Mourning one victim of the Danzig shooting

The recent heartbreaking gun violence in North America and especially Toronto has been hard to see. I have found it harder though to listen to the pundits, people and politicians talk endlessly about the different sides of the issue.  Everyone seems to want to address gang and gun problems while they develop or after they develop. 

Are we really acting on this? Or just acting as though we are?

We need to address these issues long, long before that.
It begins in early childhood.  

If we can have accessible high quality children's services in all areas, HUB systems and classrooms in our schools that promote community and deeply involve families we can go a long way to setting up positive foundations for life. 

This outreach is important for everybody but is especially crucial in areas where children and families have multiple barriers and disadvantages. 

Parents are the most important role models

We often hear these things:

Children in these areas do not have adequate parenting.

They may not, but the only solution to this is working on supporting parents and families in their most important job as parents, who are trying to do their best, as they know how.  The child's first and most important teachers are their parents and they always will be.

We [the government and non-profits] need to put more role models on the streets.

We need to provide more role-models in the form of supported parents and families.  Children need role models who are actually part of their world and their community all the time.  We can access almost all families through their children at school.

We need to put these people in jail for a really long time.

It's too late by then and the cycle has likely already begun again.

We have come so far away from a community-based society in which a helping hand and guidance was always there with you.  We need to recognize the duty to society that everyone has to help grow our children, if we all want the best.   

The new Early Learning Kindergarten program in Ontario is hopefully the beginning of putting the new ideas about education and engaging families, forward.  Our view of our children and early childhood needs to progress.  It is hard to invest in something with benefits that may not appear clear for many years, but if we seriously want to combat some of the most negative things happening in our societies, we need to recognize that we are missing out on the greatest opportunity to affect change by ignoring the value of early years and ongoing support for children and families.

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All children have the capacity for

and proficiency at creative processes.  

How do we observe, provide for and foster these skills? 

Children are capable and competent.

Mistakenly thought of as a trait belonging only to some, there is potential for creativity in all people. (Introduction p.30 Imagine Jonah Lehrer)  If we learn more about creativity and support and enrich children's experience of the creative process in all domains then we can better support their development of critical thinking, decision making skills, understanding of concepts, symbolic communication, empathy, relationships and self-esteem. (p. 140 FDELKP Document - The Arts Overview)  

"Children have an innate openness to artistic activities" [Big Idea - The Arts] so we use this to foster creativity and critical thinking. As well, if we as adults understand more about creativity we can learn how to capitalize on our own creative talent. (Introduction p.30 Imagine Jonah Lehrer)

Creativity is defined in the dictionary as “the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.”

Children of the 21^st century need to be as aware and creative as they can be. The breakneck speed at which our culture is evolving requires divergent, open-minded thinkers who can navigate our complex, global, and evolving civilization. (p.5 FDELK Program Document) The challenges we face as a species can only be tackled by the greatest of critical thinkers and innovators.  Being adept with the creative process provides for fluent and diverse use of skills in integrated contexts.  It supports children to have a range of strategies for effective communication [Language - Big Idea] and thinking about, representing and investigating mathematical concepts. [Math - Big Idea] As older information is used for new creative ideas children (and adults) connect prior knowledge to a new context. [Science - Big Idea] (And this means busy synapses!)

Analyzing Creativity

5 Characteristics of Creative Works

1. Must be original.
2. Needs to be relevant.
3. Defies tradition.
4. It is elegant.
5. It exists and is shared.
   
   
   Children demonstrate creativity with:
   
   
   Spontaneity (openness/boldness to explore & share)
   Imagination (pretending)
   Fantasy (creation of imaginary worlds)

Children and people who are especially creative are generally skilled in a particular area, have an ability to consider a range of possibilities, are highly persistent, set high personal standards, work hard and maintain intrinsic motivation. (Ch. 2 – Art and Creative Development for Young Children Robert Schirrmacher)

Creatively using conceptual math understanding of solids.

Texture and colour.

