Learning Mosaics

(på svenska efter bilden)

Late yesterday I returned from my adventures in Palestine and Israel...
I have met many people, seen many things, experienced them with all my senses and have been making connections...

Connections between what I have seen and experienced to how I am as an educator and how I strive to be as an educator...

I have seen more ancient mosaics in the last few days than I have in the rest of my entire life... and it has left an impression...

Nona asked me if I was to bring one thing that represented me right now what would it be... after an initial panic and feeling of anxiety... what on earth could represent me right now... I realised that single piece of mosaic would be it... I have a clear image of the cube, mostly clay with a painted surface square.. a tiny part of a whole.
And that is how I feel... I feel like a tiny part of a whole... not in an insignificant way, but as an essential part of a learning mosaic. Like all educators are, and all learners.

I am collecting my pieces... from educators around the world, from books and articles, from research, from art therapists (like the amazing Nona - check out her blog - The Good Enough Studio), from nature, from experiences etc etc... and I am connecting them together to create a bigger picture...

On my instagram account I have been sharing images of the mosaics - and if you take the time to check them out you will see that the pieces can be put together in so many different ways to tell different stories, evoke different feelings and to aesthetically please a diverse audience...
and this is what i like... that in education we need to piece together our learning to create a pedagogy that works for us in our our own context... not copy-paste images, but to take the time to place the pieces to create a whole.

My mosaic will stand the test of time... that is my hope... just like the Roman mosaics I saw... and even got to stand upon (that blew my mind... to walk on such complex beauty, that feet centuries ago have walked upon), but at the same time I want my mosaic to be flexible... I have learned, as an educator, that what works in one place, or with one group of children, will not necessarily work in or with another... I need to be able to re-design my mosaic... to put aside the pieces that are no longer needed and add the ones that are... To document my original design, and why I designed it that way, and to save it just in case it will work another day... I do not have to re-invent every time.

So in the coming weeks the metaphor of the mosaic will be surfacing in my posts as I try to unpack it, and make sense of it, and learn.
The other word that is requiring me to take time to explore is "connections".

Sent igår återvände jag från mina äventyr i Palestina och Israel ...
Jag har träffat många människor, sett många saker, upplevt dem med alla mina sinnen och har sett samband

Samband mellan vad jag har sett och upplevt med hur jag är som pedagog och hur jag strävar efter att vara som pedagog ...

Jag har sett mer gamla mosaik under de senaste dagarna än jag under resten av hela mitt liv ... och det har lämnat ett intryck ...

Nona frågade mig, om jag skulle ta med en sak som representerade mig just nu vad skulle det vara ... efter en första panik och känsla av ångest ... vad i hela friden kunde representera mig just nu...? jag insåg att en enda mosaikdel skulle vara det ... Jag har en tydlig bild av kuben, mestadels lera med en målad yta. En liten del av en helhet.
Och det är så jag känner ... Jag känner mig som en liten del av en helhet ... inte på ett obetydligt sätt, men som en väsentlig del av en lärande mosaik. Som alla pedagoger och alla studenter.

Jag samlar in mina bitar ... från utbildare runt om i världen, från böcker och artiklar, från forskning, från konstterapeuter (som den fantastiska Nona - kolla in hennes blogg - The Good Enough Srudio), från naturen, från erfarenheter/upplevelser etc etc. .. och jag förbinder dem tillsammans för att skapa en större bild ...

På mitt Instagramkonto har jag delat bilder av mosaiken - och om du tar dig tid att kolla ut dem ser du att bitarna kan sättas samman på så många olika sätt att berätta olika historier, framkalla olika känslor och estetiskt tillfredställa en mångsidig publik ...
och det här är precis vad jag tycker om ... att vi i förskolan/skolan måste sammanfoga vår lärande för att skapa en pedagogik som fungerar för oss i vårt eget sammanhang ... inte kopiera-klistra in bilder, men att ta tid att placera bitarna för att skapa en helhet

Min mosaik kommer att stå tidstestet ... det är mitt hopp ... precis som de romerska mosaikerna som jag såg... och till och med fick stå på (det var helt otrolig att jag fick gå på en så komplex skönhet som fötter för århundraden sedan har gått på), men samtidigt vill jag att min mosaik ska vara flexibel ... Jag har, som lärare, lärt mig att det som fungerar på ett ställe eller med en grupp barn, inte nödvändigtvis kommer att fungera i eller med en annan... Jag måste kunna omskapa min mosaik ... för att lägga undan bitarna som inte längre behövs och lägga till de som nu behövs... Att dokumentera min ursprungliga design och varför jag designade den på det sättet,  för att spara det ifall det kommer att fungera igen en dag ... Jag behöver inte uppfinna varje gång.

Så under de närmaste veckorna kommer mosaikens metafor att dyka upp i mina inlägg, eftersom jag försöker packa upp det och förstå det och lära mig.
Det andra ordet som kräver att jag tar tid att utforska är "samband/anslutningar".

The future of preschools (1)... förskolans framtid (del 1)

In the last few weeks I have had the pleasure to visit and meet a variety of educators and talk about early childhood education - from a Slovenian perspective, a preschool inspired by Reggio Emilia in Haninge and a holistic preschool near Karlstad... each with a foot in the now, the past and looking to the future...

My time in Värmland included long talks about child empowerment and democratic learning together with Emma and her partner Torbjörn... this has really made me think more deeply about the future of education, and especially preschool.

During the evening we listened to Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" - it seemed appropriate for what we were talking about... and I remember it vividly from my own childhood as the music video scared the socks of me...

But this wall... this brick wall ... it seems to be saying stop to change because it has been built so high... and there are those who fear what might be on the other side, and those that don't have the strength or energy to climb over.

Schools and preschools are institutions. We need to be jumping and seeing what is on the other side of that wall - we need to be thinking about tearing it down. Maybe the boundaries of education should not be so fixed?

This coming week I will be exploring how holistic education, philosophy with children, democratic classrooms, and Original Learning should be essential components of preschool... and that preschool should be influencing school.

I still have my apprehensions about bringing in "school" terminology into the preschool when everyone seems to be wanting to define it in a different way from how it is used in schools... shouldn't the Swedish early years sector decided to use their own words, define the process rather than schoolifying it?
As a person who thinks that the school system needs reforming to meet then needs of the digital age students where knowledge and media is easily accessed... I feel that using words from this out-dated system is not the way forward, but a feeble attempt to try and raise the status of preschool through using words that society is familiar with in a school context...
but I will talk about this more during the week...

