Preschool - Leslie Gleim

Children Advocates

2008-04-10T14:21:10Z

Often children are seen merely as children and not as the young citizens they also are. How often do we make changes or do things without a second thought about what the children might be thinking or feeling? Changes often occur in the bigger world around them, changes which leave an impact on them. Society often fails to hear their voices, much less validate them. We fail to see that what happens during their childhoods has a major impact on their futures. Simply put — society often fails to value children and see that they have rights.

We would like to share a moment in the life of our school community when this was not the case, a moment when the children saw something valuable being taken from them and the teachers valued the children's opinions and concerns. Rather than taking the children's concerns lightly and passing over them, the adults instead listened intently and with great sensitivity to the children's voices. The adults chose to support and scaffold the children in making their voices heard. This was a moment which enabled the children to experience the power of advocacy and citizenship in the school community as they expressed their concerns about an issue that was important to them.

Childhood is filled with such wonder! Days are filled with moments of mixing mud, looking for "gems or crystals," searching for bugs and lizards, and just exploring. These moments are rich and filled with theories, dialogue, and collaboration. They solidify relationships and memories, memories which are of the ordinary as well as the grand. Memories for a lifetime!

Two weeks ago while on the playground, the children observed a group of adults also come onto the playground and look all around. One of the children wondered and asked what they were doing. A gentleman replied that they were going to put beautiful artificial grass on the playground over the dirt area to keep the mud from spreading. After seeing a sample of the artificial grass, the children realized that "artificial grass" is "fake grass," not real grass. This material was to be placed on the playground area as well as on the area around the sandbox behind the preschool classrooms.

Word of this spread from one child to the next, and soon the connection was made that the fake grass would cover up the bugs, the gems/crystals, and their campfire area! Where were they going to make their mud? Where were they going to find gems and sticks for their pretend campfires?

When we came into the classroom that morning, the children were abuzz about the fake grass that was going to go on the playground. We discussed this possibility at our group meeting, and the children were mad and sad! We asked what they could do about this, and one of the children blurted out, "Write a message to Ms. Hussey!" The idea of writing a message to the principal took hold, and the children quickly assumed ownership of it. Rather than composing a message that same day, we let them talk about it and decided to let the idea percolate over the weekend.

]]> During our group meeting on Monday, we reminded them of their idea and tossed it back to them. They caught it and were willing to run with it. The tone about this possibility became very serious. The classroom climate shifted, and what was once a mere possibility was transforming into a reality. The children sensed or knew that they had the full support of the adults/teachers to proceed with this.

The idea of the message began to take off. The discussion shifted to who would write the message. Two children volunteered to help. However, the community also felt a couple of other students needed to do the writing, too. The children knew this was going to be important work and to get the message done, they needed those individuals who could get the job done. They felt strongly about this and were determined to write the message to Ms. Hussey.

The class quite naturally created a committee. A and D are two to whom the children often go if they need something spelled (they are very good in the invented spelling of words), so one was picked and the other volunteered herself. They knew what the task demanded and stepped up to the plate. The children felt R needed to be on this "committee" because he is the bug-and-lizard expert and knew where all the good bug areas are on the playground. KK volunteered because she wanted to help in some way as well. What a beautiful and natural formation of a committee, so much like how life is in the grown-up world. There are those who are nominated, those who believe in a cause, and those who come together for the common good of the community!

Once the core group went into the studio, it was amazing to watch as the drama unfolded. Again, they knew the seriousness of what they wanted to do and set about delegating responsibilities to get the job done! They had assigned each child with a responsibility. D would start, then A would take over when D was tired. R worked on a picture of the bugs and catching the lizards, and KK wanted to help get everyone's signature when the message was complete.

We talked a bit about the message. We posed this question: "Who is the message going to be from?" I wondered how they would reply — did they truly see themselves as "representing" the group, or were they acting on their own behalfs? The children thought about that for a brief moment when KK spoke up, "From everybody." Another question asked of them: "How is Ms. Hussey going to know that this is from everybody?" D. quickly spoke up, "Well, we will have everyone sign it. Yeah, everyone will write their name at the end of the message." The children revealed to me that they had a strong concept of a "message," and that at the end of the message, the writers sign their names. I was curious as to how the entire message would be framed.

First I had the children dictate their thoughts to me. I wrote down their thoughts word for word as dictated. From time to time I read their words back to them, and the children would suggest other words that seemed to more accurately convey their ideas. When they were satisfied with the wording of the message, they were ready for me to read it back to them so they could write the message.

Their message, "translated" by the teacher:
To Ms. Hussey,
Please don't put fake grass because we don't like the idea.
We want to find crystals, fire with sticks, and bugs. 0 (zero) fake (grass).
From,
Preschool

Their message, as written by the children using their invented spelling:
To Ms. Husse,
Plez dont put fak gras becau we dont like the idea.
We want to find crystals fire wth stiks and bgs. 0 fake
from,
presol

Note: "0 fake grass" that they wrote was "just a little fake grass" in the original. When I came to this part, I asked them to clarify how much was a little fake grass. A big discussion ensued about whether they wanted "0" or "a little fake grass!!" How much fake grass was going to be accepted? Apparently, they decided "0" — they didn’t want any! The word "don’t" is used twice. When they came to the second "don’t," A was writing and couldn’t figure out how to start this word. D pointed to the first "don’t "and told her to just copy her "d" in "don't."