To assess the use of creativity in any domain note the child's use of: elements, process and decision-making.  Children will naturally demonstrate creativity throughout the classroom and in different areas. They will demonstrate by saying, doing and/or representing. (p. 25 FDELK Program Document)

In the Arts section (p. 141) of the program document there are examples and explanations of the components of art. To assess artistic growth keep anecdotal notes, checklists and samples. Uncover what the child is expressing by questioning and listening. Through ages 4 and 5 children's representations will begin to be recognizable and they will use art to tell and/or write stories. (Lang OE 4) Co-operation in artistic activities, the appreciation of diversity and communicating ideas about music develop around 5.

(Ch. 3 – Art and Creative Development for Young Children Robert Schirrmache)

See “How to uncover the natural creative abilities in your child” by Jane M. Healy, Ph.D.

For more information on uncovering and assessing creativity.

The creative process is often collaborative.

Materials, Resources and Experiences in the Arts

Art and multimedia in the FDELKP are focused on the creative process. Arts are an integral part of the FDELK program and children develop and demonstrate skills across every domain through dance, music, visual arts and drama. (p. 140 FDELK Program Document The Arts Overview)

Children should have opportunities to express themselves through the arts.
The environment over time should have a wide variety of materials, resources and experiences that offer different ways of doing, showing and telling through all arts disciplines. Art is a vehicle to represent and discover cultural diversity.

To deeply get involved in the arts children need “time to imagine, create and explore in a non-threatening environment where they know their individual choices and responses are respected and valued."(ibid)

 
Materials & Creativity

Sometimes only certain materials may be available to guide and provoke the children to focus and think about an element such as colour (see picture). This controlled pallet intentionally has children exploring and thinking about a concept.

The element of line.

Ambiguous and open-ended dress-up clothing, real household items, co-construction and set-up of new role play ideas, opportunities for guided drama through movement, a dollhouse and puppet theatre with chances for children to actively construct things for them supports creativity and drama.

Various instruments to use, many different kinds of music to listen to and chances to dance, technology that explores sounds, and things to create instruments supports creativity and music/dance.

Resources

Eric Carle illustrations

Books that display different artistic styles and dances, stories that relate to their current interests for role play and imitation. Books with creative ideas to use as thought-provoking or as a jump-off point (see Not a Box), a diversity of instruments, computer technology that allows children to hear sounds, chime-in books, space to move, variety of familiar and unfamiliar things.

Experiences

Artists, performers or creators can speak with and work with children, watch videos of dance, drama, music or artists and their processes. Chances to transform materials and experiment (e.g. Mixing paint). Problems to solve and support in thinking critically about their process and product. 

Children can watch you model technique.

Modelling

1. Ask if the child needs help.
2. Ask leading question or suggest another approach.
3. Show only part of needed process.
4. Verbally explain it as it is being done.

The Creative Process consists of:

knowledge – what we already know

motivation – inner drive to accomplish

skill – development of expertise using tools and materials

immersion – intense focus on creating

incubation – thinking and processing

production – tangible expression
(Ch. 2 Art and Creative Development for Young Children Robert Schirrmacher)

Nurturing Creativity

Expose children to many different arts.

Expand knowledge by talking about the arts (line, shape, colour, etc.), using arts vocabulary, giving a wide array of experiences and accepting all individuals and their knowledge bases.

Model divergent thinking (having many different solutions to problems). Show a diversity of possible solutions, be open and talk about alternative viewpoints.

Support motivation by being flexible and capitalizing on their interest, have choices be open-ended, be surprising and do unexpected things to inspire, be on the lookout for emergent problems.

Responding

-use positive feedback – tell the child precisely what they did well if it will help them later

-praise the behaviour, efforts and achievements or product not the child

Language Matters: There is a fixed-mindset or growth-mindset message sent through praise.

Our praise always needs to send the message that “you are a developing person and I am interested in your development” rather than “you have permanent traits and I'm judging them.”

-avoid praise creating competition

"I see you found a shape that looks like ..."

-avoid value judgements – notice rather than praising the child (e.g. say “I see you used two different colours and”... rather than “I like how you used different colours...)

