Good morning! 😊
I hope you've all had a restful term break. No matter where you were, I hope the weather was in your favour, and for those of us who stayed in HK, I am still in disbelief at how beautiful and comfortable the weather has been - did we actually just experience proper Autumn? 🍃
This EY Connect issue will center around the Chapters Early Years Conference. Over the course of two days, 6 amazing presenters and EY advocates provoked our thinking, helping us to reflect on our identities as educators and the values we hold dear that directly impact our teaching practice.
1 REFLECTION
(From left to right: Megina Baker, Jennifer Ryan, Anne van Dam, Liz Pemberton, Fiona Zinn, Mark Church)
Having the opportunity to connect with colleagues both from Hillside and across the ESF early years phase re-engaged our common goal for play-based learning and the importance of an aligned philosophy and pedagogy. In fact, particularly for our primary colleagues, it was a nudge towards centering play as the most developmentally appropriate vehicle for developing cognition.
Megina Baker and Jennifer Ryan surfaced some paradoxes between play and school that is worth thinking about:
It makes me wonder, where do these paradoxes come from? Who or what societal system posited play and school as opposite ends of the spectrum? So much so that these tensions now frame the decisions that school leaders make, and in turn teachers struggle to help parents understand what it means within the context of early years learning.
So how do we tackle these paradoxes? How do we spend more of our time and attention on play, and less on school? The first necessity is the unequivocal belief that play is learning. When educators truly believe this, they will begin to advocate, to push boundaries, to "innovate inside the box" (to quote George Couros), and more importantly, to question when demands on them do not serve the children.
Other considerations:
- For the curriculum to be child-led and agentic, unabashedly go back to the PYP guidelines and philosophy. If you work at a PYP school, there are 2 things that are undebatable - agency sits at the center, and in the early years, play is inquiry. (It's in the documents!)
- Schools and teaching teams can come up with an agreement as to what is a necessary and acceptable amount of risk in play, with the understanding that some learning can only occur as a result of engaging in risky play
- What does chaotic, messy, and loud play demonstrate? Why are some adults sometimes intimidated by it? Similarly, when schools are places of order, who does that serve? Whose voice is left out in the pursuit of order?
1 IDEA
Anne van Dam and Fiona Zinn invited us to consider our approach to documentation of children's play and learning in the classroom. Each of these dimensions is on a spectrum; for example, do you document what is a planned learning engagement, or do you document something spontaneous that comes up unexpectedly in the classroom? Do you document learning that is outcome-focused, or process-focused, or perhaps something outside of the 'curriculum'? (Of course, it is highly unlikely that we are always only at one end)
The idea here is to reflect on where you are as a teacher-documenter and how that represents what you value. What learning stories might be slipping through your fingers (or cameras) if documentation is only happening at one end? How might we be more intentional about creating a balance between the two ends of the spectrum so documentation can better serve the needs of both children and ourselves as teachers?
1 RESOURCE
The various conference presenters shared a lot of resources on this
Padlet. So much to unpack!
1 WELLBEING
The BHS choir performed at the recent ESF Senior Leadership Conference, singing their school's 'community songs', which are shared across Y1-6 💜
1 QUOTE
Play is an everyday context for research. - Anne van Dam & Fiona Zinn
Until next time,
Brenda
Currently reading:
Words on the Wall by Jimmy Casas and Cale Birk
Emotional Agility by Susan David
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