Again the message took on the form of a "letter" rather than a mere message. This was significant in that they knew that different messages are framed in different ways, often determined by a sense of audience or reader. This was a "formal" message because it was going to Ms. Hussey, so it needed a beginning, a body, and an ending. We can see that the children at this young age are able to differentiate the type of messages that are used in communicating. The words "To Ms. Hussey" were very intentional. They wanted to make sure that this reached the person that they wanted the message to go to, leaving no doubt that it would not go to anyone else. Even the ending of the message "from Preschool" was indication to Ms. Hussey that this message was from the preschool and no one else. I found the body of the message they chose to be powerful. They first stated their issue or point, "Please don't put fake grass because we don't like the idea" instead of "Please don't put fake grass." However, they had to let her know why "because we don't like the idea" is a vague statement. Here we find the children sensing the vagueness and adding the sentence that follows: "We want to find crystals, fire with sticks, and bugs." This shares with the reader the children's clear thinking and rationale. We find a young group of children putting together an airtight persuasive message that clearly tells what it is they oppose and why! This is what skilled citizens do when they write a letter to the editor and to government officials! Our youngest of children were able to voice their concerns to a T!

Once they were finished writing the message, I asked if they were finished. They said,"No, now everybody needs to sign." D and K left the atelier to get their message signed by all their friends. They went to each friend and read and/or explained the message to them and asked if they wanted fake grass or not. If they did, D and K instructed their peers to write their names in their best handwriting because it had to be read by Ms. Hussey! This was a key point to them because it was as if their names had to be legible in order to be counted (perhaps this links back to our daily Plans. The Plans must be readable by the adults).

One of the priceless moments was when they came to T and asked him if he wanted to sign for no fake grass. He said, "Sure." He was given the instructions to write his very best name, and we watched as he wrote T_ _ _ _ in perfect order with letters printed side by side!! Priceless! T valued that this was important, and he rose to the occasion to make sure that his name was going to be read. This was the first time that T had written his name perfectly!

Interestingly, two of the children wanted fake grass, so D looked at them and in a very authoritative tone said, “Then don't sign it!” Here the children were valuing the opinions of their friends, and the two who didn't sign didn't buckle in their beliefs. Once again, these are values we want to see instilled in all citizens. This is part of our democratic process.

Having the "committee" go back to the larger classroom community was a link that kept the whole group involved because it kept their cause "alive," so to speak. Although the core "committee" drafted the petition, the committee took it back to the "people," and this became a community standing together in one voice. Every child's voice was validated and honored. The signing of their names to the message/petition made them active participants in this democratic process. When all the signatures were gathered in our 4s classroom, they then went to the 3s classroom, where they were able to get a few additional signatures.

An appointment was made for Wednesday morning to meet with Ms. Hussey.

On the way to her office, the committee again delegated and organized responsibilities. D would read the message, A would read all the signatures, R would talk about the picture of bugs and all that he drew, and KK would read the typed version of the letter (after they wrote their message, I typed it to make sure that once the message was in Ms. Hussey's hands, she would be able to clearly read it).

The committee was very business-like (they clearly knew and valued their position). I have never seen such intentionality and such grown-up children! No one clammed up. They answered Ms.Hussey's questions with confidence. It was as if they were suddenly 10 years older! It gave me goosebumps! Ms. Hussey listened as the group read their message about their concerns to her.

She then explained why they needed to put fake grass in that area, that the mud was getting on the spongy part of the playground and into the classroom. The group's counterpoint was, "Well, we keep our mud buckets outside and we take our shoes off!" (Great thinking and it seemed like a reasonable solution!) Ms. Hussey commended them for doing this. She then wondered if they would be willing to look around the school and find another area that has bugs, etc. She would then see what the school could do about fixing it so that the children could use it. The children agreed to help find another spot and let her know.

Ms. Hussey also shared with them that she was meeting with President Rice and the other administrators that morning and she would take the children's concerns to them. She again shared with the children that they did the right thing in writing down their concerns and then voicing them to her. She mentioned that if there were more questions from the administration, there could be a meeting with them about this!

At our group meeting that morning, the committee reported back to the whole group what happened! As K told the group, "We said, 'Ms. Hussey, ZERO fake grass.' " She then held up her hand. This whole process of going from small to whole group kept the issue alive and relevant to the whole community! This was such a wonderful experience of advocating one’s beliefs. These are the dispositions that we want to instill in children, for it sets them up for the future rather than just being an activity for the moment.

Ms. Hussey called me later in the afternoon to let me know she indeed took the children's petition to the administration. She is checking into the possibility of a small space that could remain uncovered so that the children have an area to hunt and explore in. We will see if this can be done or not.

The following day, two of the children made a card (on their own) thanking Ms. Hussey for the meeting. Ms. Hussey told them that she would be meeting soon with them.

The children's voices were valued, and their concerns were listened to with much respect.
How wonderful to have a school that VALUES even the youngest in their community!