(på svenska efter bilderna)

Under dom senaste veckorna har jag haft nöjet att besöka och träffa en mängd olika lärare och prata om förskolan - från ett slovenska perspektiv, en förskola inspirerad av Reggio Emilia i Haninge och en holistisk förskola/skola nära Karlstad ... var och en med ena foten i nuet, den andra i det förflutna samt blicka på framtiden.
Min tid i Värmland omfattade långa samtal om barn "makt" (empowerment) och demokratisk inlärning tillsammans med Emma och hennes partner Torbjörn ... det här har verkligen gjort mig att tänka djupare på framtidens utbildning, och särskilt förskolan. Under kvällen lyssnade vi på Pink Floyds "Another Brick in the Wall" - det verkade lämpligt för vad vi pratade om ... och jag minns det från min egen barndom när musikvideon skrämde ihjäl mig ... Men den här väggen/mur ... tegelstenen ... det verkar säga att sluta förändras eftersom den har byggts så högt ... och det finns dom som fruktar vad som kan vara på andra sidan, och de som inte ha varken styrkan eller energin att klättra över.
Skolor och förskolor är institutioner. Vi måste hoppa och se vad som finns på den andra sidan av den där väggen/mur - vi måste tänka på att riva ner den. Kanske bör gränserna för utbildningen inte vara så stadig? Under kommande veckan kommer jag att undersöka hur holistisk utbildning, filosofi med barn, demokratiska klassrum och "Original Learning" borde vara viktiga komponenter i förskolan ... och att förskolan ska påverka skolan. Jag är fortfarande lite orolig om att använda "skol" terminologi till förskolan när alla tycks vilja definiera det på ett annat sätt än hur det används i skolan ... borde inte den svenska förskolan bestämma sig för att använda deras egna ord, definiera processen istället för att skolifiera det? dvs ordet "undervisning"
Som en person som tycker att skolsystemet behöver reformera för att möta behov av dom digitala-ålders elever - där kunskap och media är lättillgängliga ... Jag anser att det är inte vägen framåt med att använda ord från det här föråldrade systemet utan ett svagt försök att öka förskolans status genom att använda ord som samhället är bekant med i ett skolförhållande ...
Jag tror på förskolan. Jag tycker att förskolan ska ha drivkrafter att ändra skolan - och på det viset skapa bättre lärande förutsättningar för alla barn.
men jag kommer att dela mera av mina funderingar i framtida inlägg...

för att läsa om mitt besök på den holistiska förskolan (Backa Friskola) - följa denna länk
för att läsa om Andens förskolan i Haninge - läsa här

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.

STEM, STEAM... STREAM - reflections

STEM... Science. Technology. Engineering. Math
STEAM... with added arts
STREAM... with added reading...

Its interesting to "read" all these acronyms in/for education... their history, what they strive for etc...
Personally I am a transdisciplinary kind of person - I understand the importance of the STEM and STEAM and STREAM but still see it as a part.

During the last week I put together the foundation of a presentation for a STEM in Early Childhood Conference where philosophy with children was a tool to a more transdisciplinary approach to stem, steam or stream... (to be honest I was SO hoping that "Reflection" was the R in STREAM)...
I love science, maths is easy for me but I also love arts and the humanities and even as a child they felt connected despite school's attempts to keep them as separate subjects - even today I feel the enormous frustration of teachers at my school who would not allow 14 year old me choose a physics/biology combo (dropping chemistry, as I did not like the teacher, or the smells of the chemistry lab) because those subjects did not got together... yet physics supports other subjects like maths, history, geography, art etc and biology  interested me in my desire to learn about the world, make sense of it... which connected to reading, writing, history, art etc etc etc...
They got their way - either chemistry/physics or chemistry/biology... I dropped biology, and never needed that chemistry/physics connection then or since. I did, as an adult, take a certificate in biology... it was my missing link.

This personal story I share because

1. far to often we don't listen to the child... since I was 7 I said I wanted to study history, after visiting my first castle ruin... I loved the fact that, for me, history was transdisciplinary and also required imagination to piece the evidence together. The teachers kept insisting that I must make this scientific choice because I might change my mind. Good intentions... but yeah... I have my first degree in history and ancient history - no need for that chemistry really...
2. that teachers were dividing the humanities and the sciences into two different systems and were not seeing the connections between them
3. we are doing the same with STEM, STEAM and STREAM  to some extent... I mean is humanities in there with the arts? or should it be SHTREAM... feels rather Sean Connery doesn't it?

I think the fact that we are dividing subjects up the way school has been doing... that STEM is being taught in a much less creative way (with more right and wrong answers, and must do methods and specific ways of recording) than the arts and the humanities that it has over the years turned off people...

STEM should be creative and imaginative - and the early years gives us a fantastic space to offer that approach to STEM... the project approach allows us to incorporate all disciplines, to explore, inquire, play, imagine and be creative with all subjects...

And really before we can get to all this SHTREAM we need to have children who are emotionally and socially secure to engage fully in the learning... so maybe, really we need ESHTREAMS (Emotional, Social, Humanities, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, Maths, Science)...

Am I being ridiculous in all of this... well maybe a little.

But the more I read about child development, the brain and neuroscience the more I want to strive to create a holistic learning.

Using philosophy with preschoolers actually helped bridge many of these areas... the dialogues supported the children in the social and emotion development as they interacted with each other and became proficient, generous listeners, we discussed all subject areas STEM, A and H, and we used the dialogues to create experiences to deepen their understanding - so play was very much a part of this... (where is the P in all of the above???? - maybe the P is tool/medium to explore the subjects...  P for Play and Philosophy).

I wanted to share my accumulated knowledge through experience about how philosophy and play enable STEM... or just as easily STREAM/STEAM. Sadly the conference is at the same time as I am holding some workshops here in Stockholm... well its only a small sad, because I am excited about the workshops... and my head is still buzzing with thoughts about philosophy and STEM and the transdiciplinary approach to learning - a 100 languages - allowing the creative "right-brained" minds more access to the logical "left-brained" subjects and vice versa... a better understanding of how the brain works when learning... 

So I guess more will be coming about that... especially when I have plans to read lots about the brain and neuroscience and child development this coming week...

The book by Mine Conkbayir on Early Childhood and Neuroscience (see image below) is my opening book for the week... and is new to me... the others I have read before, but plan to re-read with new reflections...
The central book is a great one to read with children about their brains and how they work.

Also I will be picking the brains (pun intended) of my husband as neuroscience is part of his work with sleep.

Also this week I will be meeting an educator from Slovenia to talk about pedagogy, looking at a preschool in Haninge together to learn and listen and share.

