Preschool - Leslie Gleim

The Wind Project

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:23:45 -1000

Our Beginnings To the Wind Project

This school year began with a strong focus on some key dispositions that would act as a bridge for each child's growth into kindergarten:

• listening to adults and to peers
• posing questions to peers and adults
• working collaboratively in large and small groups
• speculating and theorizing
• expressing his or her ideas through multi-modalities: writing, inventive writing,
   drawing, verbally, etc.
• empowering the child as an advocate of his or her own ideas
• speaking in both small and large groups
• "presenting" and fielding questions in a group
• articulating his or her ideas using a loud clear voice
• listening to and following directions

Each of these key dispositions supports our hope for each child in learning how to learn.

To foster and fuel the child's curiosity and wonder, we tossed to the children "I wonder" questions based on our observations of the children's work and conversations. As an example after observing the children hunting bugs on the playground, we tossed to them at the meeting, "I wonder why the bugs are under the grass and not out?" This moment of group wonder and unpacking became part of our morning rituals.

On August 23, 2009 the children were gathering to come in from the playground to go into the room for our group meeting, when a strong wind blew. Turning to Ms. Jordan with a look of surprise I. S. exclaimed, "Whoa, what kind of wind was that?" This set the stage for our group meeting as we wondered if the others felt the wind. The question was tossed to the group: "I wonder what kind of wind just blew on us?"

We were in awe as we listened to the responses we received that morning.

J. K. - A tornado wind
Z. O. - Japanese wind
I. S. - Windy-wind
E. F. - Summer wind
C. O. - School wind, which the student shifted his thinking to an
   Everywhere/McDonald's Wind
D. W. - Leaf wind
L. Y. - House wind
L. N. - Season-changing wind that she observed at McDonald's, which eventually
   became a McDonald's wind
M. T. - Tree wind that blows hard the kites; this became the Kite Wind
J. K. - A mountain wind
B. O. - Winter wind which became the Sea Wind
N. W. - Storm wind
I. A. - Flower wind
M. S. - Pool wind
N. N. - Snow wind
Z. I. - Fire wind
M. W. - Winter wind shifted to a Monster/Ghost Wind
J. P. - Rose wind
A. K. - Air wind

The teachers also had thoughts about the wind and speculated on what was it that captured the children's attention. The teachers began to reflect on what the children revealed to us. We wondered and questioned the winds that each child had named. Were the children making up the winds that they named -- just part of a child's imagination? Or were the winds named based on real observations? What was this all about? The following day we began to probe more and asked each child to share with us the sound that each of their winds made. To our surprise, there were 18 different and distinct sounds that they associated with their wind.

Once again we were in awe.

The winds that each child felt and named held unique qualities. What they were sharing with us was not part of their imagination but from their own personal experiences of wind.

We began to wonder and wanted to know more about what the children knew about not just the wind, but their particular wind.

As we began to unpack each child's thoughts or ideas around their wind, the learning community as a whole began to formulate a new collaborative interest or bond around the winds.

While partnering with the children in this shared dialogue, the teachers began a journey as well -- as co-constructors, co-learners, and co-wonderers -- with the children. This partnership has set the foundation that has allowed the children to take risks in expressing their thoughts, ideas, and theories. Throughout the project each child's work is valued and honored by the teachers and their peers within the learning community.

Project Meeting

The children began to draw their theories of each of their individual winds. Each child concentrated on the details and personalities of their wind. Their theory- drawings were made so that others would be able to understand the essence of each wind -- where the wind was found, how if moved and flowed, what effects it had, if any, on objects. We had them wonder about intensity and temperature. The theory- drawings enabled the child's thoughts to be made visible to the children and adults.

We wanted to move the children a step forward through what we began to call a "project meeting." During the project meetings, a protocol was created to help frame a direction that would support the children's thinking.

During the Project Meeting, each child presented his or her theory drawing of the wind. They sat in the presenter's chair in the front of the group. The presenter would "read" their theory-drawing about their wind to the learning-community sharing: wind direction, air flow, speed, location of where one could find their wind, and any other special or unique details about their wind that they wanted to share.

After the presenter finished unpacking her thinking about her wind, the floor was then opened up to the group for questions or comments pertaining to the presenter's wind or theory drawing. This process was important for the community because the drawings needed to be readable for the others. The children also gained a greater respect for each wind and its personality or properties.

Animation

The preschool teachers began to reflect upon the children's theories that they were presenting to the community. Listening to the children's theories, we realized that although their wind theories were extraordinary and the children's explanations were equally as extraordinary, we could sense the children's frustration in trying to capture the movement and intensity of their winds in a static drawing.

 We wondered -- what if we could make their theories move? Would working with a medium that allowed them to put their winds in motion push or scaffold their thinking? Would a fluid medium cause them to re-think their theories? What could we use?

In order to push the children's thinking from their static drawings into something that moved, we began to inquire about making their theories come to life through animation.

From October through November, the preschool worked with the high school technology teacher, Kevin Tokuda, and his students in bringing the children's wind theories to life. The high school students took on each of the preschoolers as their clients. Their task was to meet with each preschool client and translate the child's theory drawing into an animated drawing of their wind.

Throughout this collaboration with the high schoolers, we observed as the children's winds came to life. Not only did the winds come to life, but through the use of animation, the children's theories were now visible and re-visitable. We observed as the animation of the winds caused them to re-think their intentions and theories that were once static. We also noted as we "listened" to the sound of the wind that each child used in their animation. In our revisiting of previous videos at that second group meeting, the same sound that they shared that day was the very one that they embraced as their wind sound in the animations!

The project with the high school was the first time that our young children were able to use animation as a medium to support their thinking.