I want to share an email I received from one of the parents who read about this:

Hi, Leslie,

I saw a part of this unfold this morning as I was leaving. I was wondering what was going on. When I picked up M in the afternoon, I asked her what happened. She told me all about the fake grass with wide eyes and a serious tone in her voice. She said exactly what you wrote -- that the mud and the bugs and the sticks would be covered up and that the children had to explain to Ms. H that they didn't want this to happen. What a great experience for problem solving, expression, critical thinking, learning to stand up and be counted for what you believe in, etc.! I love it!

Thank you!
J

Update: Mrs. Hussey met with the committee again. Stay tuned for Part 2 of the story of the children's advocacy experience.

The Plans: An Evolution of a Universal Classroom Language

2008-03-11T00:50:16Z

Planning is an important part of our life. We plan for what is going to happen during our day, weekends, and trips. Children closely observe adults planning or making plans. Plans are important to our classroom life as well.

What began as a small moment with one child bringing a notepad and pen to the group meeting to take notes of our plans for the day caused us to pause and validate the intentionality of this action. In doing so, this small moment — an ordinary classroom ritual — exploded into a powerful, extraordinary learning encounter for our classroom of learners.

The children’s planning processes have transformed each day. Initially, the teachers regarded the plans as a scaffolding tool, which provided a symbolic mental map for the children’s day. The plans provided the children with a tool that helped organize their thinking and their intentions for their work.

In observing the children’s work, we watched as the plans validated their thinking processes as a means for communicating with each other their day.We observed children working together making matching plans. We watched as children would assist others or share symbols with one another. Why? What was occurring?

Upon closer observation of the work of the plans, it soon became evident that the children were on the threshold of something important and unique to this learning community — they were becoming the authors of a common symbolic classroom language! The birth of a language! The planning process enabled the children to share or lend symbols to their peers in order to make their intentions clear and to communicate with one another. Some symbols used by two or three children, such as for the loft or Legos, were soon adopted by other children. Through this process of sharing symbolic representations, we find the children creating a universal classroom language that supports our diverse classroom community and cuts across cultures. Each day we await the birth of another new word that is being added to this universal classroom language.

An Evolving Universal Classroom Language

                   There are approximately nine symbols that many of the children are sharing.

                                                                         Cockroach


                                                                              Cats

                                                                    Dramatic play/Loft

                                                                           Race cars

                                                                      Excerbug (scooter)

                                                                             Snack

                                                                         Paint brush

                                                                             Legos

                                                                         Everything


                                                             The Birth of a Symbol

Throughout the planning process, we observe as each child works to develop a graphic “word” that expresses her or her intentions for the day. Trying to find symbolic representations for such words as blocks, Legos, dress-up area, loft area, snack, atelier, etc. become learning knots that push the children into thinking intrinsically as well thinking about how the audience (another child or adult) will be able to make sense of her intention. The child now has to make the graphic representation readable.


                                                          AR’s Provocation

AR struggles to find the best representational symbol for dramatic play.

AR's first symbolic representation for dramatic play, which was in the loft area where this play occurs. Notice that she represents/draws a ladder going up to the loft. We speculated as to why she added the A and the heart in the loft area. We know from last year that her friend LN's symbol was a heart. Was she perhaps wanting to indicate in her plan that she and LN would be playing in the loft together?


AR abandons the use of the previous symbol for this one. Why? Does she liken this to arrows on a street sign, which indicates in what direction one needs to go?


Later the arrow is embedded within the written words dramatic play. Why does she make this choice? Perhaps AR is inwardly struggling between the written word and the graphic symbol. Perhaps this is a compromise on her part.

A few days later, we notice LJ, LN and AR huddled together at the table.

L J asks, “What are you making, A?” As if she is unaware of their presence, A. remains engaged in her work. LN, too, becomes curious. Does she wonder whether AR is on the verge of something new?


Suddenly we find out what it is that is keeping AR busy. A new symbol! AR gives us a small view into her thinking. "I made this one because this is me. I’m going up and down the loft for dramatic play. That’s [arrow] what my body feels like going up and down.”


Teacher Reflection:

Revisiting the plans daily causes the child to rethink each “plan” and the graphic representations used. Within this process, one clearly can observe AR’s transformation in her thinking as it unfolds over time.

In the first graphic representation, AR clearly represents the loft but something isn’t right to her. It is missing the idea of going up and down the loft, for this clearly is how this space and the play in this space occurs each day for her.

Trying to untie this learning knot, she shifts to the up-and-down directional arrow. Again we find that she isn’t satisfied with this graphic symbol because it still isn’t clearly communicating her intentions to herself or in her thinking process.

In the next representation, AR shifts her thinking by embedding the arrow within the word “Dramat LPA” (dramatic play). AR is trying to tie the idea of going up and down to the dramatic play area even tighter. Perhaps sensing that this still isn’t getting her idea across to the viewer, we find her rethinking this.

In the last representation, AR draws an image of herself, then places an arrow inside herself. This powerful symbolic representation fully embraces the idea of going up and down the loft, and she leaves room for little doubt by including the words dramatic play above her head, as this helps in making this understandable to the audience as well. She is able to confirm this for us when she verbally articulates to us the meaning of her representation and the reason for the use of this symbol.

Learning Story: A Silent Dialogue Between the Hands and Clay

2008-02-05T05:55:14Z

The story that we want to share with you is simple yet powerful. It is about a beautiful moment in the atelier that I had the honor of documenting. It speaks to us about the child and the materials, particularly clay.