Next week I will be visiting a preschool and school near Karlstad that have chosen to have a HOLISTIC approach to education - the school is opening after summer. So I am excited to see the start of something that could challenge the traditional approach to eduction here in Sweden...

and now in Swedish...

STEM ... Science. Teknologi. Engineering. Matematik STEAM ... med tillagd konst (Arts) STREAM ... med läsning ... (Reading) Det är intressant att "läsa" alla dessa akronymer i/för utbildning ... deras historia, vad de strävar efter etc ... Personligen är jag en tvärvetenskaplig person - jag förstår betydelsen av STEM och STEAM och STREAM, men ser det fortfarande som en del och inte en helthet.

Under den senaste veckan sammanställde jag grunden för en presentation för en STEM in Early Childhood Conference där filosofi med barn var ett verktyg för en mer tvärvetenskaplig strategi för STEM, STEAM eller STREAM ... (för att vara ärlig så hoppades jag att " Reflektion "var R i STREAM) ... (och det är så himla roligt att se hur google översätta STEM till stam, och STEAM till ånga och STREAM till ström... bara en lite extra fnitter där)  

Jag älskar vetenskap, matte är lätt för mig men jag älskar också konst och humaniora och även som ett barn de kände sig anslutna trots skolans försök att behålla dem som separata ämnen - till och med idag känner jag mig enorma frustration på skolan som inte skulle tillåta 14 år gammal jag väljer en fysik/biologi kombination (släppa kemi, pga jag inte tyckte om läraren eller luktarna i kemi labbet) eftersom de ämnena inte hörde ihop ... men fysik stöder andra ämnen som matematik, historia , geografi, konst mm och biologi intresserade mig i min önskan om att lära känna världen, som är kopplad till läsning, skrivning, historia, konst etc etc etc ... De fick sin vilja igenom - antingen kemi/fysik eller kemi/biologi ... Jag släppte biologi, och behövde aldrig den kemi/fysikanslutningen då eller sen. Jag gjorde som vuxen ett certifikat i biologi ... det var min saknade länk. Den här personliga berättelsen jag delar för 1. alldeles för ofta lyssnar vi inte på barnet ... sedan jag var 7år jag ville studera historia efter att ha besökt min första fästningsruin ... Jag älskade det faktum att historien var, för mig, tvärvetenskaplig och krävde också fantasi att tolka bevisen. Lärarna insisterade på att jag måste göra detta vetenskapliga val eftersom jag kan ändra mig. Goda avsikter ... men ... jag har min första examen i historia och fornhistoria - inget behov av kemi... 2. att lärare delade humaniora och vetenskap i två olika system och inte kunde se sambandet mellan dem 3. vi gör detsamma med STEM, STEAM och STREAM i viss utsträckning ... Jag menar är Humaniora där med konsten/Arts? eller ska det vara SHTREAM ... känns ganska Sean Connery eller hur?

Jag tycker att genom vi delar upp ämnen som skolan har gjort ... att STEM undervisas ofta på ett mycket mindre kreativt sätt (med fler rätt och felaktiga svar, och "måste göra" metoder och specifika sätt att arbeta) än konst och humaniora har vissa/många människor blivit avskräckt ... STEM bör vara kreativ och fantasifull - och de förskolan ger oss ett fantastiskt utrymme att erbjuda det här tillvägagångssättet till STEM ... projektmetoden låter oss integrera alla discipliner, utforska, förfråga, leka, föreställa sig och vara kreativa med alla ämnen... Och egentligen innan vi kan komma till allt detta SHTREAM behöver vi ha barn som är emotionellt och socialt trygga för att engagera sig fullt ut i lärandet ... så kanske, vi behöver verkligen ESHTREAMS (Emotional, Social, Humaniora, Teknologi, Reading, Engineering, Arts, Matematik, Science - yep... a little Swinglish for you) ... Är jag löjlig i allt detta ... ja kanske lite. Men ju mer jag läser om barnutveckling, hjärnan och neurovetenskap desto mer vill jag sträva efter att skapa ett helhetsinriktat lärande. Genom att använda filosofi med förskolebarn hjälpte det verkligen till att överbrygga många av dessa områden ... dialogerna stödde barnen i social och emotionell utveckling när de interagerade med varandra och blev skickliga, generösa lyssnare, vi diskuterade alla ämnesområden STEM, A och H, och vi använde dialogerna för att skapa erfarenheter för att fördjupa deras förståelse - alltså LEK (Play) var väldigt mycket en del av allt detta ... (var är P i allt ovan ???? - kanske P är verktyget/medium för att utforska ämnena ... P for Play and Philosophy). Jag ville dela min ackumulerade kunskap genom erfarenhet om hur filosofi och lek gör STEM möjligt ... eller lika lätt STREAM/STEAM. Tyvärr är konferensen samtidigt som jag håller några workshops här i Stockholm ... jag är bara lite ledsen, för jag ser fram emot workshops ... och mitt huvud är fortfarande surrande med tankar om filosofi och STEM och det transdisciplinära tillvägagångssättet att lära sig - ett 100 språk - att gör det möjligt för kreativa "höger" hjärnor att få mer tillgång till de logiska "vänster" ämnena och tvärtom ... en bättre förståelse för hur hjärnan fungerar när man lär sig ... Så jag antar att mera tankar är på väg ... speciellt när jag planerar att läsa mycket om hjärnan och neurovetenskap och barnutveckling den här veckan ... Boken av Mine Conkbayir på Early Childhood and Neuroscience (se bilden ovan) är min öppningsbok för veckan ... och är ny för mig ... de andra jag har läst tidigare men planerar att läsa om med nya reflektioner... Boken i mitten är utmärkt att läsa med barn om deras hjärnor och hur de fungerar.

Jag kommer också att fråga min man om hjärnan eftersom neurovetenskap är en del av hans arbete med sömn. Han är professor vid Stockholms Universitets Stress Institiute

Också denna vecka kommer jag att träffa en pedagog från Slovenien för att prata om pedagogik, titta på en förskola i Haninge tillsammans för att lära och lyssna och dela.
Veckan efter kommer jag att besöka en förskola och skola nära Karlstad som valt att ha en HOLISTISK inställning till utbildning - skolan öppnar efter sommaren. Så jag ser fram emot att se början på något som kan utmana det traditionella sättet kring undervisning här i Sverige ...

The story of a WORD

(this post is in Swedish after the photograph)

When I first moved to Sweden I not only had to learn a new language but also a new culture... since I came from northern Europe myself I was not expecting much of a difference and I think this is why I suffered a bit from culture shock... Sweden back in 1992 was very different from the UK that I left... I mean Sweden was not even a part of the EU then (which is quite funny at the moment since the UK is in the Brexit process - if only they knew how limited Sweden was back then for choice compared to UK back then, and compared to now)

Language is not just words... it is also culture. A word carries so much history with it, that can be collectively understood and his was a huge problem for me when I first started working in early years settings in Sweden.