Link to the children's animations http://www.youtube.com/user/mpitechteacher#p/u

Field/Research Observations

Using the theory-drawings of the children as reference point as to where the children think or know that their wind is located on the island, we have been traveling to various locations here on the island. On each research outing, the children generate a list of materials that they will need to take to find that particular wind. With each research outing to find and observe particular wind, the children generated a list of materials tailored to that particular wind. For instance, for the Kite Wind, children brought kites. When seeking the Monster Wind and Ghost Wind, the children brought flashlights even though it was the middle of the day so they wouldn't be frightened by the Ghost Wind.

With each research observation, the teachers generated a research question that they wanted to observe or as a provocation in understanding the children's thinking of the wind. For example, when we went to the Pali Lookout in search of the Monster and Ghost Winds, the teachers challenged the children to also find materials that could make the wind visible. This caused the children to rethink and add to the possibilities of what would make the wind visible.

When we went to find the Pool Wind, we wanted to capture the sparkle of the water because this was key in the child's description of the Pool Wind.

A protocol has been generated within our field research observations. The child whose wind it is that we are going to observe has been acknowledged as the expert.

The experts sit at the front of the bus near the driver monitoring our route to make sure we are going to where their wind is. Upon arrival, the expert leads the group to where the wind is. While there, the children's questions are posed to the expert. This small ritual of protocol deeply engrains the sense of respecting and valuing each child's theories or ideas--the image of the child is epitomized through this ritual.

Due to the children's keen interest in the video that we were capturing, we were able to buy $35 video cameras for the children. When we go to a research site, the child whose wind we are researching now can do his/her documentation of their wind.

Current work

We are continuing our travels into the field to research and find where all the winds are located. We have observed about half of them.

The children have now focused their work or research on three areas -- a wind garden, wind catchers, and wind machines.

The Wind Garden-- there are small planters around the preschool outdoor space. We had noted that several children had included in their theory-drawings their particular wind, flowers or plants, which seemed important to the personality or essence of their wind. As a provocation could we have the children think more about what could be planted in the planters to catch the wind?

During a group meeting, the children discussed their ideas about plants that can catch the wind. After we gathered their ideas, a group of children worked in the atelier putting their ideas of plants on paper by drawing the plants. Their drawings were then presented to a group of parents who are helping with the garden. The parents in turn helped the children find their plants in garden books.  Wanting to add another provocation that would provoke the children's thinking about plants, in particular the edible plant, the teachers and parents came up with the idea of dividing the planter box in half.  One half of the planter box would be filled with plants from the children's list (see below). The other half would be filled with with mystery plants!!
 
You can see from the list that the children had some wonderful ideas for plants that they wanted to add. Some will work; others won't. The adults knew there are also many plants that may be of interest to the children, though the children may not know about them. There are many plants that the children may not have even have thought about. By dividing the planter box with one-half filled with the children's ideas for plants and the other half with mystery plants, we are respecting the children's ideas and theories and allowing us to scaffold their thinking in learning about "new" plants that we (parents) will be planting or adding in the mystery section of the planter box.

They are determined to catch their winds and have spent a lot of time envisioning it.

Plants mentioned include:  

Strawberries, carrots, squash, broccoli, mango, parsnip, salad, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, mint, basil, apples, grapes, sunflowers, daffodils, "green plants", "red flowers", roses, lavender, hibiscus, daisies, tulips, bougainvillea, "tall orange flowers", and "tall pink flowers."  The children also discussed the need to have varying heights of plants -- and they feel that tall and small plants are needed. Some discussions took place around seedlings that would not be able to catch the wind. The wind garden continues to take shape and form.

What next? We will generate a schematic "map" of the planter boxes and other areas onto a digital page for each child. We will spend a morning "observing" and documenting the plants and the winds effect on the plants to see if their assumptions/theories were correct about the plants. How will their observations change the direction of the wind garden?

Wind Catchers and Wind Machines

In observing the children work in the classroom and outdoors, we noted that some of the children were making wind machines. These had two distinct functions -- some caught the wind in order to read what wind it was, while other wind machines were used to tell where the wind came from and measured what wind it was.

After their experiences in the field with various objects, we felt that the children were ready to move into the direction of designing a wind machine. As the children noted or referenced back to when Jessie's Dad had visited the room to share with them about the tsunami in Somalia, the children recalled Pat telling them that engineers make a plan, they then draft a model to test, before they build the real object. The children want to use the process Pat shared with them as they work through making the wind machine.

Currently the children are working in groups of 3 -4 in generating their ideas and placing them into a conceptual drawing for a wind machine.

Noting the dialogue in the planning process the children kept referencing catching the wind and they debated what type of materials would catch the wind in the wind machine.

During our team meeting, the teachers discussed this aspect and wondered if we could provide the children with a mechanism for messing about or experimentation--a pre-step before they commit to a wind machine design. Feeling that this would indeed be a good what next the team decided to have the children create wind catchers.

The wind catchers would allow the children to experiment and observe with various materials and how those materials interacted with the wind. The wind catchers would be designed from found and or recycled materials. Each wind catcher would focus on one or two specific materials and could incorporate some elements of design along with the materials. The wind catchers would be strategically placed outside the classroom window where the children could observer them throughout the day. Once we have all 8 - 10 designed and placed in the experimentation zone --the children begin to observe and note which wind catchers and what materials work best in catching the winds movement etc.

Mega Project-Wind
 
As our work with the Wind Project continues to unfold we wondered what children across the world know or think about the wind. Would they begin to categorize their winds as our children have or would they find different winds specific to their areas? Could we use the children's wind animations as a springboard for discussions worldwide?

A provocation around this question was posted on the Reggio Listserv. Immediately three schools responded saying they would be interested and from that point on more and more schools are expressing interest. As of this posting, there are 14 schools from across the globe that have begun a dialogue and work around researching what children know using the constructs of wind as their focus.

Our work continues....

The Plans...graphic metaphors

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:19:50 -1000

From the moment your child entered the world they became "readers" of the world around. Your child began to "read" images and connect those images with words spoken. From the moment he/she was born, your child began decoding facial expressions. This decoding process allowed your child to interpret your body language and its meaning in relationship to self and others.

