The Learning Continuum and play

I'm into my 6th year of teaching through play.  Long enough to explore some of the edges.


I use this continuum from the England Early years curriculum as a way of explaining how we use Play for learning.  The edges being unstructured play (the type you would find students doing in the weekend, or initiating by themselves) and highly structured, (teachers explicit, direct teaching).  In between is a really important place.   The middle, the yellow box is where at least for schools in western education, the most effective learning takes place.   Before I  began learning through play, my teaching would have been mostly on focused learning to the highly structured side.  There was very little, child-initiated play.  The environment didn't allow for it, the timetable worked against it, and resources didn't support it.  It was how it was, mostly teacher-directed. 

Where are you these days?  I know many Educators in New Zealand have started the journey of teaching through play.  How exciting, because to do so means moving towards the yellow box.  Working with students.  That is what Innovative Learning Environments (ILE's) and collaborative teaching teams are meant to support. The whole point of changing environments is to spur Education on towards better and more meaningful learning opportunities for students allowing dispositions to unfold and grow.  Play fits so well in this arena.  It is a driver for change towards child-initiated learning. 

Over the 6 years, I've experienced the whole continuum.  I have been so blessed to have the freedom to be experimental.   I acknowledge that teaching and learning through play is a journey and takes time to develop and needs space given to experiment.  It is necessary for leaders to give Educators time.  Here are a couple of things that require time to learn.

1.  There is a place for the whole continuum within a play-based learning environment.  Learning to move flexibly along the continuum is the real skill in learning to teach through Play.  Knowing when to teach explicitly, when to gift knowledge or when to leave alone.  There are many ways of building a culture that allows teachers to use wisdom in deciding what and when to teach.  It is a journey in front of us, the thing is have you started and how are you going? 

2.  What I notice from my 6 years of teaching through play, is the change in myself of how play enables me to treat students.  One of the most powerful aspects of play is that it locates teachers to notice children and shifts teachers enabling them to see children as learners who are capable and confident in their own right.  Then it becomes about what comes first the learning or the teaching?  Can you follow the students led?  Can you partner with them in their passions and developmental stages?  Fundamentally this continuum is about relationships.  Relationships are at the heart of all we do. 

The rights of the child, have you read them?  How we treat children minute by minute, day by day is the most important thing we can do no matter where teach on the continuum. The ability to treat children well, to trust our ākonga (learner), to follow their interests often comes down to our enabling our school systems to change and allow flexibility.  Decisions of how we teach and how we provide for children's care are critical.  How do you view your learners? Can you see the gold within each one?  Are you prepared to see that gold developed? No matter what the exterior or the behaviour they are our Ākonga.   We don't often get to see the finished product, however, we see the beginning and that is far more important. We lay down the foundations.  How we view each learner, how we treat them in the learning space, how we partner with them, how we set up the environment, how we create an enabling space,  is critical.  Relationships require more than words, they need action.

After all this time, I can say that none of this is easy.  It feels like I have to fight to be able to teach Akonga in the yellow box.  I can see why a system would want most teaching to be carried out in a highly structured arena.  It is much easier to prepare one lesson for a class of children.  It is easier to assess them with a standardised test.  It is easier to control, having them in one place.  It is money for big business producing worksheets, lesson plans and the like.  However, it is not the best for the learner. 

One thing our world needs more of desperately is kindness.  Being able to uphold children's rights is one way of showing kindness to them.  Play is a powerful medium to see this happen.

He aroha whakatō, he aroha ka puta mai
If kindness is sown, then kindness is what you shall receive

Literacy Lab - a developmental journey

 Who decided what would be appropriate for children to learn? And at what age would they need to know these learnings?  To be fair our New Zealand Curriculum does have a graduated curriculum, giving several years to achieve each level.  I was reading that in America, they started with what would be necessary at University and worked back to when students started school.  This whole discussion about readiness and when to learn something is what led me to investigate play-based learning.  I saw a lot of my learners not ready to be learning what the National Standards were asking them to learn.  I discovered this term called developmentally appropriate.  Not age-based but stage-based.  

Last year I blogged about writing developmentally.  Here is the link to the post. 
The other place to find more information about my journey is an article in NCER special edition of SET, Learning through play and games. 

