Sights of Seattle

Obviously this international exchange is not complete without a few snapshots of the city they call the evergreen state.  

Just to give you a glimpse of the great and exciting sights I got to experience while I was in Seattle, below are some of the highlights of my time and the "touristy" things I managed to squeeze into my schedule. 

Seattle seems to be world famous for a lot of sights, not forgetting the first ever Starbucks that originated in Seattle (opposite Pike st market). 

My visit to SAM was cut short by a "standard" evacuation (sigh) and the drive by Olympic Sculpture Park was short but simply stunning from what I could see. Seattle has a lot of "out of the ordinary" art pieces within the city. A city made to stand out from the rest and have such uniqueness in it's art and iconic ways of expressing it. 

Pike place market, known for it's famous fish market was swarmed by loads of people awaiting to see the fish throwing and chant by the enthusiastic fishermen! This is a must see, they have published books and is such an eventful and enjoyable atmosphere. Not to mention the scrumptious seafood that just make your mouth water, while walking past. Most of the seafood comes from Alaska and they are indeed for all you seafood lovers! 

This lovely, friendly city is home to where they make many of the boeing aircrafts from around the world, you will see them testing the aircrafts as you drive along the freeway towards the city. 

I have to say this is where I was introduced to my favorite store Trader Joe's and the heart attack meal of Poutine (disgustingly delicious). While the nightlife was interesting, I was told quite sternly that my NZDL was not an acceptable ID  for entering a bar in the United States of America! Nor did it matter, that I was well over the legal age anyway. The various Mexican dishes I tried tickled my tastebuds and was my favorite dining place of all, not to mention the stella margaritas that "happened" to come with them. 

Next stop - Vancouver, Canada! 

Pike Place Market

The world's famous Pike Place Fish Market

The array of vibrant tulips 

The beauty of them bloomed throughout the "entire" market

The Gum wall in Post Alley, behind the Pike Market

The most infected germ wall in the world! 

Seattle Library 

One of the world's most beautiful libraries

Seattle Art Museum - SAM

Olympic Sculpture Park 

Flash mob tree painting

Seattle Icon
Space Needle 

Hilltop Pre-School, Seattle

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.

Albert Einstein

Hilltop Pre-School

Seattle, US

www.hilltopcc.com

(This has been written with thoughts from my colleague Jen Boyd)

Walking into Hilltop Pre-School, I stood in awe at this environment before me. What were enclosed behind the curved walls of wonder I thought. I looked around in anticipation trying to sponge in the surroundings before me. It was almost like a ‘silent’ language, wanting to explode into a 100 more languages through a multitude of ways.

Therefore I ponder and question . . . “if the environment is the third teacher, what language does it speak? “A hundred ways of marveling, of loving  . . . a hundred joys?” (Loris Malaguzzi)
How does our environment reflect our values and beliefs as teachers? . . . . . Wow, you really get a sense of your anticipation and your connection with the environment in terms of your understanding of Reggio inspired values - that other quote from Malaguzzi rings true: “It has been said that the environment should act as a kind of aquarium which reflects the ideas, ethics, attitudes and culture of the people who live in it.” (Jen)

Teacher’s Reflection
The Hilltop environment paints a picture as soon as you walk through the doors, curiosity lingers, eyes wander. You want to gain a deeper insight through the lens of a child, but how? A week to embrace such an opportunity, to question and ponder those floating thoughts. I often think, I am probably going to come out with more questions than answers.
“Sometimes questions, are more important than the answers” Nancy Willard.

Change is something I often think we protect ourselves from and for so long, this process of thought is undeniably challenging to do. How do we encompass change for the better? encourage others to be inspired by the work we love to do, and spread the message that the Reggio approach is not a way of doing, but is only “one” approach to take into your cultural context and plant your “own” seed. Make those possibilities a potential and gain a sense of wonderment for beginning something that you hope will remain a legacy.  That’s a really insightful theory and is the same that I felt echoed within the walls of the Loris Malaguzzi Centre in Reggio Emilia...A legacy of creativity, innovation and humanity.

This is something that stands so strongly to me, having spent time at Hilltop Pre-School. I feel humbled to have been apart of a school whom drives for quality education of society’s most youngest citizens. A place where children are valued and recognised as capable and competent learners. The motivation is stemmed from the provocation that teachers share and this is clearly reflected in the teaching and learning at Hilltop Pre-School.
Children as Lifetime Lovers of Learning
“Our program is inspired by children’s curiosity and natural inclination to learn through play. Teachers observe children’s play and listen carefully to children’s questions so they may support emergent projects and creations that come directly from the children instead of the teachers.” (Hilltop Pre-School)
So what has this NZ ece teacher taken away from this experience? Well, where to begin! I have been challenged more so, to keep striving for that depth of knowledge with pedagogical documentation. Questioning thoughts that underlie those decisions of who we are as teachers, learners and researchers.
Reflect constantly on my professional practice and aim to uphold not only my image of the child, but most importantly my ‘image of the teacher’.

