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Witnesses to a Diminished Forest
During the transitory space between winter and spring, we (two educators and myself), wandered toward the forest with a small group of seven children, only to realize that the forest had been disconcertingly diminished, seemingly overnight. Slowly the realization of the destruction of a patch of trees dawned on the children as they starred quizzically at the barren space of filled with only jagged stumps where the tall trees once stood. Many of the children moved around to examine the tree stumps seemingly awestruck by this radical transformation of a once familiar space. There were questions of where the trees went and what happened to them. It was quickly understood…
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Searching the Forest for Charcoal
November 1 Today we divided the classes into two groups. One would remain in the classroom and continue their charcoal markings and the other group would be given the opportunity to see if they could find charcoal in the forest. During the previous days, the children had been encouraged to consider connections between the forest and the charcoal. Many of their charcoal creations expressed these interconnections. The group of children venturing outside seemed highly motivated for the opportunity to pursue charcoal in the forest. They eagerly anticipated such encounters. When we got to the forest, the children searched in many spaces for traces of charcoal. Some children located dark-looking wood…
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Charcoal in the forest
Today we divided the classes into two groups – one would remain in the classroom and continue their charcoal markings and the other group had the opportunity to see if they can find charcoal in the forest. The children were encouraged to consider connections between the forest and the charcoal during the previous days. Many of their charcoal creations expressed such consideration for these interconnections. A small group of children venturing outside seemed highly motivated for the opportunity to pursue charcoal in the forest and were eagerly anticipating such encounters. On the way out of the centre, a child in was asked by a child where we were headed. He…
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Experiencing and Experimenting with Charcoal
October 30/31 In preschool room 2 our explorations with charcoal yielded exciting possibilities. Our interaction with charcoal today represented an experimental and experiential step into the unknown for children and educators alike. Our room embraced the mystery of this new experience. The mystery had been building and unfolding since its announcement to the children of preschool room 2 on Monday. Then on Tuesday morning the children arrived to a room radically transformed from the one they knew on Monday. Many of the room’s familiar items (shelves, tables, carpets, building blocks, etc.) had been relocated and replaced with large rolls of white paper taped to the floor. The children were very…
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Charcoal experimentations
Our explorations with charcoal yielded exciting possibilities. Our interaction with charcoal today represented an experimental and experiential step into the unknown (for children and educators alike). The room embraced the mystery of this new experience as the mystery had been building and unfolding since its announcement to the children on Monday. On Tuesday morning the children arrived to a room radically transformed from the one they knew on Monday. Many of the room’s familiar items (shelves, tables, carpets, building blocks, etc.) had been relocated and replaced with large rolls of white paper taped to the floor. The children were very curious about this sudden transformation and what it revealed about…
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Witnessing Ruins of Progress: Recuperating “Staying with the Trouble”
Our pedagogy is guided by a devoted commitment to the aspiration of noticing and the active and ever shifting process of paying attention. We are committed to an aspiration, as opposed to a tangible goal or outcome, because it signals our willingness to engage with the only true constants our world offers us: uncertainty and mutability. In this extended moment of history, our world (the children’s world) is characterized by ecological and economic precarity, one that educational systems too often try to soothe by fostering illusions of stasis and stability. We are committed to bringing this essential instability of our surroundings to the surface of educational encounters with the children.…
