I have been reading...The LAST LECTURE by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow

Many of you will be familiar with Randy’s The Last Lecture which featured on YouTube and television since late 2007. University Professors at Carnegie Mellon University have the chance to give their Last Lecture. It is a time for them to consider and share with others what matters most to them knowing they possibly have the time to live it all out. Randy knew his Last Lecture was his last, he now had terminal pancreatic cancer. As I watched I thought about his courage and bravery with which he faced the end of his life as he talked about cancer, death and dying. His “engineering problem...and now doing the best you can with limited resources.” All the while focussing on life and living, and sharing his wisdom with us. However, the lecture is a ruse. He reminds us that “it was for my kids,” He was “trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children” (p.x).

The Last Lecture is now a delightful little book in which Randy tells us many humorous and inspirational stories. He offers “thanks to my parents who allowed me to dream, and with hopes for the dreams my children will have”.

The stories all provide beautiful prompts for reflection about my own life. One in particular, called A Skill Set Called Leadership (p.43, 44), tells us how his role model James T Kirk of Star Trek helped him be a better husband, teacher and colleague. He reports that Kirk was “the distilled essence of the dynamic manager, a guy who knew how to delegate, had the passion to inspire, and looked good in what he wore to work. He never professed to have skills greater than his subordinates. He acknowledged that they knew what they were doing in their domains. But he established the vision, the tone.” Randy’s story and wisdom spoke to me of the skills we all bring to our work, but more so, the skills necessary to sharing leadership and how none of us have skills greater than the other just that what we contribute to our teams is complimentary and necessary to the function of the team or group.

I enjoyed this book and continue to ‘dip’ into it for pleasure and the reflective prompts and inspiration Randy provides. I recommend taking time to read it aloud and share it with teachers, parents amd your family. Our stories have the power to transform lives. Sharing them is important. Randy’s story will continue to transform. 

Randy also had a website which you might be interested in.

Kathryn Delany

Serendipitous; a chance meeting to remember, 13th January 2011

We recently received this an email from Julie Peal, an early childhood teacher at Wellington's Victoria University Law School.

Just had to share with you all an amazing bit of serendipity, as you may know I work in the old government building which is now the Victoria University Law School, it is open to anyone to walk through, with many tourists passing through the halls each day. As I walked out of my centre with some children (heading outside to our play ground) we met an elderly gentleman in the hall and sparked up a conversation with him.

His gentle and respectful conversations with the children led me to ask him if he was or had been a teacher, to which he replied “not really” I only work with masters students now. He said during his early working life he had taught in so called third world countries in Africa and the Philippines and now worked at the University of Sussex.

He said he was visiting from Britain but was born in NZ, he asked about the centre and was most impressed to know that we were located in such close proximity to the children’s families. He spoke at length on how important it was for woman to be supported to be educated and in work, while knowing their children were close by. This led to the story of his mothers struggle to be educated at a time when women were not expected to work outside the home. 

Not knowing who he was I innocently ask what it was like when he was a child to which he replied that his mother had been active in supporting early childhood education and had set up an early childhood centre in the 50s. Long story short the interesting and interested elderly gentleman was Anthony Somerset son of Gwen Somerset, who was a pioneer of Early childhood Education in New Zealand and wrote vital play amongst other thinks. 

We then had an amazing kororo about Piaget whom he thought underestimated young children’s ability to understand because he tested their knowledge out of the context of their lives.  Basically he said Piaget didn’t see things through the child’s eyes.

Vygotsky was our next topic, which led to how culture impacts children’s learning. Tony (as he asked me to call him)  then proceeded to tell me a story of recently looking after a young boy of just 3 years, they had gone for a walk and came across a tractor, climbing onto the tractor the young boy noticed a box attached to it and asked if they could open it. Tony’s reply was that the farmer may not like them to do that. The child noticing the box had writing on the lid pointed to it and said that says we are allowed to open the box.

On hearing this creative problem solving Tony agreed to the boy opening the box. Inside the box was a rope which the child use to fish with off the tractor. As this imaginary play came to an end, on his own initiative the boy packed the rope into the box and shut the lid, saying “now the farmer will be happy”. 

Tony then unpacked for me all the learning this little story held, as if he were writing a learning story.  It included allowing the child’s curiosity to lead their learning, understanding that written script could communicate meaning (although it was in Russian Cyrillic script) but most importantly the empathy for Tony’s feelings that the farmer would not like them to open the box. Tony felt by ensuring that the rope was safely returned to its place and saying the farmer would be happy, the child seemed to have shown an understanding of the ethical issues involved. He wondered what Piaget would make of this child’s ability to see this problem from so many different perspectives, his own, Tony’s and the farmers.

