I also got to witness some shared learning... from the very beginning until the end of this play exploration... it was exciting to watch how a child accidently made a discovery and then went to get friends to share and show them how...
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
Children learning together - (Iceland post.)
On my first day of preschool visits (or should I say Playschool visits) on my #PlayIceland2014 trip we got to spend the afternoon outside watching the outdoor learning and exploration.
I also got to witness some shared learning... from the very beginning until the end of this play exploration... it was exciting to watch how a child accidently made a discovery and then went to get friends to share and show them how...
This is the pint where the discovery is made... that the cup could be catapulted into the air by the foot on the other end of the board... the first time the cup barely lifted... then it was done purposefully two more times where the cup lifted more.
The child went round the corner to share his discovery with friends and encouraged them to come and see.
he showed them his dicovery
and then showed them how they could do it too, when they asked for a turn.
More children took an interest and they were also shown how they could catapult the cup into the air.
The children experimented with the positioning of the plank and the pressure of their stamp down to vary the height of the cup... the cup flew at considerable height at times. There was also the learning moment where a child stood too close to the cup and it flew into the child's chin... the child did not sustain an injury and was more shocked by the experience than anyting else (these were empty yoghurt pots, so very lightweight)
But all the children learned something from this... that there was an element of risk... after this incident there was not the same confidence when the cup flew into the air and the children protected their faces. But they also learned that the risk was not big enough to stop their experimenting.
I also got to witness some shared learning... from the very beginning until the end of this play exploration... it was exciting to watch how a child accidently made a discovery and then went to get friends to share and show them how...
translated post from Lärande Framtid
A translated post... from Erika Kyrk Seger's brilliant blog Lärande Framtid (Learning Future)
Take the time to pop over to her blog - especially if you prefer to read it in Swedish... and also to explore some of her other very interesting posts...
"Today you will meet your child's preschool teacher - what will you share?
There are many blog entries about the assignment of the preschool teacher. In a way all the posts tend to be about the reconquering of the profession. A profession which in many ways is wavering. A profession that we understand in many different ways depending on education, experience and the colleagues / business we work in.
My understanding of the mandate reflects my professional capacity - if I do not see the preschool's role as important - I will then not understand that I, as a teacher, am important in children's learning and development.
In this kind of "mission dialogue" that takes place within establishments, universities and social media there reveals a lack of understanding of what a preschool can be. In this post I am thinking above all of the adults - not forgetting the children - but I'm thinking about pre-school as a workplace. For as I have written in several posts, I meet a weariness, bitterness and people who need to be confirmed - and all of this is at the expense of the children. But I choose to put the children to the side and instead think about preschool as a workplace. There is a dissatisfaction with resources that they experience there is a lack of, there is a bitterness of the profession not being what they thought, there is a need to be appreciated and rejoice together in the workplace.
To be seen is important, to learn and smile together.
I know we have to talk about the profession - we have a mission for our service. I as a teacher I have been employed for this task and there is nothing I can do to contradict what is in our curriculum - and I am against documenting, from starting from the children's interests or if I do not want to reflect on the activities - I ought to find another profession. Preschool is no charity where we meet up with people who no longer want to work there but nevertheless it may look like it at times. And I want to strike a blow for the human in this. For those who know that this is NOT something you want to do, our settings will not feel good by tyour presence and it will affect our work, the children's everyday lives, our educational learning environments and more.
What view of humanity do we want to convey to children and colleagues if I want is to go home again. How will the fact that there too many children or too much documentation requirements affect me as a person - how will I live fully in the joy?
I feel grateful when I encounter this joy - for it is privilege to have been part of setting in where colleagues long to work, which together raises the profession to something more than just "watching children", who, together with the children, explore the day and with them face life with curiosity and constant preparation for the unexpected. But I am also sorry for the people who once chose the profession of these reasons, but got stuck somewhere along the way - and where the firey passion of the profession nowadays is hardly a glowing piece of coal that now meet, without passion, the children who want to learn but do not get an antithesis.
To retrieve the glow and get the fire started again requires a lot of work and patience - processes that are not easy for either the "educator" or for the person behind the educator.
It requires many somersaults and body will be full of learning and aching bruises.
But we need to catch these people - for the setting falls otherwise with them. We are only as strong as the weakest link and it is a collective effort to take the embers and build a fire together. It is not just the manager's job - it is our common job - all preschool teachers and childcare workers. (here she talks about the name of "barnskötare" - which is hard to translate into English, and therefore this line is hard to translate in a meaningful way)
We must also safeguard the future as there is a huge shortage of teachers in preschool, we need people who put wood on our fire and the wood we find in college - our students. But if the wood is placed on extinguished coal - it will not take. Students will opt out of the preschool if there is a lack of activity. If there is only bitterness and fatigue that meet our students when they come out or when they read in social media so they choose not to put their sticks on us old coals.
