LEARNING STORIES IN THE USA!

Margaret Carr, Annie White and Wendy Lee

How wonderful it has been to have Annie White with us over the last few days. Annie is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Studies, at California State University, Channel Islands.  It has also been a pleasure to host her husband Jim as well. Annie is passionate about ‘Learning Stories’ and has participated in three Study Tours in New Zealand with Margie Carter, which was hosted by NZ Inspire early childhood educators in Auckland. During her stay, she has been interviewing teachers, leaders, academics etc about the use of Learning Stories in New Zealand.

In California, all State funded programmes are required to use a children's assessment tool referred to as the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP).  This tool was developed by University of California, Berkeley and WestED, research institute.  This is a very challenging tool to use and has the potential to stop any teacher in their tracks with the density of the observation requirements.  Finding a pathway to meet these requirements and keep teachers connected to children’s learning lives has been a huge challenge for Annie. When Annie came to NZ, and listened to our voices and witnessed the practice, she knew that there had to be another way that Head Start and California could approach children's assessments.

After learning about the practice and philosophy of Learning Stories she returned home from NZ with a deep passion and a tenacious drive to incorporate learning stories in the Head Start programme, where she has worked with for the past 18 years. They have now been using Learning Stories for the past four years. 

This led her to her dissertation study, "Engaging Families in School Readiness: Creating New Pathways for Dialogue".  She used Learning Stories as the basis for her research to investigate teacher and parent collaboration and family engagement.  Annie also worked with Early Head Start program (birth to three years of age) to use Learning Stories (they called them "Journey of Discoveries") in collaboration with parents/families.  Her research was a qualitative case study through the University of California, Davis and Sonoma State University.  Her findings have been well received and she has presented at the California Department of Education, Early Education Support Division, to demonstrate how learning stories can be used in conjunction with the DRDP tool.  Recently, she has presented locally, Statewide and Nationally on her research.  There is an incredible interest in Learning Stories.  Annie recently received a Simms/Mann Fellowship and will be conducting a year-long project using Learning Stories with two homeless shelters that have child care centres.  Annie’s University students will also be supporting the teachers in the homeless centres, as peer mentors, to support parent to complete Learning Stories.

Annie was recently hired by California State University, Channel Islands to support their existing work using Learning Stories in the early childhood study courses.  Learning Stories have been used as part of the curriculum and assessment courses for several years.  Teachers who are placed in classrooms for student teaching, use Learning Stories for children's assessments, to assess the centres, and for their own assessment for learning. 

Annie continues to teach, explore and research Learning Stories as she searches for meaningful and authentic ways to assess children’s learning.

'un-Googleable' questions that open up learning-rich tangents!

Along with more than one thousand other people, I recently attended the International Conference on Thinking. As soon as I heard this title I was excited. It seems to me, brave, vigorous thinking is the beating heart that nurtures wise learning and teaching cultures into resilient, communities of learners, where everyone has opportunities to build their skills, knowledge and dispositions. 

Of the many interesting people I listened to, Ewan McIntosh stood out for me because he connects imagination, problems and learners together. I liked him for the way he made everybody matter. Most of the people attending were school teachers, yet it took only a little twist to see the relevance for our very young children in early childhood. 

I went to his keynote address and two other workshops because I wanted to hear more about the practicalities of creating learning environments where all children could succeed. As an example he talked about children at Rosendale (Brixton, London). The teachers there wanted to explore:  ‘How might we better tell the story of learning for every single child in school?’ Through this process their children have been encouraged to become ‘problem finders’. In a usual project approach, teachers are the ones who come up with a topic to research. In Rosendale, it is the children and the learning that results is exceptional.  I can’t do this justice here and so I would encourage you to check out this web article. You can also see Ewan in action in this video.  

As I thought about all the exciting, innovative ways of engaging children in schools, it sounded a lot like what we do in early childhood when we are driven by Te Whāriki principles. When children have great resources, environments that generate curiosity to fire passion, children see real work in real time and they have the freedom to play around with ideas PLUS detailed feedback opportunities about their progress THEN great learning happens. Often this interest generates more questions than answers and draws children into growing their ideas together. Teachers can be left wondering about their role and a good yard stick to measure how effective we are is to ask ourselves a few questions:

• Have I hijacked the children’s ideas (even with the best intentions)? 
• Have I asked questions that I know the answer to? 
• Are the questions we’re working on ‘googleable’? Ewan talked about ‘un-Googleable’ questions that open up learning-rich tangents. 
• Am I trying to squeeze all this learning into fragments? 
• When do I really think the real learning happens? 

