# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
the hole story by kelly canby - Google Search

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you give a child a box, who can tell what will happen next? It may become a library or a boat. It could set the scene for a fairy tale or a wild expedition. The most wonderful thing is its seemingly endless capacity for magical adventure, a feature imaginatively captured in cardboardesque art and rhythmically celebrated in this poetic tribute.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Based on his own childhood, beloved and award-winning artist Raúl Colón's wordless book is about the limitless nature of creativity and imagination.A boy alone in his room. Pencils. Sketchbook in hand. What would it be like to go on safari? Imagine. Draw...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Henry is a very serious boy. His room is always neat, and he always buttons his shirt right to the top. But lately Henry has been having thoughts that don't make any sense, thoughts about pirates, dragons and rocket ships. Henry has caught imaginitis-and the only cure is to grow up.

# data[].attributes.headline
I'm thinking about making creativity visible in the classroom, using the student's strengths as opportunities and building upon it

# data[].attributes.subject
I'm thinking about making creativity visible in the classroom, using the student's strengths as opportunities and building upon it

# data[].attributes.headline
I will be more thoughtful about including creativity when I am planning my units.

# data[].attributes.subject
I will be more thoughtful about including creativity when I am planning my units.

# data[].attributes.body
I'm going to have students interact more through play in class. Music theory can be a task for kids to wrap their heads around. I can make it fun but adding art, science and math to relate to the concepts in class. Also more inclusions of global songs and mash-ups

# data[].attributes.body
I am inspired! I want to bring these new ideas and strategies into my classroom to help spark more creativity and inquiry

# data[].attributes.body
I'm excited to get back in the classroom with a fresh mindset towards creativity in my students and provide them with opportunities to show their learning in new, fun ways.
Thanks for an awesome workshop! :)

# data[].attributes.body
I'm trying to create tools that will help me plan my lessons more creatively and also create assessments that will allow my students to respond as creatively as possible.

# data[].attributes.body
Students can show creativity in many different ways (even if we as teachers don't see it)

# data[].attributes.headline
I will be thinking about more ways to accommodate everyone's creative strengths in my classroom.

# data[].attributes.subject
I will be thinking about more ways to accommodate everyone's creative strengths in my classroom.

# data[].attributes.body
Multi sensory activities to Foster creativity so that every child can express. Using thinking routines and focus on the process rather than the product-Shakun,Renu,Shamal

# data[].attributes.headline
would like to include creativity in the classroom in a more effective way .

# data[].attributes.subject
would like to include creativity in the classroom in a more effective way .

# data[].attributes.body
I will provide children with opportunities to be creative in the classroom by giving children more resources to express themselves and not just the pencil and crayons.
- Allie, Karishma & Meghana

# data[].attributes.body
I will be more open-minded towards integrating technology as a documentation tool (camera, video, google docs). I feel excited to value creativity as a teacher and as a student, within my classroom and my school by using language and assessment that shows how I value curiosity. I will do more 'makers workshop' integrations with academics and inspire more student inquiries to then...document! I feel inspired by the cycle of curiosity.

# data[].attributes.body
Less is more

# data[].attributes.headline
I am feeling a sense of pride for everything that we have achieved so far and intend to achieve in the years to come. I am wondering about how we can encourage deeper understanding in our units and inspire our students to remain engaged. But I am determined and very confident about my team, their creative approach and their willingness to approach teaching and learning in an even more creative manner.

# data[].attributes.subject
I am feeling a sense of pride for everything that we have achieved so far and intend to achieve in the years to come. I am wondering about how we can encourage deeper understanding in our units and inspire our students to remain engaged. But I am determined and very confident about my team, their creative approach and their willingness to approach teaching and learning in an even more creative manner.

# data[].attributes.headline
I'm feeling proud of the fact that I am creative, and so are my kids, and all my colleagues!

# data[].attributes.subject
I'm feeling proud of the fact that I am creative, and so are my kids, and all my colleagues!

# data[].attributes.body
- I'm thinking about how I can make my classroom  (lessons, activities, teaching etc) more creative.

- I will provide more opportunities for my kids to be creative

Priyanka

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Welcome to Agency by Design | Agency by Design

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educational initiatives that emphasize making, design, engineering, and tinkering have been gaining traction in schools and organizations across the country. While maker-centered learning is not a new concept, recent and emerging trends suggest a new kind of hands-on pedagogy—a responsive and flexib…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Creativity as a Participatory Process | Edward Clapp | TEDxPennsburgED

# data[].attributes.headline
How similar or different are student agency and student empowerment

# data[].attributes.subject
How similar or different are student agency and student empowerment

# data[].attributes.body
@kjinquiry
@whatedsaid
@rebelleader18
@sylviaduckworth

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Trevor MacKenzie is an author, educator, and speaker from Victoria, BC, Canada focused on inquiry and collaboration in the classroom.

# data[].attributes.headline
There is a difference between agency an entitlement

# data[].attributes.subject
There is a difference between agency an entitlement

# data[].attributes.headline
Is creativity and creativity thinking the same thing?

# data[].attributes.subject
Is creativity and creativity thinking the same thing?

# data[].attributes.headline
We are sourcing the book the Power of Inquiry by Kate Murdoch

# data[].attributes.subject
We are sourcing the book the Power of Inquiry by Kate Murdoch

# data[].attributes.body
My biggest take away from the Skype session with Dean was that experiences are greater than the curriculum. Science is more meaningful when it's related to every day life and finding different ways to solve problems. Thinking routine : This is what I did and This is how I did it!

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LE4lzUwbaE

# data[].attributes.body
Work hard but also works smart to create a creative environment for learning. E.g. a picture speaks a thousand words. Think of all the things you can do with a picture.

# data[].attributes.headline
Using of portable microscopes and sphero robots.. have never done it with prep kids. Going on a pattern hunt.

# data[].attributes.subject
Using of portable microscopes and sphero robots.. have never done it with prep kids. Going on a pattern hunt.

# data[].attributes.body
We can use digital citizenship standards to teach our students (ISTE Standards). We can use Seesaw to curate digital portfolios and personalize communication with parents. We can use grade level Twitter accounts to connect with others through a digital community. We can use ipad cameras to discover how technology changes how we see the world. We can also use Stop Motion Film to show academic themes like 'how do fractions work?' or you can build a story.

# data[].attributes.body
The conversation provided an interesting perspective on how videos of students in the midst of their thinking and learning can be a good resource for furthering inquiry and conversations in the classroom.

# data[].attributes.headline
Creativity is hard to define but easy to foster. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Creativity is hard to define but easy to foster. 

# data[].attributes.headline
More peer learning / grouping helps kids assess or share their learning with each other.

# data[].attributes.subject
More peer learning / grouping helps kids assess or share their learning with each other.

# data[].attributes.body
- Meghana and Priyanka

# data[].attributes.body
Creativity and IT - we like the idea of animation and using it as not just for story telling but also for other documenting the process- Samantha, Samina & Aparnah

# data[].attributes.body
we like the idea of animation and using it as not just for story telling

# data[].attributes.headline
balance is essential between teaching essential math skills and using creativity in approaching math

# data[].attributes.subject
balance is essential between teaching essential math skills and using creativity in approaching math

# data[].attributes.body
Research shows students have to do something 200 times before they are able to apply the understanding on their own

# data[].attributes.headline
If our children have their basic conceptual understanding in place, it will automatically lead to them doing things in different ways.

# data[].attributes.subject
If our children have their basic conceptual understanding in place, it will automatically lead to them doing things in different ways.

# data[].attributes.body
_Meghana and Priyanka

# data[].attributes.body
It was interesting to see science from maker's lens. Inspiring!
Shilpa

# data[].attributes.body
New Math resources:
solvemoji.com
solveme.edu.org
Enrich Math
Splat Math

# data[].attributes.body
There are digital citizenship standards that we can follow (ISTE)

# data[].attributes.headline
In our quest to be creative while teaching math, are we losing sight of the basic concepts / foundation skills that are kids need to know?

