One of the things I'm really struggling with is the glut of edutainment and crafts activities that are everywhere right now. We've been dealing with the 'Pinterest-ification' of the "Reggio Approach" for a while now. Connected learning and online school has brought just a crush of new tips, tricks and activities for families to do with their children.
My instagram is filled with suggestions, activities and quotes about what parents should do. I find it overwhelming, and my children are grown! I imagine if I had younger children at home I would be both feeling guilty and avoiding social media for a good part of the day.
Many of the activities sound fun, and a few reach deeper into the realm of real learning. Others are banal and silly. I like a good craft when I want one, but I work hard to try to find the deeper stuff that's really worthy of the children I know. I think we owe it to children to ask really good questions and then listen for their answers. The crafty projects are probably easier for many families to choose right now. It's hard to find a moment to think amidst all the things that require us to just respond, to just act, to do something.
So that brings my to what I'm puzzling over- should I add my voice to the crowd, should send anything out at all? If I do, how can I send something that's high quality yet fun enough to attract families' interest? My provocations were getting a lot of participation the first week school was out. Now it's hardly any. Here's the type of thing I've been sending;
I feel good about this provocation. Even if I'm not getting a ton of response, I think I can hold my head up in adding it to the conversation. At work I often think about Dewey's idea of educational experiences, and how he said that teachers can give experiences that aren't educational if they're not careful. His two main points for good educative experiences were that they must have continuity and interaction. I think of this criteria a lot. With digital teaching, we may have lost both of those things. Interaction has definitely taken on new meaning when it occurs via a screen. Now it seems more important than ever for teachers to think about and offer "educative" experiences for families to choose.*
I think this is an example of a child thinking deeply, referencing previous knowledge in a new situation, and making her understanding visible. Tell me what you think?
 |
| "My six-year-old made a clock and is adding a "tick" for every day she misses her friends" |
When I look at this response to the provocation, I see a lot.
Here is what this photo and description reveals to me;
I think Sabina thought about what she knew about time. One thing she knew was that clocks have to do with time. 'What about clocks? I'm going to put some marks here like clocks have, but those don't seem to measure the time, they seem to show for sections of the clock face. There is more to clocks- they have a thing that is sequential, that adds a bit for each bit of time that goes by. I'll call that bit a 'tick'. What does a tick mean? A tick is a symbol for a day, and not just that! A tick is a day that I miss my friends! I'll add one tick for each time that happens. I've probably missed them a bunch of days already, so I'm gonna fill some ticks in to show that'.
This of course, is my own interpretation. the child may say something else, but in a reflective practice of teaching and from my kitchen table, all I have to go on is my point of view.
*Here are some things Dewey wrote in Experience and Eduction;
“the belief that all genuine education comes about through experience does not mean that all experiences are genuinely or equally educative. Experience and education cannot be directly equated to each other”
"A given experience may increase a person’s automatic skill in a particular direction and yet tend to land him in a groove or rut; the effect again is to narrow the field of further experience"
"No matter how interesting the experience is, if it does not support or encourage the following experience and, even, learners’ learning purpose attainment, it can not be counted as an educative means"
Comments
Post a Comment
Please do comment!