I am part of a team in an Innovate learning environment, Year 1 to 6 learning together.  We have spaces for dramatic play, art, construction, maker space, outside, quiet spaces, regulation and kai (food).  We staff spaces and we have our own Puna Ako, 'home group' who we get to know really well.  We work on one shared timetable and are really good at innovating and collaborating. 

The purpose of this blog is to discuss our new initiative for helping Akonga to learn to read and write.  

We have been using Foundation skills, written by us,  for over a  year now.  Here is a good explanation of why.  We worked out a few key skills that were really important to have prior to beginning to learn to read and write, things like oral language, body movement and telling stories (see link above).   What happens when Ākonga have finished their foundation skills and are ready to move to the next developmental stage? 

Literacy Lab is recognizing and providing opportunities to learn to read and write in a way that works for our learners.  However, we didn't just want to teach the skill of literacy, we wanted to acknowledge the relationship dispositional learning has to learning anything. 

Dispositional learning like academic learning requires time to learn new skills.  The front end of our NZC doesn't have a timeframe or an age where you have to learn a disposition by.  That's because even as adults, we never master dispositions.  We are always learning and sometimes, even as adults we have meltdowns, and sometimes, we are able to be calm and collected.   Learning to be a self-determined learner develops over time.  In the same way, we learn to read, we learn to behave and self-regulate and make decisions for ourselves.    The relationship between dispositions and learning academics needs a very different response in how it is developed in Primary Schools.  Dispositions are learnt through having a choice.  

Real choice means some failure.  One of Peter Grey's 6 conditions for self-directed learning is that the child is responsible for their education.  You can't pretend to give choice and then take it away or take control.  Self-directed learning is the most important part of the way we host our literacy lab.   What I observe in our Literacy Lab for most Ākonga is that they are keen to learn and love coming. It really is a joy to be in the space.  As a teacher I don't have to drive them or push them, I work with them.  It is a true experience of Ako. 

How did Literacy Lab come about and how does it work?

I know a lot of schools withdraw groups of Ākonga for a teacher-directed reading lesson.  Nothing wrong with this and actually that is where we began. We asked two kaiako to teach reading by withdrawing students for a few blocks throughout the week, during term 1 this year,  while the rest of the team lead spaces and made the most of learner-directed play by supporting within the play and running workshops for extending ideas.

However, this intervention didn't have enough impact.  We reflected and brainstormed. This time we came up with an idea we call Literacy Lab.  The main idea is to use the self-directed dispositions of our Akonga and their extraordinary self-confidence to learn new things to drive learning to read and write at the next stage.  We also discovered that writing comes before reading so the two need to be linked.

How does Literacy Lab work? 

Those Akonga who had completed the foundation stage, attend a well-resourced lab to learn to write and read, three times a week for 90 minutes.  

What kaiako support is there?  We have a team of 4 Kaiako and a couple of kaiawhina (teacher aides).  

How many learners? We had 50 learners to begin with. 

How do they know what to learn?  

Each ākonga has a goal sheet.  Prior to starting, we assessed and identified the letters and sounds they needed to learn, plus sight words, reading level and a writing goal.  These goals are written in a book.  A tote tray with books at their level, pencil and paper gives opportunity for self-direction.

Ākonga arrive and choose a task.   
Kaiako take different roles within the lab. 
Opportunities
1.  Reading - listening to Ākonga.
2.  Writing - The teacher takes an explicit session by asking Akonga to write words/sentences down that they say orally.  Skills of listening to words and recording sounds are learned.  
3.  Worksheets (letter and word), or similar, depending on what is asked for by the Akonga.  Asking Akonga what sound they are writing or helping them form the letters correctly.  
4. When the learners have completed 3 tasks, they finish their session by using the reading eggs app on ipads.  Reading eggs is an app that can be accessed at school and at home.  It progresses the learner along at their own pace.  My skills as a teacher are best used to support the complex and nuanced areas of learning.  An ipad app does a great job of the drill and practice type learning. 

The importance of Writing



This photo shows our thinking around stages of writing which we developed from our time working alongside Heather McQuillian.   Practically it records what Kaiako will be doing to support writing at each stage both in Literacy Lab and akoako (spaces).  

What happened with the learning?  So far I have this data completed.
  