Wise teachers working collaboratively with children are more centred on being learners themselves.   Ewan says: “Teaching needs learning, not the other way around”.

  This is the reaction to one young lad at the end of a TED style talk given by the Rosendale children. Real speeches, for a real audience about ‘unGoogleable questions’. Ewan muses: Wouldn't it be wonderful if this kind of reaction to learning happened all the time?”

A favourite quote of Ewan’s from Leonard Bernstein.

Norway, a powerful place to learn in the outdoors, including magical snowflakes!!

Magical snowflakes, each one unique!

What an amazing experience, and opportunity to join a ‘MindStretchers’ Study Tour. I felt very privileged to be invited by Claire Warden to join their tour of Nature Kindergartens and various outdoor settings in Norway. We visited kindergartens for children aged from 1 to 6 years as well as a preschool. Children in Norway go to preschool the year they turn 6. We also visited a school setting in the district as well.

I have visited a number of outdoor settings/forest kindergartens in Europe but never before had the opportunity to visit these settings in the winter. I met Claire Warden and Niki Buchan at Heathrow and we set off to Norway together.

Niki Buchan, Claire Warden and me leaving Heathrow.

Imagine my excitement when I realised that I was arriving in Norway in temperatures of minus 25!!! On arrival the landscape was covered in deep snow and had been for some months. I was well rugged up in my NZ possum merino, along with my blue puffy jacket, in fact it looked quite a lot like the ‘Michelin Man’ marching into the snowy landscape! It was such a joyful experience, there were opportunities to walk across a frozen fiord, to witness a frozen waterfall and to join in a variety of outdoor experiences, for example sledging and skiing in the snow. 

Niki, number one photographer capturing magical moments!

The week was filled with opportunities to visit a variety of settings. I was particularly excited to be in settings where children spend the entire year in the outdoors. No weather was a deterent. Rain, hail, sleet, wind and snow. All were viewed as further opportunities to learn. Opportunities to build strong and resilient learners ready to take on the world. As I joined in the activities, 

I too experienced the joy of being at one with nature. To fully play and to be deeply involved in the environment. The week was filled with both joy and magic. The joy of being in a playful environment, the wonder of seeing beautiful snowflakes in their beautiful forms for the first time. I think the following images will tell you more than my words. Interesting to note as well, that at no time did I feel cold in this environment. In the words of so many Europeans, there is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing!!

Niki was the number one photographer and a number of the photos I am sharing with you were taken by her! She captured many very lovely moments on this fabulous trip. 

I will also add a few more photos of this trip to my personal blog - http://wendyelp.blogspot.com

The depth of snow across the country was extraordinary

Nature Kindergarten buildings

Shelter for the full time nature kindergarteners

A space with fire, could provide protection from a blizzard

Lunch is well underway

These blocks of snow and ice create amazing learning spaces

Children head off on an adventure through the forest

This space is a warm retreat

A place to be

These snow shoes provide some advantages in the snow

I have a deep interest in ensuring that children of all ages are exposed to risk and challenge. Our country has, I believe, an outdoor environment that is second to none. I am very interested in how we prepare children to take full advantage of such a fabulous environment not only today but also in the years ahead. In recent years, we have, as a society, become risk averse. This has in many early childhood settings undermined the provision of challenging and interesting programmes for children. We do have an important role in advocacy to protect our children’s futures by advocating for risky and challenging environments for all children from birth.

So ponder the thought. Do you ensure that children have access to indoors and outdoors at all times? Or have you institutionalised your setting and the children within it and created and indoor prison! If this is so, is this the childhood that you experienced? How can you justify this position? It cannot be because of the weather. Children can wear appropriate clothing! 

Thrilled to see positive action having an impact on the politicians - still clearly more work ahead.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ONGOING CAMPAIGN TO DATE. THE COMMUNITY OF CORBY IS AN INSPIRATION TO EVERYONE!

 PLEASE FIND BELOW MARGY WHALLEY DIRECTOR OF PEN GREEN RESEARCH AND FOUNDING HEAD OF THE PEN GREEN CHILDREN'S CENTRES RADIO PRESS RELEASE ON BBC NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

THIS IS IN RESPONSE TO THE NCC PRESS RELEASE STATING THE DECISION HAS BEEN DEFERRED!!!!!