# data[].attributes.subject
In our quest to be creative while teaching math, are we losing sight of the basic concepts / foundation skills that are kids need to know?

# data[].attributes.body
- Meghana and Priyanka

# data[].attributes.body
My big take away from the Skype session with Dean was that experiences are greater than the curriculum. Science is more meaningful when it's related to every day life and finding different ways of approaching a problem. A useful thinking routine:This is what I did and This is how I did it-Shamal

# data[].attributes.headline
From today's Skype sessions we learned how different schools from all around the school work. It was wonderful to know about all the strategies and ideas that they use in their classrooms and sharing resources with each other.

# data[].attributes.subject
From today's Skype sessions we learned how different schools from all around the school work. It was wonderful to know about all the strategies and ideas that they use in their classrooms and sharing resources with each other.

# data[].attributes.body
I was really inspired by the fact that Kathie teaches a variety of subjects like Music, Art, Drama, Dance etc.... and she provided us with some strategies to help the young children focus on the task. She suggested to do a 5 minute circle time in the beginning of the class to have the young kids share what they want to that way they will not be distracted while the activity is on. Also she suggested to switch up activities like music and art to avoid boredom and feeling of monotony.

# data[].attributes.headline
We as a team learned a lot by sharing and learning about other schools and the way they execute the classes creatively. Using 'responsive classroom's strategies and using materials for their classroom.

# data[].attributes.subject
We as a team learned a lot by sharing and learning about other schools and the way they execute the classes creatively. Using 'responsive classroom's strategies and using materials for their classroom.

# data[].attributes.headline
I wonder how creativity can be catered to while making sure the learning outcomes are being met in the classroom - Shamal 

# data[].attributes.subject
I wonder how creativity can be catered to while making sure the learning outcomes are being met in the classroom - Shamal 

# data[].attributes.headline
I wonder if we can use creativity during assessments. If so then how can we assess it? Do we really need to assess it?

# data[].attributes.subject
I wonder if we can use creativity during assessments. If so then how can we assess it? Do we really need to assess it?

# data[].attributes.headline
ways in which I can make music theory more interactive and playful.

# data[].attributes.subject
ways in which I can make music theory more interactive and playful.

# data[].attributes.body
- Dwayne Gamree

# data[].attributes.headline
Creativity isn't about being artistic, but it's about bringing innovation-Shamal 

# data[].attributes.subject
Creativity isn't about being artistic, but it's about bringing innovation-Shamal 

# data[].attributes.headline
I used to think that everyone is creative in their own unique way. and now i think yes it is very true because we all use our creativity in different ways at different places. not necessary it has to be an artistic but also in a technological way or may be just the way we think everything that we do shows how our creativity keeps growing with time and experience .

# data[].attributes.subject
I used to think that everyone is creative in their own unique way. and now i think yes it is very true because we all use our creativity in different ways at different places. not necessary it has to be an artistic but also in a technological way or may be just the way we think everything that we do shows how our creativity keeps growing with time and experience .

# data[].attributes.headline
I used to think that creativity is related to art, craft, music but now I understand that thinking is also creativity

# data[].attributes.subject
I used to think that creativity is related to art, craft, music but now I understand that thinking is also creativity

# data[].attributes.headline
I wonder how to find a balance between the factory model and creative wild children to prepare them for any situation in the adult world 

# data[].attributes.subject
I wonder how to find a balance between the factory model and creative wild children to prepare them for any situation in the adult world 

# data[].attributes.headline
Can we have creative solutions for socio-emotional challenges and disruptive behaviors

# data[].attributes.subject
Can we have creative solutions for socio-emotional challenges and disruptive behaviors

# data[].attributes.headline
Creativity is a matter of opportunity and access

# data[].attributes.subject
Creativity is a matter of opportunity and access

# data[].attributes.body
- Dwayne Gamree

# data[].attributes.headline
I am wondering about how creativity can be used in the classroom for challenging behaviours

# data[].attributes.subject
I am wondering about how creativity can be used in the classroom for challenging behaviours

# data[].attributes.body
I wonder how we foster creativity in our academic prompts and more strategies we can use to achieve these goals.

# data[].attributes.body
I wonder how curiosity and assessment are linked.

# data[].attributes.body
We did an activity, where we were required to pick up a picture from the centre of the rug and explain how it represents us. Everybody came up with different meaningful connections. This made me realise that being creative is making connections with randomness. Using two different fields of knowledge and finding a connection between them that is not radical for others to make.

# data[].attributes.headline
I wonder how we can facilitate math skills (ex. multiplying fractions) in a creative way

# data[].attributes.subject
I wonder how we can facilitate math skills (ex. multiplying fractions) in a creative way

# data[].attributes.headline
I used think that creativity is a privilege. Now I     think real creativity comes from scarcity. 

# data[].attributes.subject
I used think that creativity is a privilege. Now I     think real creativity comes from scarcity. 

# data[].attributes.headline
I used to think that Creativity only involved being Artistic, but it can be shown in many different ways 

# data[].attributes.subject
I used to think that Creativity only involved being Artistic, but it can be shown in many different ways 

# data[].attributes.headline
I used to think creativity was seen in special situations but now I know creativity is a part of our living and learning every day.

# data[].attributes.subject
I used to think creativity was seen in special situations but now I know creativity is a part of our living and learning every day.

# data[].attributes.headline
I used to think that the session would be intense and heavy but now I think that it is creatively led session...hands on!!

# data[].attributes.subject
I used to think that the session would be intense and heavy but now I think that it is creatively led session...hands on!!

# data[].attributes.body
I used to think creativity was related to the arts but now I think it is all around us.

# data[].attributes.body
I used to think we had to pre-plan our Unit of Inquiry for the planner

Now I think it is liberating that we will not need to pre-plan all student engagements and there is more space for an emergent structure

I am still wondering how to balance creative thinking and process with other life skills like mastering skills, techniques, precision, efficiency, fluency.

# data[].attributes.body
I used to think that creativity can be taught or that there are some people who are more creative than others. Creativity is all about visual or aesthetic or visual appeal.
Now i think that it is intrinsic - everyone is born but this can be channelized / harnessed or nurtured.
We are all creative in different ways. Creativity is not about the aesthetic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
what to do with an idea book - Google Search

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Teach children to think creatively to solve tomorrow's problems. Air Images/www.shutterstock.com

Creativity is a big deal in the 21st century classroom. Many countries include it as a core aim for their students in national curricula and even countries such as Singapore that come top of world education league tables are recognising the need for more of it in their schools.

This surge of interest in creativity among teachers, school leaders, academics and governments is partly driven by a growing belief that a fast-paced global economy requires workers with the flexibility of mind to adapt to constant change rather than follow a traditional career path.

We live in a world where increasingly complex problems require creative solutions and where individuals' lives can be enhanced by the greater sense of agency that comes with having opportunities to explore their own creativity.

Yet, surprisingly few teachers describe themselves as creative. This is perhaps because they have a performance-related, arts-based model of creativity in their minds, such as playing a musical instrument, painting a picture, acting a part in a play, writing a unique song, poem or story. This is in contrast to a broader definition of creativity as the ability to make connections between two previously unrelated ideas or contexts - what has been called "bisociation" by the Hungarian-British writer Arthur Koestler.

In 2013, I led a team undertaking a systematic review of Creative Learning Environments in Education for the Scottish Government. Looking at a number of studies, we found that in order to promote creativity among their pupils, teachers need to unpick their preconceptions about what it means to be creative as part of the professional learning process.

Let teachers be creative

They need to be given permission to innovate and improvise by school leaders, which is risky in a school culture structured around high-stakes testing. Once given this permission and support, teachers can develop creative learning environments for their students. This comprises both the physical environment of the classroom and a teaching environment with the following characteristics:

students are given some control over their learning

there is a balance between structure and freedom

teachers are "playful"

time is used flexibly

relationships between teachers and learners include high expectations, mutual respect, modelling of creative attitudes, flexibility and dialogue

students work collaboratively and assess each other

While each of these characteristics on its own might seem like a description of good teaching, it is their combination which creates the environment to promote creativity.