We find this process of decoding soon transferred to their play, as children make a shift into the symbolic representations of objects such as a stick becomes a cane or a fishing pole. Or when children use images in their drawings in making their thinking visible to us. As children develop we find them shifting from drawing to using the inventive spelling of words, writing words and short sentences.

Within this whole cycle or process, children pass through multiple layers of languages -- writing, drawings, symbolic objects, mediums (e.g.,clay, wire, paper) gestures, movement, etc. Each layer strengthens the child's pathway to literacy and his/her understanding of the "written" word.

Too often adults want to hurry children ahead, moving them quickly to the written word by pouring words into the children without allowing them to process meaning through a symbolic hierarchy of thought. In this rush to push children to the written word, an important layer in the thought process known as "encoding" isn't allowed to percolate within the child long enough. One of the most known uses of encoding comes when children learn to write words. They are given a verbal word and then "taught" using prescribed lessons or methods on how to internalize or encode the sounds or knowing how to write the word.

What happens to the process if we slow it down and provide the child with a tool for ownership and the time to work in the encoding process?

Research suggests that all learning methods that proceed by discovery and active construction must necessarily undergo error. Simply put, children must and need to make mistakes. Within a learning community, errors are points for dialogue and exchange of ideas. Errors set the stage for debate and disequilibrium that causes the child to think and often rethink their theories and ideas, even around words and symbols. This in turn pushes them into the realms of meta-cognition or critical thinking.

One of the purest and most important levels is through the use of symbols. For the child, the world is full of symbols.

Symbols and the children's use of them provide a level of communication that transcends cultural and language barriers. It allows for children to "mess" about with their use and to undergo a transformation of thinking as the child makes the symbol readable to others. Symbols provide rich contexts for the children to toss about and edit graphic metaphors for which they are the authors and owners.

This freedom to invent symbols provides a rich context for us to see the child's thinking as it unfolds. It can provide us a graphic record of his/her cognitive growth.

Working within the context and freedom in the invention of symbols, the child thinks about his thinking and how it is readable or understandable to the viewer. He learns how to make a symbol which makes sense to the child and to the viewer. Our Daily Plans is a tool in the process that brings all of this together for the child.

Let us look at some of the children's work with symbols. Let look as they become authors in the invention of "graphic metaphors" through the Plan.

Click here to view their work.

Our Inquiry Journey Into Maps...

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:31:12 -1000

During the school year we have the affordance of time in allowing the children's interest to unfold over an extended period. Due to the short timing of the summer program I began to ponder on a hypothesis formulated or framed for a possible inquiry project -- an investigation into city/neighborhoods. This possible direction was formed around observations of children's work in this age.

In the early stages of inquiry work, the teacher will frame planned "provocations." A provocation or experience is often tossed out that would provoke the children's thinking and learning. Once the provocation is tossed, the teacher observes and listens to the children's work as to where to move next in the inquiry.

In inquiry projects there are questions that are formulated and unpacked that the teacher would like to probe around the children's thoughts and knowledge. To begin our summer inquiry, the following questions came to the surface:

What is a city?

What are the elements that make a city a city? Such as houses, stores etc.

How is a neighborhood different from a city?

How can maps help us know how to get around in a city?

We will be adding to and rethinking this list as our inquiry begins to move forward.

Amazingly, a provocation from one of the children on our first day together formed the first steps in our inquiry project.

That morning T., V. and I were talking about Hawaii. T. mentioned something about Aiea. He wondered where it was on the globe. We pulled the globe down and began to look. On the globe, O`ahu was too small for the boys to find Aiea. I asked T. if he could draw the directions on how to get to Aiea. He paused for a moment, and I continued, "I wish I had directions on how to get to Aiea." He beamed and said, "I'll draw you directions." He then began.

As he worked, the teacher began to scaffold his thinking. To help anchor his thoughts in drawing the map, we used MPI as a starting point. He drew the security gate where he said, "You have to pay $5 to get out." We talked about left and right turns, the highway names, how fast you need to travel, whether there were any red lights along the way, etc. He began to think and draw as he visualized the drive to Aiea. Suddenly an awesome map began to form on paper.

M., seeing what was going on, came over and asked what was happening. I shared with him that T. was drawing us a map to Aiea. M. offered to join as he said, "I'll draw you a map to my house." He began drawing a map of how to get from MPI to his house. When the boys were finished, we talked about their maps and the different "marks" that they included on their maps.

Later during our reflection meeting M. and T.'s shared their maps. I heard several "WOW'S" and "I want to do that." I asked the children if they had ever seen the map of MPI, and they said no. I asked if they would like to look at the MPI map, and everyone said, "Yes!" The ball had been tossed setting the stage for an inquiry project!

During the week we began to use the MPI campus map as a foundation for our map studies.

As a group we began to unpack the map using the key that identifies thirty-three places on campus! The legend and number codes were used as opportunities for learning. Using the legend, the children were asked to generate a list of places on campus that sounded interesting that they might want to go visit or find. Once they created their list, they began to locate those places on the map.

This small experience provided many learning possibilities. In learning about directions, they will be color-coding the various parts of campus using the legend as a guide. They will have to think about directionality. This experience will incorporate functional numerical work as they learn about our MPI community. This early work with maps provided the children with an entry into an investigation and inquiry work when they broaden their work around what is a city.

As the week unfolded, children brought in maps from home. On Friday V. brought a couple of maps to share with us. One map was of directions from MPI to his house. While reading V's map, K. ran to his backpack to retrieve his map, which had directions to his house. We laid the two maps side-by-side to read. Suddenly one of the children said, "V.ʼs house is farther than Kescherʼs." I asked how did they know that V.ʼs was farther? One child said that there were lots of red lights thatʼs how they knew. However V. refuted this theory saying, "No thereʼs not many red lights to my house." Everyone continued looking intently. The children knew and they were right, but at the moment they werenʼt able to clearly articulate their thoughts. Wanting to see if this was the case, I took my ﬁngers and measured K.ʼs route, then with my ﬁngers I measured V.ʼs. I didnʼt say a word, but this small gesture helped to put their thinking into words as suddenly several said, V.ʼs is longer (the route) than Kescherʼs. See

the line.