We, acting preschool teachers, have a responsibility to convey a great profession to these students.
A profession with huge opportunities where we as adults have (as a colleague of mine said) the honor to accompany the children in their exploration of the world.
And maybe, just maybe ... you'll meet students today who will explore with your children or grandchildren tomorrow - so what preschool teachers do you want to meet your child?"
A translated post... from Erika Kyrk Seger's brilliant blog Lärande Framtid (Learning Future)
Take the time to pop over to her blog - especially if you prefer to read it in Swedish... and also to explore some of her other very interesting posts...
Take the time to pop over to her blog - especially if you prefer to read it in Swedish... and also to explore some of her other very interesting posts...
"Today you will meet your child's preschool teacher - what will you share?
There are many blog entries about the assignment of the preschool teacher. In a way all the posts tend to be about the reconquering of the profession. A profession which in many ways is wavering. A profession that we understand in many different ways depending on education, experience and the colleagues / business we work in.
My understanding of the mandate reflects my professional capacity - if I do not see the preschool's role as important - I will then not understand that I, as a teacher, am important in children's learning and development.
In this kind of "mission dialogue" that takes place within establishments, universities and social media there reveals a lack of understanding of what a preschool can be. In this post I am thinking above all of the adults - not forgetting the children - but I'm thinking about pre-school as a workplace. For as I have written in several posts, I meet a weariness, bitterness and people who need to be confirmed - and all of this is at the expense of the children. But I choose to put the children to the side and instead think about preschool as a workplace. There is a dissatisfaction with resources that they experience there is a lack of, there is a bitterness of the profession not being what they thought, there is a need to be appreciated and rejoice together in the workplace.
To be seen is important, to learn and smile together.
I know we have to talk about the profession - we have a mission for our service. I as a teacher I have been employed for this task and there is nothing I can do to contradict what is in our curriculum - and I am against documenting, from starting from the children's interests or if I do not want to reflect on the activities - I ought to find another profession. Preschool is no charity where we meet up with people who no longer want to work there but nevertheless it may look like it at times. And I want to strike a blow for the human in this. For those who know that this is NOT something you want to do, our settings will not feel good by tyour presence and it will affect our work, the children's everyday lives, our educational learning environments and more.
What view of humanity do we want to convey to children and colleagues if I want is to go home again. How will the fact that there too many children or too much documentation requirements affect me as a person - how will I live fully in the joy?
I feel grateful when I encounter this joy - for it is privilege to have been part of setting in where colleagues long to work, which together raises the profession to something more than just "watching children", who, together with the children, explore the day and with them face life with curiosity and constant preparation for the unexpected. But I am also sorry for the people who once chose the profession of these reasons, but got stuck somewhere along the way - and where the firey passion of the profession nowadays is hardly a glowing piece of coal that now meet, without passion, the children who want to learn but do not get an antithesis.
To retrieve the glow and get the fire started again requires a lot of work and patience - processes that are not easy for either the "educator" or for the person behind the educator.
It requires many somersaults and body will be full of learning and aching bruises.
But we need to catch these people - for the setting falls otherwise with them. We are only as strong as the weakest link and it is a collective effort to take the embers and build a fire together. It is not just the manager's job - it is our common job - all preschool teachers and childcare workers. (here she talks about the name of "barnskötare" - which is hard to translate into English, and therefore this line is hard to translate in a meaningful way)
We must also safeguard the future as there is a huge shortage of teachers in preschool, we need people who put wood on our fire and the wood we find in college - our students. But if the wood is placed on extinguished coal - it will not take. Students will opt out of the preschool if there is a lack of activity. If there is only bitterness and fatigue that meet our students when they come out or when they read in social media so they choose not to put their sticks on us old coals.
We, acting preschool teachers, have a responsibility to convey a great profession to these students.
A profession with huge opportunities where we as adults have (as a colleague of mine said) the honor to accompany the children in their exploration of the world.
And maybe, just maybe ... you'll meet students today who will explore with your children or grandchildren tomorrow - so what preschool teachers do you want to meet your child?"
A translated post... from Erika Kyrk Seger's brilliant blog Lärande Framtid (Learning Future)
Take the time to pop over to her blog - especially if you prefer to read it in Swedish... and also to explore some of her other very interesting posts...