Two examples I uncovered during my research can help illustrate this. One teacher I observed in Somerset surprised his class by setting up a series of activities on their tables while they were out at break to introduce the topic of "gases". These consisted of a candle burning, a series of plastic cups containing different numbers of marbles, and pairs of inflated and deflated balls.

The teacher gave no vocal instruction, but there were question cards with the activities, for example:

Watch the candle as it burns, what do you notice? Look at how the marbles are arranged, shake them, what is happening? Squeeze the two rugby balls, what can you say?

Initially bemused, groups of pupils soon began interacting with the exhibits and discussing their ideas. This unexpected start to the lesson - out of the normal routine - together with an invitation to look at everyday phenomena differently, provided the "hook" needed to engage children's enthusiasm in a new scientific topic.

Abstract concepts, made fun

Another science co-ordinator at a South Gloucestershire primary school used stop-frame animation with plasticine models (like the Wallace and Gromit films) to help children understand forces in real-life situations. Working in groups of two or three, the children were asked to tell a story with their short animations that would involve everyday examples of forces in use.

Ilike/www.shutterstock.com

One group of three girls shot a simple story of two boys having a fight "pushing each other over" and a dog jumping on top of them. They then annotated the resulting short movie on the computer with labels such as "push", "pull", "gravity" or "air resistance". One child commented:

You can be more creative when you do animation, because you can design what you're going to do, and you get to think things through, like what forces you're going to use and how the forces work.

Not only did this experience help reinforce children's understanding of the tricky and abstract conceptual area of forces, it also enabled them to exercise choice, make links with other areas of the curriculum and engage in critical reflection as they viewed the results of their work.

Examples such as these demonstrate how teachers' own creativity and willingness to take risks can promote creativity in the way their students are learning. Such teaching for creativity is no laissez-faire, easy option - it requires careful preparation. As Thomas Edison said of genius, it's "1% inspiration, 99% percent perspiration".

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to promote creativity in the classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Creativity is a big deal in the 21st century classroom. Many countries include it as a core aim for their students in national curricula and even countries such as Singapore that come top of world education league tables are recognising the need for more of it in their schools.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Creativity is the energy of change, and the big question of our lives is how to tap into it, because change is unceasing and can throw a curve to predicted outcomes of our best efforts. Even change that we choose or aspire to can feel threatening and emotionally-charged. We all share the challenge of navigating this sea of continuous change at an ever-increasing pace but not everyone is sold on the idea that we all share the capacity to be creative, which is the unique and powerful province of uncertainty and risk. Adopting these 5 beliefs about creativity can help cultivate the mindset for applying it in real life situations.

1. You are a creative person. Creativity is the part of every human being that allows us to see situations from a new perspective, to solve a problem when the old ways are not working - like figuring out a way to get the baby to take their medicine, or how to talk to mom when her memory is failing. In The Courage To Create, psychologist and researcher Rollo May describe creativity as "the process of bringing something new into being. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life." And the belief about creativity as an inner strength that anyone can tap into may be enough to activate its power.

In a study published in the journal Psychological Scienceresearchsubjects who stated they believe in the existence of luck were primed to believe they were being given the "lucky putter" in a golf-related task. These individuals performed better on the task than the control groups who did not believe in luck or were not primed to think they had the upper hand going into the task.The researchers based this study on previous work showing that "people's belief in their capabilities to succeed in a particular situation may play a central role in turning seemingly irrational superstitious thoughts into directly observable performance benefits."

The research demonstrates that we can choose our attitude toward change and about what it means to fail or succeed. And that if we believe we can learn something new or develop a skill set that is needed to realize a goal, we will be more likely to stick with the process until we have mastered it. Other studies show that belief is related to the sense of self-empowerment, optimism, hope and confidence. Quoting the Psychological Science article: "The more people believe in good luck, the more optimistic, hopeful, and confident they tend to be. On the performance side, it is well established that next to existing abilities and skills, one of the most important and consistent predictors of people's performance is their perceived self-efficacy. The more confidence people have in their abilities to master a given task, the better they perform."

2. Creativity is the ability to adapt and grow. Creativity is like the "push" within a seed that propels it to form roots growing downward and tiny shoots that grow upward with enough force to defy gravity and break through the ground. It is the unseen current within all life that turns acorns into oaks. And in our own lives and inner selves, that "push" is the creative energy that human beings can direct toward realizing dreams, growing into more evolved versions of ourselves and flowing with the changes we cannot control. The relationship between change and the creative force is, perhaps, best understood by looking at nature where change is continuous and unstoppable. For a cell, it is either change or die. A naturally-occurring enzyme within the cell facilitates a series of stages that results in transformation, and the process itself liberates energy at specific points, which is then available for use in other pathways.

The same is true for human beings. Creativity is a kind of spiritual "enzyme" that drives the ongoing change process. The "push" from within is the natural tendency toward growth and expansion, and our conscious choices determine the direction that change will take. Just as in nature, the process itself frees energy along the way. In this way, creativity can unleash new possibilities over the entire course of life.

3. Discomfort is an important feeling. Structure and predictability produce mental patterns that streamline our thinking process and save us from having to relearn the same things over and over. Disruption to these patterns can be tough, even painful depending on the cause, because they are protected by an arsenal of defenses that can trigger intense emotional reactions when challenged. Discomfort can be an important signal that we have pushed past a boundary and are truly entering the unfamiliar, which means we are on the pathway to important change.

"The secret is just to say 'Yes!' and jump off from here. Then there is no problem. It means to be yourself in the present moment, always yourself, without sticking to an old self. You forget all about yourself and are refreshed. You are a new self, and before that self becomes an old self, you say 'Yes! and you walk to the kitchen for breakfast. So the point of each moment is to forget the point and extend your practice." Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

To keep up in our technology-driven, networked world is especially stressful for adults living through many dramatic transitions in the way things work over the last 30 years. It often requires what can be a difficult, and emotional, kind of surrender to conditions and rules that feel unsafe because they are so unlike the old ones. "As new challenges occur, an adult learner is forced to sharpen and renew their skills," write education researchers Shuck, Albornoz and Winberg in their article "Emotions and Their Effect On Adult Learning: A Constructivist Perspective." "Leaving old knowledge behind implies not only cognitive transformation, but also an emotional transformation to accept changes, differences, and most fearful, uncertainty." A psychological shift can and will occur when we can tolerate the discomfort long enough for the new patterns to gain traction. The old ways put up a fight, but even the most entrenched, automatic and change-resistant habits of mind can be redirected with self-awareness and practice.
4. Belief in our own creative capacity grows through developing skills over time.

Believing that we can control outcomes is self-defeating because there are so many external forces with which we must interact in a complex world. A creative mindset aims at a vision or goal knowing that the process of realizing it may have unexpected twists that take us in a new - sometimes better, sometimes just unavoidable - direction. The sense of threat that comes with great uncertainty is best addressed with an abundance of skill, and focusing on getting better at specific skills not only absorbs and engages with anxiety about the unknown, it actually reinforces our belief that creativity is a readily available resource. As Forbes contributor Bruce Kasanoff writes in his article "Why People (Incorrectly) Think They Are Not Creative" we often confuse creativity with craft: "Craft is how to do stuff. It is the byproduct of working hour after hour, week after week, year after year. Craft is something you acquire by learning a skill. If you want to develop your craft, put in your time.Creativity is the way in which we use our craft."

It helps to think about the growth of new roles and habits the way an artist approaches a new piece by using existing skills and building on them. Put judgment to the side in order to experiment with novel ideas and try things out. Reflect on what does and does not work to advance toward the goal. Make discoveries and apply what is learned. This approach deals with the discomfort of change by fully engaging with it, and replaces self-judgment with self-awareness. As Kasanoff observes, "huge portions of the human race have untapped creativity. Combine them with people who possess craft, and then watch amazing innovations emerge. By the same token, if you take people who possess great craft and combine them with people from different backgrounds and perspectives, the same wonderful results will emerge."