-use descriptive statements in discussion with a child about their art to describe artistic decisions and concepts to increase their understanding

-ask questions focusing on art elements, process, and decisions

-challenge them to predict, create an effect, connect events or find the cause

Adult Read on Creativity

     Anchor Books

Not a Box

Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

Art by Patrick McDonnell

The Black Book of Color by Menena Cottin

the dot

Ish by Peter H. Reynolds

written materials:

Full Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program Document DRAFT 2010

Imagine by Jonah Lehrer Penguin Books

Art and Creative Development for Young Children by Robert Schirrmacher

ETFO Thinking it Through The Arts – Joyful Learning

lecture and discussion notes from Creative Expression course Winter 2008 instructer Joel Zelikovitz

videos:

Ken Robinson lecture at TEDTalks February/June 2006

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms

radio lectures:

Amy Tan on creativity TEDTalks April 2008

Reggio Emilia Approach

The Hundred Languages

No way. The hundred is there.

The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.

A hundred always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.

The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at Christmas.

They tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there.

-Loris Malaguzzi (translated by Lella Gandini)
Founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach

picture from Best Start

Today was a very neat day. Every time I listen to Martin Liberio I get mad goose bumps because of his deep and profound messages. They strike you at your core. “Let them dance their dance.” In the classroom you sometimes wonder “what would Martin do?” I hope I get to see him live again some day!
Some interesting discussion about art today. Makes me more excited to inquire and share about creativity.  

I thought setting up a room with 14 people was going to be really uncomfortable. I was very surprised to find it was not. The whole thing went quite smoothly with some serious deep thinking, conversation, negotiation and team building. The process was much like figuring your relationship and classroom out with your first partner in FDK.  It's exciting to see the feel of the room being built. 

Some thoughts on getting along in FDK:

-have “courageous conversations” (sometimes it's hard to speak your mind but try) do this sooner rather than later
-don't take any professional disagreements personally - it's ok to agree to disagree

-find common ground (what do you agree on?)

-learn together with your partner, share ideas, listen to each other and be willing to take a risk 

-focus on yourself and your actions

-the process can be naturally stressful.. make sure you take care of yourself well while you get through the rough patches, there are always sunny times ahead

Day Two

Today was actually a hard day to leave North Bay!  The discussion and thinking today was wonderfully compelling.  I feel extremely privileged to be part of the inquiry going on within our group.  My brain synapses are firing second after second, building and strengthening all the connections happening. 

Visiting One Kids Place was fun and valuable.  The building is welcoming on the outside and breathtaking on the inside.

picture from purplechair.net

It was the first time I have seen a Child and Family Centre in action and I loved the atmosphere and the interactions going on.  What a powerful re-enforcer of the idea that parent (or family member or volunteer) involvement is very helpful in an early learning program.  It says to me that we need to discover ways to create as much of an open-door/involvement-encouraging policy as possible. 

Some things to think about:
-have clearly listed jobs that someone can help out with at any time (on clipboard on the wall)

-how open can our classroom be?  The more open the more likely we get them in

-find out at (JK or fall) interview time what parents/families are expert at.  Invite them to come share with the kids or help out in another way.

-keep encouraging family involvement

picture from Wood WORKS! Awards website

-provide opportunities for all kinds of levels of family involvement (provide police checks directly, provide "home-helping" ideas [making play dough, collecting found materials, finding natural things and sending them in with their child, etc.], get parents to come on walking trips, etc.)

-what are the barriers in your community? why are they there? what are some possible solutions?

The minimalism and organization, natural tones and places with colour provided by materials and the children's work spoke to me.  It can be hard to believe that a simple change of colour on the wall will alter the feeling of a room, but I believe strongly now that it can.  The picture below is a Reggio-inspired room.  Natural lighting, colours and objects.  Soft background colours and pops of colour (which ideally is provided by materials and the children's creations). 

picture from progressiveearlychildhoodeducation.blogspot.ca

I have decided to do my inquiry on creativity.  I chose it because:

-the concept of real creative art is new to kindergarten and very different from the "art" produced in the old program

-creativity is a fundamental trait connected to all domains that we need our next generation to have, they need to be able to innovate to solve the massive problems all global species are facing

-creativity can be recognized, subjectively assessed, analyzed, nurtured and encouraged

-kindergarten age children are referred to as creative geniuses because they are incredibly divergent thinkers (they can think of oodles of creative uses for one item... most adults can only think of a few)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U
This is a great animated version of Ken Robinson speaking on creativity.

Another soul-filling day. 
Eagerly awaiting tomorrow.