Jordan had opened the studio space between the three- and four-year-old classrooms. The fours were given the provocation of a chunk of clay and wire. They were left to explore at their own pace and rhythm. B had been in the studio for a while, so I stepped in to see what had captured his attention. Over the next twenty minutes, I documented his story. There are over sixty images of this moment. I want to share with you many of these images and the story of his hands and head becoming one as the clay speaks to him and he responds.

As the story begins, we find B “talking" to the clay with the wire. His hands slowly read and absorb the message of the clay.





Each slice is sized by his skillful eye.

He appears as if he is having a deep, silent conversation with the clay and the clay with him.

Finally a small round ball emerges from his hands.

What will he do now?

Slowly he flattens the clay. He begins to pinch small pieces of clay
from the large chunk. Again, he deliberately places pieces one at a time
onto the flat base.

He makes his way slowly around, piece by piece. We watch as he goes back around to each, pinching them into place, securing their position.

Wondering if he is finished, we watch as
he then begins to roll up one piece of clay
at a time. One by one, these pieces are
placed inside the clay structure.

As suddenly as he began, he ends. The nest with five eggs is complete!

This moment with B was beautiful to witness. To watch a child engage with the materials at this level was incredible. Although not a word was spoken until he finished, we clearly see his thinking made visible to us. In his revisiting the medium that day, we find that he was connecting to the medium in new and challenging ways. The wonder of his learning could be felt and seen through the engagement of his hands with the clay.

Because clay is such a forgiving medium, we find that it allows B to wonder, explore, and challenge himself from within. Many strategies are at work, such as how to slice the clay and how to attach the pieces to make them stay in place. This moment was priceless to observe!

The atelier speaks to B in so many ways that we have yet to see. He clearly sees this space as his for the asking, so to speak. The atelier is a space in which he feels safe to express himself in new ways, a space that challenges and scaffolds his learning.

As teachers, we need to be attuned to B and be ready to listen to the dialogues that he is seeking with the multitude of media available to him. We see this strength reflected in his work in the block area. We need to be ready to provide him with provocations that scaffold his thinking

Family Reflections:
What do you value about this learning story? What struck me immediately was the way the Learning Story was written about B - how words like “beautiful moment” and “honor of documenting” were included. I was floored when I read that from a teacher observing my child. How honored we are as parents to have such people educating our child!!! To have the educators value our child as we do! I value the insight into B’s time in the atelier that I never get to witness. His devotion to the art of “creation” in whatever medium it may be is very exciting.

How does this speak to you about your child’s strengths and competencies?
I am pleasantly surprised to notice that he is showing attention to detail, taking his time to enjoy and explore things that interest him. B is a person who is just simply “satisfied” - he loves life, food, people. When you described him as a master jeweler cutting a facet in a diamond, it didn’t surprise me but gladdened me that you noticed the same things we do.

Talk to your child about this learning story. Have your child share what they think about the learning story and record verbatim what your child says:
I was making a nest and then there were eggs in it and I was trying to make the Mommy bird but I couldn’t make it so I didn’t make it. I made little balls to fit in the nest. They were eggs. I found a piece on the ground attached to a tennis shoe and I put it on the inside. Ms. Jordan gave me the wires so I could cut big since I didn’t have a knife. I told Ms. Jordan I liked the atelier.

.

A Moment of Learning

2007-10-23T23:48:52Z

Throughout our day, we observe many rich learning moments that reveal the children's thinking to us. Many of these are short moments, so we must be sensitive so that we can capture them. However short they are, they can be monumental within a child's learning process. We would like to share a brief but important moment of learning, the moment when K revealed to us that a shift in her thinking had occurred.

During a shared morning of work between the 4’s and 3’s classrooms, we observed the children who were engaged in the message area. Initially the children were creating jewelry, using paper and what the children call the rainbow string. It was interesting to watch

one of the 3’s interacting and following the work of the 4’s with great intensity.

While observing the dynamics of this play, I watched as K left the jewelry-making process and shifted toward writing on small pieces of paper.

Wondering why she had made this shift, I realized that the other girls in the classroom were busy preparing for a hula performance outside. Had she overheard the other girls? I speculated that this could be the case, for in the past we have observed her writing on a small pieces of paper. When asked about this, she explained that the writing was for everybody to come to the performance. Was she perhaps making tickets for everyone? This piece of the performance was of great interest to her. Is this what she was doing?

Continuing to watch her work, I saw a sudden change in what she was doing. She abandoned the ticket-making process for the creation of a list of who was coming to the performance.

What happened next was unexpected. I heard her asking:
K: “What’s your name, Ms. Leslie?”
I said, “Ms.Leslie”
K: “No, what’s your name, Ms Leslie?

Her emphasis on "name" led me to look closer at her work and to pause for a moment and think about the context of her question. In doing so, I noted the change in materials that she was using.

I asked, “Do you want to know how to spell my name?”
K: “Yeah.”

For each letter of my name that I shared with her, she created a symbol/letter. This was not in a hurried or whimsical fashion; each mark was made with great intention and thought. To the casual viewer, these would seem to be “merely” marks. However, something far more had occurred and was being revealed in this moment.

