Relationships: The Foundation to Documenting

How many times have you been in the classroom with your iPad or notebook in your hands ready to write or document….and 30 minutes later it’s blank?

Or how about when you join in play and the moment you begin to write the children leave? It’s okay it happens to all of us!

Even this year, in our 5 year of teaching with one another we felt as though we were hitting a roadblock at times. Yes, there are always certain kids that naturally hook you in and are interesting to document. Although on the flip side it’s also interesting to think and reflect on ... where am I spending all my time? And who am I naturally gravitated towards?

There was a small group of girls that were new to school and seemed to bond quickly with one another. They communicated with each other far more than their interactions with any adults in the room. A place of interest for them was often in the house centre.

As we observed from afar their play appeared intentional in terms of materials, conversations and problem solving. Once our classroom began to settle in terms of routines, we both attempted to spend time with this group. After multiple attempts, blank pages and the girls shying away from us we couldn’t understand why.

Reflecting on our noticings we saw consistency in that they would look at or notice our clipboard or iPad and quickly become quiet. It wasn’t until quite recently, after March Break, that we have finally been able to capture their learning, conversations and wonderings.

We wanted to write a blog to go deeper in our reflections about why this may be happening and some strategies that will continue to support our learning on this journey.

Relationships Are Everything!

Throughout the year we are constantly trying to balance all the elements to teaching. We want to “check” things off, keep things moving and hope we can provide our students with the best start and experience to education.

All of us know this feeling or pressure! What we have noticed over time is that what we needed to do more was build genuine connections and relationships with the children without all of the documentation tools.

If we join in their play with a specific intention (such as how high can they count) then we are already creating our own road blocks and we continue to accumulate a bunch of missed opportunities for rich, open ended documentation.

Our starting point should be taking the time to play games, asking questions, finding out what some of their likes and dislikes are all things that build trust, respect and comfort.

After a holiday, such as March Break, it is sometimes important to scale back to rebuild and refocus with these relationships before bringing out our documentation tools too.

Trust, Respect and Comfort

As relationships evolve over time children will become more settled in their environment. Children can feel the energy that we bring when we join them and if we don’t establish this connection it could be one of the reasons play is shutting down, conversations are limited and perhaps why we find it is hard for us to even find a starting point.

Imagine having someone in your classroom that you don’t know well or someone you don’t feel connected to watching you and writing on a piece of paper. It’s intimidating and may even imply a sense of “testing” which could elicit anxiety in some children.

Instead, take the time to join in on the play and involve the children in the process of documenting. Teach them that their learning is valuable and decide together how it may be used, seen or accessed in the classroom.

By involving them it can open up conversations and also eliminates assumptions of their learning by becoming objective using quotes directly from the children. It also allows the children to recognize their key and growth learning.

We have learned that sometimes it is challenging to capture everything that is happening in the context of play. If we are having a hard time writing everything down in the moment we may say to the children “Can we record this?” and simply record the audio or video of the play and then transcribe later.

Our Reflection

Each year we grow more confident and comfortable in defining our own style of documenting and capturing learning. In fact, each year it evolves and becomes more natural for us. However, we truly believe that the time invested in relationships is a big piece of WHY we are able to capture and put together pieces about the children’s learning.

It can be frustrating, but take a deep breath and reminder yourself that learning is always reappearing and always happening. We cannot always see, hear or capture everything but we can take the time to build genuine connections and foster a love for learning in hopes that we can all grow together.

How Language Impacts Learning

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"...be straight with young children – honest, matter-of-fact, clear, respectful, 

and yes, sometimes humorous too. But not phony" - Lilian Katz

As always my partner, Cheryl, has been challenging me to think critically about the language that I use when supporting and interacting with the children in our classroom.

At the beginning of the year we had a great conversation around the use of the word "friends". I don't know why exactly that I use this term when referring to the children in our classroom. I think I used it as a "term of endearment", yet when Cheryl challenged me to think about why/how I was using it I was quick to recognize that it wasn't the best choice of word.

The children in our classroom are important to me, they do become a second family ... but they are not my "friends". Often I just added the word to the end of a sentence for no reason at all... "Come line up friends". Furthermore, not all children in the classroom are actually friends with each other, nor do we encourage them to be friends with everyone. We have had really honest conversations with children about what being a friend means, what a "best friend" is (a challenging concept at the age of 4!), and how we can still care about people and treat them with respect even if they are not our "friend".