5. Effort and persistence are more important than talent or intelligence. Keep going.

The psychological "muscle" we need to grow and expand develops through repetition over time in the same way that a musician or dancer gains "muscle memory" that translates into the fluid movement through which artistic expression can flow. In her book Mindset: The Psychology Of Success Stanford University researcher Carol Dweck demonstrates that we can develop what she calls a "growth" mindset - centered in the belief that our most basic abilities can be enhanced through hard work and dedication, "that brains and talent are just the starting point." Her work shows that even seemingly small social-psychological interventions that target limiting, self-negating thoughts and feelings can lead to deep, sustainable change. The repeated practice of new thinking, behaviors, or roles long enough for them to gain traction forms the basis of a new mindset that gives rise to a greater sense of self.

It helps to give ourselves small rewards, especially when going through those tough periods when intense effort does not seem to pay off, when it seems nothing is going to come of all our hard work. Cultivate an attitude of self-encouragement, and write down even tiny successes so they are consciously recognized. The momentum of the old can be very strong, and sometimes nothing but sheer commitment sustains movement in a new direction. This makes us agents of hope in our own lives and thus in the lives of others.

With communication at the speed of light and change playing out at ever-increasing tempos, the creative mindset is a foundation that expresses as the ability to learn, to adapt as circumstances shift, and to choose how we will experience and respond to events. We may not know exactly where things are headed, but we can be transformed into more evolved versions of ourselves by adopting the beliefs that form a creative mindset. And with that, increase our ability to shape our lives in the direction of our dreams.

Jude Treder-Wolff, LCSW, CGP, MT is a consultant/trainer and writer/performer. She is President of Lifestage, Inc, which offers professional and personal development workshops and classes and host/creator of (mostly) TRUE THINGS, a storytelling show that features true stories - with a twist. Follow her on Twitter @JuTrWolff

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
5 Beliefs That Impact Your Creativity - And Some Facts To Back Them Up

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Creativity is the energy of change, and the big question of our lives is how to tap into it, because change is unceasing and can throw a curve to predicted outcomes of our best efforts. Even change that we choose or aspire to can feel threatening and emotionally-charged.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Starting studio time has been been like throwing a pebble in a pond. If the pebble is studio time, the ripples are what has happened outside studio time. It's been the catalyst for starting to reflect in a different way about how I think of learning and about how the students think of themselves as learners. It's just not possible to say to students that what they think and value is important, and what they want to learn and what they choose to investigate is worthwhile during studio time, and then put that aside and tell them exactly what to learn and how to learn at other times. It doesn't sit well with me and they see straight through it. It's fair to say that they are not content with the status quo when it comes to education - and who could blame them? I'm not happy with the status quo either.

Why can't they design the classroom? Why can't they have an equal say in how things work around here? If they don't agree with something, why can't they (respectfully) voice their opinions and make suggestions for improvements? Why can't they self select individual skills to work on during learning time? Why can't they identify a way of recording their thinking that works for them? Why can't they make informed choices about what will help them with their learning? And won't all of these things help them to understand themselves as learners and therefore help them develop into life long learners? Reflecting on my professional practice through the lens of learner agency has been somewhat confronting. Things that I've never considered to be an issue or ways that I've unintentionally taken unnecessary control have been become apparent. Why am I making decisions that students would be more than capable of making? Why am I making this choice when, with support and scaffolding and careful planning, they would be able to think independently and take informed action? Sure it's 'easier' in the sense that I would be in control and know what is about to happen at all times, but to what end?

The ripples of studio time are expanding and the momentum is building. Something that happened fairly quickly was students self selecting workshops to attend, based on their learning needs. Developing an understanding of how to identify areas for improvement and things that are of interest to them has meant they are becoming more and more able to honestly and critically reflect on themselves as learners and their actions. Currently, the students have asked to organise and run their own workshops into reading and writing and we have two weeks worth of sessions lined up. They're taking their own inquiries and questions, investigating them, synthesising the understandings and skills, developing an interactive workshop and rolling them out to their peers. They're gathering mentor texts, asking for advice, summarising the main points and crafting examples. The thinking and learning that is happening through this is incredible and their questions are becoming deeper and deeper. They're also asking for specific workshops and I'm reminding them to chat with me if something comes up that they think would make a purposeful and engaging workshop. From my perspective, I've become more conscious of consulting them in the process of developing inquiries. This week, instead of rolling out an idea I had for how we could tackle a maths unit of inquiry, I put it to them to see their thoughts and ideas, transparently sharing the understandings we would be investigating. Again, they blew me away with how they approached this and with the maturity they showed as they worked collaboratively with each other and me to plan the inquiry. I'll be posing the same question about other inquiries. I've also began consulting them about what they think the split screen questions should be during different inquiries and sessions. They were immediately into this. Their suggestions showed recognition of their needs and the needs of the collective. More and more their conversations show increased metacognition and more awareness of who they are as learners, their strengths and their areas for improvement. All of this has lead to them being more collaborative and interested in their peers as human beings and learners. They're much more inclined to call each other on inappropriate behaviour or learning choices, provide suggestions, give encouragement for others as they tackle things that are challenging and recognise achievements. It's as if in getting to know themselves as learners, they are understanding how others work and what makes them tick. They are empowered and feel accountable and responsible for themselves but also to others in our community.

Students signing up to lead and participate in workshops.

A definition I read recently, through Stephanie Thompson (@traintheteacher), explained learner agency as this: 'Learners taking ownership, making decisions, driving their journey, to the degree that works best for them.' It was a lightbulb moment for me as it put into words what I have been grappling with and trying to communicate. They need guidance. Of course. This should go without saying. I am there to guide, scaffold and support. I have expertise and knowledge to share. There are times when I know what they need to move their learning forward. In fact, there are a lot of those times. But their needs are consistently changing as they become more self aware, flexible, self motivated and independent learners who understand how to learn. Sometimes I am more direct, sometimes I am less direct and my actions and choices are dependent on the needs of the situation and the needs of the child. Always in the back of my mind is the belief and understanding that the journey and the process of inquiring and learning is just as important, if not more so, than the destination.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Starting studio time has been been like throwing a pebble in a pond. If the pebble is studio time, the ripples are what has happened outside studio time. It's been the catalyst for starting to reflect in a different way about how I think of learning and about how the students think of themselves as learners.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I've had a bit of a lightbulb moment over the past couple of days. In this process of handing ownership of learning over to the students, I think I might have accidentally overlooked the fact that not all students are going to be ready at the same time and in the same ways. With that in mind, how have I catered for this range throughout the process? Specifically, has my desire for us to move through this process together as we build momentum meant that I've been inadvertently holding some students back? Or expecting students to be ready in ways that they're not? Sure, we're all moving in the same direction but looking for, or prioritising, consistency doesn't feel right.

Inspired by Dean Kuran and his post on planning learning with his students in the same way that we plan as teachers, I asked my class this week: does anyone want to try planning an inquiry like the teachers do? It was a simple offer and one which a bunch on them immediately jumped on. We sat down as a group and chatted. We discussed the process of planning, and how we, as teachers, consider knowledge, skills, dispositions and concepts. Since they already had an idea for something they wanted to explore, an inquiry into storytelling, we got straight into it. They debated which dispositions were most relevant, decided on what concepts would drive their learning, considered the understandings they would build and identified focus skills. The conversation was rich and purposeful, and I realised they were completely ready to think about their learning in this way. Maybe they had been ready for a while?

While this was happening, other students floated around the edge of the conversation. Some students watched and listened from across the room; intrigued and interested, just observing at this stage. Once we finished, the group shared a bit of the process with the class. Their ownership, enthusiasm and passion was clearly evident. I offered again: if anyone else wants to plan this way, let me know. More students expressed interest.

All of this brings us to this week's personal learning time tomorrow, which will again look different from previous weeks. Some students are now ready to use their new planning to guide their inquiries. Some are now ready to try planning this way after seeing it modelled for them by other students. Some are interested but have told me they need more thinking time because they want a good question or idea first. Some just aren't ready right now. Maybe they're not interested in planning this way and maybe they won't ever be?