Tuesday, 2 December 2014
Gender
While I was in Iceland there was a dialogue about gender that has got me thinking. One educator was thankful that she had two males at her setting that could do construction/engineering - and this bothered me... why should we be thankful that we have males to do that? In fact should we not be encouraging the females to do these exact activities, so that the young children can see that certain activities do not belong to a certain gender... that in preschools and schools we should be working extra hard on breaking the stereotypes with our actions so that these children can grow up thinking they can do/be anything regardless of gender...
Later in the evening I was pulled up (quite rightly) on the fact that I had talked about my all-girl schooling between 12-15 as something very positive for girls (I definitey found it so) - and how did that work with my thoughts about breaking stereotypes.
It took me time to work out why could I possibly think this...
and I realised that IF I had been to a preschool/school where males and females all did the same activities, that males did not do stereotypical male things like build and engineering and the women didn't do the sterotypical girl things... IF I had grown up in a society where girls were given the same amount of space, if the colour pink was of equal status as other more "boy" colours... if being called a girl was not an insult, if running like a girl was not an insult...
IF I felt that, as a girl, I had the opportunity to be anything... then maybe being in an all girls school would not have been anything special... being with only girls made me feel strong... It made me believe I could be anything... I was allowed to take space... but at the age of 15 the school system changed and boys started... and as a 15 year old it was VERY clear that boys took more time and energy from the teachers than what the girls did - suddenly I felt less seen, there was less time for us... and in my class there were a 24:4 girl/boy ratio but boys got at least 60% of the teachers time and energy... and I was nerdy back then - I observed stuff like that. So I always wondered if it was always like that in all mixed schools... do boys take more time and energy than girls... and why?
Because I don't see that boys need more than girls in the preschool groups I have had over the years - so what is happening?
It would be interesting to hear about other experiences of school and whether as girls you felt less seen, less worthy... or as boys you felt more worthy than girls? Because I can have this all wrong...
but you can read here (gender bias),
here,
here (about gender equitable schools)
here (impact of gender roles on socialisation)
here (a look at the gender gap)
here (education gender gap... lots of articles relating the the gender gap in general)
Schools are a part of society... so this is not something that schools and preschools can do on their own... everyone really has to help so that children can have an image of themselves of being able to do anything they want regardless of gender
Take the time to watch Emma Watsons speech about gender equality
For me it is always about equality... about allowing boys AND girls be able to partake in alla activities, to be equally respected, to have equal opportunities, to have equal value... and we in preschool we can really start this process... but it does need to continue throughout school and throughout the whole of society... so that there is no need for an all girls school to make a girl like me feel strong, powerful and seen.
Reflections May 1st 2018
I have re-read this shortly after attending a talk by Mats Olsson about men in preschool, which partly referred to his own personal journey as a preschool teacher (I will share more about that talk in the coming weeks) It was interesting to listen to him talk about not wanting to represent men, but to be a teacher... just as a female in the branch should not have to represent women, just be themselves and be an educator.
Of course there was talk about the perils of society being suspicious of men working with young children - and the damage this does to the self esteem of male educators when there is a fear for leaving them alone with teachers.
So there is a need to break down stereotypes... to allow men to work in preschools without suspicion, to allow women to work in male dominated workplaces without being bullied or sexually harassed - that boys and girls are allowed a full range of emotions, that we are also inclusive and thoughtful about those who do not define themselves as either male or female - in other words we do not have to be so definite in a binary system of what is male and what is female... but allow people to be the human they are.
We need educators, male and female to break the norms, to explore them, to widen them and to help create preschools as a more inclusive place for all genders - for those that work there and those that attend... adults and children alike.
Sunday, 30 November 2014
Images from my Icelandic presentation
Sadly technology failed somewhat when it came to the presentation at the Rejkjaviks city hall - as the projector was so old it was not compatable with new computers (which we all had) and not with high resolution images - which my presentation is full of... I try not to use words, but images, a bit like a picture book.
Not all of the images can be used on my blog without starting to alter them... and as I have another presentation tomorrow I feel like I do not have the time (or inclination, to be honest) to start adapting all the images for my blog... When you get to see my images in real life then most of the blurring is gone... they are the real images... so here come some images connected to the presentation
It starts off with where I work at Filosofiska, exlplaining about it being totally none profit and our collaborations with Nepal to help street children get an education and a collaboration with thr Freedom Theatre in Jenin...
I talked about Filosofiska's vision - reflecting, judicious, empathic, capable and knowledge-thirsty children.