Thinking about their new knowledge, I decided to use this later in our morning for when they were planning their walk on campus. For this planning phase, we would use a variety of colors of yarn (one for each place we were going) in plotting our plan. When the ﬁst piece of yarn was placed to the ﬁrst location we would be going, the children began making the connection about distances, saying, "Wow that's a long way away!"

With each addition the wheels began to click.

Once all the places were mapped out, the children began to study the map. I asked, "What is your plan? Where are we going to go visit today?" There was a great discussion! "Go to the short places ﬁrst." "No, go to the long places last." "No the pool last." Suddenly K. suggested,"Let's go to some short, some long and then the longest." This idea was quickly embraced by the group.

D. was our secretary recording the numbers of the places that we would go ﬁrst, second, third and fourth.

The group looked over our plan and all agreed that this would work.

During their work time, T. and I looked at the other big map. I suggested that he draw out the plan for the way we should walk. With great thought and intentionality, he developed the plan for our route.

Our route mapped, we were now ready to go!

With maps in hand, we were off to explore the MPI campus! Our ﬁrst stop was #15 the Administration Building. Next it was off to #8. We shared with them that # 8 was the presidentʼs ofﬁce. V. beamed, "Barry OʼBamaʼs!"

Off to one of their long places- --the tennis courts. They rechecked their maps before

heading to our ﬁnal long destination of the day. After our ﬁnal destination, we marked the historic event of our ﬁrst journey in discovering our MPI campus!

On Monday we will ﬁnish the last leg of our explorations. We have an appointment at 10:00am to visit and tour the Technology Center. The children peeked in its windows today and are excited at this possibility! We had to smile at the end of the day when the children were talking. Someone mentioned they couldnʼt wait to go out tomorrow and see the rest of the short and long places. Another child corrected them saying tomorrow was a no-school day. I could heard the groans and someone said, "No fair. I want to go again." Another child, "Donʼt forget we need our maps!"

Maps are clearly coming to life in the childrenʼs world!

Our journey...

Tue, 26 May 2009 13:48:33 -1000

When the line project began nine months ago, little did we know how far this journey was going to take us. We find ourselves pausing now, only because the school year has come to an end. It truly seems as if our "line" project reaches to infinity, or as Jak once said, "Lines can go all the way to the moon!"

This project may never have come into existence if we hadn't stopped to reflect on two key observations of what would appear as ordinary moments in the classroom. One of those moments centered on the work from a small group of children with pipe cleaners coupled by another moment of Nicki's maze game.

The two seemed to be unconnected, but in thinking about both moments, we realized the children were working with lines. Lines seemed like a natural beginning to our year together. Looking at and exploring lines felt manageable to "do" with a new group of three's, something uncomplicated for both the child and the teachers. What a perfect probe to begin group work and perhaps a small "mini project." If we were lucky, this probe would extend into a month-long "project."

To begin our (teacher) thinking about why we should look at lines, we quickly saw how lines were connected to writing, math, science and drawing, all the key domains and disciplines for learning. These domains or disciplines did indeed seem immersed in the concept of lines.

To begin our work with lines, a hypothesis was formulated to help guide the teachers' observations, as well as in framing the environment both in the classroom and atelier. We wondered if by intentionally framing the introduction of lines to the children, this would influence or strengthen their early literacy "skills" with writing, math, and drawing. Would slowing down the children's pace and providing some key provocations for a "brief" concentrated "time" impact future learning in some way?

We asked ourselves:
How would pausing and looking at lines strengthen the children's work now and in the future?
How will our mini-project in lines impact learning?
What is the connection between lines explorations and children's writing and drawing abilities?
How would the children respond to the various invitations of provocations that we were about to toss?

In retrospect, our questions were too simple. Little did we realize that these thoughts merely scratched the surface!

As the children's work progressed, we found that we were on the threshold of learning through the children's work not only about the concept of lines as a foundation for any given discipline, but moreover, we were about to enter into the complex thought processes of children's language as embedded and developed through multi-media.

As the line project began to unfold, it began to epitomize the co-construction of knowledge between the teachers (classroom and the studio teacher) and children. We began to see a shared reference for learning and collaboration that transpired between the classroom and the Atelier.

The Processes of Language through the Media

Throughout the project, the children experienced multiple layers of languages- writing, drawing, symbolic objects, mediums (clay, wire, paper etc) gestures, movement, etc. Each experience in the broadest sense was strengthening the child's pathway to literacy. Each experience in the immediate sense was giving a new meaning to "lines" as a tool for thinking and representing their ideas.

We observed each child cycling through each language as they began to construct their own knowledge and understanding of lines, their graphic representations using lines became building blocks for understanding. Using a variety of media caused the children to construct and deconstruct how the line representations had meaning not only for themselves out also for others. This desire to communicate their ideas made them more aware of how to make representations "readable" to others.

Throughout the project we found the children moving between the decoding (analyzing, interpreting) and encoding (converting information into a visual form) of the various media -- drawing, movement, wire, music, etc. One of the processes or stages that supported or scaffold decoding and encoding was what we had called "to sensitizing the minds eye."
We encouraged the children to observe lines in their world at home, in school, and all points along the way children noticed lines everywhere. As the children progressed through the project, their sensitization to lines was becoming more acute and vivid to them.

Their "visual" and "mental" sensitization of lines became obvious at various phases of our project. For instance, it became apparent during the line game where the children had to draw the subtle placement of a reed/straw in creating and recreating various line composition. This simple game required the child to be visually sensitive to the nuances of change. As the project progressed, this moved into the drawing of their bodies using the essence of lines again. Their eyes began to see the various nuances of their body pose and the poses of their friends.