As I reflect on this, I realise the value in each of these stages because this whole thing is about so much more than whether students plan an inquiry or about how they spend their personal learning time each week. I'm keeping the bigger picture in mind and trusting the process and the learners.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I've had a bit of a lightbulb moment over the past couple of days. In this process of handing ownership of learning over to the students, I think I might have accidentally overlooked the fact that not all students are going to be ready at the same time and in the same ways.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We had to take a moment and thank you for following Fairy Dust Teaching and engaging with all of our posts! We wanted to look back at 7 of your favorite blog posts over the years and include them RIGHT HERE to simply click on and be inspired all over again!

1. DIY Whiteboards so CHEAP!

2. 5 Great Weaving Projects

3. Reggio Inspired Lights

4. All About Loose Parts

5. Setting Up the 3rd Teacher: A Peek into Sidney's Classroom

6. Simple Literacy Provocations

7. How Unique Storage Solutions Reinvented My Atelier

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We had to take a moment and thank you for following Fairy Dust Teaching and engaging with all of our posts! We wanted to look back at 7 of your favorite blog posts over the years and include them RIGHT HERE to simply click on and be inspired all over again!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This article is based on an example of listening to learning within a pre-kindergarten classroom and how teachers tuning into student voices helped to shape the direction of our inquiry into the transdisciplinary theme of 'How we express ourselves'.
Within our school in Suzhou, China, our pre-kindergarten learners shine brightly as leaders in their quest for understanding and experts in their play. As a co-teaching partnership, my colleague Anna and I understand that often our job is to listen to learning and to take our cues from what we hear.

As we began our inquiry into the central idea that "imagination extends our ability to think, create and express ourselves", Anna and I were supervising outside morning play and talking about how to get started. What provocations might we set up? What stories might we share? As we were talking, a most extraordinary thing was taking place, not five feet from us. One of our students had bent down in concentration, another had joined, and another, until a little group huddled closely, and the buzz of their excitement was reaching us. As I approached, one of our students exclaimed: "Look! Look what we found! It is a blanket from a fairy!" The "blanket" was a golden sweet wrapper, cradled carefully in the hands of a 4-year-old child. As I examined this treasure, our students began to add to the fabric of the tale. "There must be a fairy house nearby! Where could it be?", said one learner. "I hope the fairy is not cold without her blanket!", add another one. Little voices erupted around Anna and I, brimming with excitement and ready to seek out magic.

In The learner in the enhanced PYP communication, it is said that "agency is present when students partner with teachers and members of the learning community to take charge of what, where, why, with whom and when they learn" (IB, 2017). Student agency is supported when teachers marry the interests, talents and skills of the children to the inquiry. Samuellson (2008) notes that play, initiated by children, is often separate to learning, initiated by the adults around them. Within the early learning framework of the PYP, there is a strong case to be made for teachers leveraging students' play and making it the foundation of inquiry, enhancing the status of play and celebrating the competency of children.

Immediately, we realized that the provocation we were seeking had come straight from the perspective and imagination of our learners. Immediately we sought books about fairies from the school library. Supporting our line of inquiry, which was to bring stories we read, share and know to life, we became consumers of fairy mythology. Designing clothes and homes, making beds and blankets, we gave life to our theory of fairies in our playground through shared belief. We naturally began to explore our second line of inquiry, imaginative use of everyday materials, as we played and built.

That evening, I painted a small fairy door and hung it on one of the trees. The next day at play, a shriek of excitement told Anna and I that it had been found. We began to sketch fairies, talk about who might live behind the door, and whether we could only see it now because the fairies knew we believed in them. When the fairies sent us a letter with ingredients for a magical potion, we mixed the ingredients and began to wonder if a small fairy school existed behind the door, where making potions and flying lessons were taught. Students talked, played, drew, sculpted and danced their ideas of what magic might exist around us. We effortlessly explored our final line of inquiry, which was different ways to express ideas.

It may be said that often times, we unpack our central ideas through looking at the words on a page or through a conversation without context. Had Anna and I ignored the voices beside us that fateful day in the playground, we could have had a very different inquiry. Our lesson that day was that the possibilities for magic and wonder that exist when we listen, trust and follow the leads of our students is simply phenomenal.
References:
Pramling Samuelsson, I. & Asplund Carlsson, M. 2008. "The Playing Learning Child: Towards a Pedagogy of Early Childhood". Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. Vol. 52, issue 6.

Primary Years Programme. The Learner in the enhanced PYP. December 2017. http://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/files/2017/12/2017-December-The-Learner.pdf
Niamh Price is from Ireland and has been teaching for ten years. She has been a pre-kindergarten teacher at Suzhou-Singapore International School in Suzhou, China for 6 years. Prior to this, Niamh enjoyed 4 years of teaching and working with children and families in different areas of Dublin, Ireland. Niamh holds a Masters degree in Drama in Education, with a research specialization in play and creativity in the early years classroom. She believes in the importance of establishing relationships with every student who crosses the threshold of her classroom and is committed to finding out not just what each child can do, but who they are. Creating environments that invite beauty, curiosity and collaboration is an essential feature of her practice.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Listening to learning: Agency in the early years

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This article is based on an example of listening to learning within a pre-kindergarten classroom and how teachers tuning into student voices helped to shape the direction of our inquiry into the transdisciplinary theme of 'How we express ourselves'.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Friday, a frustrated colleague texted me this worksheet that a teacher in her school had given to the kindergarteners she works with on an "accountable walk" that day. My colleague wrote, "This is what the testing craze has done. Kids can't even go for a walk without a worksheet! At my school, a 'failing' one, everything is about testing."

It's been a while since I had thought about a worksheet like this - perhaps because, like another colleague who wrote to me about the sheet said had been her experience, "I have been living and working in too much of a bubble for far too long. I forget the kinds of crap (like that worksheet - one of a thousand examples) that many, many students are exposed to - including my own, when I was just starting out." I looked for a way in which the discrepant skills tested would be developed by the activity - and I didn't see any. I couldn't imagine how a child's literacy skills would be advanced by using this sheet. Who is being held "accountable" to what?

I think that what my colleague was suggesting, though, is that the experience of the testing siege is not about developing the skills: More than being guided by outcomes and standards, it's about being dominated by a stance that standardizes experiences and thinking to the point where the leaf in front of you is replaced by an anonymous line drawing. It's about interrupting the child's own powers of observation with "accountability" to see the "right" things on the walk. It's a part of what Henry Giroux calls "the disimagination machine" - and which he responds to by calling on teachers to ask "what [is the role] of both formal education and the wider functions of education in a democracy? What pedagogical, political, and ethical responsibilities should educators and other cultural workers take on at a time when there is an increasing abandonment of egalitarian and democratic impulses?"

I assume this teacher is kind-hearted, well-intentioned, under-appreciated, and over-worked. How might we use this artifact to provoke some larger conversations: What does this activity indicate about the image held of the children who would use that worksheet? What capacities and competencies might this activity imply that children are bringing to the table? Of how they might participate in a larger community? What space does it hold for what they might create together? We could also move one step upstream: What does the publisher seem to be saying about the capacities and competencies of the teacher?

The worksheet seems so trivial, but it can be juxtaposed against other images to make the point. A colleague elsewhere in the world, inspired by her participation in our online Playful Literacy class, offered this note about her class outing on the same day:

On Friday, the kindergarten teacher and I had the privilege of taking our students to an outdoor learning and play space in our neighbouring community. We explored the concept of play and how play embedded in our teaching practices helps the children learn differently.