I have been influenced and hugely inspired by Hilltop’s “collaborative conferences” between families and teachers. I would love to build on pursuing further involvement with our own families on a deeper level with a bridge of a combined understanding of their children’s learning and having further open ended collaborative engagement.
"Collaborative conferences are an element of children’s in-depth explorations and project work. Once an investigation is underway with a small group of children, teachers invite those children’s families to come together to learn about and plan for the children’s work". (Hilltop Pre-School)
I really support this initiative - hearing you talk about it today was exciting and full of realistic possibility for us at Tots - especially in that investigative journey being undertaken by the Kiwi Room at the moment.

To the faculty team at Hilltop Pre-School
Thank you for being apart of my ever growing learning journey, I have only been more intrigued by the work you do and the wonders of space you create for your children and families. Each day has been very enlightening and most curious as to what I was going to expect in each of the rooms I visited, it was an exciting time to arrive ready for the next Hilltop adventure.

The on-going dialogue between the team of teachers and the admin staff each week is a way that keeps that connectedness of the school as one, and I love that it is a time for teachers to share stories, views and issues in an open and collegial way.

To be able to look through the lens of an international visitor has been such an opportunity and I am hugely grateful to you all for welcoming me into your space as part of the team. As we look to Reggio Emilia for those inspiring ways, I know that Hilltop is a place where I feel even more fuelled with new ideas, challenges and literally more questions!
The core of Hilltop comes from the hearts and minds of the teachers and this is reflected in your teaching values as such passionate and proud advocates. I know I have come away with memories that will always embrace and probe my thinking.

A special mention to our Seattle colleagues Meg McNulty & family, Sandra Floyd and Margie Carter for your awesomeness and helping make this all possible and Michele McLean for hosting me in my last days at Hilltop. We shall “Roxaboxen” and that’s a deal! 

Sandra Floyd and I 

Hanna,
Thank you so much for sharing this with me on ‘google docs’. You speak/write from the heart, and it jumps out from the pages of this reflection. It sounds like you had such an inspiring and thought-provoking time at Hilltop, giving me an insight into your time there that sounds so valuable in terms of personal pedagogy. I am still unpacking the depth of knowledge I gained from visiting Reggio Emilia - and this has reinforced the importance of these global opportunities in education. Together I hope that our passionate belief in children and a holistic view of education and citizenship can play a part in positive change. Kudos to you my inspiring co-teacher, friend and mentor.
Jen Boyd

Auckland - Seattle - Vancouver - San Francisco

Museum of Antrhopology - Vancouver

In May 2012, I had the opportunity to travel to the above cities for an early childhood education experience with our US colleagues. As I settle back into Tots Corner, home and reality! I continue to reflect on this evolving journey and look forward to sharing it all extremely soon. Watch this space! 
There is a lot of thanks to be made and this will be acknowledged along the way. Lorraine and the Tots team especially in supporting me to able to participate in such a rare exchange, I hope this dialogue continues with more teachers in the near future. 

Teachers and learners - exploring the spaces in-between Ma te hono ā hinengaro e rite ai ngā whainga'. Te Tari Puna o Aotearoa, NZCA Conference - Rotorua

Our Collaboration through google docs . . .

http://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/inspiredbycollaboration/walkingthetalk.html

I often pondered what ‘collaboration’ meant and knew very in my mind well I did this ‘all’ the time, or so I thought. . .  
To me collaboration was of course the sharing of ideas and regular discussions all tying into what we call ‘team work’. I mean yes of course these were aspects that contributed to collaboration, yet over time I realised I had only touched the surface of what collaboration truly meant.

This only continued our evolving journey of where we were going to next with our explorations of using ICT as a tool to enhance our pedagogical documentation. We had been fuelled with knowledge then, but felt it was not the end.

"Teaching is more than imparting knowledge, it is inspiring change. Learning is more than absorbing facts, it is acquiring understanding"

@TeachersJourney, www.twitter.com

Learning stories became the foundation from how this collaboration all began, starting off with our traditional pen and paper we took notes during the day onto what we called ‘Reflecting on Observations with Infants and Young Toddlers’ (see example below) which was simply our own version of the beginnings of a learning story and what we like to call the ‘process’ before the end product was created. We were oblivious to the fact that this was already the beginning of collaboration, we were just yet to believe it or better still allow it to happen.

