#Kinderchat Archive
#Kinderchat, glue, glitter, gogurt, bringing daily joy to twitter. Find us Mondays, 9 pm EST and 8:30PM London time when we talk all things Early Years!
Monday October 10, 2016
Hi Courtney K T WA I'm still reading!!! Nothing like last minute prep! LOL
Hello! Welcome to tonight’s . Please introduce yourself; tell us who you are/where your from/what you do/favorite fall thing!
My favorite fall thing is going to the pumpkin patch and baking pumpkin things!~
I’m Meg, from Chicago. I am the director of a little preschool. I adore the fall, particularly the leaves and the chilly air.
Hi Courtney. Welcome to the chat!
I know it’s a holiday in Canada and US, but I hope you’re all here! Come out and say hi!
It’s okay, that was my go to way to get through graduate school!
I'm an education major at Grove City College ready for my first !
Hi Amanda. Welcome to the . We love first timers. :)
For those of you who are new/ haven’t gotten the book yet, here is the information on the book and chat: https://t.co/1QqPHf2rLI
Hi Faige, oh I get it. those littles are exhausting. Did you go on a field trip? Nice photo!
I want to start of with a quote about seeing from the book to set the stage for the conversation.
“We walk around believing that what we see with our eyes is real, when, in truth, each of us constructs our own understanding.”
This quote (last tweet) by Donald Hoffman, for me, really sets us up for thinking about observation as an art.
No this caterpillar discovered on the 4year old yard. Sorry I can't join but will read tweets later.
As a pre question, what did this quote bring up for you in your reading of the book?
If you can’t open google doc or are just glancing through the tag, we are talking about “The Art of Awareness” by Deb Curtis.
I listened to a Ted talk the other day about a man who gained sight as adult. He saw the world diff than he knew as blind man.
Is it really you andI doing
. Wow! What an interesting talk that must have been!
I think it might be. It’s holidays in the US and Canada so we don’t have our usual rowdy crew.
, how far have you read in the book?
For those of you maybe just reading tag for tonight’s chat, I’m going to tweet out some observations from “The Art of Awareness”
I have read the intro, chapter 1 & 2
The first chapter of the book really sets the stage for the book and encourages us to read it as a group & to practice seeing.
What do you think so far? What stood out?
1/2 "When we see ch. as needy or lacking in some quality or skill, we may limit what we offer them, or...
2/2 ...stop them form pursuing valuable experiences
just tweeted a quote that stood out.
Oh! That’s a great quote. Is that from the photos of the boy with the marker?
Authors also remind us that we may find ourselves in disequilibrium as we work to deepen our observations of children.
I loved reading about reality of this! It's so true. In fact. I am experiences this now!
ooh! you’re version is colored photos! What did you think when you saw that photo?
In what ways are you experiencing this? Do you mind sharing?
Well, he is looking at open scissors so I thought, "that boy needs a safety lesson!" LOL
Understandable. What about when you challenged yourself to look past the safety?
Not at all. Right now I am collecting 3 sets of data. One has 22 different categories of "look fors."
Wow. That’s a lot of data to collect. Are you finding it meaningful things they are asking you to gather or no?
The 2nd chapter opens with a quote by Lisa Delpit (who I LOVE) about perception.
No. It would be meaningful if I was could use it. It's a state requirement. Not seen as rigerous by dist.
The Art of Awareness by Deb Curtis sounds like an interesting book, I may have to check it out! I'll just follow along for now
Delpit-We do not really see through our eyes or hear through our ears, but through our beliefs.
Of course! You probably have many books to read for your courses.
I agree. In my morals/ethics MA class we talked about how perceptions r shaped by own morals/values
Wow! What a beautiful set of photos! This boy looks like he is so engaged in his exploration, so in the moment.
https://t.co/jVpC3CJAe9
Seriously...I wondered what he was thinking. Why does he have red celephane all around him? Why is it behind him in 2nd pic?
He also looks proud of what he accomplished. :) I love that.
this is why purposful obs is so impt. This book gave me a gr8 idea to collect all my data next yr.
That’s awesome! For this year, is there a way to make your mandated data meaningful to you and your kids?
Yes. I can use it to understand the developmental and academic needs of specific Ss.
The authors then say…when we can’t make sense of something, we feel uncomfortable.” How do we use that imbalance in our obs?
I am intrigued w/ the descriptions/interpretations activity that goes along w/ the pics we have shared.
For me, a big takeaway from ch2 is the practice of separating our interpretations from our descriptions.
I realize my 1st reaction was a description and 2nd was an interpretation. total ah-ha moment!
What intrigues you? Can you elaborate? Did you try it?
I just applied it to my tweets & our convo. reminds me 2 stop and ask myself why is Ss doing xyz...
That’s great! A goal for my teachers is to describe first, then interpret and find the narrative. https://t.co/lWaiTm47zc
I realize my 1st reaction was a description and 2nd was an interpretation. total ah-ha moment!
Every behavior, every moment of play, has a meaning. It’s our job to investigate meaning (I think). https://t.co/QYbyIG0ZB4
I just applied it to my tweets & our convo. reminds me 2 stop and ask myself why is Ss doing xyz...
We need descriptive details to support interpretations so we can separate out our biases.
For anyone who is new/refining their observation and awareness skills, the authors give a great list of skills for observation.
I love this analysis. Is there a place for our voice in the narrative?
1st: Objectivity, observe without judging.
District is buying book for a couple of us as a part of our prof learning; will read archive and join in on convo in December
2nd: Specificity, look for specific details, such as the number of children/adults involved, kinds of materials, time spent.
Yes! we can have voice. We just need to know where it belongs. 1. Obs w/o judgement, then wonder why https://t.co/w92Kv3NjvK
I love this analysis. Is there a place for our voice in the narrative?
3rd: Directness, try to record direct quotes as much as possible and take photos/video.
4th: Mood, describe the social and emotional details of the situation (tones of voice, body language, facial expressions, etc.
5th: Completeness, make sure moments have a beginning, middle, and end and includes players, actions, responses.
I like to think of this as reflection & is really the biggest piece of Reggio inspiration that I take with me in my work
The components of observation are so important. I think having a framework 4 obs can help us as Ts to org.
Reflect is my biggest tool I use to improve my craft. It allows me to analyze all I am doing
Those of you following along tonight, we're reading “The Art of Awareness: How Observation Can Change Your Teaching” by Curtis.
The pictures in the book to practice observation r fascinating. I've seen many b4. I always want to see all the pictures!
They remind me of the dress controversy of last year where the internet couldn’t agree if it was blue or white!
Okay folks, the next chat dedicated to the book club is December 5th and we will chat about chapters 3, 4, and 5.
I'm going to duck out early!. Thanks for chatting about the book tonight! This is my 1st prof. book study!
As we wrap up 1st chat about The Art of Awareness, I’ll leave you with the challenge to REALLY LOOK at a child’s play tomorrow.
Thanks for joining me on this unusually quiet ! Have a good night!
It's a holiday here, so I'm just getting a chance to log on. Sorry I missed out! I teach kindergarten in
Okay folks, gonna call this a little early. Join us next week as we chat about loose parts with !
The Art of Awareness is an inspiring read so far (I love all of their books). Looking forward to catching up Dec 5
, looking at calendar & see opening on Dec 12 (focus on class materials), would you like to guest mod that day?
Great! I love Deb Curtis so I’m excited to chat about her book this year with all of you. Have a good night!
PLN, can you offer advice? Help with combined classes? https://t.co/5jk7C2kRRu
It's been awhile since I've done this! I am looking for some input combined classes-I will be transitioning to a k/1 class
