Tom Drummond's Enterprise Talk

It's the start of a new school year, which always brings lots of changes and boots us out of our comfort zones. Many teachers have a whole new class every year and must take plenty of time at the beginning to get to know each new personality, to build relationships, to figure out how the culture of all those personalities together will develop.

In our school, we have a mixed-age program so about half of the children leave for kindergarten each year, and we start the new school year with our class consisting of half returning 4-year-olds and half new 3-year-olds. This also takes a lot of getting used to, relationship building, and relationship adjusting. The "top dogs" of last year are not there to run the place anymore, and the new "big kids" who used to be the little kids must figure out their new role.

This year we also rearranged the whole school, so that none of the areas are in the same place they used to be. This changes the whole flow that the returning kids were familiar with, so in some ways we are all new kids. Nobody remembers where we keep the scissors because they're not where they used to be.

With all this adjusting and learning and relationship building to do, it's easy for teachers to give directions to try to make everything go smoothly. "Go wash your hands." "Get your water bottle." "Put the cap on the marker." These may sound innocuous enough, but when you look at it a different way,

"when a child is told what to do, he or she has only two choices: (a) do as requested — acquiesce, or (b) not do as requested — rebel."

This quote comes from Tom Drummond in his article "Enterprise Talk" which provides teachers with "a handrail to integrity and authenticity."

He goes on to say, "Neither acquiescence nor rebellion is a value I want to teach. They are not on my list of attributes of good character. I want children in my community to take the initiative to act responsibly for the good of themselves and the good of others. If adults constantly tell children what to do, they eliminate the possibility of initiative."

Because we are a democratic school that helps the children create their own "agreements" or rules of how they want to be together, we agree that we don't value either acquiescence or rebellion. A functioning democratic society requires well-informed citizens capable of making their own choices and using critical thinking to question everything. So, we are working on unlearning the old teacher habits we used to have and retrofitting our toolboxes with Tom Drummond's guidelines:

"No Directions, No Questions, No Praise.
This is an admonition to eliminate doing what doesn’t work....I invite you to stop telling other people what to do....I invite you to stop asking questions about what to do....I invite you to stop praising what children do."

Instead, here's what we are trying to replace old language with. All quotes below are from Tom Drummond, the link to the original article is above, below, and here.

Descriptions

"You have a yellow bolt. Four of you are working together. Clouds of pink fill the page. Those are called quads. The pen dried out. It smells sour. Descriptions convey in language what the child can perceive presently—what the child is now seeing, hearing, feeling, touching, smelling."

Narrations

"You brought the stapler. Jenny is folding the scarves. You are filling it up to the very top. Mark is handing out the cups. Carlos joins us. You hung up your coat. Narrations put the child's actions into words as the child is doing it—like a sports announcer delivering play by play coverage of events as they occur. Most narrations start with “You…” or the child’s name."

Subjective-Talk

"I am watching you. I’ll be right back. I have to go get the lunch. I saw you and Yolanda at the store. My cat keeps eating the butter. I enjoy seeing your paintings. I have towels if you need them. Subjective-talk is about your own actions and thoughts that relate to the child's current situation. Most self-talk statements begin with “I…” "

Non-Verbal Recognition

"Wink. Smile. Send a positive message in the way you hold your body, the expression on your face and the noises you make. Wooo! Zowie! Yeah-yeah-YEAH! Communicate your pleasure in valued behavior by facial expressions and body language."

Intrinsically-Phrased Responses

"ENJOYMENT   “It’s fun to do, isn’t it?”

         pleasure ~ delight ~ happiness ~ thrill ~ joy ~ amusement ~ gratification
good feelings ~ savor that inside ~ pride ~ satisfaction

COMPETENCE     “You did it!”

         success ~ mastery ~ have the know-how ~ expertise ~ accomplishment
achievement ~ attainment ~ have the skill ~ a talent ~ knack

CLEVERNESS    “That’s tricky.”

         a new idea ~ unique ~ brainy ~ smart ~ intelligent ~ bright
~ witty ~ sharp ~ ingenious ~ quick ~ original

GROWTH       “You’re sure getting bigger!”

         ready for new challenges ~ older now ~ something new
~ more grown-up ~ more independent"

This doesn't mean that there are no limits or boundaries. Young children very much need limits and boundaries to feel safe and in control. For example, we obviously can't let children continue hitting or hurting someone else while we stand there figuring out what to say. We can't let children run out in the street or break toys on purpose. But maybe there are some things we can let go of that seem like traditional musts. Yes, we have a culture of washing hands before eating, but if one child doesn't do it one day, is it the end of the world? Usually we don't stand on the table, but if a child needs to reach to build a taller tower, is it okay? Some schools have an unbendable "up the ladder, down the slide" rule. But what creative play, physical challenges and negotiations are lost without the freedom to try to climb up the slide with a rope?

