This discussion has left two deep and lasting impressions on me. One is that this book and these exchanges have been a transformative event. I sense that practices are actually in the process of changing as a result of what has happened here. That is a rare phenomenon. The other is that I have spent time with some truly dedicated, talented, and thoughtful practitioners. It has been a priviledge and pleasure to have hosted this event.
I have sensed the group is not necessarily ready to stop networking, just because the stated deadline has come and gone. So I offer up this final post, as a place for participants to continue to share resources, update each other on actions taken, and solicit advice. Good luck to all. It will be a better world when all around us focus a little less on "Be Careful" and a little more on "Pay Attention".
Monday, March 9, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
A Few More Resources
Carol Godfrey wanted to pass this recent offering along:
The Fear of Play
March 2, 2009
Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think.Ralph Waldo EmersonThe March issue of Exchange, which is now on its way to subscribers around the world, features a Beginnings Workshop section with four articles on the challenges of play, including one by Joan Almon, "The Fear of Play," from which the excerpt below comes and which can be viewed in its entirety on the Exchange web site.
"Real play — play that is initiated and directed by children and that bubbles up from within the child rather than being imposed by adults — has largely disappeared from the landscape of childhood in the United States. There are many reasons for this, such as the long hours spent in front of screens each day or in activities organized by adults. In addition, preschools and kindergartens that used to foster meaningful play and exploration often spend long hours on adult-led instruction instead.
"All of these are the outer manifestations of something deeper — a modern mindset that does not value play and is even afraid of it. Some fears are easy to identify. People freely admit they are afraid of accidents in play and want to minimize risk. Yet playgrounds that offer genuine risk, such as Berkeley’s adventure playground, where children build two-story play structures with hammers and nails, tend to have fewer accidents than traditional playgrounds. Give children real risk and they rise to it; they learn how to handle it. Give them sanitized play spaces, and children often are less conscious of risk and have accidents, or take outlandish risks for the sheer excitement of it all.
"There is also a widespread fear of ‘s tranger danger.’ Most parents will not let their elementary-age children go out unattended. Yet most crimes against children, such as abduction or abuse, are perpetrated by people the family knows rather than strangers on the playground.
"These are the easily recognized fears. There are underlying fears that are harder to describe.
"The current mindset in the U.S. leads us to create a life that is as safe and risk-free as possible. We want life to be ultra-organized, and we want to be in charge at all times. We’re taught from early on that life should be rational and measurable. No wonder people love to see young children sitting still and working on worksheets or at computer screens. It’s so tidy compared to play, which is messy, not only physically but also emotionally.
"In play, the full range of human feelings and longings surfaces at one time or another, some of which are not very beautiful and can even be a bit scary. In addition, play is hard to track or assess. It wanders in and out of different realities like dreams. It may start out looking familiar, but will often go into deeper realms that are not easily understood. Play is full of symbols and metaphors. It has some elements that seem familiar and arise from our everyday life, but in the next moment it is full of magical thinking. It is a way of perceiving the world that is reminiscent of fairy tales and myths. It is the antithesis of didactic teaching and scripted lessons, which are highly predictable, although their outcomes tend to be much weaker than promised."
In addition, I recently ran across the web site www.ecoliteracy.com. Among its offerings are downloadable books or pamphlets such as: Re-Thinking School Lunch; Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability; Getting Started: A Guide for Creating School Gardens as Outdoor Curriculum; and Big Ideas (described as a “conceptual framework for an integrated curriculum linking food, health and the environment”. Definitely worth browsing!
You can post your own resource suggestions, to add to these two. I know there are already several sprinkled throughout the other topics.
The Fear of Play
March 2, 2009
Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think.Ralph Waldo EmersonThe March issue of Exchange, which is now on its way to subscribers around the world, features a Beginnings Workshop section with four articles on the challenges of play, including one by Joan Almon, "The Fear of Play," from which the excerpt below comes and which can be viewed in its entirety on the Exchange web site.
"Real play — play that is initiated and directed by children and that bubbles up from within the child rather than being imposed by adults — has largely disappeared from the landscape of childhood in the United States. There are many reasons for this, such as the long hours spent in front of screens each day or in activities organized by adults. In addition, preschools and kindergartens that used to foster meaningful play and exploration often spend long hours on adult-led instruction instead.
