sol17-20 Are we listening?

I am participating in the
Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC).
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day of March 2017. 

A big thank you to Two Writing Teachers for providing this unique opportunity
for teacher-writers to share and reflect.

Near the end of a day, when many children had been picked up, and the room was growing quieter and only a few children remained, she came to me and said, "Ms. Ingram, I have a song I want to share." "A song?" I asked, "Oh please do!" She began solemnly, "I have a song about Rapunzel. There's no sorceress, only a bad guy and the bad guy, he..." I realized immediately, this was not a song, certainly not a typical song, but a story, a sharing, an outpouring of words that this little preschooler was simply bursting to offer. I got out my pen and wrote her offering down.

I love that she called it a song. 

I love that she knew I would want to capture it, that I would write it down and read it back to her.

I love that I have created the space for such sharing to happen.

I worry that I am not hearing everyone's stories.

I worry that my days get too busy, that I have too many to do's.

I worry that one day someone will say, "excuse me, that child is not focused on what is in your lesson plan for this part of the day." 

Well, I don't really worry about this happening to me, because I would no longer be teaching if that were the expectation. But, honestly - it is happening in classrooms. Yes, even in the preschool classroom, there is an ever-increasing burden for writing detailed lesson plans, noting each and every standard or objective you will teach. 

I worry about novice, less-experienced teachers who bow to administrations that ask this of them, who faithfully expend hours making the minute and predictive details of curriculum planning and who teach to these plans, but have not the time to observe, or reflect on, or to be truly present with their students. If the expectation is on the paperwork, the forms, the "shell" of teaching, how do teachers learn to focus on the individual student, to create a classroom that builds on children's own interests, and where children are curious, investigating, moving, conversing, trying, questioning, wondering?  

This little girl and her story song - these are opportunities woven like a golden yet invisible thread into the fabric of my planning. You won't find them listed anywhere in my plans. These moments are when I feel my teaching is at its best: children who have been so riveted by books, so engaged by their play, so delighted by dramatizing stories, so lost in their learning, that they must, simply must, tell you all about it. 

We teachers must be there to listen.

Isn't this what children deserve? 

Tuesday SOL: What are they thinking about?

This is a Tuesday
Slice of Life.
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day. 

Check out the Two Writing Teachers website for many more reflections on teaching.

This school year, invigorated by my awesome summer training about Project Zero (see earlier blogpost), I set a personal goal of observing and documenting children's thinking. What do I notice?

I feel my teaching changing. I find myself wondering - what are they thinking? I have added the expectation that children observe closely all that we are doing. We are recalling and reflecting more together. What do you see? What is the why behind what we are doing? What do you think it means? Have we seen or done this before?

I am trying very hard to make myself pause in the midst of my teaching, to think about their thinking. What are they trying to figure out? What is on their minds? I am noticing things that I have never paid attention to before. 

One recent morning during our centers exploration, two little boys chased each other with puzzle pieces. The puzzle pieces were rescue vehicles - an ambulance, a firetruck, a police car. Vroom! Vroom! Whoo whoo whoo! They raced around the room, acting these out.

What am I thinking at this very moment? No running! Stop that!
Switch gears. What are they thinking?
They are thinking about rescue vehicles! They are excited about these, acting them out.

Honestly, thinking about their thinking changed my reaction. I inserted myself into their play. I began building a large vehicle with blocks - I placed two chairs down first, and I started to create "sides" with blocks.  "What if we built an ambulance? Could we?" I called out to them. Oh, they were so excited. "Yes!" We were immediately swarmed by many other children. Everyone began furiously building - and, telling a story. I wrote down what I overheard. 

At Storytime, I shared the words I overheard and asked if there were any details I had left out.  What is the whole story of our adventure? The children were delighted that I had listened to them and they had lots more to add. I wrote all their thoughts down and repeated them back to them.

By the end of the children's nap, I had created a simple book of the day's adventure, entitled "Big Cats to the Rescue!" 

This is the story of the day's adventure:

One day in the Big Cats, we built a helicopter, police, firefighter, race car truck.

The police come for the bad guys. The firetruck puts out fires. Helicopter goes up and helps people. It was chasing bad guys. Big Cats to the rescue!  

It was going into space because a rocketship was stuck. The planets were sharp where the rocketship got stuck. The police were going to all the planets. The Earth planets were sideways.

We live on Earth. The Big Cats were helping. The Big Cats were saving all the people on the planet. 

The End.

Of course, I had the authors sign the book for me!

Slowly, slowly, slowly,
I am helping them see.

Slowly, slowly, slowly,
I am helping them take ownership. Find their own voice. Feel responsible.

Slowly, slowly, slowly,
I am cultivating independence, curiosity, thinking.


I hope "children's thinking" will become the focus of many blogposts.

SOLSC #4 When do we do our best writing?

During the month of March, I am participating in
the Slice of Life Story Challenge.
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days. My slices will be primarily about teaching preschoolers.

Check out the Two Writing Teachers website for many more reflections on teaching.