It takes a long time to unlearn old habits and re-train ourselves, but in the couple of years that I've been working on learning this new way I can tell you it is well worth the effort. Where I used to get into battles with children over picking up their belongings, clean up time, saying sorry, coming when I call, etc., I now have let go of the need to control them so tightly. I can give them information and let them come to a choice of action in their own time. "If you leave your blankie on the floor, someone might step on it or trip on it." If it matters to them, they will pick it up and put it somewhere safe. If it only matters to me that the walkway is clear, then I'm the one that should pick it up. But I'll narrate what I'm doing and why, to act as a model. "I'm going to put away this puzzle that no one is using so that the pieces all stay together." Instead of saying "Wash your hands for snack" I now say, "It's snack time. When you're ready you can wash your hands and get some snack."

This technique is especially crucial in times of conflict and stress, and with those children who need extra support being successful in the classroom. For children who don't read others' body language, you can narrate and describe what you see happening and what you think it means. "Bryce is putting his hands up and saying no. I think he wants to protect his block structure so it stays standing up." For children who have a hard time joining others' play appropriately, you can notice and wonder. "Sophie and Elliot are making a stew. I wonder what else they need for it?" In fact, "I notice" and "I wonder" are miracle words that work in millions of situations.

I wanted to introduce you to Tom Drummond's Enterprise Talk and I ended up talking about a lot of different things, which is good because now I have a long list of ideas for future blog posts. There's so much to think about, reflect on, talk about and share on this journey of early childhood education. Thank you for joining me on the journey!

IDEC 2013 - part 4 - vision and connections

Monday's theme at IDEC 2013 (the International Democratic Education Conference) was "Vision," and Tuesday's theme was "Connections." In two days I filled 17 pages with notes. How can I coherently convey any of it to anyone?

In reality, looking back through my notes, most of what I've written down are just ideas and questions. Then, ideas that lead to more questions. The most amazing thing about being here is that everyone is here to share and learn with and from each other. Everybody wants to hear each other's stories, ask questions, find out who's got experience in the thing they're stuck on, find out who's doing something radically different and amazing. And everybody accepts everyone else at face value. There's no judging, just an understanding that we're each on our own paths, each seeking the next challenge or adventure.

In boiling down the last 48 hours, I think my takeaway so far is to go back to my school and work the way the conference is working. Ask big questions, wait for answers to come. Work collaboratively on problems. Include everyone in the conversation. Trust the kids and trust the process.

Here are some of the big questions from these first two days that I want to bring back to my school. And I'd love to hear my readers' responses as well. Everybody is invited into the conversation! The last two questions are ones that we've been exploring for the past year already.

- How do you define democratic education?

- What does community participation look like?

- How do you balance your vision for your school with the visions/needs/concerns etc. of the school community?

- How can we build connection with each other for the future of democratic education?

- What are your thoughts on the pros and cons of making decisions by consensus vs. majority voting?

- When children make the rules, what do you do about bottom-line safety concerns that the adults aren't willing to negotiate on, i.e. holding hands crossing the street, sitting up while eating, washing hands after using the bathroom?

- When you value not bossing children around or forcing them to do things that they don't want to do in school, how do kids learn responsibility for materials (taking care of them, not breaking them, cleaning up)?

I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas and as always, even more questions.

IDEC 2013 - part 3 - place and migration

Today after a short welcome, the conference participants gathered in small "homebase" groups for the first time. We'll be meeting with these same groups daily for check-in and reflection. Each group had a theme. Ours was "place and migration."

We began by reflecting on what place and migration mean to each of us, then shared with a partner and then with the whole group. The discussion ranged from gentrification and forced migrations to changing schools and geese. A young boy in our group, maybe 8 or 9, was very focused on geese. He and his mom and I were talking in the think-pair-share activity, and he didn't have much to say except "Goose." It became kind of a running gag, until our group began planning our presentation for the opening ceremony later tonight.

For "place," we made a collective human sculpture, with each group member taking a pose that represents what place means to them, each one adding their idea to the whole. Next, to represent migration, we made four small groups and each group had a sculptor who would position the rest of the group into a sculpture representing migration. I was in that young boy's group, and he was the sculptor.

At first, I caught myself thinking something vaguely along the lines of "oh no, the kid won't do it right." Then I couldn't believe I had that thought. Me, a progressive educator dedicated to child-centered learning! I mentally noted my reaction and then evicted it from my mind. Then, the boy himself blew me away. He instantly had a vision of what he would sculpt. "Goose," he said. He put us in a V formation and had us flap our arms. I asked if we could rest if our arms got tired and he said if our arms got tired we would change positions: the person at the front of the V would move to the back and someone else would take the lead. While the other groups' sculptors were working out their creations, the five of us stood there flapping slowly, and now and then changing positions while our sculptor stood back and smiled.

