Cat and Mouse, should the cat eat the mouse, do we protect the cats right to chase and play and get the reward or do we protect the smaller creature.
We all have personal choices and if we ask the right questions we can figure it out.
Some children had been playing a game all morning, it was their game, it was their ideas, it had no resources, it was a game made with the power of imagination and the delights of friendships.
I had been observing from a far, trying to look like I was writing in my journal but I was overseeing their game and the right to play it.
I was also overseeing a new friendship and unsettled children.
Two other children came to see and find out about this game, they circled and charged and did the merry dance of involvement which usually means they want to play.
But it didn't seem like they did want to play.....
This seemed to be the theme because they used all sorts of different techniques to change the tone of the game and alter it and even stop it.
As an educator it seemed like if these newcomers entered the game, then it wasn't going to be the same game anymore.
The game stopped and changed and the newcomers seemed to appear quite powerful, the original game players seemed to appear quite defeated.
So I asked the game inventors "do you want the newcomers to play your game"?.
They said No.
So I protected their play, I bought them all back to area they were playing and I asked them to tell the newcomers that they didn't want to play with them right now.
They didn't want to say this to them because it was new territory and it was new learning, so I told the Newcomers and I redirected them back to their own game.
Why did I do this?
Shouldn't kids in the same learning environment just learn to get along and adapt to include everyone?
The integrity of a game.
The integrity of a game is important, it is like the flow of the game, and it matches the children that make the game.
This was a peaceful game at a time where children where forming a reasonably new friendship and they had been playing for quite sometime, there was a real joy and warmth in the game that seemed to focus around conversation and trust.
Did that make me the bad cop with the merry dancers of involvement?
Yes of course it did, but they accepted the results and if you look at the disposition's that were forming in the Game inventors and the dispositions that are already present in the Merry dancers of involvement you could say that it was a fair trade.
How children play is extremely complex, and how teachers view play and respond to play is very complex as well.
Happy Playing everyone.
Monday, May 11, 2020
Thursday, November 15, 2018
The STEM of sticks
I had the experience of listening to an Educational Consultant from Natural learning this week,
Niki Buchan hosted by ako, presented a workshop about being a STEM Detective to a group of teachers in Takapuna on Tuesday.
I just wanted to share some of the concept that either stuck in my head or they reminded me of why my teaching practise is the way it is.
A lot of what Niki shared struck a chord because I"m usually there for the under dog, the misfit, the ones that think differently.
I didn't achieve well in my school education, not at primary, Secondary or High school, I left school after failing a majority of 5th form for the second year in a row and only walked away with 5th English and 5th form Art.
I was that child that took a longer period of time to understand the subject matter and just as I adjusted and felt confident then it would be time to change.
Even now I think of questions after the workshops are finished, or I think of a response to say to someone after they have walked away.
I have so many memories of my learning environments but very few memories of subject matter, its not surprising i've ended up being an outdoor educator.
The biggest factor that started my career as an Early Childhood Educator is that from my own lack of concentration I can recognise the pattern of children that can't concentrate and that motivates me to get to know them and show them I am the learner and I am interested in learning about them.
Once a relationship has grown then there whole holistic learning takes over.
Lilian Katz once spoke in Auckland for a workshop and she said if you have a group of children playing together and someone is really disrupting them don't help them to get rid of the disruption, work with the child causing the disruption so they can join in with the playing.
We don't need to teach children that misfits don't belong, we need to teach children that misfits think differently from us and if we get to know them we might learn a new way of thinking.
Its makes me so very sad when adults classify a child due to there behaviour, behaviours are not a personality and anything that can be learnt can change, maybe they can't unlearn it because its there but there are so many other tools that children can learn to change behaviours.
So STEM =Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths
Niki got me thinking about the STEM of sticks!
Some educators look horrified when a child picks up a stick, naturally a stick needs a friend to stick around with.
Sticks are great to clash, sticks just embed contact don't they.
If you have a stick and someone else has a stick, well there is a game straight away.
Thats the beauty of sticks, just make some rules if you feel worried or you experience fear by watching stick contacts.
Its okay for sticks to contact other sticks, its not okay for sticks to contact the body.