It has grown easier and easier to replace and eliminate the word from my language the more I reflect on it. Friendship can be very confusing to young children - so much of our year is spent developing their understanding of this concept and their social interactions that I wonder how confusing it is when I ask them to "help their friends clean up" or "join their friends in line".

Another word that I overuse is "special". That is not to say this word shouldn't or can't be used, I think for myself personally just reflecting on how and why I am using it ... not everything is special! "You can use the special markers in the art area". Instead I am beginning to slow down my language and substitute different words...interesting, intriguing, new...(or perhaps the language that matches what it is - instead of special markers - permanent markers).

I know how important it is to be real and honest with children, but there are times that I get caught up and need to reign myself in to reflect on the language I use on a daily basis.

During a staff meeting this week we had a discussion around the best strategy we can use in terms of behaviour management and my response was: clear, consistent language that supports children in understanding what we expect and WHY. 

Instead of telling children that during a fire drill we walk quietly and quickly outside - we have a discussion about WHY. The children can then verbalize to others and better understand the importance of why they need to be quiet. We talk about how the firefighters or principals may have a message to share during an emergency.

This brings me back to my favourite intellect... Lilian Katz and reminds me of the messages she shares about being "real" with children. If you don't want them to throw sand, tell them why. Saying "we don't throw sand" is confusing to young children because they definitely DO throw sand, in fact they may have just done it.

I have overhead "we don't hit our friends at school" a few times this year. On so many levels this is a challenging statement. We shouldn't hit people at any time or in any place, but this message could be quite confusing to children. Can we hit our "friends" after school? at home? and it brings back the piece of why....let alone the possible reasons that the student hit in the first place.

Being real with children is probably the best gift that you can give them. Slow down to process what you are going to say to children instead of reactively responding ... something I remind myself more than once on a daily basis! Think critically about all of the language that you use with children and how it is being interpreted, understood, and processed by the young learners we interact with on a daily basis!

Embracing New Partnerships: Communication, Collaboration, and Mindset

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One of the most common questions that we hear when speaking to other educators is…“Do you have any tips for how to work as a team?”

Many educators feel intimidated when facing the unknown. Although it is natural feeling, the way that you deal with the vulnerability will determine whether or not it will increase your anxiety. 

When reflecting on what advice to give, we would say that communication, collaboration, and a positive growth mindset are the foundation to developing a strong partnership.

Communication:

The anxiety of what the other educator will be like is a question that lingers in our mind day in and day out. Will our classroom philosophies be similar or completely different? How will they react when we don't agree on things?

We always think about the other person and rarely think about how we would act when faced with those same scenarios. Challenge yourself to think about how you will handle those situations so that your mind is conscious of your own personal approach. Control the controllable, you are the only person that gets to choose the approach you will take much like they will be the one to choose what their approach will be like. 

When feeling vulnerable we sometimes seek control to protect ourselves and to feel value in our own selves.  Sometimes I think we are continuously searching for a formula of how to speak with others so that confrontation never comes into place rather then sharing our feelings, thoughts and convictions. Reality is, in times of confrontation it will always continue to show up if it never gets resolved because you haven't slowed down to think about what it's trying to teach you. 

Listen to understand not to react. You can only grow if YOU are willing to do the work.

     

What does this look like in the classroom?

Building a relationship professional, before personally: 

Make it a priority to build a professional relationship before a friendship! When feeling vulnerable we often look for emotional reassurance which leads to wanting to be “liked”. It strays us from being objective in the classroom because we think that in order for others to listen you have to be “friends". This then leads us to jeopardize our values and convictions when they arise because the relationship is new and we are trying to avoid confrontation.

Enjoy each other's company, of course, but when speaking about what's happening in the classroom stay objective. Think carefully about the language you use when communicating. Use connective wording such as "we", "as a team", "together" to set the tone and match it with your actions to gain trust and respect. Be conscious of separating your personal life and work life. Once your professional life feels strong and past the “honeymoon phase” you might begin to connect more personally in conversations, but friendship does not lead to a strong partnership it is the respect and communication that builds the foundation. 