"All of these are the outer manifestations of something deeper — a modern mindset that does not value play and is even afraid of it. Some fears are easy to identify. People freely admit they are afraid of accidents in play and want to minimize risk. Yet playgrounds that offer genuine risk, such as Berkeley’s adventure playground, where children build two-story play structures with hammers and nails, tend to have fewer accidents than traditional playgrounds. Give children real risk and they rise to it; they learn how to handle it. Give them sanitized play spaces, and children often are less conscious of risk and have accidents, or take outlandish risks for the sheer excitement of it all.
"There is also a widespread fear of ‘s tranger danger.’ Most parents will not let their elementary-age children go out unattended. Yet most crimes against children, such as abduction or abuse, are perpetrated by people the family knows rather than strangers on the playground.
"These are the easily recognized fears. There are underlying fears that are harder to describe.
"The current mindset in the U.S. leads us to create a life that is as safe and risk-free as possible. We want life to be ultra-organized, and we want to be in charge at all times. We’re taught from early on that life should be rational and measurable. No wonder people love to see young children sitting still and working on worksheets or at computer screens. It’s so tidy compared to play, which is messy, not only physically but also emotionally.
"In play, the full range of human feelings and longings surfaces at one time or another, some of which are not very beautiful and can even be a bit scary. In addition, play is hard to track or assess. It wanders in and out of different realities like dreams. It may start out looking familiar, but will often go into deeper realms that are not easily understood. Play is full of symbols and metaphors. It has some elements that seem familiar and arise from our everyday life, but in the next moment it is full of magical thinking. It is a way of perceiving the world that is reminiscent of fairy tales and myths. It is the antithesis of didactic teaching and scripted lessons, which are highly predictable, although their outcomes tend to be much weaker than promised."
In addition, I recently ran across the web site www.ecoliteracy.com. Among its offerings are downloadable books or pamphlets such as: Re-Thinking School Lunch; Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability; Getting Started: A Guide for Creating School Gardens as Outdoor Curriculum; and Big Ideas (described as a “conceptual framework for an integrated curriculum linking food, health and the environment”. Definitely worth browsing!
You can post your own resource suggestions, to add to these two. I know there are already several sprinkled throughout the other topics.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Final Reflection
[A response required to receive training credits. The final reflection is in addition to required 8 posts for training credit. All posts and final reflections should be completed by Friday, March 6th].
For your final reflection, talk about new learnings, if any, that have come from this book and this discussion. New ideas? New information? New connections? New attitudes? New priorities? Can you identify any one idea as having had the greatest impact on your thinking?
In addition, talk about specific changes in your practices you contemplate making as a result of this experience. Do you anticipate changing the environment(s) you make available to children? Your schedules? Your policies and forms? Your staff orientation and training? Your communications with parents? Who do you feel the urge to talk to about these issues, and what do you intend to tell them?
And, of course, feel free to share any other final thoughts you deem important. Your final reflection should be at least the equivalent of a one-page, double-spaced paper.
For your final reflection, talk about new learnings, if any, that have come from this book and this discussion. New ideas? New information? New connections? New attitudes? New priorities? Can you identify any one idea as having had the greatest impact on your thinking?
In addition, talk about specific changes in your practices you contemplate making as a result of this experience. Do you anticipate changing the environment(s) you make available to children? Your schedules? Your policies and forms? Your staff orientation and training? Your communications with parents? Who do you feel the urge to talk to about these issues, and what do you intend to tell them?
And, of course, feel free to share any other final thoughts you deem important. Your final reflection should be at least the equivalent of a one-page, double-spaced paper.
Suggestions for Next Book Discussion
If you have a suggestion for a topic or specific book that you would like to be the focus of our next book discussion, post it here. The BAEYC Old Colony Chapter Steering Committee, which hosts this event, would welcome your suggestions. Authors who might also be available to present as part of our next Spring Conference would be of special interest.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Preparing for Second Face-to-Face
What an exciting discussion is in progress - keep it up! Let me go over a few logistics, as we near the end of the discussion period:
- Next week is the 2nd face-to-face (Tues., Feb. 24, 6:45-8:15, Campus Center, Room 204), but you don't have to have all your posts done by then. I am looking to wrap up the discussion and award credits by the end of the FOLLOWING week, Friday Feb. 27th.
