Learning is learning no matter the age

When I visited Rutene Road Kindergarten today I found more in common to my practice in my Primary School Learning Community than not. 

The environment supported the students who were 2 to 4 years old to be independent learners.  Everything in the learning space was safe for the students to use.  Everything, from scissors, staples, glue, loose parts, shovels, puzzles, everything.  The attitude of the teachers supported this.  High expectations resulted in students who were calm, self-directed, and collaborative learners.  

The routines supported this. At Mat time which is held twice a day, the students came happily to join in songs, stick games, and finger rhymes.  Then Karakia and Kai.  Little routines set up by the teachers become a visual clue as to what happens next.  All the students were successful.  Their ability to self manage was clear.  They were all happy and engaged in their learning.

Rutene Road Kindergarten are building a new philosophy built around Guy Claxton's Learning Muscles.  My learning community uses a model based on this as well.  These muscles form a visual for deep learning, what it looks like and what the next steps are.  They show teachers how we can support the students in their learning journey.  It was wonderful to see how learning is learning no matter the age.  It was obvious to me as I watched the students play, what they were learning.  One girl showed me her Mahi Whai - String game.  Another student came along with a piece of string.  It was fascinating to watch her try and work out how to change the string so she could use it. Then I watched as the student watched her friend who had already mastered the game.  Ako, learning to learn from someone a step ahead of you - this learning skill - reciprocity - being ready, willing and able to learn alone and with others is a skill that is crucial to all learners no matter how old they are.  This reinforces to me how important it is to keep learning real, whole, and not broken into silo's.  

Peter Gray outlines a very important and crucial philosophy of play.  

1. Self-chosen and self-directed
2. process rather than product driven;
3. contains structures or rules established by the players themselves;
4. imaginative, non-literal and removed from reality
5. occurs between those who are active, alert and non-stressed.

(Grey, 2013; Brewer, 2007)

To me these are what true learning is about.  I saw all these things.  I also saw teachers talking to students, using their knowledge of when to support, when to guide and when to leave a student alone to learn.  Learning this way requires teacher skill to know when supports are needed and to identify what the learning is.

As reflect on my own practice it is about knowing when to introduce next steps into the learning process.  To do this, I need to know the curriculum really well.  That way when I see opportunity in play I can either change the environment next time or demonstrate a new skill or ask questions to help the student to figure out the next step.  Making visible deliberate acts of learning is the new future.  Using dispositions as lenses to frame learning helps with this.  Giving students the vocabulary to explain their learning will help each student to become deliberate learners.  And it all starts from day one....  at home and beyond in the Kindergarten and onto school.  When students arrive at school, they are already learners.  They have a past, they have a story.  They don't come empty, but full.  We as Primary teachers need to take the time to build relationships and in the play based learning community observe them at work learning.

I loved my visit and I came away with many ideas to make learning even better in at my school.  I highly recommend Primary teachers visiting good quality, play based Early Childhood Centres to further their professional development.

Student led learning

In foundation years, students have access to the "tools of the culture" (Grey, 2013).  In the book "Free to Learn" Grey discusses his views on play from an evolutionary perspective, that is "play is nature's way of ensuring that young mammals, including young humans, will practice and become good at the skills they need to develop to survive and thrive in their environments" (p.119).  What are the tools of our culture?  Pens, pencils, paper, iPads, counting, money, etc.  And into the future...  complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, co-ordinating with others, emotional intelligence.
http://canterburytech.nz/blog/10-job-skills-will-need-2020/

Reading, writing and number are modelled constantly through play. Students model it through dramatic play. They play shop keepers and ask for play money use.  Other children love drawing and making books, and cards etc.  Many children love writing letters and numbers on their iPads. They also watch teachers use the tools.

Last week, one student who has been at school for just over a year, begun to get excited about reading.  Up to this point, reading was a drag, it didn't interest him.  Yes, he would read with me once a day, but it really wasn't his thing.  However, he loves numbers.  He spent significant amounts of time counting and sharing a number app with another friend who also loved counting. He loved dominoes and other number games.  He loved solving problems. But words and reading - Hmm not yet!

On this particular day, he bounded into the room and asked to read with me.  The previous day he had read a book and finally, read the words.  One of those days when the light bulb goes on and all the mini skills he had been learning came together.  In that one moment, he decided he liked reading.  I sat down with him immediately and he read a book to me.   It wasn't long before there were some words which were new to him.  I grabbed some paper and wrote them down.  I said, "these are the words you will need to know".   He continued to read ... before I knew it he had taken the paper and begun to write other words down that he needed.  At the end of the book, he read through his hand written list, carefully.  Then he stapled the list to the wall.  When a teacher came in, he took them to his list and went through the list again. He went and took a book off the book shelf (something I hadn't often observed him do to often) and started to read it.