Be organized and effective with your time as we know everyone is able to give in different ways due to life outside of work. Honour what your partner can give and be prepared for when you meet keeping in mind maximum message with minimum time.

Do your work - use research to support hard conversations:

Bring in reflective researched texts that align with or challenge your beliefs. When a disagreement in practice arises, using research will support both educators in staying objective because you can refer to the text in discussions. It takes away the emotional feeling of your beliefs being targeted by providing a piece of research to discuss and focus on. 

Be sure to use it as a tool in being reflective together and discussing what is best practice for the children and NOT yourself. Let go of your ego and your stance in the room and be proactive. You cannot be a strong educator if you are never able to admit being wrong and changing your practice. “When you know better you do better”, as Maya Angelou always said. Those are the moments that will strengthen you as a team.

Collaboration as a Team:

Spiritual teacher Gary Zukav often relates how Newton's Third Law of Motion applies to our lives and emotions. It is defined as "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction". If you want to move forward in life, you have to make it happen for yourself. Be responsible for the energy that you bring. Think about how your partnership is being seen. Children and others around you can pick up on this energy between you and your partner. They see if there's communication, notice the type of body language towards each other and how situations are followed through with. 

Keep your communication open and check in with each other. It's just like at home if a child wants ice cream they may strategize which parent to go to because they are anticipating an answer in their favour. Having consistency with messaging will strengthen the amount of respect with each other as well as continuous practice of having open communication.

Awareness of Mindset:

Keep conversations positive and proactive. There will always be moments of vulnerability especially when days don't go as planned or you may have made a mistake…that’s just life! Embrace those moments, although it will feel like an overwhelming flood… know that those moments never last forever. Again, when you know better you do better! 

Reflect on those moments and figure out what it's trying to teach you. When you embrace the mindset of “what is this trying to teach us?” in challenging moments you will be stronger and more confident together when approaching similar situations. Be conscious of your thoughts and shift your mindset to how powerful a team can be, like they always say two is better than one!

September in Kindergarten: Reflective Thoughts

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After learning alongside many incredible educators we've instructed we had many questions and conversations around what September may look like and how you "get started".

As always, every school board, school, and classroom will have unique differences and challenges but there are definitely some things that we think about every September and remind ourselves of when setting up and planning for the first couple of weeks.

If we could give just one piece of advice it would be to SLOW DOWN. We all start the year with passion, excitement, and an eagerness to get started. Every September we think back to June where we left off and how incredible the children were. We always forget how slow we need to go in September and how exhausting the first few months are (even when we remind ourselves!)

There should be NO rush to get started with academics in the Fall. The year will provide plenty of time to figure out what children know and understand academically!

START by building your FOUNDATION:
Teach the children routines, get to know the children, focus heavily on building relationship with them and between them, provide children with new language and experiences (e.g., how to enter play, how to ask for help). Depending on the children in your room they will come in with various experiences and skill sets in terms of personal and social interactions.

What materials should you start with?
Less is MORE. We definitely can't stress that enough. Sometimes we try to add "more" too soon and it reminds us why we limit the materials in the Fall.

We start the year by setting out very simple provocations and materials for the children to explore. Having less out allows the children to learn how to interact socially and how to follow the routines of the classroom (such as tidying up).

In the art area we will often start with pencils, crayons, and blank paper. In our dramatic play area we begin with a "home" providing the children with babies, cooking utensils and a few loose parts to create with (e.g., string and gems). Our building area always begins with our large wooden blocks (which are a staple in the room) and then our loose natural materials (tree cookies, pine cones, branches). The natural materials are stored and connected beside our Nature Area. In this space we may simply add Forest Animals to encourage imaginative play at the beginning of the year.

Tools in our Dramatic Play Centre.

Clipboards and Bug Catchers in Outdoor Environment.

Magnifying Glasses and Seashells on a Provocation Table.

Simple Building Materials and Large Wooden Blocks.

Nature Area: Connected to our Building Are with loose, natural materials

We do not have a specified math area, instead we provide a variety of math tools on the shelves that can be brought to table tops or added to any area of play (e.g., measuring tools, shapes, 5/10 frames, dice, dominoes). We do not have a large number of manipulatives out at any given time and in the Fall there is a lot of dumping and sorting of materials.

