The concept of interest refers to the capacity to lose oneself in a topic or activity, and to do so sufficiently to overcome setbacks and obstacles
This also describes the state of mind when engaged in meaningful and relevant work.
32 Matching Annotations
- Jan 2021
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Experience of applying their developing skills inpurposeful and meaningful ways
This is a much better way to for the child's learning to be made visible. Watching them apply new knowledge and skills is one of the best parts of being in the classroom.
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It seems to me that using terms like outcomes and performance standards is based on an industrial or manufacturing analogy.
Outcomes seems so appropriate and sensitive and performance standards less so. I never thought about how the terms have been applied to industrial settings. It makes the child's work more of a product. It makes learning seem like a marketable product. The totality of the teacher's students learning becomes a measure of her worth.
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to encourage all educators to improve their efforts to meet standards and to produce outcomes of educational programs around the country
Goals for having standards were originally to provide a way to measure children's learning and establish a common set of knowledge and skills. To set the bar so all children could succeed. That has morphed to judging teachers and unfairly judging children.Not meeting standards is now a mark on the child and the teacher of not measuring up.
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- Oct 2020
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We have to convince ourselves that it is essential to preserve in children (and in ourselves) the feeling of wonder and surprise, because creativity, like knowledge, is a daughter of surprise. We have to co
I love this idea. Wonder and surprise are great inspiration for exploration. It makes learning a joy.
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intentionally created a disturbance for the dated modelofschool for young children.
I imagine that that disturbance was not appreciated. Upsetting what had been with chidren traditionally. The idea of giving children knowledge. Now asking that children be allowed to construct their own knowledge must have been an intimidating thought.
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We were convinced that, inthe case of both children and adults, it was valid to use the rule stated by David Hawkins, who said that it was necessary to become familiar first by using directly what you know and what you have learned in order to acquire further learning and knowledge.
Describing the constructivist theory. Taking time to revisit previous work and build on it going deeper. Building new knowledge on the previous.
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(From a videotape in Carolyn Edwards’s collection)
I was surprised by how much feedback the teacher offered. It shows children learning the language of clay. Again, I didn't think about the intentionality when presenting a new language to teach about it.
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October 12: Discovering the Drawer
This story is wonderful. It captures a moment that turned into a learning moment. It would have been so tempting to jump in and offer questions but letting her just ask questions. demonstrated by relooking in the drawers, I think was the better choice.
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One difficult task for the teachers is to help children find problems that are big enough and hard
It's comforting to know that the struggle to decide on what to focus on is shared by Reggio teachers. They make it look so natural and easy.
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Teachers communicate with parents about the current theme and encourage them to become involved in the activities of their child by finding necessary mate-rials, working with teachers on the physical environment, offering supplementary books, and so on. In this way, parents are provoked to revise their image of their child and understand childhood in a richer and more complex way
This is an nice example of parent involvement. The quote seems to imply to that this is just one piece of an ongoing conversation. It feels like from this statement that parents are constantly in the loop of the daily explorations of the children.
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One example of this responsive teaching is documented in a little booklet from the Diana Preschool called “The Sun Is the Earth’s Friend”
I appreciate how the teacher didn't disrupt the children's beliefs about the sun. The children were able to wonder and theorize about it. The documentation in the book captures where the children's thinking was at that moment. The teacher supported them in articulating their theores.
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must act in such a way as to persuade children that they deeply share this image.
I hadn't thought about children needing the teacher to help them see themselves as competent. It makes sense and I think must help them have confidence to take risks and try things.
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Questions about what teachers can and should do can never be finally answered but rather must keep returning to the starting problem:
The role of the teacher changes based on the children she has now. The needs of the children define how and what she does. I really appreciate this philosophy because it is so much more respectful of the child. The child is the focus not fulfilling the requirements of a prescribed curriculum. While teachers still can and do still focus on the child while utilizing curriculum, it seems it would be easier without.
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ator of meaning.
The teacher being the "negotiator of meaning" to me communicates a conversation with outside audiences. That really speaks to, for me, the importance of input from the community and that that input is dependent on understanding what's happening with the children's learning which relies on the teacher sharing that in a way that doesn't just communicating action but sharing what the children's work means.
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- Sep 2020
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A third tension that recurs throughout this book is the tension between indi-vidual liberties and communal responsibilities (see Chapter 4). Children are eager to live and work with others, especially other children, and show a keen sensitiv-ity to varying perspectives
It's wonderful to see children wrestling with hard ideas and coming up with respectful solutions and expressions of rights.
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t Boulder Journey School, however, we find children to be inherently social at the earliest of ages and, beginning in infancy, children spend much of their school day working together in pairs and
I see this as another example of how children's abilities and potential are underestimated.
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Given children's attentiveness to the here and now, educators at Boulder Jour-ney School have found that children's discussions, including discussions of rights, are particularly rich when they center on issues salient for children at that mo-ment.
I think this is an important insight. Talking with children in the moment, while they are experiencing something is more impactful than trying to talk about something by remembering. I'm wondering if that is why revisiting children's work with photos and documentation helps put them back in that moment to think about it more deeply.