We scaffolded their sensitization to lines, moving from seeing lines with their eyes to expressing lines with their hands (drawing)to seeing the various nuances of line in their own body lines and poses. Each layer added to the complexity of knowledge and the "language" held in each of the media.

Learning how to Learn

Every child experienced all the various media.. This provided us a view in seeing more of each child's thinking and in finding each child's strength. We began to observe a universal process in each child's use of the media.

What we observed was as each media was tossed to the children: straw/reeds, movement, music, drawing, wire, etc. The children would begin with a goal. They were thinking about their ideas. They began to express their ideas either verbally or through their work within the medium or from a plan or drawing. We observed as they moved towards their goal or idea using various strategies on how to make their ideas or goals visible and re-visitable. Revisiting caused the child to rethink. They began editing their ideas by either refining, abandoning, or building from their thinking. Over and over we observed this cycle unfold through the various mediums. The children were learning how to cycle through this process-- an underlying process for present and future learning!

The process deserves our careful attention and understanding.

In January the children shared a "line" by drawing it. For example, they may have created a squiggle line or mountain line. Each child shared a line and some even more!

When they began to use the medium of movement, the children were shown the lines they had drawn in January. How would they make that line with their body? Their goal, for example, was to make the mountain line. Their strategy became, "I need to move myself into this mental image (translating the drawing into what it looks like "drawn" through their body) in order to look like a mountain line." They then interpreted this by moving their bodies into position (strategies to reach goal), then the line was captured by the camera. After they made the line using their body, the children revisited the line/pose by looking into the camera's LCD screen. They were asked if this is how a mountain line looks. The children considered the image in the camera and what they they had drawn, then decided to accept it or not. If the child expressed it wasn't right, the child would rethink the mountain line and how he needed to move differently in order to become a mountain line (reflection, revisit & edit), abandon or continue or start the process/cycle again.

Every child was at a different place in this cycle using each medium. The child's work in movement may be at different place in wire. In movement, the child may have been in a messing-about-with-ideas stage. However, in wire, the child may already have an idea and is work and move and edit her thoughts and strategies. All of this is part of the learning process.

As every child experienced all the languages of each medium, each found her own "voice," his own language that spoke to him.

In Dialogue with Lines...

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 06:56:30 -1000

Lines...when we began this journey around our dialogue and encounters with the work of Chihuly, and particularly his glass sculpture called "Reeds," we were unsure where this journey would travel. Beginning with the concept of line seemed simple. Yet as we began our research, both teachers and children, we found the complexity of lines. Within this exploration, we have embraced a new idea or concept that we call line-ness (a new word that has evolved through this journey).

We soon realized that different disciplines provided different views of what a line is. For instance, the art perspective tells us a line can be where a drawing starts, or lines can tie everything together in a work of art. From the discipline of mathematics, a line is a long thin mark made by a pen, pencil, etc. In geometry a line is straight (no curves), has no thickness, and extends in both directions without end (infinitely). Each discipline -- music, dance, architecture, etc. -- offers a new perspective to our thinking about lines.

Over the course of the past four months, we have been framing our own meaning of line through our many dialogues with lines -- from drawing to painting to wire and all points in between. We have been in dialogue with lines through music and movement/dance. Each dialogue adds to the complexity of our theories, meaning, and conversations about the nature of lines and how they cross our lives and world. These perspectives from different disciplines present infinite possibilities like lines that stretch as far as our imagination can carry us.

I would like to share a personal reflection or perspective around the concept of line, which has evolved as I have listened to and observed your children interacting or "in dialogue" with lines. I find that lines often speak to us subtly. They may remain hidden and aloof, until suddenly they are called to our attention, as if our mind's eyes suddenly become sensitized to their presence and they come alive - vibrant and full of energy. They begin to jump out at us as if to say, "Here I am! look at me," when suddenly another line joins in the melody saying, "Pay attention and look at me!" Suddenly we find our mind's eye vying for where to look first, are where we ought to give attention!

It is as if each line has its own character, its own personality. Some are bold and strong; others are soft and gentle. Some lines trick or joke with us as they peek out and around. Other lines disappear before our eyes. At times lines run before us; other times they slip away behind us. Our eyes are often glued to the horizon where the lines might converge. Lines are everywhere!

Over the past few months the children have had a constant dialogue with the lines. We wanted to know what the children were wondering about lines. What were they seeing or feeling? We decided to pose to the children three questions -- What is a line? How long is a line? When does a line end? Although the questions seemed simple, they challenged the children's thinking.

We also posed the same questions to parents whose thoughtful, often poetic responses added significantly to the community dialogue:

B & O O.:

   A line could be anything from a simple stroke of a pencil, to the cars stuck in traffic
   on the H-1 freeway. Lines can be straight, or "bendy", or even circular.  When B.
   plays with his cars he sometimes lines them up side by side as if parked, front to
   back as if stuck in traffic, with or without bends. After watching him do these things
   I realized that he would always position the cars in a certain order or sequence to
   form the lines. In his car play, lines have a certain order to them.

   Another time when we were painting watercolors outside, B.'s brush became too
   soaked with the water paint that a big glob of paint dropped onto his paper. He then
   started gently lifting the corners of the paper to make the glob move around. He
   had made the lines come "alive." He now saw the glob moving where it wanted to
   move, creating these lines that were not perfect and in order. In the watercolor play,
   he found the lines to come alive (with a mind of its own), and didn't necessarily need
   to be in a certain order.

   A line can be infinitely long, or at least longer than I can ever imagine. When I
   started thinking about this question I first thought of how we look at the rings around
   Saturn and the other planets. These lines are made up of gases, dust, and debris,
   that stretch around these planets! What comes to mind also is how big or wide lines
   can be. I've never thought so much about lines before.