I mentione Alise Shafer Ivey... and that children have unfettered minds and therefore able to think differently from us as adults... you can see the talk here (I link it up every once in a while to my facebook page) - TEDtalk
I talked about the journey of how best to sit to enable listening - rather than focussing on how their bodies are sitting.
Talking rings - enabling the children to think about the structure of a dialogue... that it is not a series of monologues but listening and talking... an interaction... and that listening is not just being quiet but an active verb.
I shared various photos of the "non-verbal" children passing a box around the circle... give and take being essential components of listening and talking...
The image I shared at the presentation about children playing philosophy could not be shared... but I can share this one instead
I talked about how art connected with philosophy of how we used creative activities to support listening skills and self regulation as well as exploring ideas
you can read about the rainbow art ... here
Jackson Pollock inspired art ... here
the big light installation... here and here
I ended up not talking about this image so much as it was so dark... but it is about how the children work together... like philosophy - collaboration and solving problems together is important.
Various play and activities designed to help with self-regulation... you can check out the bubble post to find out more about this too... you can read that post here
painting on the floor ... here
it is important to approach children with new eyes and new ears to hear what they are saying as if for the first time... so that you are open for new perspectives and not closed off. Experience is important for supporting and expanding ideas... but never to limit them...
Not all of the images can be used on my blog without starting to alter them... and as I have another presentation tomorrow I feel like I do not have the time (or inclination, to be honest) to start adapting all the images for my blog... When you get to see my images in real life then most of the blurring is gone... they are the real images... so here come some images connected to the presentation
I mentione Alise Shafer Ivey... and that children have unfettered minds and therefore able to think differently from us as adults... you can see the talk here (I link it up every once in a while to my facebook page) - TEDtalk
I shared various photos of the "non-verbal" children passing a box around the circle... give and take being essential components of listening and talking...
you can read about the rainbow art ... here
Jackson Pollock inspired art ... here
the big light installation... here and here
I ended up not talking about this image so much as it was so dark... but it is about how the children work together... like philosophy - collaboration and solving problems together is important.
Various play and activities designed to help with self-regulation... you can check out the bubble post to find out more about this too... you can read that post here
painting on the floor ... here
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
an Icelandic update
I have now visited two preschools in the last two days… had a million dialogues about early years, play and possibilities on many different levels … from the fun and light hearted to the deep and intense… and I have loved and learned from every one of them.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Iceland… and there will be one more preschool visit (well two, but the preschools are connected) and also the opportunity to see the Icelandic landscape… which I am loving - but I have always loved mountains… and I love clouds… and the skyline here is forever changing with the most amazing cloud formations all the time… and yes I have been needing out with cloud photos too!! (and no doubt there will be more tomorrow)
BUT I am not getting the time to blog, because I am not getting to my room until after midnight… which means I am spending my time much more wisely is discussion with others… and I have SOOO much to share and it is just getting more and more…
OH yeah, and the delights of an antiquated projector meant that my high resolution photos on my new laptop were just too over whelming… and everything came out as dark shadows or just black… so I will be posting the photos sometime soon… may be the perfect thing to fix while waiting for my flight on Thursday morning…
Here are some cloud photos
Tomorrow is our last full day in Iceland… and there will be one more preschool visit (well two, but the preschools are connected) and also the opportunity to see the Icelandic landscape… which I am loving - but I have always loved mountains… and I love clouds… and the skyline here is forever changing with the most amazing cloud formations all the time… and yes I have been needing out with cloud photos too!! (and no doubt there will be more tomorrow)
BUT I am not getting the time to blog, because I am not getting to my room until after midnight… which means I am spending my time much more wisely is discussion with others… and I have SOOO much to share and it is just getting more and more…
OH yeah, and the delights of an antiquated projector meant that my high resolution photos on my new laptop were just too over whelming… and everything came out as dark shadows or just black… so I will be posting the photos sometime soon… may be the perfect thing to fix while waiting for my flight on Thursday morning…
Here are some cloud photos
Sunday, 23 November 2014
Iceland Day 1 and 2
My first day was all about travelling… getting to Iceland and then meeting Hulda (our Icelandic host) and Jessica from Growing Inch by Inch (from USA).
We walked around Reykavik and had dinner together talking about everything and a whole load of ECE - finding out similarities and differences in Sweden, Iceland and USA - really fascinating. There seem to be many similarities between Iceland and Sweden, so I am very much looking forward to visiting the settings and seeing similarities and differences in the practical life of preschool.
