Dig Deeper to Learn With Children

1. Dig Deeper to Learn With Children Chapter 6 Learning Together with Young Children

2. Language of Learning • Are we viewing children as competent or as incompetent? • This has a lot to deal with how we interact with children, what our expectations are, and our attitudes toward others.

3. The Hundred Languages of Childrenby Loris Malaguzzi(translated by LellaGandini)

4. The childis made of one hundred.The child hasa hundred languagesa hundred handsa hundred thoughtsa hundred ways of thinkingof playing, of speaking.

5. A hundred always a hundredways of listeningof marveling of lovinga hundred joysfor singing and understandinga hundred worldsto discovera hundred worldsto dream.

6. The child hasa hundred languages(and a hundred hundredhundred more)but they steal ninety-nine.The school and the cultureseparate the head from the body.

7. They tell the child:to think without handsto do without headto listen and not to speakto understand without joyto love and to marvelonly at Easter and Christmas.

8. They tell the child:to discover the world already thereand of the hundredthey steal ninety-nine.They tell the childthat work and playreality and fantasyscience and imaginationsky and earthreason and dreamare thingsthat do not belong together.

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

10. Improvisational Theater • Follow the lead of the child • Try not to shoot down their ideas • Allow for the excitement of their ideas to come through

11. Impacting Quality of Responses • Wait time • Clarity • Placement • Calling on children in different ways • Thought level

12. Wait Time • Increasing wait time increases number and quality of responses. • Three second average • 15 seconds is best

13. Clarity • Ask specific question, then stop talking.

14. Avoid Unclear Questions • What about elephants?

15. Avoid Asking Series of Questions • What do tigers eat? Do they eat plants? Would you find one attacking another tiger to eat it?

16. Placement of Questions • Before reading—to comprehend specific information • During reading—to focus • After reading—for general comprehension

17. Methods of Calling on Children • Solitary response (Jim, what is the date?) • Controlled response (What is the date, Jim?) • Uncontrolled response (What is the date?) • Mass response (What is the date, class?)

18. Thought Level • Literal • Interpretive • Application

19. Literal • Read the lines. • “Does he love me?”

20. Interpretation • Read between the lines • “Did he kiss me like he loves me?”

21. Improving Questioning • Wait time • Clarity • Placement • Calling on children • Thought level

22. Application • Read beyond the lines. • “Will he ask me to marry him?” —

23. Open Ended questions

24. Challenge Children to Go a Step Further in their Pursuits • Figure out what they are exploring and talking about, LISTEN carefully to what they are saying and not saying, try to view the situation from their point of view

25. Help Children Represent Their Ideas with Multiple Materials • Drama, drawing, songs, stories, buildings, play dough, clay, photography, (amazing what can be done with digital photography these days) • http://playsplus.com/video.htm • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WhgmmrLyBI&eurl

26. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGBNUYtt4no&feature=related • Surgery

27. Tap into Children’s Love of Songs and Music • Spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down!!

28. Draw on Children’s Deep Fascination with Drama and Magical Thinking

29. Harness Children’s Instinctive Drive to Use their Bodies

30. Build on Children’s Attention for the Natural World

31. Explore Children’s Theories for Deeper Learning

32. Reflect Children’s Ideas Back to them with Documentation