The Swedish interpretation of discipline, for example, is more or less exclusively about punishment and is seen as a negative word... which it was not for me... it was about teaching and learning and not at all about punishment... so there was a time when there was a lot of miscommunication, and people looking at me strange until I worked out that they did not understand the word the same as I did.

This has left me with a life-long impact that we need to talk about the meaning of words so much more than what we do as a team of educators... so that we all know we are talking about the same thing when using words... We need to create our own language our own culture and to always make sure we invite people into this and not keep them on the periphery where confusion occurs.. (for all concerned)

I could never understand the side-glances when I used the word discipline... I had simply made the assumption that they interpreted as I did, and they assumed I was a raving lunatic that liked to punish children (hitting in particular seemed to be linked to the word)... which I am absolutely against. I will not hit a child, and I do not believe that punishment is a good form of learning...

How can we ever dig deeper into understanding what learning is, understanding the children etc etc if we are not even understanding each other?

Finding a mutual language is important... what is play... what is competent... what is learning... what is teaching... what is scaffolding... and so many more words all need to be explored as educators in our process to understand children...

När jag först flyttade till Sverige fick jag inte bara lära mig ett nytt språk men också en ny kultur ... eftersom jag kommer från norra Europa själv förväntade jag inte så stora skillnader kultur-mässigt och jag tror därför att jag led lite av kulturchock ... Sverige, i 1992, var väldigt annorlunda från den Storbritannien som jag lämnade ... Jag menar att Sverige inte ens var en del av EU då (vilket är ganska roligt just nu eftersom Storbritannien är mitt i Brexit-processen - om bara de visste hur begränsat Sverige var då jämfört med Storbritannien då och jämfört med Sverige nu)

Språk är inte bara ord ... det är också kultur. 

Ett ord bär så mycket historia, det kan kollektivt förstås och det var ett stort problem för mig när jag började arbeta inom förskolan i Sverige. Den svenska tolkningen av disciplin är, till exempel, handla nästan enbart om straff och ses som ett negativt ord ... vilket det inte var för mig ... det handlade om undervisning och lärande och inte alls om straff ... så det fanns en tid då det fanns en hel del missförstånd, och folk tittade på mig lite konstigt eftersom vi tolkade på olika sätt. Detta har påverkat mig enormt - vi behöver prata om betydelsen av ord så mycket mer än vad vi gör - som ett lag av lärare ... så att vi alla vet att vi pratar om samma sak när vi använder ord ... Vi måste skapa vårt eget språk, vår egen kultur och alltid se till att vi bjuder in människor i detta och inte behåller dem i periferin där förvirring uppstår .. (för alla berördas skull)

Jag kunde aldrig förstå varför folk tittade snett när jag använde ordet disciplin ... Jag hade helt enkelt antagit att de tolkade som jag gjorde, och de antog att jag var en galning som gillade att straffa barn (att slå speciellt tycktes vara kopplad till ordet) ... vilket jag absolut är emot. Jag kommer inte slå ett barn, och jag tror inte att straff är en bra form av lärande ...

Hur kan vi någonsin gräva djupare för att förstå vad lärande är, förstå barnen etc etc om vi inte ens förstår varandra? Att hitta ett ömsesidigt språk är viktigt ... vad är lek ... vad är kompetent ... vad är undervisning ... vad är lärande ... vad är stöttning ... och många fler ord behöver utforskas som pedagoger i vår process för att förstå barn ...

Prism of knowledge - undervisning som ett prisma

This post is reflecting on how we view knowledge and how we can teach knowledge and interact with others with the aim to learn more. Yesterday I was given an interview with Karen Barad to read, with the suggestion that I might appreciate the thinking... and I really did. It got my brain doing somersaults and trying to find the words to describe the way I think. As the word "reflection" never quite seemed enough to describe the process - and yet it is the word that is used, especially within the Reggio Emilia approach - to reflect on thinking, to reflect on pedagogy and even with the children with the use of mirrors to reflect their play.

The first part of the interview that got my brain firing is when Karen Barad started talking abut critical thinking. Recently I engaged in a dialogue with Tom Drummond about critical thinking, which ended up being a blogpost where I started pulling apart what I thought I knew and tried to examine what it is I believed was important with critical thinking - you can read the post - Critical Doubt

So for me to suddenly read another way of seeing critical thinking... connecting it to the concept of critical mass... excited me... especially as it seemed to link in with my thoughts about connecting dots... Story of a Dot where it is about bringing all those ideas together - not necessarily in a neat, organised way, but organically, how an idea can be the start of a chain reaction of connections - one idea to another, to an experience to knowledge.

Latour suggests that we might turn to Alan Turing’s notion of the critical instead of critique (Turing 1950), where going critical refers to the notion of critical mass—that is, when a single neutron enters a critical sample of nuclear material which produces a branching chain reaction that explodes with ideas. As a physicist I find this metaphor chilling and ominous. Instead, building on a suggestion of Donna Haraway, what I propose is the practice of diffraction, of reading diffractively for patterns of differences that make a difference. And I mean that not as an additive notion opposed to subtraction, as I will explain in a little bit. Rather, I mean that in the sense of it being suggestive, creative and visionary.

When it comes to light there are also the words refraction and diffraction - not just reflection. When I read the above I immediately saw an image of myself as a prism (refraction) where light (knowledge) shines through me and a refract it for the children to explore. I do not want to just offer one version, but to be able to explore the whole light (and I am also aware that we as humans cannot see a full spectrum with our naked eyes... that fishes see more colours than we do... that blows my mind... the idea that we simply cannot see everything as it truly is).

I also see the child as the prism... that I can shine light and the child reveals a rainbow... not just my adult view of childhood, but that I need to take the time to understand all the colours, the complexity and how the prism works.

I can also see the project as a prism... that we shine light on the project for us all too learn... giving equal value to all the colours that refract (even if we might have favourite colours) and getting the opportunity to explore the whole - not just what we already know. 

So refracting ideas seems quite appealing.

As Donna says, “diffraction patterns record the history of interaction, interference, reinforcement, difference. Diffraction is about heterogeneous history, not about originals. Unlike reflections, diffractions do not displace the same elsewhere, in more or less distorted form, thereby giving rise to industries of [story-making about origins and truths]. Rather, diffraction can be a metaphor for another kind of critical consciousness.” 