How much space does your stick need?
How long are your arms?
Lets measure the distance from your shoulder to end of the stick, how long do you think that is?
How much space do you think that is?
Look in-between all the different trees and estimate which space in-between is the longest.
Want to be precise, get a rope and measure it out.
There is your STEM concepts.
I am actually exaggerating because most of the time you do not need to even suggest all this because children naturally experiment with there bodies.
Another great point was that our Children's Worlds are rapidly changing..........
So we want our children to think on their feet....
We need there minds open to change....
We need children to hypothesise.....
and so much more.
Please take a minute to listen to this radio interview, there are some really easy terms that link to STEM or project work.
Noted early childhood specialist Lilian Katz worries that when children spend too much time engaged in activities and exercises that they don’t really understand, their confidence in their intellect is undermined. As a result, many children come to think of school as irrelevant. Discover what Dr. Katz means when she says it’s not whether academics matter, but when.
https://shar.es/aabBgq
Niki Buchan hosted by ako, presented a workshop about being a STEM Detective to a group of teachers in Takapuna on Tuesday.
I just wanted to share some of the concept that either stuck in my head or they reminded me of why my teaching practise is the way it is.
A lot of what Niki shared struck a chord because I"m usually there for the under dog, the misfit, the ones that think differently.
I didn't achieve well in my school education, not at primary, Secondary or High school, I left school after failing a majority of 5th form for the second year in a row and only walked away with 5th English and 5th form Art.
I was that child that took a longer period of time to understand the subject matter and just as I adjusted and felt confident then it would be time to change.
Even now I think of questions after the workshops are finished, or I think of a response to say to someone after they have walked away.
I have so many memories of my learning environments but very few memories of subject matter, its not surprising i've ended up being an outdoor educator.
The biggest factor that started my career as an Early Childhood Educator is that from my own lack of concentration I can recognise the pattern of children that can't concentrate and that motivates me to get to know them and show them I am the learner and I am interested in learning about them.
Once a relationship has grown then there whole holistic learning takes over.
Lilian Katz once spoke in Auckland for a workshop and she said if you have a group of children playing together and someone is really disrupting them don't help them to get rid of the disruption, work with the child causing the disruption so they can join in with the playing.
We don't need to teach children that misfits don't belong, we need to teach children that misfits think differently from us and if we get to know them we might learn a new way of thinking.
Its makes me so very sad when adults classify a child due to there behaviour, behaviours are not a personality and anything that can be learnt can change, maybe they can't unlearn it because its there but there are so many other tools that children can learn to change behaviours.
So STEM =Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths
Niki got me thinking about the STEM of sticks!
Some educators look horrified when a child picks up a stick, naturally a stick needs a friend to stick around with.
Sticks are great to clash, sticks just embed contact don't they.
If you have a stick and someone else has a stick, well there is a game straight away.
Thats the beauty of sticks, just make some rules if you feel worried or you experience fear by watching stick contacts.
Its okay for sticks to contact other sticks, its not okay for sticks to contact the body.
How much space does your stick need?
How long are your arms?
Lets measure the distance from your shoulder to end of the stick, how long do you think that is?
How much space do you think that is?
Look in-between all the different trees and estimate which space in-between is the longest.
Want to be precise, get a rope and measure it out.
There is your STEM concepts.
I am actually exaggerating because most of the time you do not need to even suggest all this because children naturally experiment with there bodies.
Another great point was that our Children's Worlds are rapidly changing..........
So we want our children to think on their feet....
We need there minds open to change....
We need children to hypothesise.....
and so much more.
Please take a minute to listen to this radio interview, there are some really easy terms that link to STEM or project work.
Noted early childhood specialist Lilian Katz worries that when children spend too much time engaged in activities and exercises that they don’t really understand, their confidence in their intellect is undermined. As a result, many children come to think of school as irrelevant. Discover what Dr. Katz means when she says it’s not whether academics matter, but when.
https://shar.es/aabBgq
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Puddles of dye
Have you ever watched children working with dye, if you watch really young children around two or three you will see them layer the dye mainly in the same spot.
It is like puddles of dye, you see the dye getting denser and you see the children telling you to look, because they like it, that is the allurement factor, the desire in dye.