One of the requests we had for the students is to create something using the objects around them (sticks, pinecones, leaves, grass, rocks, etc.) and then tell an oral story. I then went around the space and interviewed the children about their stories. We talked about the fact that our creations were not permanent as they would be left in the space for others to enjoy. The oral stories that I heard from students were absolutely remarkable. Some students decided to recreate a traditional Aboriginal story from earlier that morning, some told mystical stories from foreign lands, and many told stories based on the spaces that they were in. Often times when the students would finish their piece I'd say "tell me more' or "tell me more about _______________". The conversations exchanged between students and teachers was remarkable and I can confidently say they were making meaning throughout.

When we cultivate engagements that inspire the construction of relationships between and amongst children, adults, and the world, we are participating in a political action with a different aspiration than when we ask children to limit their actions to drawing lines between the world and standardized images delivered to them. Both actions are political.

I'd love to hear from you:
What are you doing in your practice to inspire greater possibilities? How are you making sense of the relationship between your work and the development of a political imagination? How are you inviting your colleagues to join you in that work?
And related:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Confronting the disimagination machine - Opal School Online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Friday, a frustrated colleague texted me this worksheet that a teacher in her school had given to the kindergarteners she works with on an "accountable walk" that day. My colleague wrote, "This is what the testing craze has done. Kids can't even go for a walk without a worksheet!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The children in Early Years 1 have a strong relationship with the nearby forest as we spend weekly time exploring there. This natural ever changing setting provides countless opportunities to develop and explore theories connected to our unit of inquiry's central idea that The Earth's natural cycles influence the activity of living things.

The Language of Photography

With the intention of inquiring into natural cycles and patterns of behaviour in living things, we took some time to observe the children's self-initiated interests during forest explorations. One morning, it was proposed that the children use cameras to take photographs of whatever they found compelling. In this way, the language of photography became a tool for the children to demonstrate their interests by sharing what they were drawn to through the literal lens of the camera. It quickly became clear that trees were a strong source of fascination and possible entry point for this exploration.

(Photo by Felipe Early Years 1)

Back at the classroom, we met, shared the images the children had captured as well as the children's ideas about the trees. One child remarked that, "It looks like the branches are talking to each other." The children were engaged with this idea and we wondered together what the trees might say if they could indeed talk. As a team of educators, we found this a powerful and significant approach to making sense of their images of winter trees. In their poetic way, the children seemed to be giving a "voice" to the trees.

Emma: "He's saying Daddy or Mommy or baby."

Felipe: "Maybe it's a storm."

Neela: "Like he says his clothes are falling down like he's so skinny and spiky because there's no leaves and maybe he wants to take a bath."

(Sharing ideas about the children's tree photographs)

Through their words, the children expressed some discoveries about ways trees are affected by winter in our local context including leafless branches and windy storms. The children were given opportunities to explore their initial ideas with diverse materials and through multiple symbolic languages. We wanted to support the children with their exploration of the concept of causation and their wonderings around "Why is it like it is"?

The Language of Clay, Sculpture and Design

Typically, journeys to the forest include bringing back some natural treasures like branches, greenery, pinecones and acorns. Back in the classroom, we proposed these materials to the children together with clay. Some children chose to recreate the forest as they experienced it. Others represented the stream with clay and yarn. The nature of the work was highly collaborative with rich discussion and interaction. Amelie shared, "It's the water when it's moving."We noticed that several children incorporated sound into their narrations. The children expressed their impressions of the tree sounds with the words "swish," "bwaaaa," "shhhhhhh" and others. Many used shivering body language indicating they had made a connection about the cold, windy weather and how it impacts them, supporting a developmentally appropriate understanding that we live in a world of interacting systems in which the actions of any individual element affect others.

"These are the tallest trees talking and they're connected." Jackson

Graphic Representations of Talking Trees

(Observing, thinking, drawing and narrating about "the talking trees.")

The children's initial theory about talking trees was both beautiful and significant. The reproposal of this idea through graphic representation provided a way for the children to build the understanding that in art people make choices to construct meaning about the world around them. As the children drew they narrated:

Emma: "This is a storm and the tree is falling down in the storm."

Neela: "Like a little girl was walking down the street and she heard the crunchy things and then saw the tree and the bird and she loved it."

Felipe: "It's falling down like that one."

Billy: "These are all the leaves. They're twirling only at the bottom."

Throughout all of the proposals, the children's narrations, work (photographs, videos, sculpture) and previous ideas were presented back to them. During meeting times and before experiences with new materials, the children were given an opportunity to remember and reflect as teachers shared the work that had happened previously. In this way, the adults supported a deepening of thinking by acting as keepers of the children's ideas and theories always supporting with extending connections and making learning more meaningful and relevant.

The children had already identified sound as an important component of the winter forest. It was proposed that we record some sounds together that might be significant for the children. We shared the recordings back at the classroom and the children shared their reactions:

Felipe: "I hear the river song."

Leila: "You can hear the snow."

The idea that the forest has sounds particular to a season represented another way of knowing and making sense for the children.

(Exploring the sounds of the stream in winter)

Consolidating Ideas through the Language of Dance and Movement

Throughout these experiences there seemed to be several threads that emerged for the children. The ideas of storms and wind were strongly represented in the children's drawings, narrations and sculptures which may reflect the children's own experiences with winter in Switzerland. Sounds of the winter forest, particularly the sound of snow, as well as the "voice" of the trees were other points of interest and exploration. It was proposed that the children might explore these ideas with dance and movement. With a particular focus on the children's observations about sound as well as the "voice" they had given to the trees, we wondered together how the winter forest might move or dance.

Amelie: "We would have to be really high" (demonstrating with her arms and tippy toes).

Leila: "We would go fast."

Ridley: "The snow might be quiet."

The children joyfully used their bodies to dance and move as they perceived the trees might with many stretching high, creating a storm by gracefully shaking the dancing ribbons and making blowing movements. Their discoveries about sound and movement to express creative ideas were pathways for the children to make sense and communicate understandings in a kinesthetic way. The children gave each other feedback when we viewed video footage of these experiences. One child commented that her friend "was storming very fast".

The Arts as Symbolic Languages to Build Understandings

Throughout this inquiry the children used the arts as symbolic languages to build understandings about the natural cycle of the winter forest. The children's strong relationship with the forest was key to supporting their theories about natural phenomena in a relevant way. As they were given opportunities to express ideas with clay, drawing, sound and dance, they were inquirers and their ideas evolved in a transdisciplinary manner.

Through listening, speaking and sharing their thoughts, observational skills developed. The children had a sense of agency as they were empowered to make choices about their work and interactions supporting the understanding that art has meaning as well as potential to support with making sense of ideas. The arts became a powerful vehicle to explore scientific concepts. The understanding that art has meaning as well as potential to support with making sense of ideas was very present in this exploration of natural phenomena. The theories, ideas and discoveries that came from the children will be explored further as we transition into spring supporting the children with developing an understanding that the earth's natural cycles influence living things.
"We are - and we must be convinced of this - inside an ecosystem: our earthly journey is a journey we make along with the environment, nature, the universe. Our organism, our morality, our culture, our knowledge, our feelings are connected with the environment, with the universe, with the world. And here we can find the spider web of our life." - Loris Malaguzzi
This project was collaboratively supported by Andrea Mills, Early Years Atelierista, Aisling Broderick, EY1 Teacher, and Lisa Rosado Darham, EY1 Teaching Assistant

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The children in Early Years 1 have a strong relationship with the nearby forest as we spend weekly time exploring there. This natural ever changing setting provides countless opportunities to develop and explore theories connected to our unit of inquiry's central idea that The Earth's natural cycles influence the activity of living things.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A Where We Are in Place and Time Unit of Inquiry Central Idea: Lines of Inquiry: Spaces can be used in creative ways. Related Concepts: Purpose, Transformation, Subjectivity Identifying Prior Knowledge and Our Wonderings

Physical spaces have characteristics and arrangements that can be used in different ways.

Spaces can be transformed.

People respond to spaces in different ways.

We spent much time identifying the interests of the children and choosing a place to start off this Unit. Reflecting on our Waldkinder sessions (Learning in the forest setting), we discussed how the children were constantly transforming this space to suit their needs and desires, in particular, in designing and building 'role play spaces,' and the role that doorways played. We proposed to find out more about the children's interest in doors and doorways connected to our key lines of inquiry.