“Matter feels, converses, suffers, desires, yearns and remembers” Interview with Karen Barad  

Defraction is different and is more about exploring how the light waves work - so to start defracting ideas seems appealing also... the idea that we are not just exploring the light, but also the object that is causing defraction... The object causes an interference... that interference results in the light' natural behaviour to create something new...
check this film out to understand the concept of defraction on the National STEM Centre website.

The shadow and play workshops that I have been holding for educators has definitely being bringing me along these lines of thinking - exploring how light works has been giving me the mental practice to explore my own thinking. This is why it is so important with play workshops for educators. It is not just children that learn through play and exploration.

... the entanglement of matter and meaning calls into question this set of dualisms that places nature on one side and culture on the other. And which separates off matters of fact from matters of concern (Bruno Latour) and matters of care (Maria Puig de la Bellacasa), and shifts them off to be dealt with by what we aptly call here in the States “separate academic divisions,” whereby the division of labor is such that the natural sciences are assigned matters of fact and the humanities matters of concern, for example. It is difficult to see the diffraction patterns—the patterns of difference that make a difference—when the cordoning off of concerns into separate domains elides the resonances and dissonances that make up diffraction patterns that make the entanglements visible.

This idea that subjects should not be divided into separate entities but that we should embrace the entanglement to fully appreciate and understand. It is like how Malaguzzi described learning to be like a bowl of spaghetti, the strands of pasta all entangled - Debi Keyte-Hartland connects the spaghetti to the idea of rhizomes - which in a way is similar to how I describe learning being like a  dot to dot (just made that connection right now) - you can read her post here - Rhizomes and Reggio

For me it is so important to be open to the whole, to the new but to use the wisdom of what I already understand as my base. If we are reflecting in the sense of mirroring what we know and understand then it is going to be harder to see all the details, especially if the reflection is poor... but to refract or defract we have the opportunity to see it and underdtand it in a new way.

I am one of many that are wanting to make a change in the educational system. Maybe we need to start thinking differently - critical thinking as inspired by Turing's critical mass... an explosion of ideas that disseminate and trigger a chain reaction of change...

here is an image I use for International Fairy Tea Party... one warm summer day when the sun shone and allowed us to explore rainbows in the water. Refraction in each little drop creates a larger rainbow together... is this mwe? the idea of the individual and the group.... but that is another post...

Jag ber om ursäkt för min svenska... inte alltid lätt att översätta komplicerade idéer... länk till intervjun finns om ni vill läsa den, jag uppleva den som hyfsad komplicerad engelska där jag måste hålla fokus för att förstå, inte bara för alla nya idéer, men för hur man använder språket också (och engelska är mitt modersmål!!)

Detta inlägg reflekterar över hur vi ser på kunskap och hur vi kan lära oss kunskap och interagera med andra med målet att lära oss mer. Igår fick jag en intervju med Karen Barad att läsa, med förslaget att jag skulle uppskatta det tänkande som finns inuti den ... och det gjorde jag verkligen. Det fick min hjärna att göra kullerbyttor och vill leta orden för att beskriva hur jag tänker kring det. Eftersom ordet "reflektion" aldrig tycktes vara tillräckligt för att beskriva mina tanke-process - och ändå är det ordet som används, särskilt inom Reggio Emilia förhållningssätt - att reflektera över tänkandet, reflektera över pedagogiken och även med barnen med hjälp av speglar för att reflektera deras lek. Den första delen av intervjun som fick min hjärne att explodera är när Karen Barad började prata om kritiskt tänkande. Nyligen deltog jag i en dialog med Tom Drummond om kritiskt tänkande som slutade att vara en bloggpost där jag började dra ihop vad jag trodde jag visste och försökte undersöka vad det var som jag trodde var viktigt med kritiskt tänkande - du kan läsa posten - critical doubt

Så för mig, att plötsligt läsa ett annat sätt att se kritiskt tänkande ... koppla det till begreppet kritisk massa ... blev det super spännande ... särskilt som det verkade koppla ihop med mina tankar om att ansluta punkter ...Story of a Dot där det handlar om att sammanföra alla dessa idéer - inte nödvändigtvis på ett snyggt, organiserat sätt, men organiskt, hur en idé kan vara början på en kedjereaktion av kopplingar - en idé till en annan, till en erfarenhet och av kunskap.  

Latour föreslår att vi kan vända sig till Alan Turings uppfattning om kritisk istället för kritik (Turing 1950), där kritisk referera till begreppet kritisk massa - det vill säga när en enda neutron går in i ett kritiskt prov av kärnmaterial som producerar en förgrening kedjereaktion som exploderar med idéer. Som fysiker finner jag den här metaforen skrämmande och illvilligt. Istället bygger jag på ett förslag från Donna Haraway, vad jag föreslår, att diffraktion, att läsa diffraktivt för mönster av skillnader som skiljer sig åt. Och jag menar det inte som ett additivt begrepp i motsats till subtraktion, som jag kommer att förklara lite om. Snarare menar jag att det i det meningen att det är suggestivt, kreativt och visionärt. (det kan vara bra att läsa den på engelska ovan)

När det gäller ljus finns det också orden brytning (refraktion) och diffraktion - inte bara reflektion. När jag läste ovanstående såg jag genast en bild av mig själv som ett prisma (brytning) där ljus (kunskap) skiner igenom mig och bryter mot det för barnen att utforska. Jag vill inte bara erbjuda en version utan en möjlighet att utforska hela ljuset (och jag är också medveten om att vi som människor inte kan se ett helt spektrum med våra ögon ... att fisk ser fler färger än vi gör. .. blows my mind ... tanken att vi helt enkelt inte kan se allt som det verkligen är). Jag ser också barnet som ett prisma ... att jag kan skina ljus och barnet avslöjar en regnbåge ... inte bara min vuxna syn på barndomen, utan att jag måste ta tid att förstå alla färger, komplexitet och hur ett prisma fungerar. Jag kan också se projektet som ett prisma ... att vi lyser ljuset på projektet för att vi alla lär oss ... ger lika värde för alla färger som bryts (även om vi kanske har favoritfärger) och får möjlighet att utforska det hela - inte bara vad vi redan vet. Så brytande/refrakterande idéer verkar ganska tilltalande.