   When does a line end/stop? -------- I am stumped by this question. On one hand I
   want to say that a line ends when the paintbrush comes off of the canvas, but I just
   don't know. Lines almost never have and ending, even though the paintbrush
   comes off of the canvas. When I've asked B. where do the grout lines on the floor
   tiles end, he says they keep on going on and on and on....  The more and more I
   think of these questions on B's terms the more and more I think that children have a
   lot to actually teach us. Maybe the grout lines do go on and on and on......?

Z. & L. I.

What is a line? Something that defines the shape of the world. 
How long is a line? As long as you can use or imagine. It can be really long when waiting in
line for Santa. 
When does a line end or stop? When you're really in trouble :) When you reach your
destination or finish your thought. Tricky though, you can pick it up again. 

A. & M. K.

What is a line? A line is a mark, either physical or not (such as a shadow) that creates a
    continual strip. It can be any shape, straight or curved or anything in between. A line can
    also be your speaking part in a play, or something to use with your fishing pole to catch fish!
How long is a line? The length of a line is as long as it is continual.
When does a line end? The line ends if you see it stop, or see a "break" in the line.
   Some lines go on farther than you can see.

M. & R.

What is a line? A line is a path from here to there.
How long is a line? A line is as long as you need it to be.
When does a line end? A line ends or stops when you need it to stop.

C. & L.O.

What is a line? A straight or curved length
How long is a line? As long as it needs to be ^-^
When does a line end/stop? When it is no longer needed, when the "line material" (fabric, paint, ink, crack in a building, and the like) runs out, or when it circles back to its beginning

C & P. O.

What is a line? A line is a formation that is connected from a beginning point to an end point.
How long is a line? The distance between the beginning of the line to the end of the line.
When does a line end/stop? When the end touches the beginning of the line (becomes a circle).

I. & M.

What is a line? a one-dimensional, straight, collection of points
How long is a line? a line can be endless
When does a line end/stop? when the person drawing the line, building the line, creating the
line ceases drawing, building, creating....

M & T

What is a line?  anything that connects one point to another
How long is a line?  as short as a dot, as long as forever
When does a line end/stop? when its interrupted by a different medium

L & Y/J

What is a line? The connection between two points.
How long is a line? The distance between the two end points of the line.
When does a line end/stop? Line ends when it reaches the point opposite of the beginning point.

E & L.F.

To me, a line is about connections -- e.g., the connection between 2
points. How long is a line? It is as long as the distance between the 2 points, and it ends at the 2 points. A line could refer to other things, such as a musical line, which is a series of sounds that, connected together, may express a thought or idea.

N & T. N

What is a line? A line is something longer than it is wide. It could be straight or rounded, thick or thin, any color, texture, size.

How long is a line? The length of a line is measured from the start to the end.
When does a line stop? The line stops when there is a break in the line. The start and stop of a line are interchangeable or a matter of perspective unless you know which end was created first.

Z & C. O

What is a line?A straight object or representation on a 2d linear plane
How long is a line? As long as you want it to be
When does a line end/stop? When you run out of room

J & P & J P.

What is a line? A line is a relatively thin and narrow object that can be weaved to make
fabric or be used in knots. A line also acts as a border or divider between two or more areas. It can also be used to hold objects together.
How long is a line? The length of the line will depend on the required need of an individual or population.

When does a line end? A line may never be stopped. Infinite.

L, C & C Y

What is a line? A line is the shortest distance between two points.
How long is a line? A line can be infinite.
When does a line end/stop? When it intersects another line.

We find that each of us has our own view, our own theories or hypothesis of lines and their "place" in our world. In our unpacking of lines within our "project," we have gone into many different directions, adding layer after layer in our understanding of this complex concept.

We find as we add new meaning, we are also touching child after child as if each of the layers are communicating and speaking to the child's being. This is project work at its best. It isn't about ALL children doing the same thing but it is about tailoring and framing a project that touches and meets all children wherever they are in their learning. It is about capturing every child's sense of wonder and igniting it.

Our journey continues!

The Hundred Languages of Children- Chihuly's Reeds

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:54:45 -1000

*** NOTE: Due to an error part of this was lost in the first post.***

One place which enhances, supports and compliments the child's hundred languages is the atelier. The atelier is a beloved place in so many ways. It allows us to slow down the pace or rhythm of the day in order to encourage intentionality. It brings children and adults together in small intimate groups which allow us (teachers) to dialogue and co-construct understanding with the child or the children. It allows for the building of relationships between peers and the child-adult. It allows for those relationships to solidify and intensify. The atelier is a place that supports intimate dialogues around ideas and theories, where there are no right or wrong questions or ideas but rather where only possibilities are allowed to soar.

As our year unfolds, we will use the atelier as a source for provocation, hypothesis-building, unpacking of the child's theories across mediums and, most importantly, as a place for knowing and experiencing the languages of the various media in the atelier -- clay, blocks, wire, paper, paint. etc. Exploring and knowing about the affordances (how each media can represent and or support the child's idea) of each of these media will in turn allow the child to use the various media as a symbolic language. These explorations will support their theories and hypotheses not only this year but the next as well.

In slowing down and learning about the languages of the media, we are invite them to think about their thinking. This shift takes the child into metacognition or what is called critical thinking. This thinking is a step beyond the memorization of facts; it is about the thinking process itself. It moves the child into learning how to learn, which in turn is setting the stage for lifelong learning.

CHIHULY'S REEDS... Sensitizing the Mind's Eye

In observing the children during the early weeks of the school year, small a-ha moments about their work began to emerge. We observed their work in the message area, their drawings and their work in the mini-atelier. We began to see small moments that interconnect with many areas of the child's development. In the broad sense we would say math, writing, and even motor skills, but in looking deeper, it is more about the symbolic representations that interconnect and will move the child into deeper critical thought.

The first moment came in the mini-atelier with the children's discovery of the plastic canvas with holes. The children began to slip pipe cleaners into the holes. Noticing this, we brought out Chihuly's art book and shared with the children how the artist worked with glass in making something that looked similar to theirs.