Click on the blue link below, and watch as K assigned a mark for each letter told to her. Notice that as she ran out of space, she made her symbols smaller to try to keep them together rather than putting them on another line. Why was that?

When K finished, she showed my name to me. A moment later, I heard K talking out loud.

K: "H's name." When I looked toward K, I found her looking toward the message boxes, copying H’s name. She would look at the message box, write a letter/symbol, and look over again, repeating the process until she was satisfied that she had all the letters/symbols from H's name represented on paper.

Once again, we found K assigning a letter to a corresponding symbolic form.

Teacher Reflections:
Children are constantly trying to make meaning of their world. During ages 4 and 5, we find them shifting from making meaning from verbal thinking to making meaning from written symbols. This is a complicated yet powerful experience for children. In our learning community, we continuously are supporting the child's learning processes by allowing them to experience the powerful functions of print. One way we do this is through our ongoing plan-making for our day. This process has had a major impact in many areas of our learning community, from literacy to the work in the atelier to the organization of thinking processes and expression of thoughts.

This moment with K allowed us to see into her theories about the printed word. K clearly knew that a spoken name is different in representation than a written name. We also saw K's confidence as she realized that each person has their own set of graphic symbols or representations that must be grouped in a particular arrangement in order for it to be called a name.

K seems to in the midst of a huge leap into the world of literacy and the written word, for we found that she had developed a theory around “names.” This was evident in her question, "What's your name, Ms. Leslie?" When I responded, "Ms. Leslie," she said, "No, what's your name, Ms. Leslie?" Clearly she wasn’t after the verbal spoken name; she wanted the symbols that would turn the spoken "Leslie" into the written "Leslie." Her theory became visible as she assigned a graphic symbol to each letter that I told her. Again, each mark was purposeful and intentional.

During this learning moment, K was making her thinking visible to us through her spoken and unspoken actions. We found K to be beginning to grasp the value of words/names in her world and environment. K nailed down the meaning or intentions of her work a few moments later when we observed her using the message boxes to scaffold and support her as she added H to the list of those coming to the performance.

She could have easily asked me for the information to spell H, but instead we found K solving this dilemma using her own resources -- looking at the message boxes nearby. This moment demonstrated to us a shift from relying on others to solving her own problems. K clearly is learning how to learn.

We have since observed K connecting and cycling through this theory of hers around names. Today she created a bracelet for Ms. Leslie that included a name tag. She again asked me for my name. As I said each letter to her, she repeated the letter and assigned a symbol. Earlier she constructed a book in which she began writing symbols and letters that were close approximations of actual letters. She clearly has emerged into the powerful world of words as she now is formulating theories about the function of words and the graphic representations that are assigned to make up words.

After observing this moment how might we support K with future provocations for learning?
Seeing K’s interest in the written word now beginning to unfold, it is important for us to continue connecting this new knowledge in meaningful ways for her. Perhaps in her plan-making, we could have her make lists for us. Perhaps at home, her parents could make a list of a couple of items that are needed from the store, such as milk (which has two letters from her name in it), etc. We will also be watching for her to make more closer approximations of how the letters look.

In this learning moment of K’s, we captured only one small slice of the thinking that is occurring in our classroom learning processes each day. These small moments will impact K's (and each of your children's) future learning for a lifetime.

The Power Of Children's Work: Looking In

2007-10-11T17:20:28Z

Each day we look closely at the children's work in the classroom and in the atelier. We are always looking for possible entry points for provoking learning. We recently found one in the children's block-building play in the classroom.

We decided to offer the provocation of building but with a different medium - clay. We felt that this medium would stimulate many interesting questions and allow the children to discover strategies for working with clay, a familiar medium, in new ways. What would happen when the children began to build with the clay? Would we find many learning knots (moments when the materials challenge the children's thinking) and provocations?

While the children were working with clay in the atelier, we documented the work in multiple ways -- video, dialogue, and digital stills -- in order to capture their work and their thinking.

ZOOMING IN TO UNDERSTAND

We are going to let you see into the work of one child, M. M’s work is representative of all of the children’s work. (Sharing with you the thinking and work of M will allow you to see how the teachers are thinking and working as well.)

A casual glance at this piece of work by M is enough for us to appreciate the details that he has included. If this piece were to go home, you would of course comment on it, and perhaps M would tell you something about it. Yet you might still wonder what the significance of it is.

Perhaps our interest would deepen if we knew that M was creating a house. Indeed, we can see the beginnings of one. Yet we are still left wondering why the house was constructed as it was. Why, for example, did M make the circular impressions? How did he conclude that this is what he needed to do?

It is only when we dig deeper into the child’s thinking that we truly come to understand and value the work. What if we could slip into the atelier and become part of this moment with M and observe him working on the piece? What would this reveal to us? In observing him, would we be able to notice him making deliberate choices of materials? Would we see moments when he encounters a problem or when his thinking is being challenged by the materials?

Click on the link above to join M midway through his work. Let' s take a look.

LOOKING CLOSER THROUGH REVISITING

A key piece in helping us understand children's thinking is through the revisiting of their work. Having children revisit work through the documentation allows them to go back to that moment without having to tax their memories to recall the "facts." The documentation preserves the moment and the children's work. It allows the children to reflect on their thinking and build upon it for us.