We created our own observation sheets to note down children's learning during the day.

I think in order for this to happen, we had to let go of ourselves and accept the notions of change. This meant combining our thoughts and perspectives in a way that was critical and collegial, without the hierarchical tensions of teachers individual ways.  

The months went by, so did the attraction of such ICT tools. Google docs captured our curiosity as well as our convenience, imagine having to write learning stories wherever you go! and the best thing was that, it wouldn’t even take long to spare a few minutes during your day.

So the 'warm fuzzies' of collaboration continued and we ditched our paper and pen to a digital format, continuing this technique of adding bits here and there in a ‘peaceful’ way except it was all done at the fingertips of our keyboard. 

Example of one of our first google docs learning stories. 

Personally I didn’t feel satisfied with this and wanted to pursue more challenges and have my work critiqued where I could see it and realise the changes that had been made. Whilst also acknowledge the need for improvement and embracing it within my team, in order for me to grow as a teacher.

This is where it all began . . . .

"Teachers take risks. Like everyone else, we fear failing, but we must refuse to let the magnitude of our task overwhelm us."

@TeachersJourney, www.twitter.com

In this example you can see the dramatic changes that have occurred in this learning story of Elizabeth. In discussion with each other, we were able to shift the change and become critical learners in the process. At first this was not our entire purpose, yet it all seemed to unfold with time, persistence and a team that was determined to be subjective in their teaching.

This also brought to life the true meaning behind pedagogical documentation. What lies beyond the surface of our thinking as teachers and not only making children’s learning visible, but makes our learning as teachers possible.

Its’ o.k to Agree to Disagree

postmodern science regards consensus as a step

towards diversity, uncertainty and undecidability – a state of discussion, not its

end..."

"Hope for change lies not in our agreements but in our disagreements, because in our disagreements

(dissensus) we argue about what is ‘the truth’ and we question the dominant norms and values and seek to change them”

(Bertens, 1995)

It soon came to mind that the core part of this journey wasn’t so much the technology. It was the relationship of collaboration that truly shined through for our team. Google docs provided the foundation to enable the pathway of critical collaboration ahead. We anticipated the impossible, and instead opened up endless dialogue to take us to a whole new level. Where to for now? We can only look ahead, ponder and grab at the opportunities that come our way. Being able to bring this to life and present at an annual early childhood conference is just the beginning of where we as teachers stand as leaders and advocates inspired to make a difference for the education of children.

I would like to commend the work and effort of Jen, who without her there would be no reflection on this event. The hours over a year of in depth discussions of dreams and hope for change have reached places beyond our belief. I am also very proud to be part of a team that makes this happen at the fore front of Tots Corner Early Learning Centre. Many thanks to Lorraine for always supporting our drives and allowing us the opportunity to share our story with our fellow Community of Learners. 

The 'final' (in a sense that this is not the end) of a collaborated learning story. 

Collaboration is not a passive phenomenon; it requires risk taking with some passion about it. Collaboration that leads to meaningful learning often begins with someone's (or something's) act of provocation and the willingness of another to become engaged.

Elizabeth Jones and John Nimmo (1999)

Reflections from teachers

Being an educator from outside the Nest, I am not as familiar with the children as Hanna and Jen. However, I believe this enables me to read the learning story from a more objective perspective and ensure a particular learning story is accessible to readers. Sometimes, I can suggest a different approach to a learning story or a rearrangement. Each of us bring different ideas, views and knowledge to the collaboration. I have found Hanna or Jen expanding on several ideas in ways that I had not considered. I believe the learning stories are more coherent and better informed due to this collaboration.
Carolyn Beadle - Tots Corner Relief Teacher

And how can this blog entry be complete without a reflection from Jen herself. 