The children began to use Chihuly's book/work as a reference in creating their own chandeliers. As the children continued working with the pipe cleaners. it was if their eyes were becoming sensitive to the lines and curves in the artist's work.

The children began creating the swirls and gentle curves in their

own work through the pipe

cleaners. We noticed that they moved from random selections of the colored pipe cleaners to intentionally thinking more about their selections, which were based on or inspired by the images in Chihuly's book. This classroom moment caused us (adults) to pause and reflect upon the children's intentionality revealed in this moment.

In thinking about these moments, we began to unpack their significance as it connected with the children's work. We began to think about one of Chihuly's pieces entitled Reeds.

Chihuly's Reeds incorporated this idea of line into his art. Its vibrance seemed to offer possibilities for wonder, for slowing down the mind's eye, and for exploring the concept of "line."

The teachers wondered what medium might we use. In searching for possible materials, Ms. J. discovered neon straws which emulated the vibrance of Chihuly's work. She brought in the neon straws, and once the children caught a peek of the straws, their interest and curiosity grew.

Observing the wonder that the straws created, we decided to proceed in using them as a medium for provocation. In considering this medium. we realized that it had some built-in challenges that could lead to frustration from this young group. The straws were slick, didn't hold together by themselves, and some of the straws were small in diameter. All of these elements could hinder the children's work.

In thinking about these possibilities, the teachers decided to frame two stages for the children's work with the straws. The first would be time for "messing about" and knowing the "language" and or affordances of the straws as a medium. We would observe and take notes during this messing-about stage for future encounters with the medium.

In observing the messing-about stage, we would also be looking for signs of the children's frustration levels when working with the medium and be ready to slip into the second stage. The second stage would add another layer to their glue work. It was our intention that providing glue would support and extend the children's thinking with the materials.

We were ready to begin!

The children began their exploration and "messing" about with the "reeds."

Soon they were ready for the second stage -- the addition of glue as a support for extending their ideas and work. The children worked on two different occasions using the glue and reeds.

The glue became a support in their work with the reeds as it did secure them in place. Yet in close "listening" or observation of the children's nuances, we noted that many of them were experimenting with height in wanting to build up. The glue did not support this learning knot of theirs.

Reflecting upon this, we pondered whether we should add another tool for the children to support their work such as tape. This group had been experimenting and messing about with tape since the early weeks of school. We wondered if they had enough experience with this medium that it could be used as a supportive tool for their use with the reeds. We decided to re-introduce tape as a tool.

Noting that indeed the tape and glue did provide support to their ideas and thoughts, another possibility emerged from the children. While working with the tape and reeds, Z.O. looked intently at the Chihuly's Reeds in the art book and commented, "Look, mine won't stand up because it doesn't have a log or stick at the bottom." Once again reflecting upon this provocation that the children had tossed, the teachers began to think about possible bases or foundations that could be used for supporting their work. The idea of a styrofoam foundation emerged. An email went out to the parents and soon styrofoam bowls and trays were sent in for use in the next phase of their work.

The styrofoam bases with the tape did support the reeds and allowed for the children to "stand" the reeds up. This provided new learning knots and provocations for their work.

As the children's journey continues, we will see what will emerge next!

The Hundred Languages of Children- Chihuly's Reeds

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 07:21:45 -1000

The "hundred languages of children" is a phrase that is often adopted from the work of the preschools of Reggio Emilia and is used as a metaphor for thinking about the work of children. It is symbolic of the the hundreds of ways children speak to us -- the many nuances and gestures, spoken words and unspoken words, as well as, their "language" that is used through the materials. It is a metaphor that asks us, adults, to step back and listen to the child fully in order to understand the child's theories or intentions. We observe and capture the child's work using documentation in order to "hear" and "see' as the children make their thinking visible to us through their multiple languages.

One place which enhances, supports and compliments the child's hundred languages is the atelier. The atelier is a beloved place in so many ways. It allows us to slow down the pace or rhythm of the day in order to encourage intentionality. It brings children and adults together in small intimate groups which allow us (teachers) to dialogue and co-construct understanding with the child or the children. It allows for the building of relationships between peers and the child-adult. It allows for those relationships to solidify and intensify. The atelier is a place that supports intimate dialogues around ideas and theories, where there are no right or wrong questions or ideas but rather where only possibilities are allowed to soar.

As our year unfolds, we will use the atelier as a source for provocation, hypothesis-building, unpacking of the child's theories across mediums and, most importantly, as a place for knowing and experiencing the languages of the various media in the atelier -- clay, blocks, wire, paper, paint. etc. Exploring and knowing about the affordances (how each media can represent and or support the child's idea) of each of these media will in turn allow the child to use the various media as a symbolic language. These explorations will support their theories and hypotheses not only this year but the next as well.

In slowing down and learning about the languages of the media, we are invite them to think about their thinking. This shift takes the child into metacognition or what is called critical thinking. This thinking is a step beyond the memorization of facts; it is about the thinking process itself. It moves the child into learning how to learn, which in turn is setting the stage for lifelong learning.

CHIHULY'S REEDS... Sensitizing the Mind's Eye

In observing the children during the early weeks of the school year, small a-ha moments about their work began to emerge. We observed their work in the message area, their drawings and their work in the mini-atelier. We began to see small moments that interconnect with many areas of the child's development. In the broad sense we would say math, writing, and even motor skills, but in looking deeper, it is more about the symbolic representations that interconnect and will move the child into deeper critical thought.

One of the interconnections that could be drawn was within the idea or concept of lines -- lines are used in writing, the written word, numeracy/math, and in drawing. Contemplating upon our observations, we found two key ordinary moments that helped with framing what would come next.

The first moment came in the mini-atelier with the children's discovery of the plastic canvas with holes. The children began to slip pipe cleaners into the holes. Noticing this, we brought out Chihuly's art book and shared with the children how the artist worked with glass in making something that looked similar to theirs. The children began to use Chihuly's book/work as a reference in creating their own chandeliers. As the children continued working with the pipe cleaners. it was if their eyes were becoming sensitive to the lines and curves in the artist's work.