What an inspiration to hear this man (now well into his 80s) speak so knowledgeably and passionately on the role of woman and young children’s learning   As a person who has an interest in history and the way it shapes our learning and teaching this was a truly fortunate meeting with a person who is so closely connected with two people ( Gwen Somerset and her brother Riwi Ally ) who have played such significant and cutting edge roles in education. In sharing a little of his own Whakapapa it was treasured insight into just how far early childhood education has come and how important it is in this time of uncertainty to hold tight to what we have achieved.  

It was serendipitous that I happened to have Sunshine and Shadow , Gwen Somerset’s autobiography sitting on my desk at home waiting to be read, meeting Tony who is from this family of (and is himself) a great educationist provided a great incentive to make time to do it.


Just thought this was a story worth sharing with colleagues who make such a difference in the field of education for young children, such as yourselves. 
All the very best 
Julie

Goodbye Jean

Today just after 1pm today Jean slipped away peacefully from us all. Her family was with her. Jean has been an inspiration to all those who knew her, not just in the courageous way she dealt with her cancer over more than a decade, but through her lifelong actions in the interests of children and families. A passionate advocate for all who surrounded her and beyond.

Jean lived life to the full on so many levels; those of you who were kindergarten teachers in the 80’s will remember her as the NZFKTA President. At the end of her term as President a group of teachers wrote this song as a tribute, titled  - “I wanna be like Jean”

 Chorus: I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be like Jean!

I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be like Jean.

I want to have her style, I want her million dollar style, I want to be the president

I wanna be like Jean.

I remember the first time I saw her at Orongamai marae. The spot light it was on her, there was not an eye that was dry. I remember the adulation, the songs and the food and the wine.

I remember the frock she was wearing. It was dinky and pink with a tie.

There are so many ways to describe Jean, a remarkable woman in our time: A few words that I would use to describe her are:

Courageous

Spirited

Persistent

Joyful

Forthright

Dedicated

Humorous

Committed

Tenacious

Determined

Loving

Kind

Unique

We will all miss her so much. I feel very privileged to have known her. My thoughts and love are with Kerry, Katherine, Emma, Tom and baby William at this time of great sadness.

I just feel the tears sliding down my face, but at the same time, a life so well lived, so courageously - she was an inspiration. Much love Wendy

Fontastic

Believe it or not fonts are a hotly debated topic in our household. Living with two designers who always have an opinion on what font to use I asked them both which is their favourite which turned out to be a difficult question for them to answer. It became clear that unlike me who tends to use the same font for everything, they had many favourite fonts for different purposes. 
Look at any list online of the worst fonts and top of the list is Comic Sans.             

In Early Childhood teachers often choose Comic Sans because of its closeness       to the written letter, its formation of the letter ‘a’ is shaped in the same way
it is written. Critics of Comic Sans say it is an uneven font, the spacing is not
the same for every letter, it is a casual font often used with the wrong
purpose in mind - it was designed to mimic comic strip script and was

released by Microsoft in 1995.
Gill Sans and Helvetica on the other hand are two of the most popular fonts.     Gil Sans was designed by Eric Gill in the 1920’s, it has been used widely in
the London Underground. Helvetica was created in 1957 and
when you look around at packaging it is every where. Energizer, Post-it, evian,

Microsoft. I like it because it is clean and crisp without any fussy-ness.

So, there are a few golden rules when it comes to choosing a font, the first of which is to think about the purpose of the font. Is it for a learning story or other documentation that you want children to revisit? If it is then it needs to be easily ‘read’ by children, some fonts like brushed script 
are really difficult for children to identify individual letters. This is a common mistake
I see when I read through children’s learning story, the font used is distracting from the
content, and is often hard to read for me as an adult. What must this be like for children
when they are revisiting documentation? Comic Life’s default font is capitals and I often
see this in learning stories (see my Comic Life sheet on our website on tips to avoid this).
Is your piece of work going to be enlarged? Some fonts work better than others at larger sizes, and if your document is going to be printed some smaller fonts do not print well.
Different fonts take up different amounts of space, even at the same point size, Papyrus for example takes up more space than Arial.
Think about the impact you want to make, don’t be afraid to mix fonts if you are making a poster, the impact of these can be very eye catching.
Check out the font family, Helvetica has the following options in it’s family.