Yesterday I wrote about how challenging it can be to get a child's story sometimes, in terms of simply being able to create the time and space for listening and transcribing it, in the midst of so many other demands. This got me thinking about their story-telling in general - their oral writing.

Preschoolers share stories all day long. As Bev Bos suggests, you simply have to ask, "How does your story begin?" and children share a gift of imagination. Sometimes I'll ask for a more 'focused' story - for example, whenever preschoolers create something, I encourage them to share a story about what they made. In recent days, we have been creating 3-D engineering projects, and I encourage the children to tell me more about it, especially how it works. These stories are delightful! Some preschoolers hold fast to the story they share, repeating it again and again, and demonstrating great logic and memory skills. Many preschoolers share 'momentary stories,' something that they are thinking about just then, at that precise moment, and, without the gift of my pen to record these, these are stories you will never hear again. I often think these children with 'momentary stories' are my fiction writers - dreaming up one new imaginative possibility after another. For example, yesterday's little girl tried to share a story about a boat. Today, when I reconnected with her about her project, she had so many fabulous new details to share about a house...there was no mention of a boat. I love this! These preschoolers show such freedom and flexibility in their storytelling, wandering down the agreeable path that the moment requires, unbound by any thread or remnant of an earlier tale. 

I wonder, too, about the effect of pen and paper. I have noticed that my writing of their words begins to cement the story in the child's mind - they delight in my read-aloud of their words, and they are over the moon when I send these words home (or display them in the classroom) and a family member reads these words aloud. Then, I notice, the free-spirit storyteller disappears and a new, precise re-teller of tales appears - the preschooler is often able to repeat the story exactly as I wrote it. I know that documenting their ideas is such important work. It shows respect and investment in children's own words and helps cultivate a classroom of writers, storytellers, thinkers, creators. But, I wonder, what happened to all those other story lines, those random threads that they shared before I started writing everything down? Where did all those other story possibilities go?

Let me close with one preschooler's story about the boat she made -

This is a boat. If you push this, it puts strings out, and they tie things. The green button shoots out green beans for the people on the ship, so they can eat. And this one shoots out spoons, so they can eat the beans that fell out. People are hungry.

SOLSC #24 Not the mantras I want repeated

I am posting every day during March as part of the annual "Slice of Life" Challenge for Two Writing Teachers.  Check out their website for lots more reflections on teaching.

*******
Our walk today was only two blocks long,
on a bright, sunny, though somewhat crispy, cold day.
(40 degrees, I think? Not much wind...
not too bad from my perspective...
I thought the fresh air would do us all some good).

But when we got to the furthest point away from school,
I had three preschoolers
who could not be soothed,
who began to repeat the most annoying mantras,
who didn't care how their words and actions affected the rest of us.
Over and over,
all the way back to school,
making the walk feel so, so, so long,
as they repeated,
and repeated
and repeated:

Child One [refusing to zip up his coat or put on his gloves from his pocket] - I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.
Child Two [pulling the walking rope to stop the entire line of classmates] - I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to. I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to. I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to. I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to. I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to.
Child Three [walking backwards]-Why are you saying that? Why are you saying that? Why are you saying that? Why are you saying that? Why are you saying that? Why are you saying that? Why are you saying that?

To me, at the front of the line, I heard:

I am cold. I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to. Why are you saying that? I am cold. Why are you saying that? Why are you saying that?  I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to. I am cold.  I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to. I am cold. Why are you saying that? I am cold. I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to. Why are you saying that? I am cold. Why are you saying that? Why are you saying that?  I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to. I am cold.  I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to. I am cold. Why are you saying that? I am cold. I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to. Why are you saying that? I am cold. Why are you saying that? Why are you saying that?  I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to. I am cold.  I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to. I am cold. Why are you saying that? I am cold. I don't want to walk this far and I am not going to. Why are you saying that? I am cold. Why are you saying that? Why are you saying that?  Idon'twanttowalkthisfarandIamnotgoingtoIamcoldIamcoldWhyareyousayingthat
Idon'twanttowalkthisfarandIamnotgoingtoIamcoldIamcoldWhyareyousayingthat

Yes, it was dreadful.

**************

(A daily share by preschoolers in their own words)

A Story Collage by Zuren

     The Daddy is trying to get out of a cave. And the bear is blocking him. He jumps over him, but the bear is too tall for him to jump over and he keeps blocking him. Then the monster, he was so mean, he just got so tall and he got higher and higher until he touched the sky. The monster is in the cave. But there is a good guy in the cave. He was trying to get the monster out of the cave so Daddy can go and fix his car. The End

SOLSC #20 Let's make a light tunnel!

I am posting every day during March as part of the annual "Slice of Life" Challenge for Two Writing Teachers.  Check out their website for lots more reflections on teaching.

*******

Melissa had the inspiration for this fun new exploration in our class. She had visited the East Wing of the Smithsonian National Art Gallery, only to be mesmerized by the gorgeous light tunnel on the basement level.

