The story of communication... part two

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I want to create a room that says yes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some images

The Story of communication

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why the babies brain can learn two languages

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

Aspen Preschool in Botkyrka

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

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

The story of LIGHT...

this post can now be found on my new website, updated and with extra images...

https://www.interactionimagination.com/blog

Light, colour and reflections...

Yesterday I shared a post with a film where I played with prisms, and also shared two films about how do prisms work and rainbows...

in those films there was the statement that white light could be created with just the colours red, blue and green and that the full spectrum was not needed to create white light...

So in the first film I made today there is some playing with these ideas... of red, blue and green light and the shadows...

What is really interesting when you play with light like this is that when you move the red light it is not the red shadow that moves but the green one... this could be a great stimulus for children to think about why this is the case... they can present their theories and why they think this...

here is a film showing how you can do this experiment on a bigger scale (I was just using torches/flashlights with coloured plastic over them) - my next investment would be the lamps as in the below film

In the next film... it explains why the shadows are different colours... and why they are not the colour that you would maybe first expect...

The local lake where I live has been a source of lots of inspiration... to slow down and notice the small things, and to appreciate what nature has to offer...
I also think nature can inspire our experiments inside (and outside)
For instance I love watching how the light reflects off the lake and creates patterns on the trees surrounding the lake, and overhanging the water... the ripples in the lake caused by the wind, and also the movement of fish (as was the case today... in some places it looked like the water was boiling because the fish were feeding off the seeds falling from some of the trees.

I am thinking trying out the same experiment another time but with a less reflective tray to contain the water... to see how this will impacts the reflection on the wall. I am also interested in floating other things on the surface too, including oil.
The great thing with the water and light play is that there is so much science and learning happening at the same time... not just about light, but also about floating, about the impact of movement, of wind...
could the tray be put on a speaker so that sound can create waves?

I think if I was working with very young children I would set this up as a usual water play session but change the lighting so that it created patterns on the wall to see how the children react... do they notice the patterns... does this change their way of playing and pouring things?
I would select the materials for pouring and floating carefully to be a part of the shadow making, with transparent, opaque and solid materials...
I think most children will want to experience the water first... so this is not an experiment I would try with children as their first contact with water for a while... it would be an experiment that has context... either we had noticed the reflections outside on the lake together and decided together to recreate them back at the preschool, or it would be a development of their water play...

Playing with prisms

I have been avoiding the heat of the sun here in Sweden and been playing in the dark again - this time with prisms

here is a short film from the first play session

I think if I had made the room even darker it would have been more effect-full...  but even in semi darkness it was fascinating... and obviously good for children who are afraid of the dark, so they can participate without dealing with fear...

To learn more about prisms... and some experiments you can do... finding the colours, understanding that it is the white light that IS the colours, and how to turn the rainbow back into white light... then watch the film below...

This film is intended for you as an adult to learn more about prims and to feel more assured when playing with rainbows and prisms...
each raindrop acts like a mini prism

If you prefer to watch something in Swedish about prisms, then check out the film after...
the film is designed for children... but is still useful for adults too...

Hope you have fun playing with prisms and rainbows...

Layers of Colour

When I am in Athens next year to be a keynote speaker where I will be talking about play learning and the very youngest preschoolers I will also be presenting a workshop on play - with a focus on light and shadow, similar to workshops I held this year in Jenin, Palestine.
But at the moment I am collecting ideas, testing out the ideas and developing them - so that the play-workshop in Athens can push our play and imagination a little further...
Here is a short film of today's testing...
I have an idea of layering colours to create shadows... and this was my first test to see how we can create temporary art installations... and I want movement to be a part of this also.

This activity can easily be connected to Mondrian if you add strips of solid material/black card or frames and hang them between/round the cellaphane to create the Mondrian look
In this link you can see some Mondrian inspiration in the Hague... including coloured shadows...
Mondrian art on buildings in the Hague

This is of course just the first test of an idea which is slightly more complex in my mind, but I just wanted to see if it would work, and how it would work, to think out how to develop it further...

The story of a hug...

I recently read a short article about the benefits of hugs (touch) and babies... and just how it impacts the brain and development of the child.
The post was shared in a group about early childhood education as a reaction to the fact that some settings are writing no-hug policies.
And while I think physical contact is incredibly important to the well-being and development of each child, I also think we cannot just go round hugging every child as a pedagogical plan to develop their brains... we need to think about consent.
As a person who does not like hugging all that much, and also the mother of children where hugging/touch is not something they are keen on outside of the family I think we have to be aware of how we reach out to others.

As an early years educator I have learned to hug and touch to me the needs of the children... it has come out of empathy and an intellectual place. I have a huge respect for children who do not want to be touched and will wait for a signal, or will gently test to see if a hand on an arm, or holding a hand is what they need... sometimes it is just about sitting next to them... that is contact enough.

A hug or touch is a sensory experience. And if you are a person that is easily sensory overloaded then it can be difficult to appreciate the intentions of the hugger as all you focus on is the overload sensory experience and how to deal with that.

I have worked with children that have needed a firm hand rather than a light touch - the firmness was a better feel than the light touch which triggered a kind of discomfort - some children love to be tickled... others experience it as pain. I worked with one child that would stim a lot when very excited... hands waving so much she was unable to eat her apple, but if I applied pressure to her back in an up and down movement she was able to release the joy through me and focus on her apple. The moment I stopped was the instance the stimming started. I have no problem with stimming, but it was getting in the way of her eating her apple with the other children, and this small gesture enable her to be included in the group activity.

I think what it boils down to is love.
Jools Page has researched and written about Professional Love which I have written about on numerous occasions on my blog over the years. This is such an essential part of working with people.
Not just young children... but all people.
I think if we are coming from a place of professional love then we are going to be incorporating consent too, it is about showing care for the whole child/person and being aware of their emotional needs... understanding when a hug and when touch are essential to enabling the child to develop and reach their own potential, and also understand what form of touch is the most supportive and caring and respectful in the situation.

Today I read about children (albeit older ones) receiving electric shocks in a school in Massachusetts as part of their education... to condition them... and from what I can gather it is clear that the shocks are not being used in a therapeutic way but more as a way of control and punishment.  Professional love should be something that is used throughout the education system.
We see the lengths teachers go to protect their children in USA and the awful mass-shootings in schools... it is clear that professional love happens... but maybe it should become more official.

If you explore what the word love means you will see there is great diversity in its definitions... but essentially it involves caring for, or identifying with another. Also as I explored love I cam across the chinese word REN... Confucius never apparently completely defined it, because of its diversity... but it kind of comes back to love, humanity and interactions with others. Which is what we want for our children in schools... and this can mean touch and hugs.

There is the science (neuroscience) to back up the effects of touch - there is research about the catastrophic effects of when children do not get the physical contact that they need... (see links below)...

we need to ensure we are meeting the needs of the WHOLE child.

other links for further reading
Tracey Seed - Cuddling
Not touching - likened to child abuse
På svenska - in Swedish... research projects about touch in preschools - necessary or bad?
No touching kids policies is good for teachers - not quite the text I was expecting to read... as it seems to be written by a person who does not like being touched, but still important to read.
Losing Touch - how teachers are afraid to have physical contact with children in their care.
What the lack of affection can do to you
The Influence of touch on child development
The human touch: a neglected feeling - the importance of touch throughout life
Touching Empathy - that lack of physical touch can actually kill babies...