Helvetica font family

This is great when you are making a document with a variety of font sizes and you want to stick with the same font.
Check that the font you are using ‘set’ is complete. Particularly if you are typing Maori words, you want the macron to be straight over the vowel.
For more information about fonts and selecting best fonts and avoiding the worst check out the following link:
  http://absolutegraphix.co.uk/bestworstfonts.asp?strID=Guest

Merry Christmas from the ELP team

Merry Christmas

 

Ki a tatou iwi whanui mātauranga

To our community of learners

 

Kua tae ākuanei ki te wā Kirihimete

Christmas is here.

 

Nō reira, ka mihi o te Kirihimete me te tau hou ki a koutou katoa

Therefore, Christmas and New Year greetings to you all.

 

Kia harikoa, kia marino, kia rangimarie i roto i tō whare i roto i tēnei wā

Let there be happiness, calm and peace in your house at this time.

 

Ka mihi, ka mihi, ka mihi ki a koutou katoa.

Greetings to you all.

Robyn, Wendy, Jo

Alison, Lorraine, Kathryn

Annika and Marie

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

My Christmas tree does not have a ‘theme’ as such. Not one that might be advocated in the house and garden type women’s magazines. Though, when I think about it the theme for my Tree is unique and could be referred to as the - “Brownie, Playcentre, School children, Russia, Germany, Aunty Anna with Red, Gold, Green and Blue Theme”. Because it is just that. As I put up the Christmas Tree and decorated it yesterday I had many opportunities to revisit times and people past. It is pure joy to me as I greet each and everyone of my old friends, the decorations.

There are the lights - new lights admittedly - but to mind sprang our very first Christmas tree lights (1962) bought by my Nan and Pop. A gift to us children for our tree. Coloured lights that brought magic and love with them. A chance now to meet up with Nan and Pop again, reflect on their lives and the hardships they endured for their love. Their sense of right and justice. Their resilience. The love they always showed in the ways they cared for me. The things I learnt from them.

There is the now tatty yellow gnome, a gift from my Aunty Anna. A wonderful serene women who loved me just because I am me. She was always welcoming. She was never fazed by all seven of us unkempt and unruly children walking up the path to her front door unannounced. Warm scones were on the table very soon after our arrival.

There are the hand sewn hearts made by my Brownie daughters and the dried white painted pinecone, made by my Playcentre son. Memories and remembering flood in of my own small children and me as a young woman, always trying to do what I knew to be best for them. My life of learning to mother through our many ages and stages.

There are the baubles purchased while traveling. The nesting dolls from Russia a reminder of my resilient self, and my ability to pick myself up, and to recover and discover joy and excitement in the unknown. Memories of the Russian man who smiled at us and said “Welcome to Russia” when I needed it most.

The angels from Germany who give back to me memories of travel with wonderful, kind and loving friends. My angels. Remembering great places and great people. Reminding of times where bravery, courage and resourcefulness were paramount. Memories of times when trying new things brought challenge, excitement and pleasure.

And now... new this year there are some dough ceramic decorations made at Playcentre by my grandchildren and daughter. Promise of Christmases to come and more possible learner selves to be found.

And so... I reflect on Children’s Portfolios and the learning stories we write. I am reminded of the power of the photos and the stories we tell, and how revisiting these builds identity as ‘learner’ and human being. They are just like my Christmas Tree decorations. They are the prompts for remembering and reflecting on me and the people, places, things and times in my life.

The Christmas decorations offer me opportunities to visit with my super-learning heroes and to continue to form the super-learning hero inside of me.

I have this wonder-filled time for revisiting every year and then I get to put the decorations safely in their boxes only to look forward to our meeting again in twelve months time. The children you work with can re-visit their Portfolios any-time and will more than likely do so during the rest of their lives. If not in the tangible form then inside of themselves.

I hope there is a special little something under your tree this year!! Better still... I hope there is something special on your tree this year. A special little something that provokes in you the memories of people, places things and time.

Maybe there is even a little someone around who wants to be in-charge of lighting!!! I guess that’s another story.

Best wishes to you all for a safe and memory filled Christmas Season,

Kathryn

Christmas

Hard to believe that so many families on the West Coast will be without their loved ones this Christmas.

Whilst advertisers compel us to spend up large and buy carpet, lounge suits, kettles and playstations; there are many who will be having a very different Christmas. 

Nothing can possibly be more precious than having time with those you love. Perhaps if we hold our loved ones close to our hearts during this time before Christmas; then some of the frenzy that can be overwhelming might wash over us and we may indeed find peace and joy. My heart goes out to families who will no longer have those they love come home for Christmas. It is definitely time to slow down, enjoy the moments and enjoy the spirit of Christmas. 

From Alison