To tune into the Unit we focussed our discussions and learning invitations around doors and doorways. We shared photographs of our own front doors. In small groups we took a tour around the ICS school campus to look at and document the variety of doors and related features we could find in our community. The children began to make connections to similar doors they have seen or which have a personal connection for them. In meetings we shared ideas about the different and exciting unexplored spaces that a door might lead to. We looked at interesting and intriguing images of doors from different places.

After our initial research we identified that our questions were connected to;

How doors open and close?
Attributes: Communicators, Inquirers Attitudes: Creativity, Confidence, Enthusiasm Skills: Research, Self-management, Thinking, Social, Communication Field Trip to Zurich City
Why people decorate doors?
Using Symbolic Languages to Reflect A Second Field Trip to Zurich City
What are the details of doors, such as keys and handles?
Reflection
When exploring in the Altstadt we were interested in the various doorways and intriguing spaces we discovered in the city. We were particularly inspired by the different shapes of the doors we saw, door decorations, functions, mechanisms and features such as handles, knockers, keyholes, bells and spy holes.
A Provocation
In the time after our first field trip to Zurich City , we spent time reflecting - through shared conversations and by experimenting with a range of materials to create visual responses and 3D representations of our thinking, to identify the key ideas that we were interested in to clarify our theories and develop further questions.
Sounds of Small Spaces: "Fairy Radio" - Exploration and connections through the arts
From our reflections, we realised that, while the doors and their features were very interesting, it was actually the small underground spaces of the city that the children wondered about most. Our research revealed that Zurich happens to have a rich history of underground spaces and a colleague informed us we could collect a key from the Baugeschichtliches Archiv , which would give us special access to these areas. The children were excited and intrigued by these possibilities. As we entered the spaces we made sure to notice and be aware of our reactions to being in these new and different spaces. On returning to school, we again dedicated time to reflection, by focusing on our reactions; the physical and emotional, to this different perspective from which we experienced the city. We identified and explored ideas about 'How people respond to different spaces'.
Design and Construction

After the second field trip we reflected again, expressing our ideas through various symbolic languages; wire, clay, charcoal, paint, thin line markers, wooden blocks, ribbon, string and sticks.

The EY2 children were delightfully surprised to discover a very small door that appeared at the entranceway to their classroom. There was much wondering and excitement as each day a new little offering was found. Again we reflected on our feelings to make connections to the line of inquiry, People respond to spaces in different ways.

After the discovery of the fairy door, there was much dialogue and excitement about the nature of fairy houses and ways that they embody smallness. The children were invited to consider how such spaces might sound. Arthur shared, " It was proposed that the children explore sounds that supported their ideas about fairies and smallness. Xylophones, bells, triangles and other soft, chime-like instruments as well as iPads were on offer. The children experimented with sound making, and recording. Celine suggested the children were making a "They don't like big things or big sounds". Neela added, " I think when fairies are having a dance party it would make little sounds."Fairy Radio".

In the forest we used our imaginations, knot tying and tool work skills to design and build furniture and features for our fairy garden.

"A fairy climber. The fairy can climb up, up, up." Neela
Creating a Garden for Fairies
"A swing for a fairy." Ayame
Designing a Fairy Garden to Surprise the ICS Community
"These are the chairs that they use when there is a party." Sophia

"The fairies can fly up and the sit on the swing to go up and down." Nathanael
Text reads: "Come to our Fairy Garden" Creating features for the installation
"Fairies can play in here. They do singing games. Fairies like the decorations that I do." Yurika
Fairy Garden Installation for the ICS Community
We continued this work of creating fairy furniture back in the classroom.

Building on the children's ideas together we spent time planning and creating a Garden for Fairies. We gathered data, to make a graph with tally marks to show how many plants and bulbs of each colour we would need. We visited the market with our German teacher to purchase the plants. The children worked to plan, set out and fill the planter boxes. They then decorated the planters with many miniature items that we had collected.

Using our knowledge about how spaces can be transformed we created small homes and gardens for fairies, both in the forest, our classroom and courtyard area. As a next step, we thought it would be amazing to plan a surprise 'fairy installation' for the whole of the ICS community. We knew from our research during this inquiry that people react and respond to spaces and surprises, so we were excited to anticipate others' reactions to our project. In class meetings we shared our ideas and created plans as to how to design and approach building the installation. We also needed to agree upon which space in the school we could transform to include this project. Stella shared, "I know this upstairs place. I go there sometimes, for Finnish School. A lot of boys and girls are there. They were all sitting around, and lots of bags." We then wrote invitations, which were both given to our families and placed around the school inviting everyone to come and view the completed fairy installation.

We set to work sewing "jungle vine" elements for the installation. We collected green fabrics, ripped these into strips and matched the pieces together before taking turns to use the Heavy Duty Sewing Machine to make long lengths. We also used the wood bench and tools to create structures and vehicles for the fairies. We became quite adept at using hammers, saws, drills and wood burners. We added these to the existing furniture and features we had previously made.

After spending most of the day transforming a space, normally used by the secondary school for meeting, working and socialising, into a fairy garden, our installation was finally ready to share! Billy shared, "I feel so proud of this. I can't believe we just built all this!"
Installation Reflection
The characteristics and arrangements of this particular space were perfect to use for our project, as we believed it to be cosy and inviting. The sloping staircase above it also provided us with the opportunity to hang sewn together fabrics to create the feeling and atmosphere of being in a forest. We were thrilled with the different, but all very positive, responses from everyone who came to visit it.

"EY2 (children) are really creative!" Jack, an EY3 student

"Your garden is so pretty. I feel like I can hear the fairies whispering into my ear. This is so nice and peaceful. Thank you!" An ICS Secondary Student

"I love it. It's so creative and beautiful. It makes me feel like I am there, a part of it." An ICS Secondary Student

Working on the installation, Arthur made a "Seesaw for fairy" from wood materials. He thought about how the ICS community might respond, "They will be excited. Maybe they will be happy!"
May 2017 Produced in collaboration with the children of EY2, Heidi Harman (EY2 Teacher), Andrea Mills (EYC Atelierista), Victoria Newman (EYC Coordinator), Claire Febrey (PYP Coordinator), Janet Cooper, Eva May Ernst and Chiga Schochet (EY2 Teaching Assistants).
After the installation, Arthur reflected, "My daddy thinks it was very cool, and it was beautiful. I think he was surprised to go to the (Secondary) School. He loved the Fairy Garden."

Neela explained that the ICS community might respond excitedly to the installation as "They might be freaked out!" After the installation, Neela reflected," My dad thought it was good. I think we made the school a more surprising space."

After the Fairy Garden installation, Victoria shared about how members of the ICS Community reacted, "My brother asked how long it taked (to build). My mum, she wanted to shrink so she could be playing there by herself."

Working on the installation, Ayame thought that the ICS Community might "Like the fairy house." After the installation, Ayame reflected, "Everyone thinks it is beautiful. It was joyful." (Translated from Japanese.)

Working on the installation, Celine thought that the ICS Community might be surprised and "They go like this 'Ahaaa!' " She suggested that "We need a little camera, so we can see (and record) how they react." After the installation, Celine reflected, "The big kids could be shy on fairies, they think who made this? They asked us, how did you make this and how long it took us. My daddy, he was amazed. He said that he likes it, and how everyone did their work."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A Where We Are in Place and Time Unit of Inquiry Central Idea: Lines of Inquiry: Spaces can be used in creative ways. Related Concepts: Purpose, Transformation, Subjectivity Identifying Prior Knowledge and Our Wonderings Physical spaces have characteristics and arrangements that can be used in different ways. Spaces can be transformed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I have been thinking about how we set choose, present, invite participation with materials for young children. Partly because I have been looking back at some of my old project work in schools dating back some 15 years (gulp! where did that go!) and also in light of a recent pedagogical exchange to some fantastic pre-schools in Stockholm, Sweden.
I very much set out as an artist in residence in UK schools with a kit bag full of all the nice things that either schools couldn't afford or didn't know how to use. Usually, my bag contained textile transfer paints, shimmery fabric paints, silk paints, foils, micro glitter all materials that guaranteed success no matter how they were applied. (Really, that was my criteria!) Often I created a set of materials for schools to use post project but sadly often they were not and I would find them sitting on shelf in the art cupboard two years later, untouched, when I had been invited back into the school to do more of the same.