The other tables in our room we use as "provocation" tables which vary based on interests, needs, and inspiration. To begin the year we put out simple provocations that vary from year to year. One year we had magnifying glasses and seashells with paper/pencils out which encouraged children to slow down and look closely. Or something simple like mirrors and pattern blocks.

What does that look like?

At the beginning of our day and during our whole group instruction time, we will begin to focus on ONE learning centre at a time. For example, if we are focusing on the dramatic play space, we will talk about the materials and tools in the area and we may role play ways to interact. We spend 10-15 minutes discussing and role playing, which provides children with the opportunity to see what is available and to ask questions. We emphasize how to take care of and respect the materials and how to store or organize them when they are finished.

When outdoors, we spend time introducing materials and areas that we have set up for the children (e.g., sand materials, the mud kitchen, our playground). We will discuss safety, how to use materials, where they are stored, and what to do when finished with them.

After our discussions either inside or outdoors, the children are free to choose any area to explore and investigate. We will then spend time in the area we spoke about supporting the social interactions and routines. With consistent language and messages each year, we are able to have some of our second year students help model and support the other children who are new and learning. This makes it easier to reinforce important messages that you decide on with your partner (e.g., if you are finished playing somewhere, you need to tidy up the materials or ask the other children if there is something that you can tidy before you leave). 

Things we "teach" in the fall:
If we don't focus on academics in the Fall, then what do we teach? We support the children in many ways while they adjust to the new routines of school and try to figure out their place in it all. We find that we do a lot of prompting, modelling, and hand over hand instruction/support. Some things that we focus on in the Fall include:

• lunch routines and expectations (including what to do when finished eating, what you might have conversations about at lunch, how to open new packages/containers)
• how to take care of your belongings (where to hang your backpack, put your shoes, the routines of going from outside to inside)
• how to line up or walk through the hallways
• what to do if you need help
• focus on transitions (how can we transition children smoothly between activities)
• how to interact with other children (e.g., how to enter play or ask to join, how to negotiate, how to extend play, how to listen to each other)
• how to share materials (e.g., if someone is using something - what could you ask them? what if they say no? what could you say then?)
• how to solve problems

Daily Schedule:
http://passionatelycuriousinkindergarten.blogspot.com/2016/10/flow-of-day-reflecting-on-yearly-changes.html
We begin the year with our daily schedule in place, we may just slightly monitor our timing. We provide a bit longer for children to tidy and a bit less time as a whole group. During our Focused Learning we often begin the year by using books on tape/cd. This provides them with a quick and engaging experience as a whole group while allowing educators to focus on supporting the routines and expectations.

Small Group Instruction:
Simply put, our guided groups do not happen for us until middle or end of Octobe. Rushing this piece only results in back tracking throughout the year to reinforce routines and social skills that can be taught in the Fall. We do begin our Small Group structure at the beginning of the year, but both educators are floating to support students in understanding expectations and routines.
http://passionatelycuriousinkindergarten.blogspot.com/2017/01/maximizing-small-groups-time-to.html

Assessment: 
Some educators begin the year with elaborate assessment scales. We have seen many variations and approaches. Of course every school board will have different expectations and assessments that need to be done. Aside from those, we challenge you to think about what you really need to know.

Do you need to know how many letters that brand new students know during week 2? Does it really matter if you know if a child knows their colours? We also challenge you to think about HOW you may collect the information. Will you invite that child to a table and "test" them by asking them the shapes on a sheet of paper? Or ask them to count for you to see how high they can go?

What if....you watched them in the building area and made short notes about the language they are using, the questions they are asking, the relationships they are building.

What if....you observed them at the paint table and notice the way that they add their name?

What if....you ask one child a day to help you count the number of students in the classroom as you go outdoors to play to ensure that you know how many children are outside?

We have strong opinions on slowing down in the Fall and collecting information as it comes in naturally. There are so many genuine ways to learn about the children that you have in your classroom that don't require you to overwhelm yourself with in depth assessment templates.

Give yourself permission to slow down. We promise that in the process of slowing down you will capture more than you would if you sat down with each child one at a time. Also, what is important to know in the Fall?

We always wonder why we need to know how many letters a child can identify...how will that improve my practice? Instead, could you make note of whether a child knows "none", "few", "some" or "most" letters?


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