MORE THAN ‘JUST’ SLOWING DOWN

Last week, Fiona urged us to ensure pedagogical documentation sits at the heart of our practice. She advocated for including ‘routines of questioning, of thinking, of dialogue and conversation’ so that we ‘disrupt our habits and dig deeper in a shared search for meaning’.

I know teams that dedicate at least one weekly meeting to conversations around pedagogical documentation. Each team member brings documentation that is viewed, read and discussed by others. Moments like this can be viewed as ‘shared meaning making processes’ among educators (Diane Kashin2015). It provides opportunities for exchanging points of view about how children learn together and what theories and ideas are on their minds. Pedagogical documentation helps us with discovering and amplifying an identity of children as curious, competent leaners who have explanations, perspectives and interesting ideas to offer.

When we document, we can notice what each child brings to our context. The only thing we have to do is slow down, ask questions, bring interesting materials and consider what is of interest to the children in our learning group. When we want to make connections with the lives of the children and hear their points of view, we need to ensure we understand the ‘worlds’ they are part of.

A few weeks ago, I was part of a conversation about tulips. Children discussed what they noticed, looked at different parts and wondered about their purpose. Spontaneously, initial questions and theories started to emerge. 

“The stem has a skin so what’s inside can’t be lost, so it will not die. You can see through the skin, it’s like a soft window.”

Reflecting on these conversations, we decided to offer an opportunity to think more deeply about the ‘small stripes’ on the petals of the flower. This was something the children had noticed as a feature of the petals. The next day, ink was added to the water and slowly the flowers started to change colour. This delighted the children and invited them to consider the connection between the stem and the petals.

“The flower drinks with little ‘tubes’. It starts with the stalk, then the petal and then the leaves.”

Another element of fascination has been the connection between flowers, nectar and honey. By bringing this interest to the whole group, all children had an opportunity to consider the question “How do we get honey from flowers?” The children had many, sometimes opposing, ideas that provided multiple entry points for continued investigations:

“The bee drinks the honey and takes it to the bee hive.”

‘He wants the honey and the king, the mother of the bees, perhaps told him.”

“The bee sucks the honey.”

“The bee smells the nectar.”

“The bee makes the nectar and takes it somewhere else.”

Snippets of conversations, videos and photographs provide an opportunity to re-consider what we think children are capable of. It gives us an exciting window into the way children experience the world and appreciate the meanings they find within it. 

I have noticed that many educators, when talking about young children’s learning, add the word ‘just’ to their sentences. Sentences like “They are just exploring the primary colours”. “He is just tapping on the materials.” “She is just building relationships with others. “It is just sensory play” are often used and seem to negate the importance of this learning for those children at that particular point in time.

Perhaps it is more than just slowing down and taking the time to listen and notice children’s theories, ideas, preferences, identities and perspectives. We first need to deeply believe that all children are capable of constructing meaning and then examine our own lens and practices that may prevent us from seeing what is already there. 

We can then eliminate the word ‘just’ from our vocabulary. This will help us with focusing our thinking on children’s competencies and their ability to learn. Every day, we need to communicate the magic and importance of children’s curiosities, wonderings and discoveries to parents, colleagues and school leaders. Because if we don’t acknowledge them as amazing learners, who will?

Anne