After our first term, a number of Akonga had reached Green level in reading and had cracked the code, we placed them in a group together and worked on next steps. Term 4 saw our Green readers move again and we focused on further comprehension skills, separating again so we had three groups.  New Ākonga began. We had a flow-through effect. 

Here is an example of progress made over two terms.

Questions
1.  What if a child doesn't make progress?  We notice this and find another way of teaching literacy that suits them.  That can be a change in the books we use.  We have PM books but we are also loving the new decodable books. We use an adapted Davis Clay method.  We help them by finding something that suits them.  I have to say though that most Ākonga have made progress.  Some faster than others as you would expect.  We will get some assessed to see if they are learners with Dyslexia and provide support.  And if all else fails, learning isn't dependent on being able to physically read and write, we have other technology that can do that for us.  If we try everything and it doesn't work then technology is where we will head to support learning.  

2.  What if a child won't go to Literacy Lab?
This happens for sure.   Some don't want to go as it is hard work and they are struggling with the having to fail concept that all learning includes. Or there is some other learning they want to access in the Hapori.  There are many reasons and our job as kaiako is to have a conversation to find out why and then support this to happen.  Systems can help here.   Knowing where Ākonga are and where they need to be to learn, making sure they are learning in Zone of proximal development.  These things are not easy and take skill as a team to get right.

3.  Do they make accelerated progress when they begin to learn to read and write formally at the developmentally right time?   I don't know yet. They certainly make progress.   They seem to get the hang of the skill of decoding really quickly and then just get on with learning to read and write.   The thing is literacy lab is dropping in the skills needed, where our akoako or spaces, provide an opportunity to practice in a transdisciplinary way.  

4.  Do you feel like you have this all sorted and everything is working well?
No, I don't but isn't that teaching?   As in all learning environments, we see things we could be doing better. We are pleased to teach Ākonga in a way that honors them as individuals and allows them to drive their learning.   The most important thing we do as educators is to notice, recognize and respond.   Getting better at the things in our akoako (spaces) and our labs is a work in progress.   Being free to iterate on our journey as a team is so important.  Collaboration is the key because we all notice different things and together we design learning.  

The last two years have been a really exciting journey.  It has been wonderful to see Ākonga learn in a successful environment, driving their own learning. Every growth moment, we celebrate with them, they don't have to compare themselves to others or feel like they are not meeting someone's expectations. They just continue to learn.  Because of this, they are still positive, they don't know they are behind, or infront, or wrong or even right.  They just enjoy learning. 

We are trying things differently.  Why?  Things were not working in the past the way they were.  Probably the biggest idea is that we notice Akonga and allow them to set the pace of their learning.  We don't start formal literacy learning when they begin school, we work on foundation skills for as long as is needed. Does that mean we don't read and write when they begin school?  No.  We read heaps of books, they write in many meaningful ways, it is just not uniform, it is unique.  Even when Akonga do move on to learning literacy like you would see at a regular kura, our method is different.  We don't think kaiako need to teach writing and reading explicitly for Akonga to learn as the only method.  Some yes, but not all.  We provide provocations, we inspire, we model, we provide pens, paper, devices, authentic contexts. Some Akonga just learn themselves!  We shouldn't be surprised.  Students learn loads of stuff by themselves. Sure in a supported environment.  Think of babies, who teaches them to crawl?  Think of adults who leave school and then much later get a degree! I am proud that our Akonga are on the most part given agency.   I am so grateful to be working and learning alongside such an amazing and passionate team of Kaimahi at Haeata Community Campus.  So proud of our work!

If they're playing they're not learning!

"If they're playing, they're not learning" is what you might really think if you come and visit our school.  Actually, it is what our education system is set up to believe.   Despite what our curriculums, Te Whariki, and the NZC, which are world-class, say, the word on the street is that children need teachers to learn.  Children need schools.

Everyone has been to school, everyone knows how the system really works.
Remember!  The bell rings to tell you when to go to class.  The class is arranged with desks where you are directed to sit.  The timetable tells you what subject you will learn at what time.  A task is set for you by the teacher, which tells you how you will learn about that subject.  Then you are given a test to make sure you have learned it and if you haven't you are made to do more of it for longer periods of time.  And we believe that this is actually how we learn and that this is okay because that is the way we have always done it. We didn't all like school, but we did okay, so it must be correct, right?

