tall person.
We talked about the availability of materials... how are they being displayed and how the room helps you as an educator to support the children in their play and learning - to be independent and capable.
We also talked about using the outdoors as a learning space, and the importance of being outside for full body play and learning.
The idea was to share lots of inspiration and thinking so that they reflect on the children, on what works... and of creating a learning space that is more Palestinian. Many spaces have Disney and Spongebob on the walls rather than taking advantage of the beautiful traditional Palestinian patterns to accent a room... also many of the learning materials are downloaded from the internet and tend to be incredibly American based... so I talked about the the dangers of a single story... that if their Palestinian children saw stories, films, and learning materials from only an American point of view, then this will become their inner story too... learning cards etc should not be blonde blue eyed children and police cars and buses and doctors of an American kind - but they should be images of how they look in Palestine.
In the same way Palestine is so much more than just fighting, guns and bombs - it is good food, beautiful nature, music, singing, stories, ancient history, embroidery, laughter, love and life like in any other country... they have many stories to tell... and in this blog I tell the story of Palestine and early years teachers and play. The room should be a Palestinian colleague - that can share about the world... but not an American colleague that forgets the story and beauty of what Palestine has to offer... even the educators here have been amazed at the photos of flowers and nature that I have been taking... they too have forgotten some of their nature story...
In Sweden, my room/learning space for the children should reflect our common Swedish story... with a window out to the world... always open to learn and to encompass, but never forgetting who we are. And sometimes who we are in a group is international and that should be reflected in the room too... not single story...
images taken 3 years ago at a center for young children here in Jenin...
Unlike many other pedagogies the Reggio Emilia Approach does not have specific models or written methods and thus makes it more tricky to define - especially if you want to keep it short... and over the years this has been a request I have heard being asked often.
I have been very fortunate to have been able to visit many preschools over the years... and to also interact with the educators working there. I have also been fortunate to have worked at a variation of settings allowing me to see different perspectives of how educators and children develop a relationship with the third teacher... their play and learning space.
Not all places that I have visited have been Reggio Emilia inspired, but there has still been an awareness of the way rooms are designed impact the children...
Over the years I have seen that sometimes (maybe too often) there is a gap in that theoretical awareness and it being practically applied... and also the idea (that I have referred to many times in this blog) that the Reggio Emilia Approach is so much more than developing the pedagogical environment and making it look beautiful.
Children and educators are making a learning journey together. If we left learning footprints then we should see them walking side by side with an equality. I think though sometimes the adult is having such an impact the the children's footprints cannot be seen. The adults, in their well-intentions, have created beautiful environments based on their own perspective of childhood - and the child's perspective is hard to find.
This does not mean that the children will not enjoy the environment, find it stimulating, be able to play and learn there... it is simply not my idea of what the Reggio Emilia Approach is about.
For me it is about the relationship between the third teacher and the children... and its relationship with the educators, and the parents and society... it is also about the relationships between the people...
As I mentioned in my post the other day about Border Crossing, it was the interaction with the people there that really opened up the exhibition and allowed me to take a step inside and make new discoveries... I was invited to leave my footprints there together with my guides (those I was learning with).
I entered a dialogue today about children and bullying... and how ti seems to be more prevalent in schools than preschools here in Sweden (at least those places I have visited and worked in, and knowledge from friends and family)... is this just because younger children don't bully or is it because in preschools there is an active attempt to create an equality with the children... whilst in schools educators do not strive for that... there is a distinction - could this be why hierarchies also start to develop amongst the children - as they emulate what they think being an adult is?
Tom Shea in his filmed interview about play (your can see it HERE) mentions the trend that school education style of "TEACHING" is being pushed ever further down in years and into preschool settings, while he strongly believes (and I whole heartedly do too) that what should be happening is the "LEARNING" should be pushed up in the years and into schools... that play and relationships with the world around them should take a much bigger part of education than teacher-dominated teaching. We should be "enabling" learning.
So back to the third teacher... this relationship we develop needs to help the children to learn and play and explore and experiment and interact - and as educators our relationship with the third teacher needs to support us to enable the children to learn and play etc.
And just as educators need professional development so does the third teacher (the third educator maybe). We need to take the time to observe how it interacts, what sort of relationship it has with the children. We need to listen to the children and their thoughts about the space (both indoors and outdoors... I am a BIG believer that the third teacher is not exclusive to the indoor environment) - we need to reflect on how we adults interact (educators, parents, cleaners etc) - we all need to develop a positive relationship with the space we work and play in.
So what is needed to help those who need to make the leap from theory to practice...? Or are blinkered and think they are doing what they preach when they are not (and admit it, we have all met at least one of these educators). What can we do to help develop the reciprocal relationship with the third teacher... and to understand that it is one of many interactions that make up the Reggio Emilia Approach. We work as teams... so how can we strengthen the team.
Well I will leave you with that thought... my thought too, to ponder over the weekend. Not sure if I have any answers... maybe you have some ideas...?
The below images I have decided NOT to add the locations, because sometimes I think that adds status to some environments... instead, take the time to look at each image and see if you can see the child and the adult with equality... what is it in the image that makes you think that thought about it... Can you understand the philosophy of the learning space by just observing?