One of the things that I really like is that preschool is called play-school here - when I talked with my preschoolers on Friday, letting them know where I was going and when I would be coming back I also told them that in Iceland it was called play-school… they ALL thought they they should go to play school rather than preschool and that we should change the name förskolan Filosofiska to lekskolan Filosofiska… although one child then suggested that we should call it Hello Kitty.
Here in Iceland, as in Sweden, it is apparent that early years teachers are not valued in the same way as school teachers - of course it is hard to change the minds of people who have never valued young children … and when looking at this from a norm-critical point of view it really does reflect how young children and their learning through play are discriminated against as not something as important as slightly older children in school. Does age have status… and at what age do we stop giving status again… as it is quite clear that not all people are valued once they have retired from work - there are many stories about homes for the elderly where they are not treated as humanly as they ought to be…
Today I have met up with the rest of the group… and we are 29 all together. We started our adventure at the Blue Lagoon… remarkably not only a great place to relax, but also a great place to talk and get to know each other… that is if you stay close enough… as the misty magical nature of the pool means you soon lose the others.. but my skin is feeling wonderfully soft now!!
This evening we have met up again to have a look around Rejkjavik and to talk some more… we also took the time to chat in our smaller groups that we have been arranged into so that we can visit settings over the next two days… My group is called "Galdur" and I will be visiting Stekkjaras Playschool and A∂althing Playschool (my computer will not let me do the other soft "th" sounding letter.. on the hard "th" sounding letter ∂) together with Jessica, Annette and Inna.
Time though to get some sleep before our first big visiting day tomorrow
We walked around Reykavik and had dinner together talking about everything and a whole load of ECE - finding out similarities and differences in Sweden, Iceland and USA - really fascinating. There seem to be many similarities between Iceland and Sweden, so I am very much looking forward to visiting the settings and seeing similarities and differences in the practical life of preschool.
One of the things that I really like is that preschool is called play-school here - when I talked with my preschoolers on Friday, letting them know where I was going and when I would be coming back I also told them that in Iceland it was called play-school… they ALL thought they they should go to play school rather than preschool and that we should change the name förskolan Filosofiska to lekskolan Filosofiska… although one child then suggested that we should call it Hello Kitty.
Here in Iceland, as in Sweden, it is apparent that early years teachers are not valued in the same way as school teachers - of course it is hard to change the minds of people who have never valued young children … and when looking at this from a norm-critical point of view it really does reflect how young children and their learning through play are discriminated against as not something as important as slightly older children in school. Does age have status… and at what age do we stop giving status again… as it is quite clear that not all people are valued once they have retired from work - there are many stories about homes for the elderly where they are not treated as humanly as they ought to be…
Today I have met up with the rest of the group… and we are 29 all together. We started our adventure at the Blue Lagoon… remarkably not only a great place to relax, but also a great place to talk and get to know each other… that is if you stay close enough… as the misty magical nature of the pool means you soon lose the others.. but my skin is feeling wonderfully soft now!!
This evening we have met up again to have a look around Rejkjavik and to talk some more… we also took the time to chat in our smaller groups that we have been arranged into so that we can visit settings over the next two days… My group is called "Galdur" and I will be visiting Stekkjaras Playschool and A∂althing Playschool (my computer will not let me do the other soft "th" sounding letter.. on the hard "th" sounding letter ∂) together with Jessica, Annette and Inna.
Time though to get some sleep before our first big visiting day tomorrow
Friday, 21 November 2014
The night before Iceland...
I am sitting at the computer here in Stockholm for the last time for a few days... tomorrow I will be winging my way to Iceland to meet other educators from UK, USA and Iceland to talk about play and learning in early childhood and to visit settings.
I am really looking forward to the opportunity to have my mind stretched and challenged, to have the opportunity to view play from another perspective and to be a part of a process where I can contribute to others experiencing the same sort of inspirational growth that I am sure I will experience.
I will be taking lots of photographs and, of course, sharing, most likely when I get back... as I imagine I will be spending as much of my time as possible with the other Play Iceland participants... all arranged by Fafu..
It is going to be wonderful to be able to meet up with the Fafunians that have been a part of the International Fairy Tea Party with me...
In fact I am too excited to even write...
I am really looking forward to the opportunity to have my mind stretched and challenged, to have the opportunity to view play from another perspective and to be a part of a process where I can contribute to others experiencing the same sort of inspirational growth that I am sure I will experience.
I will be taking lots of photographs and, of course, sharing, most likely when I get back... as I imagine I will be spending as much of my time as possible with the other Play Iceland participants... all arranged by Fafu..
It is going to be wonderful to be able to meet up with the Fafunians that have been a part of the International Fairy Tea Party with me...
In fact I am too excited to even write...
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