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low ballet bars in the hallway. In order to maximize the chances of children completing their journey, teachers departed 30 minutes before their scheduled visit to the theater. They found tha
I really love that the teachers decided to try and let the children get to the theatre on their own. It took a real trust in the children and some courage on the part of the teachers. In their place, I would have been very nervous letting children so young do this.
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"children up until about seven years of age communicate with each other more adequately by play than in speech, an argument can certainly be made that their childhood right to play is the same as our adult First Amendment right to free speech" (quoted in Nabhan & Trimble, 1994, p. 9).
I hadn't thought about play as a way to communicate. I have looked at play as trying on roles such as mom or dad or the doctor. I need to learn more about this.
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On the other hand, children's use of language can elucidate the issues at hand with a poet's precision. Consider the following exchange among three 5-year-olds:
I'm frequently surprised by the precision of children's comments and insights. Children seem to see things as they are and are willing to express that fearlessly.
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It’s necessary that we believe that the child is veryintelligent, that the child is strong and beautiful andhas very ambitious desires and requests. This is theimage of the child that we need to hold.
Then the child will believe that too.
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The interaction between children is avery fertile and a very rich relationship. If it is left toferment without adult interference and without thatexcessive assistance that we sometimes give, thenit’s more advantageous to the child. We don’t wantto protect something that doesn’t need to be pro-tected.
It's such a challenge to know when to contribute and when to stay silent.
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“If only you had seen all I had to do.” The childwants this observation.
The child wants the teacher to see the work. How are the teachers observations communicated back to the child?
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What is important to the child isthat the teacher sees the child while the child isworking, while the child is putting out the effort toaccomplish the task — the processes are important,how much the child is putting into the effort, howheroic the child is doing this work. What childrenwant is to be observed while engaged, they do notwant the focus of the observation to be on the finalproduct.
I love this idea. I'm very accustomed to children frantically calling for the teacher to watch the trick. But underlying that maybe a deeper need for connection to their work.
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What we want to do isactivate within children the desire and will and greatpleasure that comes from being the authors of theirown learning.
I believe that this creates lifelong learners. When learning and discoveries are the children's, a joy and feeling of accomplishment comes with it. Self confidence grows, ready for the next adventure of discovery.
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We need to be open to what takes placeand able to change our plans and go with whatmight grow at that very moment both inside thechild and inside ourselves.
Be always flexible! Expecting the unpredictable I think helps take some of the stress away. It might help to not be too invested in a particular outcome.
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You never come in an isolated way; you alwayscome with pieces of the world attached to you. Sothe meetings that we have are always contaminatedwith the experiences that we bring with us.
Being mindful that I bring pieced of my world and that always affects how I interact in the classroom. Then extending that realization that it's the same for the children. They bring with them pieces of their world and culture.
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Thisis a dialogue that needs to be continual between theadults and the children. The adults ask questionsfrom the world of adults to the children. Thechildren will ask questions to the adults. The expec-tations that the children have of the adults and theadults have of the children are important. We mustspend some time talking about these expectations
This section reminds me how important it is to slow down. That some of the most important work of the day is investment in the relationships. It's so easy to get busy with tasks that opportunities to build relationships are lost.
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The environment you construct around you and thechildren also reflects this image you have about thechild. There’s a difference between the environmentthat you are able to build based on a preconceivedimage of the child and the environment that you canbuild that is based on the child you see in front of you— the relationship you build with the child, thegames you play. An environment that grows out ofyour relationship with the child is unique and fluid.The quality and quantity of relationships among youas adults and educators also reflects your image ofthe child.
This section really resonated with me as I know that the environment reflects the teachers culture but I never made the connection before that the construction of the environment reveals the teacher's image of the child. For me it places an even greater importance on intentionality in that construction. Wanting to create an environment that conveys a strong and positive image of the child.
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- Aug 2020
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Notapre-setcurriculumbutaprocessofinvitingandsustaininglearning.Onceteachershavepreparedanenvironmentrichinmaterialsandpossibilities,theyobserveandlistentothechildreninordertoknowhowtoproceedwiththeirwork.
This was my favorite part when I was working with children, seeing them experience and explore a provocation I set out for them. They always surprised me with their insights that I hadn't thought of in my preparation. My challenge is always how to keep it going.
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Teachersandchildrenaspartnersinlearning.Astrongimageofthechildhastocorrespondtoastrongimageoftheteacher.Teachersarenotconsideredprotectivebaby-sitters,teachingbasicskillstochildrenbutrathertheyareseenaslearnersalongwiththechildren.Theyaresupported,valuedfortheirexperienceandtheirideas,andseenasresearchers.CooperationatalllevelsintheschoolsisthepowerfulmodeofworkingthatmakespossibletheachievementofthecomplexgoalsthatReggioeducatorshavesetforthemselves
This paragraph really resonated with me. I love the concept of teachers learning in partnership with children and in Italy that community participates as well. Everyone is working toward what's best for children and families.
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