So why water down dye i often think, when i see other teachers offering children pots of watered down dye i personally feel ripped off for them, its like you have taken away the best bit, you have offered them second hand dye when you had the brand new bottle ready to go.
Children need the inspiration of colour, colours they see in the rainbows, in the flowers, you don't see spiderman in a watered down dull kind of red do you.
How can you make a true picture if you don't trust children to have enough dye.
Instead try offering smaller amounts of dye, and really think about the brushes you have on offer, it is OK to direct children to the right kind of brushes, thick handled brushes will make the jars fall down, dye does not have the weight that paint does to hold them down, so if you have not corrected that you really don't have any reason to get upset when the dye tips out.
And it will, but just have cloths ready, art cloths or paper towels that are always available and at reach for children because being creative means making mistakes,and being an artist means using your mistakes to learn from.
When you see children with there puddles of dye teach them about pushing the dye around the page, let them know that it is all dye that wants to soak into paper and it cant do that in a puddle, its like a rain puddle outside, you have a puddle like outside this morning when it rained, remember how someone swept the puddle out (after a few children jumped in it) you can do that with your brush, then it can go to other places on the paper.
I believe that is the trick to getting the most out of children and art, you have to relate it to what they know, what experience they have.
Another technique to think about it is where to dry the pictures and how to carry these puddles that have been spread out all over the page.
Many a time i have seen people hang them up to dry and walk away completely oblivious to the puddles that are now running down to the floor, so the puddles have now turned into a serious drainpipe leak.
If a child has gone to all that effort of making and spreading dye puddles then let them learn about balance and laying there pictures out flat.
If you think we need to do this for children sure ask, but there is some great ritual about putting your work down to rest in the drying process, maybe it is the last time they will see the colours shining wet, maybe it is the final goodbye of the process of the creative, but it seems to me that there is a lot of pride children get from hanging there pictures up.
Newspaper on the floor is sufficient for drying dye work with the balance and skill children learn from carrying there puddles over it actually makes the whole experience last longer.
Of course you wont always get puddles of dye, but if you expect them then the detailed pictures are the next step, but like anything in art i believe you cant get to flowers and rainbows with out puddles and splatters.
You really have to be prepared to put the time in with every medium you work with together with children, the Italian's say it is all about a dialogue with the materials, but i think in kiwi terms it is getting past the rushness.
By rushness i mean the excitement of colour, the crowd around the dye, and everyone wanting the same thing, its about experience and practise, we as teachers just need to over come our own feeling of being uncomfortable about the mess.
Have a look in any artists studio, you will see paint and creative residue that tells a story of work that has happened before.
I also think if you do not allow children the time to clean up there own work stations and take pride in there spaces of creativity, you are not following through with the true processes of becoming an artist.
So welcome spills and splats i say.
It is like puddles of dye, you see the dye getting denser and you see the children telling you to look, because they like it, that is the allurement factor, the desire in dye.
So why water down dye i often think, when i see other teachers offering children pots of watered down dye i personally feel ripped off for them, its like you have taken away the best bit, you have offered them second hand dye when you had the brand new bottle ready to go.
Children need the inspiration of colour, colours they see in the rainbows, in the flowers, you don't see spiderman in a watered down dull kind of red do you.
How can you make a true picture if you don't trust children to have enough dye.
Instead try offering smaller amounts of dye, and really think about the brushes you have on offer, it is OK to direct children to the right kind of brushes, thick handled brushes will make the jars fall down, dye does not have the weight that paint does to hold them down, so if you have not corrected that you really don't have any reason to get upset when the dye tips out.
And it will, but just have cloths ready, art cloths or paper towels that are always available and at reach for children because being creative means making mistakes,and being an artist means using your mistakes to learn from.
When you see children with there puddles of dye teach them about pushing the dye around the page, let them know that it is all dye that wants to soak into paper and it cant do that in a puddle, its like a rain puddle outside, you have a puddle like outside this morning when it rained, remember how someone swept the puddle out (after a few children jumped in it) you can do that with your brush, then it can go to other places on the paper.
I believe that is the trick to getting the most out of children and art, you have to relate it to what they know, what experience they have.