The teachers were very interested in the revisiting process with the children and their work in the atelier. We framed several intentional revisits around each child's work. The first revisit involved the entire group going to the technology lab to view each other's work, using the SmartBoard and video documentation. Each child was asked if they would like to share something about their work that we were viewing on the video clips. This was an exciting process. We listened and observed children who up to this point had only revealed a word or two about their work but now talked on and on about what they did. We could see each child stepping back into the moment as they revealed many new details to us.

Excited by what we heard and recorded in the technology lab, we felt that the children might reveal even more details if we slowed the pace. We conducted two more revisits. In the first, the children had the actual work in hand when they told us about it. In the second, we had the children revisit with the clay piece in hand and the video clips in front of them. During this revisiting process, we documented the moment as each child viewed the original video of their work. WOW! It was amazing and powerful! We watched children literally tell us with their hands what their step-by-step process was. Children who lacked words in earlier revisits now found the words flowing with no difficulty! Children recalled and revealed more new details of their work.

UNPACKING M's THINKING:

Let us look closely at M's work through the revisiting process. We will be looking through two lenses: our own revisiting of the clips and the eyes of M as he reveals his thinking to us.

Let's look first at a moment during M's construction process. We observe M applying glue to the base of the clay slab. At first glance, this doesn't seem of great significance. We notice M taking an extra amount of time gluing one particular area of the foundation. Up until this point, M's strategy was to apply the glue quickly with one or two passes over the foundation or to apply it to each piece, but here we see him slowing down and repeatedly gluing. What caused M to work in this manner? Click on the blue words above.

During our revisit with M, he spoke about the broken piece. The teachers thought that M was referencing the wall and a broken piece along the wall. Listen as M clearly helped us to see otherwise. Click on the blue words below.

In revisiting the video, M recognized and pointed out to Ms. Jordan the broken piece. We clearly see that M was repairing the broken piece using the glue. It was as if he was using the glue as a patch to repair the crack.. We also discover when we look at the entire clip that we first shared with you that M used this same deliberate strategy at one other moment in his work. See if you can discover when this was.
(Hint: it occurred down the side around the circles.)

Let's look at another learning knot.

After M moved past the broken piece, he revealed another interesting moment in his thinking process. It came when he was working on one of the corners of his house. At first glance, one may think that M was randomly placing the clay pieces on the foundation. However, upon closer observation, we find that he was visually estimating and sizing each gap and what was required to fill in the space. He at first placed the next clay piece at the end of the "row," which enabled him to turn the corner. He realized that in doing this, a gap appeared. Click on the blue words below.

Once again we see M's skillful thinking process, as he worked through this provocation. In his abandoning and shifting of the placement of the clay block, he clearly showed to us that he was thinking about each placement and piece.

Let us look at one last learning knot.

Again we find the corner to be a moment of provocation for M. Click on the blue words above. In viewing this segment of his work, notice the two moments when he placed the clay pieces into the "holes" and abandoned their use. Here he shifted into a higher thinking mode as he saw that he wasn't able to achieve his goal. It is interesting that instead of bending the longer piece to fit, he abandoned that solution and went back to his pile of clay pieces, looking at them to determine which might fit. He could have easily bent his piece to help make it fit, yet he didn't.

Why?

Although he knew that these were clay blocks that he was working with and could bend, he seemed to stick with his general knowledge about wooden blocks -- that they are strong and don't bend. We determined this by watching him abandon the bending of a block just prior to this moment, when he attempted to fill in a large hole with a piece that was too large for it. You can see that the clay block buckled when he slipped it in place. Seeing it buckle, he removed the piece..

A NEW DISCOVERY

During the revisiting process of the video, M discovered something new about his work. Listen to this moment as he made the discovery. Click on the blue words below.

In the first video clip that you viewed, there was one key question posed to M at a point when he had lots of pieces left on the table. M said that he was done. The question helped to confirm for the teachers that M's thinking process was intentional.

REFLECTIONS:

In slowing down and looking closely at M's work, we begin to value the house that M built. We are able to see the thoughtful placement of each piece.

M's thinking about his work seemed to shift and deepen through the revisiting. Will this cause him to work differently with the clay the next time? Will he become more attentive to how he places each piece?

In each of these revisiting experiences, we saw a new view of the children and their thinking processes. Through revisiting in multiple ways -- video first, the actual clay piece next, and finally the clay piece with the video -- we discovered that each revisit revealed another layer of the children's thinking. We clearly found that the most powerful moments came when the children revisited with the actual clay piece in front of them. We were in awe of those moments.

Teachers' Note: Throughout this revisiting. while we were making meaning of M's work, we could have easily looked for the math, language, and motor skills that M exhibited. We could have even taken this a step further and looked at the learning standards that applied. However, in doing so we would have stopped ourselves from seeing the richness of the experience. We would have missed M's thinking, and more importantly, we would have missed the opportunity of sharing the children's thinking and letting you see the value of making their thinking revisitable.

Let us know your thoughts! We will share a few more of these moments with each of you soon.

Parent Plans: Reflections from Parents

2007-10-03T16:57:20Z

We want to share the parent reflections that have come in so far. Each of you described powerful moments. Each of you shared how your child found this process and connection powerful to them. Your thoughts revealed another view of children’s learning.