The children began creating the swirls and gentle curves in their own work through the pipe cleaners. We noticed that they moved from random selections of the colored pipe cleaners to intentionally thinking more about their selections, which were based on or inspired by the images in Chihuly's book. This classroom moment caused us (adults) to pause and reflect upon the children's intentionality revealed in this moment.

A week later another moment surfaced in the studio with an interaction between N.N. and Ms. Leslie as a game of maze evolved around the give-and-take of lines and the intersection of lines as the two created a "giant" art work out of this dialogue between the teacher and child. Throughout the "game" there were no stated rules, yet rules emerged from N.N. as the game intensified and became more and more complicated in design. The significance of the moment was the interplay between teacher-child and the line-intersecting-line, which created the "maze."

In thinking about these moments, we began to unpack their significance as it connected with the children's work. We began to think about one of Chihuly's pieces entitled Reeds.

Chihuly's Reeds incorporated this idea of line into his art. Its vibrance seemed to offer possibilities for wonder, for slowing down the mind's eye, and for exploring the concept of "line."

The teachers wondered what medium might we use. In searching for possible materials, Ms. J. discovered neon straws which emulated the vibrance of Chihuly's work. She brought in the neon straws, and once the children caught a peek of the straws, their interest and curiosity grew.

Observing the wonder that the straws created, we decided to proceed in using them as a medium for provocation. In considering this medium. we realized that it had some built-in challenges that could lead to frustration from this young group. The straws were slick, didn't hold together by themselves, and some of the straws were small in diameter. All of these elements could hinder the children's work.

In thinking about these possibilities, the teachers decided to frame two stages for the children's work with the straws. The first would be time for "messing about" and knowing the "language" and or affordances of the straws as a medium. We would observe and take notes during this messing-about stage for future encounters with the medium.

In observing the messing-about stage, we would also be looking for signs of the children's frustration levels when working with the medium and be ready to slip into the second stage. The second stage would add another layer to their glue work. It was our intention that providing glue would support and extend the children's thinking with the materials.

We were ready to begin!

The children began their exploration and "messing" about with the "reeds."

Soon they were ready for the second stage -- the addition of glue as a support for extending their ideas and work. The children worked on two different occasions using the glue and reeds.

A New Beginning...

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:58:24 -1000

A new journey has begun! Each day is filled with wonder and discovery. Each child is learning about who he is within this new community that is forming. Each is making new connections with the materials and spaces in this place called school.

As the new year has unfolded, we have been closely observing and listening to the work of the children in their new environment in order to understand who each child is as a learner. In our observations of the ordinary moments of our day, all of the children are revealing themselves to us in the most extraordinary ways. We watch as their thinking is made visible through their interactions with the materials, their peers, and the adults.

On the surface, the children appear to be merely playing with objects or materials. However, when we look closely, we find each child developing and thinking in complex ways about the materials and objects. We discover the child's thinking about how the materials or objects function and connect within his world.

Over the course of the first few weeks, we have been carefully documenting the children's work with the many materials and objects in the classroom, the various areas of the room that they are using, and how they are using the materials in the various areas.

We have noticed some fascinating behavior in the dress-up area. The children have been slipping into "costume" to be a character such as a pirate or princess. However, once dressed as the character, they have been shifting into playing house, etc. Why the shift? Why not dress up as Mom or Dad? Why this seeming mismatch of character and role? These are a few of the questions that we will ponder as we continue to observe their work in this area.

A few of the interactions that we have been looking at closely are the children's work with the telephones, the blocks and accessories, the message area, and the mini-atelier. These areas are of high interest and high use. Within these areas, we are observing to learn how the dynamics of the children change as they shift from one type of material to another.

Some questions that we are asking ourselves as we observe:

Do we find the children more engaged in certain materials? Why is this?

How do the children approach the materials? Do we find a more exploratory approach when they begin? Or do we notice intentionality from the moment they pick up the materials, indicating that the children are thinking about what they want to do prior to engagement?

Once the children are engaged, do we find the children scaffolding their thinking, that is, building upon ideas and their thinking within that moment?

As the year unfolds we hope to uncover answers and, yes, raise new questions about the work of the children.

WHEN CHILDREN "ABANDON" THEIR WORK:

Often we watch a child working when suddenly he stops and leaves. Why does a child abandon his work when he has been very engaged in it? This "walking away" from work is a signal that the child has been thinking about his work and concluded that he does not understand what is needed next - for the moment, he can't figure out what to do. In other words, the child's abandonment of his work indicates that he has just shifted into that higher level of thinking called critical thinking.

Often when this happens we are tempted to jump in and help the child, but in most instances it is about allowing the child to walk away and then observe what happens next. We will either see the child come back to the materials after he has had time to think about his problem and begin to work again. Or the child will simply abandon his work for the day. In either case we need to be patient and allow the child to think through his problem. In observing, we also must document the child's work and process to that point. If we are very patient and the child is given time to rethink and revisit, we will be rewarded by the child returning and moving forwarded in his thinking.

Children Advocates

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 04:21:10 -1000

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.

The Plans: An Evolution of a Universal Classroom Language

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:50:16 -1000

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

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:55:14 -1000

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.




Responding to the clay, he begins to carefully move the wires through the clay, as if he were a master jeweler cutting a facet into a diamond. His hands move with deliberation and precision!

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

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 13:48:52 -1000

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?

Kearlywriting.mov
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

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 07:20:28 -1000

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.

M_a learning knot in clay.mov

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.

Learning knot 1_M.mov
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.

Revisit_M clip 2.mov

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.

Learning knot 2.mov
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.

Knot 3_M.mov

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.

Revisit 1_M discovers mistake.mov

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

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 06:57:20 -1000

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

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:58:37 -1000

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?