Another technique to think about it is where to dry the pictures and how to carry these puddles that have been spread out all over the page.
Many a time i have seen people hang them up to dry and walk away completely oblivious to the puddles that are now running down to the floor, so the puddles have now turned into a serious drainpipe leak.
If a child has gone to all that effort of making and spreading dye puddles then let them learn about balance and laying there pictures out flat.
If you think we need to do this for children sure ask, but there is some great ritual about putting your work down to rest in the drying process, maybe it is the last time they will see the colours shining wet, maybe it is the final goodbye of the process of the creative, but it seems to me that there is a lot of pride children get from hanging there pictures up.
Newspaper on the floor is sufficient for drying dye work with the balance and skill children learn from carrying there puddles over it actually makes the whole experience last longer.
Of course you wont always get puddles of dye, but if you expect them then the detailed pictures are the next step, but like anything in art i believe you cant get to flowers and rainbows with out puddles and splatters.
You really have to be prepared to put the time in with every medium you work with together with children, the Italian's say it is all about a dialogue with the materials, but i think in kiwi terms it is getting past the rushness.
By rushness i mean the excitement of colour, the crowd around the dye, and everyone wanting the same thing, its about experience and practise, we as teachers just need to over come our own feeling of being uncomfortable about the mess.
Have a look in any artists studio, you will see paint and creative residue that tells a story of work that has happened before.
I also think if you do not allow children the time to clean up there own work stations and take pride in there spaces of creativity, you are not following through with the true processes of becoming an artist.
So welcome spills and splats i say.
In case you forgot it's all physical.
Achievement and personal satisfaction is a common goal for teachers of young children and we see the determination of children's will power push this through.
But there is the flip side to that, the reluctance and the insecurities that become barriers for children, and try as we might, theorise as we do, reluctance can sometimes disable children like a virus.
This story is very dear to me, because i have been working with a child whom i have seen experience a world of different emotions about his own drawing practises.
I fully believe that you must never draw for children and part of the long fustration this boy has experienced is because he is in love with popular cartoon culture and he wants someone to make representations true to the graphic images he is in love with.
I have observed this boys journey and it has been slow and gradual, but it has taught me a leason in patience and authenticity, because we are always telling ourselves that to teach well you must know the subject matter, and for me to teach well is to know the children i teach well.
If i had been true to this i would not have worried about the fact that this boy could not, would not try to draw or express himself visually, because he has always been in charge of his choices and has always been able to catch up when he was mentally and physically ready.
Being mentally ready and physically ready to draw is the key to success i believe, no amount of inspiration is going to be able to help you if your body has not been prepared for the journey ahead.
So for the Early Childhood places of play that have little value for being outside and emersing yourself in nature and the value of open space and risk, i believe the journey will be so much slower.
So the inspiration in this case was Hatupatu and the Bird Woman, and the physical preparation came in the way of a wheelchair. Puzzled? yes i was too actually, but you see this child had a full cast on his leg for six weeks so he was in a wheel chair on and off for that period, and what happend was very natural, as he gained very strong hands from learning to move his wheelchair.
So when he sat down with a piece of chalk and expressed his interest in Hatupatu, what happened astounded him and the control and movement had all clicked into place and he was able to draw images he was happy with.
Space and natural settings have to be the biggest priority for Nga Tamariki of the 21 century, it seems to me that everyone you talk to valued there freedom, independance and physical activity growing up, so why is it that as a Universe we are not fighting for the same priorities for Nga Tamariki 100% of the time, why is space being taken from our children for the sake of a crazy notion that learning only happens inside the wall of an institution.
Learning Institution's for our children are becoming more compact, the space inside the class is given the space and the numbers of children inside this space are growing, but what really matters should be the space and state of the environment outside the classroom.
The natural world around us is being classed as out of bounds and too risky and needing too much supervision.
We are restrciting Nga Tamariki from the natural desire to learn as we experience the world evolving around us, and many of us are turned off like a switch when we are put into classes.
There is not a single thing we can not learn watching nature unfold.