WOW!!! (That’s the first impression I had on reading your in depth reflection!)
Unpacking the “wow”...
Looking back on our Google Docs journey, I can see how much our thinking has changed, and how our collegial relationship has strengthened. The flow through into our day to day teaching practice has been noticeable not just to ourselves but to the teaching community as a whole. There seems to be a sense of equality in our dialogue, and a shared vision of what it is to embrace teaching in the 21st century. Also, having been invited along on your forays into cyberspace through your CORE e-fellowship I have been inspired to re-visit and reflect on the multiple possibilities presented via social media and web-based learning. So, thank you too for having the open-mindedness to embrace educational change in this direction, it has meant that you and I can be advocates for the education and care of infants and toddlers. Perhaps giving others in the community an opportunity to see what we see - powerful and competent children who are global citizens right now and not at predesignated point in the future.
That’s the WOW I was talking about!!
Jen Boyd, Tots teacher, colleague and collaborator with inspirational e-fellow Hanna Fale

Life through a Lens; Looking at children anew through Photography

Listening with our eyes - photos as one of the 100 languages of children

Recently I presented 'Listening with our eyes' to a great group of motivated and ambitious teachers at the Tamaki-Maungakiekie Early Years Conference, organised by Naketa Ikihele (Core Education early years facilitator). Each time I share this journey with teachers, I am excited by the fact that they are left with a provocation to seek yet another perspective into their own reflective teaching.

This journey began in 2008 and has evolved ever since. The title says it all and it’s reassuring to know that I am still invited to share this story with other teachers.
Even though the ECE ICT PL 3 year contract has ended, we are continuing to un-pack our over-arching research question which was ‘How to use ICT as a tool to enhance our pedagogical documentation’. Further investigating the endless ways, ICT tools can be intertwined into our curriculum to enhance children’s teaching and learning.

 

Pedagogical Documentation. . .
Pedagogical documentation is based on teachers’ decisions of how they choose to make children’s learning visible.
Are we creating documentation that articulates meaningful and understandable perspectives of what children see?
It is the significance of what lies beyond our teaching pedagogy that embodies who we are as individuals. This reflects on our practice and most importantly how we decide to interpret the learning of children and ourselves as professional practitioners. If we believe that it is important to advocate our early childhood teacher roles to the wider community, then I firmly believe we should be articulating meaningful and rigorous pedagogical documentation.

The concept of a ‘Community of Learners’ is having a growing influence on how teachers are viewing learning and teaching processes. For this to be successful, teachers need to consider ways in which they present children’s learning and adult’s learning occuring within the group context, as opposed to learning that occurs in individualistic ways.

Giudici, Rinaldi & Kreschevsky (2001)

Life through a Lens - Photography

“ You don’t take a photograph, you make it. - Ansel Adams

An interest as well as a passion for myself personally and professionally is ‘Photography’. Photographs tell their own story, and I feel share the essence of what we as teachers decide to capture. I have found that using photographs as a tool to document children’s learning, only drives our motives as teachers to form valid and informative pedagogical documentation.

Over the years I have learnt to use photography as a means to communicate with others the potential of it, but more importantly to tell the visual stories of infants and young toddlers investigations and experiences. How do we justify the stories we tell with the images we make?

The possibilities are endless really. If this can inspire, motivate others to seek other perspectives into making learning visible through ICT, then we can all provoke each other to further un-pack using ICT as a tool to utilize and enrich teaching and learning with children.

To be able to share the history on how this all began leaves me with so much pride of such achievements. This falls back on the imbuing team of leaders at Tots Corner, that have contributed to this learning journey in many ways.

This year I am an eFellow recipient along with 5 other teachers from around New Zealand.
The CORE Education eFellowship Awards recognise innovative e-learning practice by New Zealand teachers.
The Fellowship celebrates teaching excellence in an e-learning context and aims to raise public and educational community awareness of the benefits of e-learning. Once inducted into the fellowship, fellows will provide ongoing, community-focused leadership in the field.
http://www.core-ed.org/foundation/efellows-2011

Prior to this Jen Boyd (The Nest Teacher, Tots) and I sent in an abstract to present at the annual Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa, New Zealand Childcare Association (NZCA) conference in Rotorua this July. The excitement was that we had moved on in leaps and bounds with this next chapter of our ICT journey.

Having completed the Ministry of Education ECE ICT PL programme in 2008, the Infant/Young Toddler teaching team at Tots Corner continue to un-pack the ways in which ICT could enhance their pedagogical documentation. Through the use of ‘Google docs’ teachers are able to better interact and collaborate as they critically reflect upon their role as teachers. We wish to share how we have been challenged in our understanding of collaboration, coming to the conclusion that truly reflective practice comes through multiple perspectives.

Here I would like to acknowledge where my blog title 'Truly reflective practice, comes through multiple perspectives' came from. To be able to work alongside another teacher who sees what I see is not only a gift, but truly an experience I will cherish for as long as I teach. I can only say that this really is the beginning of something that took us beyond the true meaning of 'Collaboration'. 
I look forward to sharing my next posting following presenting our keynote at the NZCA Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa Conference 2011.

A beginning is only the start of a journey to another beginning.. . .