Teaching With The Body In Mind

MINI EPISODE with strategies and practical ideas for supporting messy play.

Joey wants to talk about the delightfully messy and immersive sensory experiences that accompany summertime play.  The "yes" tends to come easier when clean up and safety concerns are reduced. Mike and Ross advocate for those who are challenged by sand stuck between their toes. Everyone agrees that messy play is a joyful way to engage problem solving, emotional regulation, and scientific thinking. 

Mike notices that children's need for movement is overlooked during an early childhood education conference.  If physical needs are constant, why do we keep forgetting to talk about them?  What are the unconscious implications when the need for movement is not addressed? Before we label behavior as "challenging," let's remember: movement is a need!

Moving and acting in synchronicity can create a feeling of "collective effervescence" within a group.  When have we experienced these moments in our work with young children?  Can adults create conditions to promote these feelings of unity or do our efforts get in the way?

Tom recalls a transcendent moment during play where talk turned into action.  Children taking action can cause a chain reaction of play and create serendipity.  

Conversations from the margins of our "why school" discussion.

Ross wants to talk paradigm shift.  What lessons will we learn from the current disruption to our educational system?  Joey asks the dangerous question, why school? Tom advocates for the privilege of being at school.  Everyone agrees that it's the COMMUNITY that is essential.  Mike finds a way to tie it all back to Grover Cleveland.

Joey asks the group to help her reflect on the new "classroom environment" she's inhabiting while teaching through the internet.  How should we manage the challenges of teaching through the screen?  How can we find ways to give children agency and not just be passive receivers of instruction?  What might the experience be like from the children's perspective? 

Ross wonders if we are doing harm when we don't let children experience boredom. Is there a connection between boredom and creativity?  The group wonders what it really means when children say they're bored.  Is there a connection between boredom and loneliness? (Originally recorded December 2018)

Tom's feeling conflicted about his enjoyment of action movies that depict violence. What draws us to fantasy entertainment that includes scary, thrilling, and violent aspects? Are there parallels to fantasy children's play? It's murky territory. (Recorded March 1, 2020)

A conversation about finding balance in your family schedule. How can families support young children's (and everyone's) need for routine and predictability when much of the structure of our lives has been disrupted?  In early childhood classrooms, daily schedules provide routines and add a little certainty to the day.  Yet schedules also need to be flexible and leave room for serendipity. 

The group shares ideas for how families can support children's need to move while cooped up at home.  What house rules might need to be suspended?  What  creative ways can we find to repurpose spaces and materials? How can we support children's growing ability and desire to be helpful and feel competent?

We'd all like a little help sometimes so why do we tell children, "I'm not going to help you because I know you can do it yourself?" How do we balance supporting children's sense of autonomy and assuring them that someone is going to take care of them? Perhaps we should distinguish between solving problems for children and solving problems with them. 

Ross has been thinking about adults' responses to speed and the duality of how we tell children "hurry, hurry" one minute and "slow down" the next.  Are we reflecting on why and when we correct children for their rate of speed? Tom worries that we want children to learn things faster and faster.  Mike points out that one of the drawbacks of group care is that it is not set up to meet the needs of outliers within the community. Joey wonders how we can actually help children when there are times that things need to go faster.  We all agree that everyone should have a chance to enjoy the gift of slowing down sometimes.

Mike is excited to share what he's been learning from textbooks as he thinks about our approach to motor development in young children.  In developing a motor skill, motivation is step one!  Many adults are missing the mark when expecting children to be ready to implement a skill in which they have little interest or that they haven't had time to explore.

Joey wants to talk about how children use their bodies to support symbolic thinking as they create their worlds through play. Early childhood classrooms are full of crawling cats, roaring dragons, and zooming race cars.  How does children's play change as they move from concrete to abstract thinking?  Why does the need for embodiment go away?

Mike wants to take a closer look at the distinction between gross motor and fine motor skills.  Can they be considered in isolation or are they intertwined?  Are fine motor skills given preferential treatment in our educational system while we overlook gross motor skills?  Is there "push down" of expectations for fine motor skills? Do well-developed large motor skills correlate to well-developed small motor skills?

Part 2 of the conversation with Lisa Murphy touches on: teaching from a place of fear vs. confidence, the benefits of self-awareness for practitioners, the need for control (of children and of our own feelings), coming from a strength-based vs. deficit perspective, and the differences in approach between long-term mentoring and one-stop presentations.

Lisa Murphy joins the group for a conversation centered around the ideas in her new book, "Lisa Murphy on Being Child Centered."  Does our teaching practice match our stated values? If you pause to ask reflective questions, will you discover a disconnect between values and practice? How do we discern the difference between control and structure?  Can ironing with children be a form of play? 

Part 2 of a conversation about the the body as a "thinking tool" for math concepts.  Tom reminds us that math is more than just counting.  Before children are ready and able to use the symbols and language of mathematics, their early thinking has to be paired with physical action.

Tom wants to talk about math. Specifically, he wants to talk about how the body is a thinking tool for children to experience and work out math concepts. The group enjoys taking on Tom's challenge of connecting math ideas with whole body learning.

Joey gets uncomfortable when parents ask, "What else should we be doing?" The group unpacks what thoughts and feelings might lie behind this question and share strategies for conversations with families. We are reminded of the importance of building relationships with families, empowering parents, and the need to be mindful that we are not forming judgements.

