Tag Archives: character

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This is the future of our world

  By joremland • January 4, 2016 ,

It was a thrill to be back.  As a whole, the children made a startlingly smooth transition back to school today.  January tends to be that time when our class becomes almost as comfortable as a family.  Similar to a family, in the Otter class, we know each other pretty well and we trust each other pretty deeply.  When we grow to this point, behavior can reflect that familiarity and trust – especially the trust that one will be loved even if one makes a bad choice.

Today was a very peaceful day.  Everyone treated each other with respect and showed respect for the rules they created.  Yes, young people did speak a few angry and respectful words in times of discomfort or disagreement.  And those words were respectfully listened to.  This is the future of our world!

January is one of my favorite months as we explore individual differences, cultural differences, rights, and the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

We began today by focusing on the differences in the color of our skins, and the similarities in our hearts: joy, pain, love, and fear.  We read Mem Fox’s Whoever You Are, and some children then had their turn to mix paint colors to find their individual skin tone.

Meanwhile, other students began a mini-study of buses, so we can build our own bus in class to use when we explore the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the coming weeks.

We talked some about changing “bad rules.”  Students posited unfair rules, and they discussed the reasons why they were unfair.  At first, some maintained that it would be fine to make everyone wear Elsa boots.  When another child suggested, “no, everyone has to wear boy shoes,” the conversation shifted.  I was impressed with the clarity of thinking and communication when a student said, “no, because we have boys and girls here.”

I’m always hoping that there will be a time when we talk about each other more as individuals than as members of groups, gender-based or otherwise.  The precepts of most languages, with their gender-specific pronouns, suggest this is unlikely.  But if we can at least converse about differences, if we can respect and even enjoy our differences, I think we’re moving in a healthy direction.  If we can recognize that each of us is inherently worthy of dignity and respect, I think we’re moving in a healthy direction.

When three and four year olds recognize that we don’t all need the same kind of shoes, and should be free to choose those that are best for us, I think we’re moving in a healthy direction.

“We have boys and girls here.”

This is the future of our world.

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There’s No Play Like Snow Play

  By joremland • December 2, 2015 ,

Today your children absolutely amazed me as they took advantage of the marvelous opportunity to imagine, explore, build, sculpt, investigate and otherwise enjoy SNOW! (red text is a link…click it! 🙂   )

IMG_20151202_101438546First, their preparation for outdoor exploration was amazing — every child diligently dressed for the weather.  Every child worked at their highest level – some can zip, some can don boots, some helped others get into their gear (without being asked).  Teachers met children at their level and helped them work on their next level of skill – learning to turn sleeves inside out, learning to keep fingers available for all tasks by donning mittens last, etc.  These skills seem so basic, and superficially, they are.  But when a child receives support and guidance that leads them to build their own knowledge and skill, much more happens.  They build self-efficacy: confidence in their own skills, including their ability to learn.  They build self-determination: in this case, the internal motivation to try new things and to persevere.

Next, their play in the snow was joyful, thoughtfully risky, and exploratory — physically, cognitively and socially.  Although I typically prepare students for snow play by engaging them in a safety and ethics conversation, followed my cooperative rule-making, this time something told me to let them have the first move.  And they took it admirably.  Everyone — absolutely everyone — had snow thrown at them.  One child said, “no,” and from then on, no one threw snow at them.  Some children had snow land on their face — sometimes laughter ensued, but when it didn’t, children said things like, “hey, don’t throw it at my face.”  And the thrower said, “OK,” and threw the next snowball at the jacket.  I myself had snow in my ear, and when I said, “[Student], please don’t throw any more snow in my ear,” the child said, “OK,” and was 100% true to their word.

Finally, at the end of outdoor play, we had a rehearsal for the concert on December 15 (8:45am, in the gym).  As a group, we do not sound ready yet.  But we saw those deeper things: self-efficacy, perseverance, and willingness to try, as students continued to develop their understanding of the different types of sounds they can create with their voices, the idea of singing together as one unit, as well as musical growth including tempo, dynamics, and pitch.

OK, enough of me going on about how much I love my job.

Thank you to those who brought snow pants, hat, and mittens for your kids.  Whether the weather is warm or cold, outside is an important learning environment.  If you haven’t got snow gear yet, here’s some unsolicited advice:

  • Please label everything.
  • Mittens are better than gloves – more independence-development and more warmth!
  • Knit mittens get wet and cold fairly quickly, water resistant ones keep hands warmer longer.
  • Leave an inexpensive set of mittens and a hat in your child’s cubby if you’d like.
  • If you haven’t yet, please also switch out your child’s backup clothes to warmer ones.
  • Please write your child’s name or initials on the tags of their gear.  We teach the students to care for their things, and that takes time to solidify — in the meantime, imagine up to 36 mittens adorning the classroom floor!  Labels help your child’s stuff go home with you!

Thank you!  We DO love to learn out in the rain, and cold, and snow.

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On Its Hook

  By joremland • September 28, 2015 ,

An update on our learning community:

We have officially exited the “honeymoon” period of the school year.

Unconsciously, most of us wore raincoats of caution at the beginning of the year, protecting ourselves from getting soaked by the unknown rain of each other’s actions and reactions.  Just as those coats insulated us from others, they also sealed in some of our own expression.  We wondered how people would accept our weather: our moods, our ways of interacting.  Many of us kept much of that safely hidden inside our brightly colored exterior.

During the initial weeks we have made rules together, and broken some of them.  We have made mistakes together, and succeeded together.  We’ve learned how each other’s raindrops of personality feel when they land.  For the most part, we now feel safe together.

The coats are off.

We feel safe together.  Safe to take chances and see what others like and don’t like.  Safe to experiment and find out that some people don’t actually like to be repeatedly tapped on the head, or to have their block tower knocked down.  Some children feel safe to let their anger come out without traveling through the language center of the brain.  Safe to try various ways of communicating.

As for me, I joked with a student last week, ending the joke with a farcically scary face.  The student laughed, and everything seemed fine; we went on with our day.  Later, the parent emailed me to say the child wanted to know if I was still mad.  We talked on the phone and gained a still deeper understanding of each other and the student.  I checked in with the student the next day and straightened it out.  We both learned a great deal.

So, yes, the coats are off, and sometimes we’re getting each other uncomfortably wet.  However, with our coats off we get so much more.  With our raincoats off we can get wet, and we’re OK.  And better still, we can also enjoy each other’s light.  We can enjoy mutual comfort, share jokes and goodhearted teasing, help each other overcome obstacles, build camaraderie, ask questions, answer them and much more.

On its hook — that’s where I’ll keep my raincoat.

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