My friend learnt that his fingers were strong and that he could draw only because his will power kicked in and being in a wheelchair did not stop him from being outside and joining in with others, his body just adapted, his muscles grew stronger and as a spin off his brain opened new pathways and he linked it to being able to draw now.
The body and mind are our most powerful tools, if you have them both on your side really the world is your oyster. So get outside everyone.
But there is the flip side to that, the reluctance and the insecurities that become barriers for children, and try as we might, theorise as we do, reluctance can sometimes disable children like a virus.
This story is very dear to me, because i have been working with a child whom i have seen experience a world of different emotions about his own drawing practises.
I fully believe that you must never draw for children and part of the long fustration this boy has experienced is because he is in love with popular cartoon culture and he wants someone to make representations true to the graphic images he is in love with.
I have observed this boys journey and it has been slow and gradual, but it has taught me a leason in patience and authenticity, because we are always telling ourselves that to teach well you must know the subject matter, and for me to teach well is to know the children i teach well.
If i had been true to this i would not have worried about the fact that this boy could not, would not try to draw or express himself visually, because he has always been in charge of his choices and has always been able to catch up when he was mentally and physically ready.
Being mentally ready and physically ready to draw is the key to success i believe, no amount of inspiration is going to be able to help you if your body has not been prepared for the journey ahead.
So for the Early Childhood places of play that have little value for being outside and emersing yourself in nature and the value of open space and risk, i believe the journey will be so much slower.
So the inspiration in this case was Hatupatu and the Bird Woman, and the physical preparation came in the way of a wheelchair. Puzzled? yes i was too actually, but you see this child had a full cast on his leg for six weeks so he was in a wheel chair on and off for that period, and what happend was very natural, as he gained very strong hands from learning to move his wheelchair.
So when he sat down with a piece of chalk and expressed his interest in Hatupatu, what happened astounded him and the control and movement had all clicked into place and he was able to draw images he was happy with.
Learning Institution's for our children are becoming more compact, the space inside the class is given the space and the numbers of children inside this space are growing, but what really matters should be the space and state of the environment outside the classroom.
The natural world around us is being classed as out of bounds and too risky and needing too much supervision.
We are restrciting Nga Tamariki from the natural desire to learn as we experience the world evolving around us, and many of us are turned off like a switch when we are put into classes.
There is not a single thing we can not learn watching nature unfold.
My friend learnt that his fingers were strong and that he could draw only because his will power kicked in and being in a wheelchair did not stop him from being outside and joining in with others, his body just adapted, his muscles grew stronger and as a spin off his brain opened new pathways and he linked it to being able to draw now.
The body and mind are our most powerful tools, if you have them both on your side really the world is your oyster. So get outside everyone.
Drawing from memories and experience
The funny things that happen in life are usually better with illustrations to go alongside them.
On Tuesday our teaching team had a late night staff meeting which our centre owner had bought a kitten along too.
All the doors were shut so we just left it to explore, well as the night went on this kitten was suddenly nowhere to be seen.
Attempts to find the kitten proved fruitless and we all left, hoping it would show up in the morning.
Well it did, much to our children's delight, and having a kitten at school for the day is a fun sight indeed for a child.
Many requests were made to go and see the kitten, which was now in the office in a cat cage.
Here is the drawing that came out of this funny experience.
Below is Jan, we explained that the kitten belonged to her, the child that drew her combined her into a cat i think, she was adament that she did not want to draw the kitten as she was fearful of it.
below is the Kitten, which according to one child was snoring, (purring)
Below is another picture of all it's whiskers
Below is the remaining pictures drawn by a very enthusiastic bunch of artists there ages range from 3-4 years.
Thank you to the reader who told me to listen to Dr Sugata Mitra on Ted, and it really does go to show that if you offer the experiences at the heart of a child's interest as well as the resourses to go alongside the rest will follow.
From my own perspective as an artist you do not have the same level of confidence to try and draw something unless you get to experience it as a subject or a form in front of you.
A computer generated picture will not give you the same natural light, it will not give you the same way of searching for the best view, it is not 3D and does not offer as many possibilities.
To copy something is to close up all the possibilities, to use inspiration to recreate is a better opportunity.
I also think children have the ability to have vivid memories there to recall at there leisure, so as an adult if you leave your agenda behind and follow children's the result will amaze you.