Then there are the statistics which tell us that those in poverty, those with certain race backgrounds, those living in certain areas are most likely to fail.  Millions are spent on programmes of change. Research is published which 'proves' that these students do much better when they are explicitly told what to learn, earlier, even though the statistics haven't changed.   Tweaks are made to a system which in my opinion has grown into a force which overrides common sense, it even overrides brain research.  The system has grown into a monster which terrifies educators if they dare to step outside of it.

If we always do what we have always done, we will always get what we have always got.

Let me share with you some of my highlights from the beginning of 2019.

My heart is happy, and I love my job because I am trusted to make decisions which help children to learn.  I start each day in the mara, the garden, with around 20 students ranging in age from 5 to 17.  We meet in a shed, say hello, and chat about the day.  Relationships are key.  Each one at different stages. We have authentic, caring and real conversations.   "How are you today?"  is not just a throwaway line, but a topic we spend time on.  Do you need breakfast?  Sometimes, we cook food together.  Building relationships mean stopping to listen and then respond, sometimes the most powerful response is 'I'm sorry to hear that'.  Sometimes, building relationships are stopping to think about the behavior a person is displaying.  Why?  Then acknowledging the pain, providing the lack, giving the gift of space and time to process the pain.

 When ready, each student chooses what they will be doing for the day.  These choices are unique to each one.  Maybe, they are choosing to learn in certain spaces, playing with stuff, imaginary play, dramatic play, creative play, following deep urges which drive them.  Urges which are set up to support humans to learn urges which need to be listened to.  Sometimes, they choose a workshop on offer, sometimes, they are following an inquiry which they have decided to pursue. They choose the space depending on what they need.  The spaces enable students to practice self-regulation.

I can tell you, it doesn't look pretty, it is messy, ununiformed, not in order, not quiet, not still always but it is real.  And real means we can work with it and in it, and learn constantly. At our place, Haeata Community Campus, on the Teina side, the educators stay in spaces but the children decide where they need to be.

Around 10.15am we move back over to a building, which is set up with different options.

Teachers thoughtfully, with heart, acknowledge children as partners, design spaces, where children can be active participants without being wrong.  Teachers increasingly think about children as being capable of driving their own learning and the spaces reflect this.

At our heart are relationships.  A deep abiding belief that children are more than the system would have us believe, more than needing to be bossed about and told what to learn and where.  More than the traditional schooling system. Relationships and time enable us to notice a whole person and respond to that person in ways which are authentic.  And please, don't shout this too loudly, but children can learn without teachers telling them what to do!

That is why I am beginning to feel the way I am, deeply satisfied, like I, together with many others, can actually make a difference.  Like potentially, statistics will be written with positive outcomes, where research acknowledges that earlier isn't necessarily better, where those in poverty are empowered, where success is redefined from the majority viewpoint, where whole communities are changed, where people are living happy lives.

If I was to sum it up?

When children are playing, they are learning.

Integrating play, technology and modern learning environments

Organising our spaces with purpose

In Hikuawa we organise our building in spaces. Each space has a Kaiako or Kaiawhina (Teacher or teacher aide). The Ākonga are free to move. Technology is a wee cave-like space. We have outside, art, construction, dramatic play, kitchen and technology and Hui space. The Kaimahi (teacher) looking after the space, writes the names of the Ākonga attending each session. This means at a quick check we know who has been there and who hasn't. The agreement at the moment is one block per day.

A challenge is set each day to complete, or the students can decide what they are doing based on other learning.

Here the learner is working on a simple scratch challenge.
We have explored Book Creator, Bee bots and our next exploration will be Minecraft.
Each Tuesday afternoon, those who want to join the other Hapori for Code Club.

Timetabling - Year 1 to 2

Each morning the students write their own timetables. They make choices as to where they will be depending on what is on offer for the day. There are agreed rules for the area and if they don't agree with them they don't spend time there.

This shows the workshops available in
the upper right-hand
corner. 

Jaden completes his timetable for the day. It is his choice whether he actually does it or not. Most times, the Ākonga do. Some put the number of the block during the day next to the space, others write what it is they will be doing.

This photo shows the basic areas available each day.

Some examples

Two Ākonga collaborate naturally to use book creator
for their learning.