- One piece of information I have not gathered from everyone is a MAILING ADDRESS for sending you your certificates of participation. You can either give me this information at the final face-to-face or E-mail it to me (gnelson@bridgew.edu). For those who did not attend the first face-to-face, I will also need to know whether you want the certificate to be training hours (for the Dept of Early Ed and Care) or PDPs (for the Dept of Elem and Secondary Ed).
- There will be one final reflection topic I will post AFTER the final face-to-face. ALL participants who want to receive credit will need to respond to this final post.
- In making sure you have done enough posts for the credit you want, don't count the "Introduce Yourself" or final reflection posts in your count. If you want 10 hours credit and you attend both face-to-faces, you need at least 8 posts. If you miss one face-to-face, you need at least 12 posts. If you are doing on-line only (i.e., 5 hours credit), you need at least 8 posts. Below those minimums, we thank you for your participation and hope you found it worthwhile, but no certificate will be issued.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Posting to the blog
There has been some trouble w/the website and some contributors are not getting their comments posted. Please take the following precaution so you do not lose your work! Write your comment in MS Word (or similar format), save it on your computer and then copy and paste it into the blog comment box before publishing your comment. Thank you!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Introduce Yourself!
We're set to start! We had a very good, wide-ranging discussion at the first face-to-face, where we settled on a preliminary set of discussion topics to explore. We who attended the face-to-face got to introduce ourselves to each other, but there are quite a few individuals who will be joining this conversation on line who were not present at that meeting. In your reply to this subject heading, please introduce yourself, briefly describing your background, current position, how long you've been in the field, and anything else you want us to know about yourself.
Re-Training Our Staff
Responding to Louv's challenge requires more than us being convinced or us taking steps to change the physical outdoor environment the children experience. We need to change the thinking, the reactions, and the practices of the entire teaching staff and administration. How do we go about that? What policies need to change? What information needs to be shared to change staff practices and reactions? Do staff have to re-think their attitudes toward messiness and icky things, toward unstructured time, toward acceptable levels of danger or risk? How much do staff have to overcome their fears of nature? Do staff, as well as children, need to experience the benefits of nature as a de-stressor?
A related topic is that Louv presents us with a challenging dilemma. On the one hand, we need to learn to let go, to provide children more opportunities to structure their own experiences and environments, to give them the gift of unscripted, loosely supervised time in more naturalistic spaces. But he also says there is a need for adults to facilitate children's appreciation of nature and to model the sense of wonder and respect we want them to adopt. How do we learn this balance and teach our staffs to do both? How do we strike a balance between giving children more opportunities to explore nature for the sheer joy of it and the temptation to treat contact with nature as a series of teachable moments?
Practical solutions, personal examples, and found resources are welcome!
A related topic is that Louv presents us with a challenging dilemma. On the one hand, we need to learn to let go, to provide children more opportunities to structure their own experiences and environments, to give them the gift of unscripted, loosely supervised time in more naturalistic spaces. But he also says there is a need for adults to facilitate children's appreciation of nature and to model the sense of wonder and respect we want them to adopt. How do we learn this balance and teach our staffs to do both? How do we strike a balance between giving children more opportunities to explore nature for the sheer joy of it and the temptation to treat contact with nature as a series of teachable moments?
Practical solutions, personal examples, and found resources are welcome!
Effects of Nature Deficit Disorder
Louv makes a strong case that children are damaged by losing touch with nature and that, in turn, nature has a healing effect upon damaged children. What are some of these categories of damage and healing? What evidence does Louv present, and how convincing is it?
How does Louv's assertion compare to your own experiences with children? How about in your own personal life? Do you see evidence that we as a species have an instinctual need to be in contact with nature? Are you convinced that many of society's ills can be traced to our increasing isolation from the natural world?
How does Louv's assertion compare to your own experiences with children? How about in your own personal life? Do you see evidence that we as a species have an instinctual need to be in contact with nature? Are you convinced that many of society's ills can be traced to our increasing isolation from the natural world?
Our Own Outdoor Spaces
If we take Louv's arguments seriously, we must re-consider the outdoor spaces we provide in our programs - and uses of spaces beyond our playgrounds. How much do children have an opportunity to experience nature in our programs? What changes would we have to make, in structure or policy, to increase that exposure?