The trouble was, this kind of work wasn't sustainable. Now I know that 'sustainability' like 'accountability' are buzz words of the current economic climate but for me the sustainability wasn't to do with the politics of the economy but instead is interwoven into the creative experience of the children themselves. It was unsustainable as the children would not be able to ever master these materials in school because to be frank, once I shipped out of my weeklong residency, they would most probably never use them again.

After my first study tour to Reggio Emilia I began to evaluate some aspects of my practice that I wanted to change. One major factor was the materials that I was using with children on a daily basis. I had shied away from the traditional materials (paint, clay, drawing, and collage) and instead focused on my specialist area from my degree in textiles. I figured that the everydayness of these materials were things that the educators I was working with were expert in.

I began to 'look again' at these familiar materials and set about researching how children approached them, what they did with them, and examined the perspective of the educator - what were their intentions and knowledge about the materials to hand and were they attuned and fitting to the strategies of the child? It lead to a significant chunk of my Masters research that you can find Here.

I am not going to go into here the ins and outs of what I found out, you can read the research for that - but there were several things that during this time I found myself thinking more and more about. They were:

The qualities of the intelligence of the materials

The transformative potential of the materials

The dialogues proposed with the materials

And that these were affected by:

Educator knowledge of the materials and their potential

The organisation and presentation of the materials

The intentions of the educator

In looking back there has been a shift in thinking in the UK about the early childhood learning environment and the materials provided within. Fifteen years ago I found myself working in places where it was the complete norm for children to be called to a table to 'make a spider' because the intention was to count up to 8. The resulting spiders would be identical because all the elements (body, eyes, legs etc) would have been pre-prepared. And I did this too! I also made the with children the strangest things in the name of learning and education - my favourite being dream catchers made from paper plates, string, glittery pipe cleaners, pom poms and glue. I am ashamed! I am glad to say, that I rarely encounter this type of activity now.

Then the discussions I was having in schools began to change, as new words were bandied about like 'child-initiated' 'child's interest' 'independent learning' and creativity was the golden and most enshrined word of all. Now it seemed we had to make sure that we were not hampering creativity and or intervening in anyway as this might ruin the creative act of the child.

So now my portfolio of work changed again, and the spiders and dream catchers disappeared and were replaced with open baskets and containers of treasured material, all freely available to the children to choose from and use in whatever way they wanted. I remember how in one school I took the doors off the cupboards so the children could indeed actually help themselves. So when a young three year old made a hedgehog from clay using the best felt tips and brushes I would simply smile in the wonderful creative spirit of the moment. Another example I recall from this time was picking up a sodden box and marvelling in creative awe and wonder in how a child had managed to use the years supply of yarn by gluing the yarn balls to cover a cornflake box that had (incidentally) become attached by 1000 metres (at least) of selotape to the drying rack. Creativity, following children's interest, child-initiated, independent learning? Really? A non-interventionist pedagogy here just resulted in chaos and mounds of tangled tape.

So what I have I learnt? For me, taking Reggio's idea of 'intelligent' materials' has made me question this non-interventionist choice. There is no free, independent choice of materials in school because as teachers we have the responsibility to set the stage for education, we choose which materials and how they are presented, and this is a great responsibility indeed. Materials are not neutral but are imbued with learning potential and expressive qualities. For example, which material would suit the idea of expressing the dynamic qualities of water - large wooden blocks, clay, and paint? One would find it hard in blocks.

To teach is a verb, it is an action and we must not fear this. I learnt how to draw at Art College, I was taught rules on perspective, on using materials. I was taught how to weave, use a sewing machine and methods of printing. I was an apprentice to a master who was willing to share the methodology, however it was up to me to use those skills to express or conceptualise ideas of my own.

So yes, I think it is of absolute importance that we choose which materials and how to present them as it is precisely this critical thinking that will help young children make sense of the crazy, chaotic world around them.

KH Cuffaro (1995) reminds us all that materials are "the tools with which children give form to and express their understanding of the world and the meanings they have constructed." Therefore we have to pay close attention to these things and choose carefully which way to present the materials, which way to teach children how to use them, which ways to invite questions about the them, and to make the move to considering how will these materials enable children to give form to their thinking, their understanding of the world.

Vea Vecchi (2010) points out "We must go beyond materials and techniques to stop and look at processes of empathy and intense relations with things..." and this too is another important reminder, that it is not enough for children to be busy with hands 'sticking and gluing' or 'exploring paint' but to engage their emotional sensitivity and construct together with other children and their educators deep relationships to matter and knowledge.

Whilst in Sweden I was honoured to be able to spend time with one of Stockholm's pedagogical coordinators of the pre-schools and she shared with me this idea of working with materials in dialogue and with empathy. With the teachers she works with in the network, she often asks them to arrange materials of their choosing so that children could construct and elaborate their thinking (knowledge construction) of concepts such as symmetry, contrast, measurement, identity, transformation. Choosing specific materials with specific qualities is a skill and something we should all (including myself) think more about. The tables in the pedagogical centre were littered with familiar examples of natural (leaves, horse chestnuts, flowers, earth) and expressive materials (paper, paint, graphics) placed in dialogue to provocative thinking about the aesthetics of the materials (building an empathy with a flower for example) and the relatable connectivity of the natural world that builds directly on the work of Gregory Bateson (1979) (who they are studying) who considers aesthetics as a vehicle of making connections, of responding to the patterns that connect and the dance of interacting parts so as to avoid over simplification, and superficiality.

An example of oversimplification is the learning objective for children to 'label the parts of plant' often found within a key stage one lesson. This labeling is done in a abstract way, without feeling how that plant is part of the earth, how it lives and breathes and pulsates with life, then fades, slowly back into the ground from which it came but before doing so, spreads on the gentle the breeze or in the bellies of the birds its creative seed, to start again so that another plant can reborn from the seed of another. A plant connected to the earth, the atmosphere, the cycles of life not just of its own kind but to other kinds too, to benefit not just itself but also a wider circle of mutual and symbiotic relations. Is it enough for children to label a bud a bud without thinking of the relationship of that bud to stem? Vea Vecchi (2010) picks up on these ideas in her book too (reference below).

In conversation with other educators who I was with in Sweden it was precisely this 'intentionality' of the educator who considered carefully the placement, selection and preparation of the materials offered to the children that they were struck with. In one school materials with the possibility and potential for creating and responding to sound and music had been prepared for the children to use with the intention that children could think about tempo, beat, rhythm and movement. This went far beyond the pots and pans strung up on a bit of string outside for the children to bish, bash, bosh.

In another school a collection of autumnal leaves had been gathered that invited thinking not just of 'the colours of autumn, whatever they are!) but the subtle hues and variations of colours found in leaves that came from the same tree. These leaves were fashioned later by two four year old children into a spiral of the hues of autumn -a pattern that goes from dark to light. An exploration of colours that connect, a pattern of relationships of colour and not an abstract labeling of orange, red and brown.

So, is it enough to 'put the paint out, top the glue up and get out the basket of maracas'?' No, it certainly is not! Instead we must think hard about the intelligence of materials and the possibility of materials in dialogue.
References KH Cuffaro (1995) Experimenting with the World Vea Vecchi (2010) Art and Creativity in Reggio Emilia Gregory Bateson (1979) Mind and Nature: A necessary unit

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Intelligent Materials and Materials in Dialogue

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Intelligent Materials and Materials in Dialogue I have been thinking about how we set choose, present, invite participation with materials for young children. Partly because I have been looking back at some of my old project work in schools dating back some 15 years (gulp! where did that go!)