Happy experiences
On Tuesday our teaching team had a late night staff meeting which our centre owner had bought a kitten along too.
All the doors were shut so we just left it to explore, well as the night went on this kitten was suddenly nowhere to be seen.
Attempts to find the kitten proved fruitless and we all left, hoping it would show up in the morning.
Well it did, much to our children's delight, and having a kitten at school for the day is a fun sight indeed for a child.
Many requests were made to go and see the kitten, which was now in the office in a cat cage.
Here is the drawing that came out of this funny experience.
Below is Jan, we explained that the kitten belonged to her, the child that drew her combined her into a cat i think, she was adament that she did not want to draw the kitten as she was fearful of it.
below is the Kitten, which according to one child was snoring, (purring)
Below is another picture of all it's whiskers
Below is the remaining pictures drawn by a very enthusiastic bunch of artists there ages range from 3-4 years.
Thank you to the reader who told me to listen to Dr Sugata Mitra on Ted, and it really does go to show that if you offer the experiences at the heart of a child's interest as well as the resourses to go alongside the rest will follow.
From my own perspective as an artist you do not have the same level of confidence to try and draw something unless you get to experience it as a subject or a form in front of you.
A computer generated picture will not give you the same natural light, it will not give you the same way of searching for the best view, it is not 3D and does not offer as many possibilities.
To copy something is to close up all the possibilities, to use inspiration to recreate is a better opportunity.
I also think children have the ability to have vivid memories there to recall at there leisure, so as an adult if you leave your agenda behind and follow children's the result will amaze you.
Happy experiences
The pressure to perform
Today i was thinking about how the pressure to perform, or the pressure occupy children can lead us to some very unmeaningful experiences.
When in the fact if you turn that upside down and put it on its head, then you have the ability to listen, and the intuitiveness to let children's agendas gracefully appear.
The reason i am writing this is because i see it happening all the time at Play and Learn, many of the teachers i work with have the most amazing ability to listen without the pressure to perform, and have the gracefulness of listening without over suggesting.
This is something i have been trying to learn from them, and i think it is getting there.
Perhaps i have always been full of my ideas and the shift to make it more about children's ideas is a balance situation that takes time.
In my study with children and creativity i keep having little break throughs and yesterday i had another one with control and inspiration i want to share with you.
In my setting at Play and Learn, everything is available for children, there is no set agenda for teachers, we follow children's ideas.
In the morning when i arrived a few children gathered around the art table to make cards, i saw they were interested in presentation of cards more than the message of cards, they cut and rolled card and tied around them.
So i offered them a container of ribbons, that kept there curisoities going for quite some time.
We talked through what kind of holding materials they wanted and all agreed cellotape was going to do the job and off they went.
No teacher input was needed after this, and is mostly the case with our competent older children.
But the first timers, and curious on lookers were there at this time, they usually are.
They have a pattern, they come and go, they start something, discard it and leave, they want someting that someone else has, it is the beginning dance of involvement.
Similar to the Dance of Avoidance in 'Creative Authenticity' Ian Roberts,Atelier Saint-Luc Press 2004. (look it up, it is informative )
They pull you from what is happening, into there own space of thinking, but it is raw and it pushes all your control buttons, half of you wants to protect this group that are achieving so much, the other half of you wants to see the dance gain momentum and just stick to an idea, so it a time of conflict.
Thinking about it, the group well into there ideas are already on there path, they do not need protection, once the idea is there and you have found your resources, then the experience is ready to be your own.
The dancing involvers however are the ones that need some support.
Cellotape gets a bit tricky for some smaller hands, so we have these rolls of long white stickers that i offered as a suggestion for some younger children.
Here they are committing to an idea, and what a glorious idea it became, it was so popular it took on followers, it inspired others.
This is creativity and vision at its best, this is letting ideas fly and setting your own agenda.
But still your control barriers pop there little heads up, especially if you are tired.
Mine multiply when i am tired, i am generally not fazed about mess, but when i am tired i have this crazy desire for places to look tidy or i dont function too well.
So as the paper that the stickers are on is growing by the mile and getting crushed and screwed and skated around the room, and as the concentration and involvement and intensity is being displayed in there work, i am there saying i want you to pick up all the paper now please.