Som Donna säger, "diffraktionsmönster registrera historien om interaktion, störning, förstärkning, skillnad. Diffraktion handlar om heterogen historia, inte om original. Till skillnad från reflektioner förskjuter diffraktionerna inte detsamma på andra ställen, i mer eller mindre förvrängd form, vilket ger upphov till industrier av [berättande om ursprung och sanning]. I stället kan diffraktion vara en metafor för en annan typ av kritiskt medvetande. "

“Matter feels, converses, suffers, desires, yearns and remembers” Interview with Karen Barad  

Defraktion är annorlunda och handlar om att utforska hur ljusvågorna fungerar - så att börja bryta (defrakt - svenska språket vill använda bryta för både orden) idéer verkar tilltalande också ... tanken att vi ska inte bara utforskar ljuset, men också det föremål som orsakar defraktion ... Föremålet orsakar en störning ... den störningen resulterar i ljusets naturliga beteendet skapa något nytt ... kolla in den här filmen för att förstå begreppet defraktion på den National STEM Centre-webbplatsen. Skugg- och lek-workshops som jag har hållit för utbildare har definitivt hjälpt mig att utveckla dessa tankesätt - att undersöka hur ljus fungerar har givit mig den mentala övning att utforska mitt eget tänkande. Det är därför det är så viktigt med lek-workshops för lärare. Det är inte bara barn som lär sig genom lek och utforskning.

... ingrepp av materia och mening innebär att vi ska ifrågasätter denna uppsättning dualisms som placerar naturen på ena sidan och kulturen å den andra. Och som skiljer sig från sakfrågor från brådskande frågor (Bruno Latour) och omsorgsfrågor (Maria Puig de la Bellacasa) och skiftar dem bort för att hanteras av vad vi lämpligen kallar här i USA "separata akademiska avdelningar", varigenom arbetsfördelningen är sådan att naturvetenskapen tilldelas fakta och humanistiska ämne får frågor som till exempel berörs. Det är svårt att se diffraktionsmönstren - skillnadsmönstren som gör skillnad - när avklingning av bekymmer i separata domäner utelämna resonanser och dissonanser som utgör diffraktionsmönster som gör trassel synliga.

Denna uppfattning om att ämnen inte ska delas upp i separata enheter men att vi bör omfamna trassel för att fullt ut uppskatta och förstå. Det är som Malaguzzi beskrev att lära sig är som en skål spaghetti, en massa av trasslig pasta - Debi Keyte-Hartland förbinder spaghetti tanken med tanken på rhizomer - som hur jag beskrev lärande i Story of a Dot (gjort den anslutningen just nu) - du kan läsa hennes inlägg här - Rhizomes and Reggio För mig är det så viktigt att vara öppen för det hela, till det nya, men att använda visdom som jag redan förstår, som min bas. Om vi ​​reflekterar i den meningen att vi speglar vad vi vet och förstår, kommer det att bli svårare att se alla detaljer, speciellt om reflektionen är av dålig kvalitet ... men att bryta (refraktion) eller avböjas (defraktion) har vi möjlighet att se det på ett nytt sätt. Jag är en, av många, som vill göra en förändring i utbildningssystemet. Kanske måste vi börja tänka annorlunda - kritiskt tänkande som inspirerat av Turings kritiska massa ... en explosion av idéer som sprider och utlöser en kedjereaktion av förändring ...

The story of a pocket...

Pockets... I love them... as do my two daughters... but seldom do we get decent pockets in our clothes, compared with the pockets of my husband and son. In fact when we do get a garment with a decent pocket  it is always commented on with great joy... especially in skirts and dresses.

I mean what is up with fake pockets? Why bother? And why are pockets nearly always so much smaller?
Of course you don't have to spend many minutes to read all about the history of pockets and how it is about power, the men being in control of the money etc and about how women look rather than practicality.

BUT that this should all impact young children's clothing too seems ridiculous... girls just as much as boys like to collect things and save them in pockets... there is no gender difference in this behaviour - maybe from child to child, but I have not seen a difference between boys and girls during all my years of working with young children.

I have seen, both boys and girls, fill their pockets with so many things that their trousers would no longer stay up.
My daughters, when they were toddlers, loved pockets and always stuffed them with things... and if they lacked enough pockets they used the body they wore under their clothes as a giant pocket... so many times the staff at their preschool would giggle and hand over a supply of pretend food and other toys that they found stuffed down my children's clothes when their nappies were being changed.

Why are children being dressed in mini-adult clothes? Why not let them be the children that they are? That the size difference between boys and girls should not differ in the way that it does... if you are 104cm tall regardless of gender, then the clothes should fit that height... not be shorter and tighter for a girl.

I ended up buying a great deal of boy clothes for my girls - partly because they were tall for their age, so I got better value from the clothes... and also realised those clothes were less flimsy and held better for climbing and play than girl clothes... which makes sense because at that age children regardless of gender are playing in pretty much the same way... until society informs them that they should not be.

I got called out by a 5 year old girl about my choice to wear super hero t-shirts - saying that spiderman was for boys... and that meant i was a boy. I simply answered that anyone can like spiderman and that I was most certainly still a girl. Within a week the girls in the group (that overheard the conversation) were coming with spiderman caps and t-shirts - as well as other superheroes. I also went out and bought myself more superhero t-shirts to really emphasise that superheroes are for anyone who likes them. I would also like to point out that most of my t-shirts are men's t-shirts... as the women ones are always too short and fitted... now I don't mind fitted... but they don't fit my body... the waist is always too high - and I really like my t-shirts and tops to not just meet my jeans/trousers but to be of a length I can tuck in on cold days. Oh and don't even get me started about superhero underclothes... all my superhero socks come from the men's section and finding underpants for women with superhero motifs is not so easy as it is for men... but I am going off track now...

This is all makes me think of the book "Experiencing Reggio Emilia: Implications for preschool provision" edited by Lesley Abbot and Cathy Nutbrown where there is a chapter called "Sunniva's extra pocket" by Caroline Hunter. A teacher, parent of children at preschools in Reggio Emilia, and then translator for Reggio Children. In the chapter she describes her experience as a aprent of children attending preschools in Reggio Emilia and she agreed with Malaguzzi's statement that her children were given "extra pockets" to dip in when needed later in life... 

Amelia Gambetti wrote

In Reggio Emilia we have the highest quality kinds of materials we can find, not so that the children can become geniuses but so that they and we have many opportunities to discover their learning processes and their abilities to think. I believe that when you give this to children when they are so young, when you empower them in their thinking, it stays with them forever - as Malaguzzi used to say, like an extra pocket. They understand the power of their intelligence.(Understanding the Reggio Approach: Early Years Education in Practice. Linda Thornton, Pat Brunton 2005)

But my question is - if society is giving bigger pockets to boys and often fake pockets to girls... we need to be aware of this extra pocket that is being provided and that it does not mirror social stereotypes. That these pockets are ample enough for all to stuff their experiences, thoughts, reflection into regardless of gender.

