Teach the Children

I am reading Mary Oliver's beautiful collection of essays entitled Upstream, a gift to me from a dear friend.My very favorite piece so far is very short and the last section in the first essay entitled also, "Upstream."  I quote it here in hopes of sending out a bright spot for you on this last day of February.  Indeed, let us teach the children how we love and cherish our blue green planet.  And let them teach us how to notice everything. Every day.

Teach the children. We don't matter so much, but the children do. Show them the daisies and the pale hepatica. Teach them the taste of sassafras and wintergreen. The lives of blue sailors, mallow, sunbursts, the moccasin flowers. And the frisky ones-inkberry, lamb's-quarters, blueberries.  And the aromatic ones-rosemary, oregano. Give them peppermint to put in their pockets as they go to school. Give them the fields and the woods and the possibility of a world salvaged from the lords of profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as the learn to love this green space they live in, in sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms. 

Attention is the beginning of devotion. 

"We Have These Precious Rights and We Should Use Them"

Today it is snowing... still, after snowing all day yesterday and all through last night. We have a foot and a half of soft, white, peaceful snow.  This morning as I was catching up on things at my desk I read an article in our local paper from last week, The Addison Independent..."Trump order strands Weybridge family in Iran."  Middlebury College Professor Ata Anzali, his wife, Fahimeh and daughters, Esra and Narges have been in Iran for a sabbatical year.  Both Ata and Fahimeh were engaged in research and their children were in school. They had rented a house and purchased a car. They were spending time with grandparents and cousins.  Fahimeh was caring for her father who had a stroke a couple of months ago.  With Trump's travel ban, they were thrown into panic about returning to the U.S.  In the end, with help from Vermont Senator Leahy's office and also Middlebury College they were able to return.  But they abruptly left behind their research plans, their friends and family.

Professor Anzali said,

"My case was probably among the easiest ones. There are refugees who have been waiting for 20 years to get the clearance to come into the United States from refugee camps, and then in one night their life is upside down," he said.

This is a tough time we are living through.   One of the things that Ashley and I believe is so critical to authentic and lasting learning is to hear, nurture, develop and feature children's voices in words, graphics, dance, song.  Learning to be a local and global citizen, valuing multiple perspectives, contributing to a healthy, hopeful future...these are among the central themes of our work with teachers and schools.   I would like to quote Narges, one of Professor Anzali's daughters, because she speaks so clearly as she embodies her life and her beliefs in her voice.

Salam, Hello. I am Narges Anzali. I am eleven years old. I am living for a year in Iran. Me and my family were hoping that this new law would not apply to green card holders. I was shocked when I first heard of this law.  I have lived in the United States for nine years. Does that make me different from the people who are around me and are citizens? I consider myself just as American.  Does it make a difference that I am Muslim? Is that wrong? I have lived and talked and laughed with people who have supported this law. I can not believe that they would do this to me.

So I ask you to reach out. Reach out to the people and tell them our stories. The problems are appearing in our lifetime and it is our responsibility to solve them. Isn't the first amendment of the Constitution the right to free speech, free press and free religion? We should start to pay attention to these things and make sure that we use them to their full potential. We have these precious rights and we should use them.

I do not believe that what religion you are, or how many years you have lived in America, whether you have a green card or a visa make you any more or less American.

So I ask you do DO something about it, to help these people who have done no wrong to come home. It is not the time to stand on the sidelines and watch other people do our work for us. And I hope with all my heart that the people who are stuck with nowhere to go will soon find their way home.

A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall…and my emotions will overwhelm me…and I will fail…then, survive…even thrive.

cad collab

A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall…and my emotions will overwhelm me…and I will fail…then, survive…even thrive. That was Patti Smith’s description of her experience at the Nobel Prize ceremony, honoring Bob Dylan by singing his great song, A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, that evokes a cultural dystopia not unlike what we’re experiencing now in the U.S.

Even though she had the song down cold; even though she knew in her heart it was the right song to sing; even though she is a veteran performer (she celebrated her 70th birthday on December 30th); even though everything leading up to the ceremony had gone perfectly; when her moment came, she was overwhelmed by the second verse.  She had to stop, apologize, and start over.  For her it was beyond embarrassing…she felt the humiliating sting of failure….

Yet, she also felt the strange realization that I had somehow entered and truly lived in the world of the lyrics.  As in the opening words: I stumbled alongside twelve misty mountains….; and the ending line to the verse: And I’ll know my song well before I start singing.

Her profound communication through her performance of the song, it’s visceral message and haunting beauty wrapped in her stumbling, was deeply appreciated by all.  She writes that the next morning, in the breakfast room she was greeted by many of the Nobel scientists.  They showed appreciation for my very public struggle.  They told me I did a good job.  I wish I had done better, I said.  No, no, they replied, none of us wish that.  For us, your performance seemed a metaphor for our own struggles.

Aye, a metaphor for us ALL.  In the world of our classrooms, in the world of our families, our communities, our country, our world, a hard rain’s gonna fall…it always has and it always will.  ’Tis the human condition that Dylan describes so poignantly and that Patti Smith performed so unintentionally perfectly in her “failure”.  AND, ’tis the human possibility that from or after that hard rain we can learn, make meaning, gain perspective, persevere, make things right, discover, create, love one another.  Love you, Patti Smith.  And a deep bow of gratitude for your public reflection.

May will all learn from you, and pay it forward to our children.

*children's work in this post is from Buckingham Browne & Nichols

Environments and Materials in Reggio Inspired Practice

This spring, Louise will teach a class for Lesley University, Environments and Materials in Reggio Inspired Teaching and Learning.  The course will meet for two intensive weekends, March 3-4, and April 1-2.  I taught this course with Yvonne Liu- Constant in 2015 and look forward so much to meeting with participants to focus on these inspiring ideas and practices once again.  Our time together will be lively, practical, uplifting, and grounding.  There are still some spots left.  You can take this class for credit or for professional development requirements or just because you are interested.

Contact Yvonne Lui Constant at yliucons@lesley.edu for information and to register.

Here is the course description:

This course provides an opportunity to explore a variety of materials that form the symbolic languages that children use to express ideas and to consider how these materials can support young children’s learning. The course also focuses on creating environments that promote children’s social, emotional and intellectual development. A progressive approach to education informs these discussions. In particular, innovations from the municipal infant-toddler centers and preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy are considered.

Inquiry proceeds on two levels. First we will focus on the practical aspects of teaching involved while working with compelling materials and designing engaging environments. The materials we will use in this course include graphic materials and drawing, natural materials, building and construction materials and photography. How documentation, provocations, and an attention to individual and group learning support the use of materials is considered. Planning and designing young children’s learning environments both inside and outside will be a focus.