Some beautiful artwork is produced along with
amazing stories. 

Here the learner is working on book creator challenge.

Assessment
We love learning stories because we think narrative assessment captures so much of the heart of our learners.
Here is an example - Learning Story Technology

Oh and technology often happens off the ipads.  

An example of a minecraft floor plan.  Includes
numbers of floors.  The story with this is detailed.

Success

Success is so personal, yet often stubbornly defined by society and time.  I am successful if I...own my own house, have a job, get good marks.  Yet, this is very culture and time specific and very narrow.

I'm reading a book called "The Old-Time Maori" by Makereti. The chapter on children is very insightful.  It explains how when a marriage took place in the old days, one of the most important things were the children they would have.  Whether boys or girls, they were all welcomed, no matter what class.  Mothers were looked after with whatever foods they wanted.  The birthing experience much different to modern times.  I am left with an impression of children being much loved and well cared for.  It says they were never hit, and parents were always kind, this parenting style strengthened the bond of affection.

 Between the ages of 3 and 9 Maori children enjoyed a great deal of freedom.  Free to play when and where he likes.  A child knew how to keep safe around fire or boiling water.  This I find interesting "The children were fond of takaro (play).  They had few toys, yet they amused themselves making mud pies, playing hunahuna (hide and seek), punga, and many other games." Makereti (1938, p138)  How wonderful to learn the importance of play in learning.

Makereti discusses on a couple of occasions, how children were taught to be unselfish by being asked to share some of a special meal with other members of the whanau.  Mothers taught their daughters many lessons, like how to look after elders, by not allowing them to carry water.  "No child was ever ordered but was always asked in a kindly way to help.  I am sure that this is the reason why children looked at work as a pleasure in the old days." Makereti (1938, p139)    By the age of 8 or 10 or more, the daughter knew all the duties expected which her mother performed.  For example, she could light the fire, garden, or sweep the floors. 

Boys were taught from the age of 6 to that of 15, 16 by their father.  The same as a girl, to be hospitable, generous and to share any delicacy they may be eating.   As they grew up they learnt beside their fathers.   Gardening, fishing, hunting.  By the time they were 8 or 9, they had learnt a good deal about these and other methods of getting food.  Boys went with their fathers and relatives to the forest and watched them cutting down trees and using them.  He was taught customs and arts. At night, children would lie beside father or grandfather and hear the stories of his people.  By the age of 10, they could repeat his genealogy.

Makereti speaks about all types of children.  Naughty ones, quarrelsome children, industrious, lazy.  All given certain names.  She says "many of the terms were of course applied to grown-ups as well, but in the old days so much time was taken up by work that there was little room for idleness.

I am struck by the different definition of success in this early Maori culture.  Play is success.  Dispositional learning and everyday work is a success.   I think of some of my Ākonga (learners) and put this lens on them and instead of being 'troubled, dis-regulated and naughty' they are amazing, talented and purposeful.  Our school system struggles to accommodate practical learning.  Firstly, our inside classrooms with desks and chairs, feel removed from daily life even today.  Little time is spent outdoors.  Our lessons, seem removed from reality, and are mostly 'pretend or simulated'.  The way we treat our students is often by dictating respect.  Much of our learning is individual as opposed to collaborative.  Children are required to learn literacy sometimes, before 4 years old through worksheets, and teacher directed lessons. 

I also imagine that children I read about in this book, held in such high esteem as being given the opportunity to self-direct.  Deciding what to do and when within an established routine, being encouraged by a multi-aged community, learning through watching, trial and error.  Modern society has achieved systems which are the opposite of early Maori. 

Maybe that is why as an Educator I look for many ways to define success.  Modern learning environments are certainly enabling this.  I have noticed how working collaboratively helps Kaiako have multiple viewpoints of Ākonga.  At my Kura, at the moment for example, we have 100, 5 to 7 year olds and 6 Kaiako.  Working together has enabled us to see our environment as one whole.  The Ākonga are able to move within the whole space, even outside whenever they want, except for a few times a day, and even within that, Kaiako have designed learning around them.  From the moment Akonga arrive, we are working successfully.  Strengths are being encouraged.   We have a kitchen where food is available and able to be made at any time.  The creative dramatic space encourages Ākonga to play imaginative games.  The construction space invites building with many different materials and then there is an art and craft space.  My favourite the outside, is welcoming, safe, a place where anything is possible.  Sandpits, for digging, frames for building, carpentry, bars for climbing, water, a garden, book nooks and pens for designing.  Each space has a dedicated educator who has lovingly, purposefully set up a space where Akonga can learn to direct themselves.  From the moment Akonga arrive, they are free to decide what they will do, within our established routine we call school.