KK:

1.  Our first reaction to this provocation was excitement in being able to do "homework" with our child.  She sees her teenaged sister always doing homework, and this was her chance to do "homework," too. We knew we could not draw, but that didn't scare us as our child is ably able to decipher scribbles.  We did wonder whether she would remember our story line, though we had no fear that she would make up a story for us!

2.  We thought to keep our plans simple as our actual days are fairly complicated and difficult to explain to our preschooler.  So, we asked our daughter to describe what we did when we left the house each morning, and we filled in the "blanks" of what happens after she gets dropped off.

3.  Our child corrected our plans with things we had failed to describe and provided us suggestions on what to do next!

4.  We came to realize that our child is a lot more observant of what we do than we thought.

Teacher's Note: I found your observation of K filling in the gaps awesome. She clearly has a grasp of what happens during the day. I like how she provided you with suggestions as to what to do next. This is a piece of theory-making made visible.

TT:

1. Our initial reaction was, "How do we engage T?" What should we include in our plans that he could relate to and be excited by? Equally important, how do we avoid boring him with the more mundane aspects of our daily rituals?

2. Our process was to 1) decide what activities T would most like to see included in our plans, 2) draw multiple activities on scratch paper, and 3) decide which of these sketches looked remotely recognizable (is that a vacuum cleaner or a hockey stick?). We also decided against including sketches of M (younger sister) playing at Gymboree. We didn't want him to feel as if he's missing out on extra playtime.

3. We shared our plans with T after they were complete. He viewed it as a big game: "Guess what Mommy or Daddy is doing here."   He laughed and giggled at our barely recognizable depictions.

We didn't really have an AHA! moment. It was just a joy to see how curious he was about everything. Looking at my crudely drawn shopping cart, T tried to determine what groceries I had placed in it, and had I included milk? And don't forget the chocolate! The funny thing is that we never buy chocolate. He only gets it as a treat at his nana's house. I think he was trying to manipulate me!

Teacher's Note: I think that this process shows us that what we see as mundane is exciting to children. I loved the fact that T entered the moment as he began to fill up the cart! Priceless!

MN

1. My first thought was, "What are we doing this weekend?" I then decided that I would depict the plans for Sunday.  On that particular Sunday, the plan for the day was to take E and her friend to hula, pick them up and take them both home for lunch with M, go get the car washed, go and have some shave ice together, go to the grandparents' home to play with their cousins, go swimming in the pool, have dinner at their house, and then go home.  Whew!  It was a busy day.

I then decided to pick the highlights of the day for M.  He really enjoyed the shave ice.  It was the first time he had requested the rainbow flavor.  In the past, he only wanted strawberry.  He also really enjoyed swimming in the pool with his cousins.

I was a little worried about my artistic abilities because they are limited. I had to practice drawing the shave ice before I drew it on the note card.

2. As I stated above, I decided to pick the highlights of the day for M. I also chose to represent the plan with visual illustrations of the events. Since M can't read, I decided to draw the shave ice in rainbow colors and draw a picture of his grandparents' pool.  Both drawings would be easily recognizable to M.

3. I recall telling M early that Sunday morning what the plans for the day were going to be. He'll usually ask on the weekend what we are going to do that day.

I didn't show M the plan until I had completed it that evening.  He reacted by smiling from ear to ear.  He seemed very pleased with it. He knew right away that this plan was what we did that day.

4. I don't know if I had an aha! moment, but I did have to really think about how I was going to depict the plan for M to understand it.  I wanted him to be able to see the plan and understand what it represented.  I really had to process my thoughts, and I did realize that this is the same thing that M is experiencing as well: the learning process in action.  Clearly, the plan worked because M easily recognized the plan.

Thanks for the thoughtful exercise.

Teacher's Note: I LOVE how you as well as the other parents have shared your thinking to this point about how you felt and worked through the process. This is clearly what we hoped this would bring to the surface for you. Although we can never go back to being a child, through thoughtful and thought-filled provocations such as these you get to experience a small piece of your child’s learning and thinking processes. Processes that we now take for granted as adults are new to children.

Please continue sharing. As new reflections come in, we can add to these!

Parent Plans

2007-09-26T07:58:37Z

PARENT PLANS: An Observation is Made

AM joined us at the very end of our planning time after an appointment last Wednesday, but she still wanted to include her plans for the day. AM had her mom wait and watch her as she drew and shared her plans. When AM finished, she turned and asked her mom what her plans for the day were. AM then asked her mom to draw them, and watched while she did. It was interesting to hear AM tell her mom the rules for writing the plans -- that she needed to do them on the clipboard and use the black marker.

In observing this simple, ordinary moment, we found how powerful this morning ritual has become. We also realized that throughout the day children wonder and think about what their parents are doing. They wonder if their parents miss them. Are their parents thinking about them? Are their parents wondering what they are doing at school? At the same time, the parents are wondering what their children are doing at school. Are the children thinking about them? Are they worried or anxious? The wondering and thinking about each other that parents and children do is a significant part of life that we often forget to acknowledge and value.

Extending the Plans:

In thinking about the powerful moment shared between AM and her mom, we wondered about a new provocation for the plans that could connect home and school in this ritual. Will this new provocation validate for the child the whole ritual of the plans? Will this be an extension or link between home and school? We were excited to find out!