To what extent do our outdoor spaces have what Louv calls "loose parts" that can be used by children in creative and malleable fashion? Are their pragmatic barriers that keep us from taking steps in this direction?
Do we see children in our care seeking out the edges of the spaces we provide them, away from the play structures we have provided? What do they do there? To what extent do children in our programs have a chance to get off by themselves, alone and in small groups, to entertain themselves, explore, create, ponder, invent, and imagine? How much are natural elements a part of those activities?
Are we encouraging or discouraging their attempts to connect with the natural world on their own terms?
To what extent do our outdoor spaces have what Louv calls "loose parts" that can be used by children in creative and malleable fashion? Are their pragmatic barriers that keep us from taking steps in this direction?
Do we see children in our care seeking out the edges of the spaces we provide them, away from the play structures we have provided? What do they do there? To what extent do children in our programs have a chance to get off by themselves, alone and in small groups, to entertain themselves, explore, create, ponder, invent, and imagine? How much are natural elements a part of those activities?
Are we encouraging or discouraging their attempts to connect with the natural world on their own terms?
Fear Factor
A broad-ranging theme in Louv's book is the fears that plague adults and children in our culture, increasingly causing us to keep the unknown, including the natural world, at arm's length. How dangerous is the world today? How have we come to feel this way? What message have contributed to this disproportionate sense of fear? What is an acceptable amount of risk for us to expose our children to? How closely do we need to supervise our children, and what are the dangers of over-supervising them?
A part of this conversational thread is: How has this rubbed off on our children? How are they being affected by our well-intentioned desire to keep them from harm? Are they learning to be good decision makers and to assess for themselves reasonable risk? Are our habits ultimately making them more safe, or less? What do you think would happen if you loosen the reins and let the children in your care have more unstructured, less highly supervised contact with the natural world?
Are the children you work with fearful? In general? Of the natural world and its creatures? Of wind, rain, dirt, and the dark?
A part of this conversational thread is: How has this rubbed off on our children? How are they being affected by our well-intentioned desire to keep them from harm? Are they learning to be good decision makers and to assess for themselves reasonable risk? Are our habits ultimately making them more safe, or less? What do you think would happen if you loosen the reins and let the children in your care have more unstructured, less highly supervised contact with the natural world?
Are the children you work with fearful? In general? Of the natural world and its creatures? Of wind, rain, dirt, and the dark?
Parent Education
One important issue that emerged from our initial conversations was: How do we effectively share this perspective with the parents of the children in our care. As Louv indicates, parents need to re-educate themselves and re-think some of their preconceptions and habits. But they may not take the time to read Louv's book!
So what can we do to change their minds? How do we market this idea? How do we convince families of the importance of their children getting outside more and experiencing nature in less tightly supervised and scripted ways? How do we help them know the benefits of connecting with nature, and the dangers of not doing so? How do we address the fears that drive them to keep their children tightly under their wing?
Share not just good ideas you have gleaned from the book, but your own success stories, if you have them, or resources that you think might prove helpful.
So what can we do to change their minds? How do we market this idea? How do we convince families of the importance of their children getting outside more and experiencing nature in less tightly supervised and scripted ways? How do we help them know the benefits of connecting with nature, and the dangers of not doing so? How do we address the fears that drive them to keep their children tightly under their wing?
Share not just good ideas you have gleaned from the book, but your own success stories, if you have them, or resources that you think might prove helpful.
Our Own Childhoods vs. Childhood Today
I guess I lied in terms of the number of topics. There was one more topic discussants at the face-to-face spent a lot of time on, a topic that makes up a large part of Louv's narrative:
Many of us lived very different childhoods than our children are living today, spending significant amounts of time in outdoor environments with our peers and with little supervision by adults. Here's a place to share those memories and talk about what effect you think those experiences had on you.
To what extent can we turn back the clock and give similar experiences to our own children, or are they a part of a by-gone era that cannot be recreated? What steps have you taken, in your own family or with the children you care for, to give children today a taste of what you once had?
Many of us lived very different childhoods than our children are living today, spending significant amounts of time in outdoor environments with our peers and with little supervision by adults. Here's a place to share those memories and talk about what effect you think those experiences had on you.
To what extent can we turn back the clock and give similar experiences to our own children, or are they a part of a by-gone era that cannot be recreated? What steps have you taken, in your own family or with the children you care for, to give children today a taste of what you once had?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)