I would much rather wait until a student is ready to learn something and is passionate, than drill and pester them to learn something they really not ready for. I think we do students a disservice when we make learning, surface level learning by pushing them to learn what we think is important.  By waiting for the time when this child turned his head towards the learning and saw it as culturally relevant to him and applied his focus to learning, not only is he improving, but he is having fun. More importantly, he is learning deeply.

Learning deeply

He is learning how to  learn.  He knows from his success with numbers, that if he perseveres he can learn new things.  He loves showing off his abilities.  He loves helping other students who are just behind where he is by using his insight into what has helped him to learn.  He is enjoying using his learning in the context of a play based learning community.

Sticking at it

We call it using your stickability muscle, but sometimes, the persevering takes months.  We discuss the learning pit by Guy Claxton, and students learn that no matter what they are learning, that if it feels difficult and they want to give up, it probably is worth pursuing.   Of course it is up to us teachers to make sure the next steps are appropriate and in that zone!   It reminds me learning isn't linear, it is back and forth, uneven.

Grey continues.... "Young humans everywhere, when left to their own devices, play at the kinds of skills that people must develop to thrive as adults.  He also pointed out that human beings, much more so than the young of any other species, must learn different skills depending on the unique culture in which they develop".

It is not so much what we learn, but how we learn that matters into the future.

What is the culture in your learning community?  Are the students watching how to learn?  Do you have faith in the student, in their ability to know when they need to learn something and to support them when they are ready?  Are you listening to their voice?  I don't actually think it matters too much what the learning is about ( I mean I think we know the particular skills students need) but it matters more how they learn it.  That is where our focus should be.  It is the skill of how, that will go through life with them, it is that skill they will need into the future.



Grey, P. (2013) Free to Learn - Why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant and better students for life.  Basic Books, New York.

Why Play?

Learning Through Play         By Tara O’Neill  6 Dec 2014

Kids learn through play and play is a fabulous way for kids to learn.  It is as natural as breathing. Vygotsky says, “the influence of play on a child’s development is enormous”. Barbara Rogoff also suggests that children supporting each other and learning together, a key feature of play makes a powerful contribution to mathematical learning. Bishop emphasises the playing of games. He notes that playing is “indeed a most serious business” as well as a significant adult activity.  “Play is not just an activity; it’s a state of mind that brings new energy and sparks creativity”(Lundin, 2002).

Is Play a valid way to teach academic skills to children in their first year of school?  What skills do students need as they enter school and engage with the New Zealand Curriculum?  Both early childhood and the NZ curriculum are based on social-constructivism.  Both have moved away from the old Behaviourist theories where teachers imparted knowledge and children repeated tasks to gain proficiency.   No longer do these curriculums direct that rote learning, repetition and discipline help children gain new skills and knowledge.  Instead they embrace a combination of Piaget and Vygotsky and beyond. Piaget where a child is not taught new skills until they show readiness and Vygotsky where a child is taught by a teacher or peer skillfully supporting their new learning thereby helping the child to learn more by sharing the background thinking about how to solve a problem, breaking it down step by step.  

Next year I am heading up a foundation class, a class for students to come into as they begin school.  At its base, it uses Te Whariki the Early Childhood curriculum combined with the NZ Curriculum.   The class environment will look like an Early Childhood center. The main reason for this is to embrace play as the main context in learning.  Coaching is probably the best word to describe how the teachers will interact in the class. We will be coaching social, emotional and academic skills.  We will be looking for indicators that each student has sufficient skills to be able to progress onto the next steps in their learning life. These will largely be seen in the following areas – Social skills, Emotional and Academic readiness. Some of these indicators will be the ability to use emotions appropriately to support their learning. For example, we might see patience from a child as they learn to manipulate blocks in their play, or the ability to focus on a book leading to engagement in an area of learning.  It may be turn taking where the learner is able to take turns in order to play a game with their peers.  It might be being friendly where they are able to use this skill to solve a learning problem with a friend. 

Vygotsky explained that through play, children learn skills for how to control their bodies, develop communication and thinking skills and learn how to relate to others in a social environment. Some of our learners at Te Karaka Area School enter not having had many opportunities to play especially with a trained teacher to coach and assist them in their learning.  This is one reason why they haven’t developed the emotional and social skills necessary to support further learning. The other reason is that for children up to the age of 7 play provides the best instructional environment.