Consider this quote from esteemed designer Christian Dior in 1954, reported by the Spectator, "Men have pockets to keep things in, women for decoration." The Wierd and complicated sexist history of pockets

 If we want to empower children we need to make sure that the extra pocket is not for decoration but is substantial enough to fill.

Below are some more links to read about connected to this thinking.

for some reason we take away the pink and the princess - as if this pinkness is the problem. Choosing to wear pink and choosing to be a princess is not a problem... ONLY if it is the only story that is being offered to what girls should connect with.

yeah, my son caused quite a stir in a small French town when he wanted to wear a pink skirt to dance in... as his big sisters always wanted to dress up for dance, it made perfect sense for him too. As well as green glitter shoes at preschool until he got told by other boys there that green glitter is not for boys only for girls... he refused to put them on again... despite support from the teachers at the setting and from home...
IF schools and preschools are not working with these ideas and exploring gender stereotypes actively than the damage is done. Its not enough not to talk about it, and to be gender neutral... we HAVE to talk about... have the stereotypes and allow them to be available to all the children, to explore and discover the joy of play.

part of the International Fairy Tea Party is to also break down barriers of gender stereotypes... that fairies are not just for girls, that boys enjoy magic and flying too... that fairies are not just girls with pink tutus... 

 you could read this text about the history of pockets from The Victoria and Albert Museum

five unexpected gender differences in children's clothes

The sneakily sexist food messaging in kids clothing

and from pockets to pocket money... gender differences

International Fairy Tea Party - facebook page

The Story of Sustainability

Sustainability is a part of the Swedish preschool curriculum... it is also an important part of our shared future on this planet of ours... images of Wall:e sometimes come into being as I think about sustainability and we consume... I include the trailer for those who have never watched the film abut how mankind left earth because it was overrun by rubbish and left it to the robots to clean it up...

So in our quest to create a sustainable preschool and teach sustainability to the children (for the sake of all our futures) we need to ask the question "process at all costs?"
By this I mean, I have seen experiences for children online where I question the sustainability of the activity... I am all for the concept of process over product... but surely we need to be thinking of the products we are using in those processes...

Process not Product
Its the process not the product that matters

The above are two posts that discuss this idea of process and product - the latter from the early days of this blog and the first a recent post.

I have seen in various countries around the world an activity that uses cling-film (plastic wrap, or however you call it) wrapped around an inverted table legs for children to paint on - I have made the decision not to include an image but an example can be viewed here...
In fact this VERY example became the start of an amazing dialogue about our responsibility as teachers to use materials sustainably you can see full dialogue here (you might just need to sign up to the Reggio Emilia Approach facebook group to do so though... and if you do, please answer the questions as you will be included much faster that way into the group)

the original post in the group was written as below

I was criticized (in a nice way)for the attached post and so glad that I was!
After seeing a viral video of children painting on cling plastic, on an upside down table, it bothered me that so many people are now offering the same experience and being wasteful! I realized then, that we are responsible for what we post on social media because others may follow!
Our alternative: we hung a huge plastic vinyl in our playground where the children can paint everyday. The children loved it and do choose to paint on it everyday! But soon I realized that we are wasting water -everyday! Paper would be the same.
We are a school that supports recycling and highly values recycled materials. We also support the exposure to new experiences. These toddlers paint everyday, on different surfaces. The attached post was not an art project but more of an experience with paint and magnets. I saw the cling plastic being used but did not say anything...but wait, at home, everyone throws away the cling paper after its first use, so what’s the difference if it’s still being used but for a different purpose?
So how do we support creative experiences without being wasteful? Are certain art materials less wasteful than others? Are you mindful of the materials being used? Please share your thoughts.

Having been in Jenin during the last 2 weeks and seen the high level of one time use materials in everyday routines and the way that the plastic and waste is just thrown onto the street without a second thought has made me even more sensitive to the materials we choose to us. Also my work with Gästrikevatten (Gästrike Water Authority) has made me think much more about this too from the persepctive of how do we keep our water clean.

I will include a few quotes from the dialogue as a way to reflect... as they have given me food for thought, taught me new things and triggered my own reflections...

 Does the learning justify the waste??? 

This idea that the learning justifies the waste came up several time in the dialogue. But my question is, can the same experience be offered in another, more sustainable, way? If so, should we not be doing that instead?

The intention is what's important. Instead of focusing on "should I be using plastic", you can go back to your original intention - "What is the experience I want the children to have?" and then brainstorm different materials you could use for that purpose. If you want children to experience painting or using magnets on a transparent surface, start thinking of transparent surfaces, it doesn't have to be disposable plastic wrap.

Of course brainstorming requires time... do all educators get the time they need to reflect responsibly, or is the age of pinterest and facebook images too much of a temptation that we just follow without questioning?

Informed and intentional choices are a must as we try to send “the right” message to young minds. 

Informed choices are what I strive after at all times... for myself and also for the children I work with... so if they were to see an activity that used this quantity of cling-film then I feel it is my responsibility to inform them of similar alternatives and the various impacts they all have.

I often have to remind myself "it's not wasting if they're using it". If they are using the materials and learning from it is it really a waste? Sometimes we use lots of tape, or glue, or water, but the children are learning from the experience. Plus they see you recycling and conserving water in other ways and you can talk to them about it and teach them the values and importance of conservation.I think there's some different issue of "waste" that are being talked about. One is using a lot of material in a way that adults don't typically value it - for instance, "wasting" tape. Another is the issue of the impact of "wasting" that material. Creating a transitory experience using material that will end up in a landfill, is a different issue than using materials that are compostable, or that may be used multiple times before reaching a landfill. The use of a resource can also be considered "waste" depending on the scarcity of that item. Water play in a geographic area that is experiencing drought is wasteful - a precious resource required for life is being diverted for a transitory experience that is less important than people having access to drinking water. But in another geographic area where water is plentiful, it might not seem as wasteful. I think it is a reasonable thing to think about - how can we create meaningful experiences for children while being conscientious of scarcity of resources and environmental impact?

We need to reflect, to take the time, to explore materials and understand the impact they have on nature, and also on our own health. Many plastics are being removed from preschools due to their harmful impact of the growing body... cling-film is made from PVC, one of the plastic types that is being removed from preschools in Sweden - so it seems rather odd that we actively use a plastic we are being asked to avoid due to the impact it has on the growing body (particularly hormones). So this is NOT just about are we wasting materials, but also about how do the materials impact the children we work with and also impact the planet afterwards... cling-film cannot be recycled, this means the chemicals in the plastic are leaching into our planet and water supply for years and years once it is in the landfill.