Could we create one for the Big Cats? In our classroom? To help them extend their exploration of shadows and light? Wouldn't they love this?

The next thing we knew, Melissa, Claire, and I were hard at work, trying to construct part of the tunnel using tri-fold boards (we found a few extra in our supply room - necessity is the mother of invention!).  This was yesterday, during nap time. There were many non-sleepers who watched our every move, engaged in our construction work, trying to imagine what we were creating. Our beloved building supervisor, Paul, saw us at work and remembered he had another large, strong box...perfect for a second section of our tunnel.

We were filled with our own inquiry -
how to make the box tunnel strong enough for a class of preschoolers to use?
how does one stabilize a box that will be open on both ends?
what could we use to reinforce the corners, to keep them at 90 degree angles? (Blocks, to the rescue!)

(We teachers were thinking like engineers!)

Check out the non-napper who is watching our every move!

Today, during centers, the children painted the boxes black - stretching long and tall to paint inside and out of these large boxes. Wow, did they love this! We turned on the music and danced as we painted. It seemed as if everyone was holding a paint brush soaked with black paint...there were definitely moments when I felt a slight panicky feeling that we had maybe taken on too big and messy a task!

But, ahhh, the delight on everyone's faces! Why not spend a morning this way?

So much more still to come - including the answer to our wondering, will these boxes be strong enough for children to go inside, many times over?

(The best news for me - the preschoolers were just as excited to help wipe the floor of its black speckles, at the end of our painting fun!)

**************

(A daily share by preschoolers in their own words)

A Story Collage by Micaela

     Once upon a time, a lot of people lived in the city at Sherman Circle. Me, my Daddy, my brother, and my Mom. And it was night-time. But then, I suddenly woke up. I heard a scared and spooky sound. I went into my Mom’s room and I had to tell her what the spooky sound was. I looked out the window. For five whole nights. And what I saw was spooky witches and they were messing all around. My favorite Sherman circle. I couldn’t do anything but I was even stronger than them. I went out there as fast as I could and I threw them in the trash. And then, they came out of the trash as fast as they could, but they couldn’t do anything – they were childs! Then a mother penguin came along and they said, “Are you my witch mother?” and she said, “No, I’m a penguin mother and I live in South America.” And a mother rabbit came and he said, “Are you my Mommy?” and she said, “No. I live in North America.” But then walking along, he saw his Mom and he ran over and then they got meaner and meaner but I foughted them off and a cowboy came to save the day. The End.

SOLSC #19 The power of breathing

I am posting every day during March as part of the annual "Slice of Life" Challenge for Two Writing Teachers.  Check out their website for lots more reflections on teaching.

*******

Today and yesterday, with the Mindfulness Conference a fresh echo in my head, I have been trying to both teach and practice breathing skills with the Big Cats. There are several children for whom a loud squawk, shriek, or scream is the first sign I have that something is amiss. I always run right to their side to discern, as quickly as possible, what just happened? is someone bleeding? is someone physically injured? The reality - typically - is much, much less grievous than the squawk, shriek, or scream indicated. Usually, a toy is being shared in a way that doesn't seem fair or some play has not gone their way. I've decided these more loud, volatile aggravations are a ripe opportunity for breathing!

Here's what happened:
1) He explodes when he thinks his classmate has more plastic golf balls than he has - "Ms. Ingram! He took them! Look! Look! Look! He has more! And it's not fair! And I need them! And I was using them."
2) She wails when I take away her doll so that her hands are free to help clean up the classroom with the rest of us - "I want my Mommy! I don't know how to clean! I need my doll!"
3) She screams when her classmate says she is a bad guy and they are running from her - "Waaah! Noooo!"

Each time, I made a conscious effort not to fix the problem, not to tell the child what to say, not to bring arguing parties together immediately. Instead, I got on my knees, on the child's level, and said in a calm voice, "Breathe in, breathe out. Try again, take a deep breath. Let the air out." Sometimes the child kept crying. I continued to soothe, now putting my hand up with four fingers - "See these four candles? Try to blow them out." For each, this was strangely irresistible - they blew at my hand, and I pretended that the four finger candles fell over. I had them blow out these 'candles' two more times.

Then, "Wow, you are calm now. You are breathing so nicely. Now what?"

Each of them solved their own situation! It was a small miracle!
1) "I'm going to tell him he has more than me and I don't like that. We will build a big ramp together."
2) "I'm going to pick up books and put them back on the shelf."
3) "I'm going to tell her that I am not a bad guy! We will chase other bad guys together!"


I am truly amazed.

I see the power of simply being present - not assuming right, wrong, anything.

Wow.

I wonder,
How long will I stay calm in these situations?

**************

(A daily share by preschoolers in their own words)

A Story Collage by Lily

     Those are princess girls. The bear is blocking the way. And that is blocking. The princesses are lost. The tree is lost. They are in the jungle! And the bear is blocking their way. And it is called “Cinderellie”! Once upon a time there was Cinderellie and her mice. The End