At a conference this year, I listened to Nathan Mikaere Wallis share about research on 5 year old boys and brain development.  The acquisition of social and emotional skills are the most important skill for this group of learners not cognitive skills.  If we get boys at 5 and they don’t achieve, they may develop a disposition of failing and not wanting to achieve.  Most boy’s brains are not physically ready to read until 7 years old.  This knowledge about brain development is crucial if teachers are to know their learners readiness for certain academic learning.

Further to this, learning needs to be in the Zone of Proximal Development.  If we force them to be outside of this they can feel incompetent and we may risk stopping the development of the brain.   In order to think and learn, you need the other parts of your brain to be functioning.  1.  Survival brain.  Brainstem – this is in charge. You need warmth, food and security from loving relationships.2.  Movement brain or the Midbrain – sports brain  You need to exercise and experience movement.  3.  Mammal brain or the Lymbric system – emotional brain. You need emotional support and safety.  4. The thinking and learning brain is built on the above.  The thinking and learning brain’s ability to function rests on the above 3 brains.  What happens in early childhood impacts on brain development and continues to influence further learning. 

 This is an interesting discussion by Nathan Mikaere-Wallis - Radio New Zealand “What 3 to 7 year olds need to learn”

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2595176/what-3-to-7-year-olds-need-to-learn-nathan-mikaere-wallis

The Incredible Years Programme outlines three developmental levels of social skills needed by children as they progress towards being able to focus on more academic learning.  Child Developmental Level 1 – The child plays alone.  Level 2 – Parallel Play where a child plays alongside another child.   Level 3 - Interacting with others. The Incredible Years describes how the ability to control a child’s body needs to be taught just like we teach academic skills.  Learners need to firstly understand what emotions feel like and then be able to identify these using words.  Finally they will learn to use their emotions as a tool to support their learning.  Just as we allow learners to make mistakes in their academic learning, we also need to allow mistakes with social and emotional learning.  And just as with academic learning we provide an environment every day for practicing in. Just as we support learners to learn how to write a re-count we can scaffold learners to learn how to control their anger.  We can explain the thinking behind restorative practice and why we say sorry to someone we have wronged.

Te Whariki the Early Childhood curriculum links in with the NZ curriculum the focus of the Primary Years.   Under Development of Learning and Capabilities it says "There is no developmental cut-off at school entry age.  During the early school years, the principles and strands of the early childhood curriculum continue to apply and can be interwoven with those of the New Zealand curriculum statements for schools".   Pg 21 of Te Whariki Curriculum Document.

Not all students are ready for cognitive, academic learning when they start school.  They are not all ready to sit down in one place for more than 10 minutes and have a lesson with a teacher.  There is no magic that happens when a child turns 5 that allows them to be ready emotionally and socially.    By providing a foundation class we are providing a smooth transition and acknowledging that for our community, the children sometimes need a melding and transition of the two curriculums.   We also acknowledge that play is an important context for early learners to experience and that as educators we act as a deciding force to seeing the environment set up to support learning.  This includes noticing when a learner is ready to learn the next step and how we will set up learning experiences to enable them to learn.  

I think that one of the greatest mistakes we make as Educators is thinking that direct instruction is an effective way for young children to learn.  And sometimes we think it is the only way.  We believe that if we control the knowledge and tasks, the students will learn.  We mistakenly believe that the structure of direct teaching is the very structure needed for our learners to feel safe in and learn. 

Next year, we are starting a class which will focus firstly on emotional and social skills and secondly on cognitive skills.  In most Year one classes in New Zealand, children are expected to come to where their teacher sits to take part in a formal skill based lesson.  Instead of this, in our foundation class, the educators will go to the children and like in Early Childhood, will engage with the child in play, listening, asking and answering, questioning, challenging ideas and concepts teaching social and emotional skills.  They will respond quickly to learner’s needs and passions, providing resources to enable their learning to progress in the very best way needed for each individual.  Creativity will be encouraged and enabled.

Bibliography

Vygotsky, L.S. (1980) “Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes” pg. 96.

Minstry of Education. ( 2009) “Mathematics, assessment for learning: early childhood exemplars” pg. 2.

Bishop, A. (1991) “Mathematical enculturation: A cultural perspective on mathematics education.  Pg17

Lundin, S. (2002) “Fish Tales”. 

Naysmith, R. (2011) “Implementing the New Zealand Curriculum: understandings and experiences from three urban primary schools”. 

The Incredible Years Teacher  - incredibleyears.com

Te Whariki - http:/

/www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early-Childhood/te-whariki.pdf

Nathan Mikaere-Wallis - http://www.brainwave.org.nz/about-us/our-people/presenters/nathan-mikaere-wallis/