Of course they are ignoring me.
Because they are busy, they are following through still, committing to the idea, finishing a piece.
Suddenly i see it for what it is, and my control barriers are pushed away by my admirance, and my delight and amusement in there message.
And as i let go, more happened, i got the stories, Cars! So cars where added, planes where added.
It was a hub of activity for sometime, another teacher came and tried to talk to the children about what they were doing, but to talk in depth at that time took there concentration away and they were so very committed that words were not really needed.
So this is my lesson in letting go and the power of ideas and committment to ideas.
later on i offered the children a paper rubbish bin, and they had just as much fun peeling the stickers off as they did putting them on, and i showed them how to roll the unused sticker sheets up.
Listening was not a compromise at that point.
So it also taught me that we need to be very careful with our timing, so as not to make children compromise there work.
Happy idea making.
When in the fact if you turn that upside down and put it on its head, then you have the ability to listen, and the intuitiveness to let children's agendas gracefully appear.
The reason i am writing this is because i see it happening all the time at Play and Learn, many of the teachers i work with have the most amazing ability to listen without the pressure to perform, and have the gracefulness of listening without over suggesting.
This is something i have been trying to learn from them, and i think it is getting there.
Perhaps i have always been full of my ideas and the shift to make it more about children's ideas is a balance situation that takes time.
In my study with children and creativity i keep having little break throughs and yesterday i had another one with control and inspiration i want to share with you.
In my setting at Play and Learn, everything is available for children, there is no set agenda for teachers, we follow children's ideas.
In the morning when i arrived a few children gathered around the art table to make cards, i saw they were interested in presentation of cards more than the message of cards, they cut and rolled card and tied around them.
So i offered them a container of ribbons, that kept there curisoities going for quite some time.
We talked through what kind of holding materials they wanted and all agreed cellotape was going to do the job and off they went.
No teacher input was needed after this, and is mostly the case with our competent older children.
But the first timers, and curious on lookers were there at this time, they usually are.
They have a pattern, they come and go, they start something, discard it and leave, they want someting that someone else has, it is the beginning dance of involvement.
Similar to the Dance of Avoidance in 'Creative Authenticity' Ian Roberts,Atelier Saint-Luc Press 2004. (look it up, it is informative )
They pull you from what is happening, into there own space of thinking, but it is raw and it pushes all your control buttons, half of you wants to protect this group that are achieving so much, the other half of you wants to see the dance gain momentum and just stick to an idea, so it a time of conflict.
Thinking about it, the group well into there ideas are already on there path, they do not need protection, once the idea is there and you have found your resources, then the experience is ready to be your own.
The dancing involvers however are the ones that need some support.
Cellotape gets a bit tricky for some smaller hands, so we have these rolls of long white stickers that i offered as a suggestion for some younger children.
This is creativity and vision at its best, this is letting ideas fly and setting your own agenda.
But still your control barriers pop there little heads up, especially if you are tired.
Mine multiply when i am tired, i am generally not fazed about mess, but when i am tired i have this crazy desire for places to look tidy or i dont function too well.
So as the paper that the stickers are on is growing by the mile and getting crushed and screwed and skated around the room, and as the concentration and involvement and intensity is being displayed in there work, i am there saying i want you to pick up all the paper now please.
Of course they are ignoring me.
Because they are busy, they are following through still, committing to the idea, finishing a piece.
Suddenly i see it for what it is, and my control barriers are pushed away by my admirance, and my delight and amusement in there message.
And as i let go, more happened, i got the stories, Cars! So cars where added, planes where added.
It was a hub of activity for sometime, another teacher came and tried to talk to the children about what they were doing, but to talk in depth at that time took there concentration away and they were so very committed that words were not really needed.
So this is my lesson in letting go and the power of ideas and committment to ideas.
later on i offered the children a paper rubbish bin, and they had just as much fun peeling the stickers off as they did putting them on, and i showed them how to roll the unused sticker sheets up.
Listening was not a compromise at that point.
So it also taught me that we need to be very careful with our timing, so as not to make children compromise there work.
Happy idea making.
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