The Provocation: Parent Plans

Each parent was to make a plan that reflected what they were going to do that day and then send it in with their child on Monday. Each child would then share their mom and/or dad’s plan for the day during the Group Meeting.

Each parent was given a planning card. They were asked to think about how best to prepare their plan by considering their child’s strengths. Is the child reading graphics or pictures (symbolic representations)? If so, then drawing their plan might be best. If their child is beginning to recognize words, then a combination of words and pictures might be best.

During the course of the next several days, the parents' plans were shared by the children with their friends. The children then made their own plans for the day. It was interesting to see if any shifts in thinking arose from this joint experience. In a few cases, there was a huge shift in thinking.

REFLECTION:

Our provocation was shared with you as a way to allow you to think about and experience a piece of your child's daily learning process. As each of you created your plan, you had to make many decisions while you reflected on your day and how best to communicate it. What should you include? How best could you depict the plan - in words, graphics, or both? How could you express it in a way that accommodated the constraint of having to having it fit on an index card? All of this caused you to edit your thoughts. This process is very much in line with the early steps in literacy, yes? This is the process that each child is going through daily with their planning.

With these thoughts in mind, please take a few moments to think about and answer the following questions:

1. What were your first reactions to this provocation? What were your concerns or fears (e.g., some of you mentioned that you couldn't draw)?

2. As you thought about your day and your plan for the day, what process did you use in selecting the individual plan or representations that you used?

3. If you shared your plans or your child was with you as you made your plan, what were their reactions?

4. What aha! moment did you have while preparing the plan? What did you come to realize about
the importance of this planning process?

Plans: Our Learning Continues

2007-09-13T16:48:10Z

Teacher's Reflection:

In a "traditional" classroom setting, learning is often about filling up the child with information and getting through a given amount of material. In Reggio-inspired settings, learning comes from within the child. They are the constructors of their own learning. The teachers frame and sustain the learning in a way that supports critical thinking. The work that unfolds with the morning plans is a prime example of critical thinking in action. In observing children and their work during morning plans, one is always filled with wonder and awe. Connections in their learning often happen spontaneously! To observe the children's thinking as it ignites and fuels itself into new thoughts is truly exciting, particularly as we are capturing it through a simple (yet complex) classroom ritual.

Once again, let's look closely at the work of the children with these thoughts in mind.

]]> LJ'S PLANS
Her shift has been interesting as we have watched her thinking become more organized as viewed through her changes in her plans. The top plans are from the first week. Notice how random her thoughts are. Yet she did select two different colors as her choices for her thinking. Which when she expressed to us her plans for the day they were to go to snacks and work in dramatic play. She clearly had two distinct thoughts in mind it was again shifting from the spoken word to the written word that she was trying to think through.

This was her work from Thursday the 13th. WOW! Look at how she is now organizing her thinking and her spoken word into more dynamic representation which is becoming more visible in her plans. Going from the left to right- the representation on the far left is her blocks, middle which appears like an upside down person is dress up to the right bottom is the sand box and directly above it is the dramatic play area. Interesting that she seen the dress up and the dramatic play areas as separate. LJ is clearly thinking through how best to represent and capture her spoken word into "written" symbolic representations.

D.K.'S PLANS:
In looking at the top plan of D.'K.'s that she is trying to capture the dramatic play area in her mind. She told us it was when it was a mess! Notice the huge shift in her work on Thursday. Like L.J.'s work D.K. is now becoming more organized in her thinking and connecting her thoughts with the symbolic word.

In the bottom drawing look at the detail that she is now including. The object at the bottom left is the sandbox, to the far right is her representation for the dramatic play and the top center images are for the message area. She has used the round table and her representation of the desk as the symbol. When asked about all the marks that she has layered the plan with. It is "bugs".

T.T.'S PLANS:

The next series we would like to share with you are from T.T.'s. At first glance you may feel uncertain as to what you are seeing or what a dramatic shift lies within these three plans. Let us share with an inside view of T.T.'s plans.

In the top plan is the very first plan that he wrote. you will notice again how unorganized and how softly he wrote. Perhaps this was an indication of his being unsure of how to capture his thinking in this new formate. In the second plan he told us he wanted to do "0,1,0". Then abc's (for the abc puzzle). The 0,1,0 was his way of representing that he wanted to work with the numbers. This was the first time that he represented numbers in this way!

The bottom plan was done on 9-19-07. Note the "S" which he had assistance with however he added the small dots. Here he was telling us his plan for the morning was to work in the sandbox. S for sand and the dots were the
sand!





K.F.'S PLANS
In looking at K's plan you will notice that in the first set he too was trying to organize his thinking in this new format. In his first plan his strategy was to use inventive spelling as he attempted to write blocks. Like many of the children K has found it more challenging as he tries to find a way to represent multiple areas as part of his plan. In the bottom plan from 9-14 we find him making a huge leap as he uses graphic representations as the strategy of accomplishing his "writing" multiple areas of working. In the bottom plan the top right circle represents snacks (perhaps the snack table) the large square in the center represents the legos (which are in the block area on the large carpet) the square in the upper left corner represents blocks. Indeed a shift in his thinking can be observed.



Reflection:
Each of these examples represent the children's thinking as they make it visible to us through our classroom ritual of the plans.