Ross hopes more teachers can tap into a "yes" mentality and get children outside.  Joey wants to talk about individual differences in responding to temperature and outdoor gear. How can we support young children (and teachers) with cold feet? Everyone agrees: spending time outdoors offers children experiences they can't have indoors and the chance to learn things that no weather chart could ever teach.

Tom wants to talk about beautiful, wonderful snow.  Children love snow and the myriad opportunities it brings.  Adults need to keep their snow-related hassles to themselves and let children have the joy.  The discussion includes some practical tips for sledding with young children.

A short conversation captured in between takes about the ways we communicate about play and the importance of giving play the value it deserves.

Joey wants to take a closer look at children's play with wheeled toys.  What makes it so captivating? The conversation touches on many facets of this type of play: the sensory satisfaction of rolling, pathways, the connection between the vestibular system and the regulatory system, spinning and rotary schema, and cultural influences on car play.

Mike circles back to the discussion about meeting children's varying needs for physical expression and energy output during the course of a day.  Are there different considerations at play in full and part day programs? The conversation turns to  helping Mike problem solve around sharing one gym space in a large program.  How do we work within our constraints and best serve the needs of children?

When all the blocks are locked up behind the dragon's wall, do you make him share?  Ross has been thinking about how adults can help children want to share. Tom thinks that we are not careful enough in how we use the term "sharing." Mike reminds us of Fred Rogers' wisdom: "There's a world of difference between insisting on someone's doing something and establishing an atmosphere in which that person can grow into wanting to do it."

Mike is delighted with the concept of attunement.  When teachers are skilled at attunement, children feel understood, seen, and heard.  Ross points out that it takes time and effort to be in tune. Tom and Joey share experiences where teachers have been "out of tune" with children.  Mike posits that noticing disharmony is one of the first steps to attunement.  Who doesn't love a musical metaphor?

Tom watched some Rugby and Aussie Rules Football while in Australia. The experience expanded his idea of what's allowed and what's condoned.  He wonders what kind of messages kids are getting if they're watching these sorts of sports.  

Tom's back from his world travels! He's thinking about context and how we can't just copy an idea as we have to make it work for our particular environment. The group has questions about what he experienced in the context of Australian early childhood education during his time abroad.

As his favorite holiday approaches, Ross wants to talk about spooky stuff. Being faced with scary things, from monsters to giant potatoes, is a big part of childhood.  Fear will pass (like all emotions), but what do children do when they have these feelings and how should adults respond?  

As a follow up to the discussion on tension release, Joey invites the group to examine teachers' cycles of tension and release.  Are we taking advantage of the chances for relief that we offer the children? Where are the hidden moments of tension release in our day? (We all have them!) The discussion uncovers the importance of predictability, routine, and enjoyment as essential components for regulating tension. 

Mike wants to talk about documentation. He wonders if there are parallels between learning and performing.  How does social media culture impact what we choose to share? Are we hiding the messy parts and just using it to show off our "good teaching"? Ross finds the connection between documentation, his best high school teachers, and his favorite recipe book. Mike reminds us that documentation is about reflection and continuing to learn about the children in our care.

Joey invites the group to look at our work with young children through the lens of tension building and tension relieving. Are we planning for and providing opportunities for tension release?        

Rae Pica joins in the discussion this week to talk about her new book, Acting Out! Avoid Behavior Challenges with Active Learning Games and Activities.  The group enjoys a wide ranging conversation that touches on the negative consequences for children when adults have an inadequate understanding of child development. Rae wonders, what's gone wrong with this world in terms of expectations for children?  The group finds hope in the opportunities to partner with parents.  Rae offers resources to support this work. (https://www.raepica.com/product-category/reproducible-parent-letters/)

Mike is inspired after listening to an interview with psychologist Barbara Tversky. He's all fired up to talk about how movement and physical experiences in the world create the foundation for children's cognitive abilities. The group is reminded of how remarkable and under-celebrated young children's mental capabilities are. 

Ross believes that failure is necessary for learning, but he worries that many children (and adults) just stop trying when their efforts are met with failure.  The group wonders who defines failure?  Does the desire to be "the best" make children care less about learning than the final score? 

Ross leads the group in a freewheeling conversation about a variety of sounds in the classroom--children's non-verbal conversations, sound effects, background noises, shrieks, whines, and excited yelling. What needs do these sounds reflect? How do we respond appropriately to the many sounds in our early childhood environments?

Tom's grandchildren create their own "enrichment" activities on a family camping trip, and Tom observes that digging rocks is compelling work.  The group ponders children's seemingly endless drive to dig.

Joey wonders what kinds of feelings do children get from feeling a frog? Handling vulnerable creatures like frogs and worms can be a powerful experience for many children. Ross and Mike share their stories of children's relationships with animals--in and out of the classroom.

Mike opens up about his feelings related to princess play. Does this play reinforce ideas about gender, body image, and power? Tom's mind is blown by the parallels between the dynamics of princess play and gun play.

Ross invites reflection as we round the corner on our 100th episode. Tom talks of his child-centered retirement party, Joey figures out full-speed running in the classroom, Mike connects the dots between swinging from the loft and pillow fights, and Ross celebrates our forum for reflective teaching. Let us play big, give us space and time and we may go on for another 100 years.

In a follow-up conversation about early childhood culture and gender, a nerve gets struck when "cute" enters the conversation.  Is cute a meaningful attribute in creating environments for children? Is it how we would like to be described as professionals?