Fairly shocked to receive a press release before we had a formal letter from county officers and there does seem to be a huge amount of county council confusion around when the decision to defer was made. Our MP was informed deferral was imminent before they even received our written submissions and this is not the worst news nor the best news.
All we have ever wanted to do was to be able to continue our work to provide the best possible service to children and families in Corby. Our governors and parents campaigned to save Pen Green from these cuts because they have personal experience of what we do and why it makes such a difference to their lives and their children’s success. We are not like other children’s centres/nursery schools; it has taken 27 years to grow this centre. It appears to be the case that the decision is deferred until July and that whatever decision is taken then it would not be implemented until 2012, which still leaves us very concerned.
Parents, governors, county councillors and staff are still committed to going to Schools Forum.
We keep being told that Schools Forum have a crucial role but they are highly dependent on information from county council officers. We need to be there and tell them how it really is. Our hope is that if the Schools Forum really has the decision making power, as set our in their constitution, they will hear us and make the right decision. County council officers have repeatedly told us that the decision rests with Schools Forum.

We know that the services we run are outstanding, Ofsted and HMI have repeatedly, over 27 years awarded the centre an excellent/outstanding rating. In 2009 they stated that “staff and governors managed the nursery resources well and provided outstanding value for money”. Few schools get these kinds of accolades and we’re proud of them, its a major achievement. We’ve provided a mass of information to NCC and are always willing to provide more although I am concerned that the decision was made before senior officers by their own admission had actually read the data!
In 2006 our services were thoroughly dissected and minutely disaggregated through county council committee and we were promised then that when we became a school and when our budget was put into the DSG that we would be allowed to get on with our job. Lets hope that in July they make the right decision.
I want to thank all our local families, our governors, particularly our chair of governors Mark Pengelly Deputy Leader of Borough Council, and Corby labour and liberal councillors for the cross party support we have received.
Now we have to plan for the future. Pen Green Research Base gained a significant grant last week from the DfE to lead a project around developing outstanding children’s centres as teaching and learning centres supporting the training and development of early years staff in their region. Pen Green children’s centre will be the first children’s centre in England to join this programme as it is the one children’s centre in England that already has extremely well embedded training roots from Diploma, to Foundation Degree to MA to PhD and we hope by next year to be able to offer EYP and teacher training.
At the children’s centre we plan to expand our provision for children under 5 this year. There is an enormous demand from parents for us to open our second baby nest for children under 3. We have a huge waiting list and this government and this local authority believe that parental preference should drive services.
Nursery schools no longer have catchments areas so we can service the whole of Corby and beyond. And this year we hope to be working with lots more Corby parents and children.
During the campaign we’ve offered some new services to say thank you to families, because at Pen Green we are committed to working with families as well as their children. We’ve had tea time play sessions called ‘Thank God Its Friday’, we’ve had Saturday cinema sessions and Sunday ‘Bring Your Family’ an intergeneration and drop-in and play sessions and dad’s group continues to run Saturdays and Sundays, so come and see our services and judge them for yourself.
I want to just finish by thanking Louise Bagshawe for what she’s contributed to the campaign. I’ve got one important message for her – we really do need to arrange that Pen Green governors meet with Michael Gove in Corby. At times over the last 27 years it just feels like Pen Green is a political pawn being manoeuvred buy county councillors who on the whole don’t have many votes in Corby. It’s time we got ourselves into a position where we could use the amazing energy and capacity of this organisation for the purpose it was intended which is to raise standard for children and offer really supportive services and their families.

Message from Berlin

As many of you know, the ELP team spent some time in the UK and Germany this year to deliver workshops and lectures about the NZ approach to early childhood education. In Berlin we stayed with our friend Sibylle who not only organised 2 conferences in Berlin and Teltow, but who also took us on a fabulous sightseeing programme and even challenged us to go on a bike ride around Potsdam. 

Sibylle wrote the following post for our blog:


The wonderful ELP Team has been in Berlin and Brandenburg in Germany! Many teachers had the chance to take part in the ELP conference 'Do you let me fly? Stories about learning from Aotearoa New Zealand'. It was amazing for me and a great gift to see and to feel the enthusiasm which inspired so many people. I would like to send some of the participant's statements round the globe. 
Thank you! Sibylle Haas in Berlin, Germany.

"Now we trust the power of writing assessments in the narrative way, we are confident that we are able to write learning stories…" 
"'Personal attitude' is the magic word..."
"One day - that is too short [for this kind of event]." 
"The guests from New Zealand brought the spirit of learning stories to Berlin, they confirmed that we're on the right track and we learned a lot more."
"It was awesome, inspiring, funny and very hot! Passion makes everything possible. The conference was very helpful and empowering." 
"The examplars and films were very interesting." 
"Most important for me was the comparison of our assessment approach (the yellow book) with the New Zealand Curriculum and the roots of assessment. As a school teacher I learned a lot today."
"To hear the New Zealanders live was a great opportunity – very impressive and enthusiastic women!!"