Ruby Tuesday

This is a post I knew I needed to write from the time I set out on a quest to document my first year teaching Kindergarten! Of all my posts, this is the most symbolic of me as an inquirer - genuinely questioning, wondering, doubting, crafting and refining my own theories, experimenting and wrestling with ideas that sometimes appear to be in opposition! In a recent webinar for Toddle, Kath Murdoch stated, "Personal inquiry is as much about inquiring inwardly as it is about inquiring into the world around us." Developing these weekly blog posts, I have been able to reflect on, question and sharpen my own beliefs about learning and teaching. These include playful learning , curiosity , responding to children's working theories , conceptual learning  and play , and, of course, supporting children to develop as readers and writers . This post is the outcome of this process of inquiry and a reflective practitioner in action! It is where I am in my thinking as of March, 2022, b...

This blog post is about creativity and ideas to assess it. I am lucky enough to be part of PressPlay (@Letsgetplayful on Twitter), a group of like-minded educators, passionate about play in and beyond the early years. Last week, Bill Lucas was part of a Q and A with PressPlay about this very subject.  Bill shared many gems including: - Assessment cannot and should not be separated from the written curriculum, learning and teaching. - Assessment should never be about numbers, levels and grades. It is about narrative and understanding who children are, authentic and scenario-based and narrative-led.  - A view of creativity as 5 interlocking creative habits of mind - inquisitive, collaborative, persistent, disciplined and imaginative. I connect so strongly with these habits of mind, but I was initially challenged by the idea that all 5 are necessarily a part of creativity. Unpacked so beautifully in this resource  developed by a school, big ideas such as being curious, worki...

This post is about the opportunities and invitations Kindergarten children have had so far this year to develop their identities as readers, learn about reading and learn through reading.  Recent training on Playful Literacies and conversations with Jo Fahey have allowed me to reflect on routines and engagements already in place and identify new initiatives.  Halliday's way of thinking about language (learning, learning about and learning through) has always helped me to think any discipline or strand in multiple ways. I have written before about his work here  but will focus on reading in this blog.  Key to our approach is seeing reading as a process of meaning making. Meaning is essential so therefore context, relevance, purpose and audience are all important elements to embed in language learning.  Learning This lens explores the mindset, dispositions and behaviours of a reader - unpacking what readers do, and helping children to see themselves as readers. It...

I have been thinking a lot about about the concepts of being "playful" and playfulness. This connects to a previous  blog  about learning beyond free play, as well as discussions with Jo Fahey and a recent set of webinars from The Lego Foundation who identify five characteristics of playful learning: The Early Years in the PYP document published by the IB mentions the word 'playful' in two contexts: (Educators) consider what the learner is investigating through their playful interactions with people, materials and places.  (As an example of a central idea for a unit of inquiry) : We construct theories about how the world works through playful exploration.  I appreciate the explicit connections made with theory building, investigation, interactions and exploration. I also value the idea that these interactions go beyond materials and can include people and places. I would advocate that we can also be playful with ideas.  I feel there is more to unpack with being...