I think that if we are to be responsible leaders and educators, we have to be conscious of the impact that our practice has on children and other adults...adding to your blog from yesterday (one of my posts about our responsibility of what we share in the Reggio Emilia Approach FB group): ideas that are shared on social media, what we like, pictures that we choose to post, even what we don’t comment on, does have an impact on our world. When someone questions our work, thoughts, pictures, comments...it’s a gift to us as it gives us the opportunity to grow. In this case, the question of cling film has brought on a discussion to help us brainstorm ideas so that we can in turn, be conscious of the materials that we use within our settings.

So our responsibility maybe is not just to the children we work with, but also to others... I have seen this activity with plastic wrap in Sweden USA and Palestine without looking for the activity... it just popped into my feed... I live close to where Alfred Nobel had his dynamite factory... it is a short walk to see his test sites for the explosive material... His intention with dynamite was to prevent death... he also believed that with a weapon that was so destructive no armies would go against each other... that there would be peace... He regretted sharing his invention... as have other scientist... it always makes me think about how we need to be responsible for what we share - to think about the whole story... to see how other think, to consider possible impacts.
Sure dynamite and cling-film are not at all in the same category... but this is how my mind works... using the concept of responsibility of what we share with others... especially when some "others" do not take any responsibility - or regard for the planet/human life. We all need to reflect on what we share... we also should reflect on what is being shared.

My thoughts on this are kind of a pick your battles/weigh the benefits approach. People like doing things that they can physically see make a difference, regardless of if it actually makes a difference or not. An example would be recycling paper. People do it because they feel like they're making a difference but in reality, the energy it takes and pollution produced to recycle a stack if paper is far more than the energy and pollution from making fresh paper, plus the lumber industry in this country is all farmed trees and they plant more than they cut down. But that's not something you can see in your every day life, so it gets ignored for what SEEMS like the better option. Another example is reducing paper use is great you can cut your paper into halves or quarters and have the kids use that instead if whole sheets or butcher paper. But when you do that you limit their creative space and hinder children that don't yet have the fine motor skills to write in such a small space. So for me, the benefit of using big paper outweighs the negatives. 
I think art is similar. First you have to look at what is actually being used/wasted. If you're concerned about water use, I suggest looking into agricultural practices, giving up eating meat and petitioning for agriculture to start using water wise practices because that's where the majority of water waste is and will make a bigger difference than depriving children of an experience. But there are also ways to clean up while using less water, they're just going to take longer. Like use a bucket and sponge instead of spraying down an area. You're not using much water at all. Then you can weigh the benefits of the experience vs the materials being used. Also, not everything has to be done every day. If a paint project like this uses too much materials for you, then make it a sometimes project.
I also think, in general with all things, we need to look at the word waste vs use. If you just leave a hose running on the ground for no reason, then you're wasting water. If you use the hose to fill a water table, then you're using the water. Same goes for classroom materials and supplies. I've seen so many teachers "save their good supplies" because they dont want them to get wasted and then the supplies just sit in a cabinet forever, never getting used. Using something for a purpose isn't wasteful, it's just using it.

I appreciated this part of the dialogue to add balance - we need to think about where in the world we are, what is our context, and how we are impacting th world with our actions. it also shows that we all want to be seen to be doing the right thing... even when we do not fully understand what the right thing is.

Working with the water authority I have learned a lot about how a little bit does make a difference... as there were some comments that leaned towards well in the grans scheme of things its just a little bit... but lots of snowflakes can make an avalanche... it kind of has the snowball effect...

its just to look at the kilometres wide plastic islands floating in the sea to see that we are having an impact on the planet that we are blind to.. check out the blow film... one of many you can find about the impact plastic has on the planet... and how long it is being a problem... Or watch the latest series of David Attenborough's Blue Planet to see the impact it has on wildlife. And this is not where it ends... there are teeny tiny microplastics, not visible to the naked eye all the time, that are floating in our waters, and almost impossible to clean up... so basically we are now drinking plastic infused water!

We need to think of the product from start to finish... as the below quote states...

I think more than just being wasteful, we should consider what had to happen to get the product. I’m assuming the manufacturing of the plastic wrap is worse for the environment than manufacturing paper. We try to reuse stuff for art. I get a lot of donations and find stuff at thrift stores. If the item already exists, it seems less wasteful than buying new.

We must take the time to think about the learning processes... what processes are we actually offering... why these processes... and can they be done in a more sustainable way?  Of course we need to bring wonder into the lives of children... but wonder can be offered in many ways... we need to think about this wonder, and the importance of the wonder... is it just an event or is it the start of something... why this wonder and not another?

I think if we start analyzing what the experience actually is then it might make it easier to work out if it is waste or use???

 I think sometimes there is so much focus on offering children an experience we forget to analyze what that experience is and what learning it can offer - and then through documentation and observations see what learning actually happened so the experience can be expanded upon

As the below statement shares... one of the properties of cling-film is its transparency... there are other materials to explore this that are more sustainable or can be re-used or recycled.

The fascinating property about cling plastic and similar materials is that they're transparent. To be more environmentally conscious, instead of using new materials, reuse. I use the trimming from laminator paper to paint on or draw with sharpies. Stores often use shrink wrap around goods that are shipped on pallets - you could ask local stores if they could save it for you. There's plenty of plastic out there, and better to use it as much as possible before it's thrown out.

I have done activities that others have asked me about the sustainability of - one of them being swinging with paint as seen in the film below

Quite a lot of paint was used... and I had been putting it off for years because I was concerned about paint usage... but then decided that the children were exploring movement and that this was a great way to do that... all the paintings that we created on this day were used in other ways as we continued to use the paper and colour to create yet more art from the art exploration. So in other words this one day of paint usage supported two more months of learning where the paper was being actively used and reused. It was my conscious decision about what we were doing and how it impacted nature... the children were a part of these thoughts  - of why we re-used the paper as background and to cut out etc rather than just taking fresh new paper.

As a final thought... when you see an image on social media think about the following

The image shows the product and we are not privy to the process 

You , as an educator have the responsibility to think about the process... and how that would look for the children you work with. You have the responsibility to work out why you are choosing this activity and not another. You have the responsibility to think about the impact the materials have on our earth and whether or not you prioritise a sustainable approach to learning and play. You have the responsibility to consider the impact the materials have on the growing child. You have the responsibility to understand the learning and the benefits.

You need to take a risk assessment... are the risks worth the learning benefits? Is the margin wide enough to justify using a single use material? they might be... I am not saying that they are ALWAYS wrong... what I am saying is that we need to think about what materials we choose, and what activities we offer children.

😁