I was thinking the other day that this self-direction isn't just one-sided.  The adult, partners with the child and a type of tug of war, tension occurs between them.  I think this tension is what relationships are made of.  Tension is perhaps what makes freedom possible.  It is positive tension.  The adult keeps out of the child's way unless needed or unless they think they can offer something helpful to the learning.  This 'dance', is one of the most difficult skills required of a teacher in our learning space.

I imagine, this 'dance', is not too different to early Maori life, where the environment already set in real life, had adults and young people of all ages, partnering with the children to help them learn.  Yes, the context is very different, but the skills required of the adult are similar.  I like to imagine, Mum, stepping in to help her tama iti light the fire, talking to him about what she is doing and why.  I imagine, that the children listened to everything going on around them and soaked it up and tried it out themselves through play.   Educationalist  Kimberley Crisp describes this as 'downloading'. 
Successful, natural learning.  Everyone knew how treasured they were and what they were good at.

How are you defining success within your teaching?  How does this affect which Ākonga are successful?

Makereti, (1938). The Old-Time Maori. Wellington. New Zealand, New Womans Press.

The perfect play-based learning environment.

There is no such thing as the perfect play-based environment.

As an educator I find myself striving to get to this perfect place.  I have this image of what I think the perfect play-based learning environment should be. Vision is one thing but I don’t think there is a perfect example.   

Sure, I do think there are some big building blocks that are needed in our learning environments to make them work effectively for our learners.   We can all have these building blocks, but they will look different and we will be at different stages developing them.

What would the building blocks be?  

Drivers of learning.

1.  Educators who continue to learn and study.   Inquiring into practice, asking those difficult questions and searching for answers. Trialling new ideas and reflecting individually and as a team.

2.  Educators who have a view of Ākonga (learners) as positive.  We develop positive learner identities. An absolute belief in students, that they are capable now as they are.  We can make known to them their strengths and support them in developing these.  To do this we need to have a non-judgemental attitude towards each learner.  We need to get rid of bias.  Behaviour is a smoke screen. Within every human, there is hope, promise and passion.  It is our job to believe and to make that belief as concrete and obvious as possible.  

3. An environment which is responsive to learners needs.  Space belongs to all of us.  Ākonga know how much we care partly because of our attitude towards the environment in which they learn. How space looks and is set up to operate is a big key. How we look after space and the care in providing interesting and suitable provocations.  We communicate trust by allowing Ākonga to have the power to affect change in their school environment. For example, they can move furniture, put things on the walls, decide what they will learn. We notice and respond.  

4.  A community which has a clear vision of what education is.  This might not be where it stands now, but how it could look.  What is going to make a positive difference to the community?  To get there will be painful because change is uncomfortable, but the right change is worth it.  We want to set our communities free.  I want our Whanau to love learning, to be healthy, confident and full of joy.  It will cost me something to see this happen.

5. A learning community which emphasises values and dispositions.   I was at a business innovation hui last holidays.  I asked a director who offers programmes to young innovators, how young people were achieving.   He said that they had many exceptional ideas, but that wasn't why they couldn't hire them, the problem was the young people didn't know how to make their ideas work.   Things like organisation, self-direction, collaboration and values were lacking. 

6.  A learning community which values process over the product.   In the process lies the learning.  Education in the past valued uniformity, everything looking a certain way, paint colours the same, carefully displayed on the wall.  Everyone producing the same type of writing etc.  Focusing on individual learning leads to diversity. Diversity is to be celebrated. The process will be different depending on the learning goals of each Ākonga.

7.  A collaborative working environment where the team is more important than the individual parts.  It has taken me some time to really understand this.  The journey in working as a truly collaborative team takes humility and authenticity.  It is not easy, but when it begins to work it is truly amazing.  Collaboration is like having a booster rocket.  Individually we can only do so much, together things multiply. 