Later, back in the dorm room I reflected on what place and migration could mean in the context of our preschool community, and I wrote this:

Everybody in our immediate community - whoever we're working with or sharing space and time with - comes from a different place and has been on a different journey, but they are all here, together, in the present moment. The diversity inherent in these varied histories makes a community strong because each individual can build on the collective knowledge and experience of the group. Everyone has something to contribute and everyone has something to learn. No one's skills, knowledge or experiences are more important than anyone else's; they all contribute in different ways.

I'm looking forward to participating in this week's migration of thought, following different lead geese and sometimes taking the lead myself. Then I get to take part in another great migration of thought: the 2013-2014 school year, with this year's unique group of teachers, children, parents and extended community. Here we go!

look what i can do

look!
look at me!
look what i can do!
watch this!

did you see me jump so far?
did you see me climb so high?

see, i wrote my name.
i can write it backwards, watch.
i'll show you how i did it.

look what i made!
i made it myself.
i put it together and then it broke, but i tried again and it broke again
but then i tried a different way and this is what i made, see?
watch what it can do.
this part turns around and this part shoots lasers.
this is how it flies, watch this!

come and see what we made -
we did it together.  
i built the house and my friend made the garage.
this is where the animals live, and this is where they go potty.
if you want to come and visit, you have to knock on the door.

come and see what we are doing -
we are putting on a show.
you are the audience, you sit over there.
watch us dance, see what we can do.

this is what we're learning
this is what we're building
this is how we're growing
watch us and see

don't go away yet,
take a second look
take a closer look, lean it and examine
ask me some questions about how it works
ask me why i put that piece over there.

don't ask me what it is, because it's obvious to me -
ask me to tell you everything about it.
ask me to tell you what i was thinking about
ask me to explain the parts you don't understand

let me tell you all i have to tell
listen to my thinking, my reasoning
don't say "that's nice," and don't say "i love it,"
unless you want me to learn to only work for your approval.
tell me it looks like i worked very hard
tell me you think i must be proud of myself
tell me you notice how i kept at it, even when it was difficult,
and i figured out a way to make it work
i practiced and practiced until i learned how to do it
tell me, "remember when you didn't know how to do that?"
i will smile and say, "when i was little."
tell me you wonder what i'll learn to do next
tell me you can't wait to see

i'm making my learning visible every day
all you have to do is open your eyes
and look,
look at me.

baby steps

I'm always surprised when I talk to people and they've never heard of the Reggio Emilia approach, even other teachers.  I've been immersed in trying to learn about the Reggio way for six years now, and the more I discover, the more I want to understand. 

I started with a vague sense of what Reggio was about: progressive, emergent, project-based... the words floated around in the ether and made me feel good about working in a preschool with these values.  I was coming out of nearly 5 years of teaching in a very tough and under-resourced public elementary school where I had to follow the mandated curriculum, measure each distinct subject area in minutes per week, and administer standardized tests to at least 25 underprivileged 7-year-olds, some with serious problems in their lives creating obstacles to their success.  Yikes!  Almost any other teaching situation would have been a reprieve, but finding a Reggio-inspired preschool to work in was a dream come true.

We started off with some inservice training; a teacher from a well-established school came and showed us images of their project work and talked about what the children had done.  It was wonderfully impressive, but I came away with a lost feeling of "Yes, but how did they do that?" 

Since those tentative beginnings, I have joined NAREA (The North American Reggio Emilia Alliance) and attended two of their conferences featuring professionals from Reggio Emilia, Italy.  We took our whole staff to Salinas to view the Wonder of Learning exhibit, an inspiring display of Reggio children's project work that tours the world. 

These days I feel like I have wondered a lot, learned a lot, and have a much better understanding of what it is that I want to understand better!  My learning comes in baby steps, some bigger than others, some backwards... something like this:

- Visit a school, conference or exhibit, or 
- Read a blog, book or article
- Get inspired
- Change something about how our school looks or how it functions
- Get bogged down in the day-to-day details of a busy classroom and fall short of intended perfection
- Look back and notice what we could have done better
- Repeat

It's a never-ending cycle but definitely a forward-moving one, and that's the kind that's preferable when you're on a journey.

here begins a journey

here begins a journey
out on the edge
     of comfort
take my hand
let's put our toes in.
it might be cold
we might sink down
     in
     the soft, black sand.
this world is huge;
so much to see
     and do
     and take in.
and we are small;
sometimes we are timid
sometimes we get tummyaches
     that we cannot explain
some people call us shy
but we are watchers
     we are seers
we are builders
     we are shapers
we are magic wand makers.
come along with us, if this is your path...
if you, too, can silently observe
ponder all you see
contemplate all you hear
and let it slowly form
     into questions and knowing
     in the growing of your mind
     as you sleep.

we are ready for the journey.
we are the journey.
here it begins.