There is no such thing as a perfect play-based learning environment. Please, feel excited, courageous, and empowered.  You can do it.  Keep going don't give up.  Don't compare yourself with others.   

Play is a paradigm shift

This photo is from my class in 1994.  38 year 5 and 6 students.  One teacher.

We were learning logo, a coding language.  Forward 3, Right 90, Back 5. The turtle was the cursor on the screen that you could programme to move. Seymour Papert designed a real robot turtle that responded to the programme, but they were scarce.  If you look closely there is a crayon taped to the end of the ruler.  That was our turtle and our feet were what moved backwards and forwards.  

I would have done anything for a turtle or a sphero.  They weren't invented in 1994.

Here is the thing,  underpinning the cute Spheros, fancy robots, and bee bots of 2018, is the same thinking that we used without them in the 1990's.   My learners brains still got a workout.  New is not necessarily better.  The thinking is the same.  Our kids have never known life without computers.  Has the system by which we teach learning changed or is it still the same? 

A Paradigm shift is a time when the usual and accepted way of doing or thinking about something changes completely.

I listened as Ali Carr-Chellman shared parts of her Ted Talk at the Energise conference last week.  I totally admire her disruptive ideas, in fact agree with her.  The problem I see is she is trying to make change within a system that is very traditional.  A system that hasn't changed for centuries in America.   So while she does amazing work and while others like her disrupt education, the system stays the same.  

What we need is a complete system change.  

What should we do?

Stop doing some things we have always done just because we've always done them.  

Lets face it, if it doesn't work, or hasn't worked then why would we think by some miracle it might  work now?   Is it because the people who hold power, are the ones that it works for?   With the rapid development of technology, I don't think it will work for much longer.  Can we begin to think of others, those diverse, marginalised, culturally diverse?  Can we not appreciate, value and see success through their eyes?  Can we see ourselves not as individuals but as a collective, a community, intricately connected?  If we work together, collaboratively, society can change.

I have been reflecting on the learning through play facebook page and the reason I started it.  At the time, 2.5 years a go I had begun play based learning but I knew no other primary school using this.  I wanted to trial this idea of learning by using play.  I felt like an adventurer sometimes courageous, but also scared of what people might think, of failing the children and parents.  I didn't know if it would work.... but I had a leader who listened.  A leader who believed in my idea, supported,  resourced, released me to give play in the primary classroom a go.   The facebook page became the fuel to keep me going.  It was a timely, practical way of gaining encouragement, support and ideas to keep going.  It was a innovative thinking tool.  I am forever grateful for this online community and committed to keeping it going for others. 

Often times, leaders are scared of new things.  Sometimes, new things are dressed up as new but really old.  That is the funny thing.... the back to the future thing....  play has been around forever.  Watch a baby learn to walk (no learning objective, WALT or lesson plan). Read Peter Grey's "free to learn" The idea of play is not new, however, why and how we use play in education needs to change.  It can be leveraged to support innovation. 

Innovation, the introduction of something new.  Innovation a driver of change.

What will we do with the Spheros?  Will they lead to new opportunities for Ākonga to learn in different ways, individual specific and engaged?  Or will they be applied with a narrow range of outcomes?  Will we focus on ideas, thinking, and innovation in education?  Will we back our ideas with a budget?  Will we allow teachers to learn through mistakes, to adapt, pivot, and change?  

Collaboration, a driver of change.  Will we actually use it?  Will we be patient while our teams go through the dip of new learning?    

Will we trust our learners?  Will we let them innovate on their online world?  Will we let them develop at different rates, supporting diversification.

Seymour Papert had this to say about education “Nothing bothers me more than when people criticize my criticism of school by telling me that schools are not just places to learn maths and spelling, they are places where children learn a vaguely defined thing called socialization. I know. I think schools generally do an effective and terribly damaging job of teaching children to be infantile, dependent, intellectually dishonest, passive and disrespectful to their own developmental capacities.” 

― Seymour Papert

For me play represents a paradigm shift in education.

It looks so disorganised, disruptive, and pointless, so opposite to what most people think learning should be with neat books, lines of pencil-written words, spelling words copied ten times over, children in neat lines walking like clockwork, teachers speaking endless words. But Play. Play is innovation. Play is the very essence of learning. It is the very meaning of change. It could change a system!

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