Ladybugs, Tornadoes, and Swirling Galaxies--Part 1

While reading through Ladybugs, Tornadoes, and Swirling Galaxies, I couldn’t help but think these ELL students in 1st grade reminded me an awful lot of my native English speaking Pre-K students.  It wasn’t the lack of language or abilities that reminded me of my students, but the engagement with their world and making meaning out of writing and reading for themselves.  I often have to explain to people that there is quite A LOT of learning that goes on inside a Pre-K classroom, despite what they may think.  Learning all about Brad and Anne’s classroom, all I could think is, “wow! they are doing SO MUCH!” And that’s exactly how I feel about my classroom.  I look around my room sometimes, and if I didn’t know any better--it looks like complete chaos.  But I do know better.  I know that my students are engaging in their environment and more importantly, they are socializing with their peers and learning so much about their world and how to work with others.  They’re most definitely learning from each other, even if they don’t know it yet.  What I found so fascinating about Brad and Anne’s classroom is how they intentionally let the children know that they are in a classroom with their peers to learn from them, to connect and construct ideas together, and to support and encourage each  other’s work.  

One of the most beautiful things about their classroom that really resonates with me and how I operate in my own classroom is how they have developed a trusting relationship with their students.  They mentioned that early on they used to be concerned with what they other children were doing while they were conferring with a student or working one-on-one with a student who really needed that specific time with the teacher.  They later decided to let go this need to control and keep up with what every child is doing in the classroom and instead place some accountability on their students to focus and engage themselves in topics that they want to read, write, or learn more about.  I know this is how I used to be when I first started teaching.  I wanted to make sure that EVERY minute of my students’ day was filled with meaningful activities.  I slowly, but surely found out that that way of operating is nearly impossible.  One single person cannot make sure that all students are on task all the time.  And in some ways, I feel that it is enabling a child to constantly stand over their shoulder and keep tabs on what they are doing.  Now I feel that I have more freedom to work with different students on days that they need my help with a project they are working on. 

”Valid text is generated by the kids through their writing.  we read it aloud, we read it together, and we read it independently.  reading is a big piece of inquiry, yet we place a heavy focus on gathering, categorizing, and organizing information through the inquiry process” (Buhrow and Garcia, 2006, p. )

This quote really made me think a lot about how I view my student’s writing.  In the book, Brad and Anne always make a big deal about the children’s writing and reading of their own material.  And they should make a big deal out of it because it is a big deal! I love when my kids write words on their drawings, or even when they use felt animals or story rocks to tell a story and we record their story in their journal or on another peice of paper.  However, I have a really hard time coming back to their writing and celebrating it and making a big deal out of it with the rest of the class.  I think it’s important to build confidence in young children for their writing accomplishments, but it’s also important to encourage the efforts they are making.  Even with some of my students, I’m genuinly amazing at how well their retention is of a certain text we read and come back to that text and make it their own in a new way.  In this way, I think they are using these inquiry skills we are constantly talking about building in our students.  They are putting together the texts we are reading in class with how that actually relates to themselves.  

“We noticed that when we left the kids’ writing and thinking up and out on tables, their energy to write and read grew.  When kids are able to see other writers’ thinking, writing, editing, and rewriting, they notice and learn from each other through the writing process”  (Buhrow and Garcia, 2006, p. ). 

In some ways, this is already happening in my classroom.  When Brad and Anne started the book off by saying their classroom at the beginning of the room was stark because they wanted it to be decorated by the children’s work, I thought to myself, “that’s how my classroom was!”.  Now of course, it’s covered with the work of the children.  A lot of times though, I’ll see them do something really interesting in centers, or we’ll work on a project together and they wont want to part with it, so I either end up stealing it from their cubby or just letting them take it home and forget about it.  I think I need to do a better job of keeping their work--even making a copy--and then talking about why I want to put their work up, and taking the time to point out and make the other children notice what their peers have done.  

Some things that I keep coming back to from this book is this idea of helping children become the kind of students that are making inquiries into the things that are interesting to them.  The kinds of things they go on wondering and wondering about, until someone says, “hey why don’t we just figure this out! How can we figure it out?” and allowing them to come up with the process.  I love how Brad and Anne are constantly modeling their own thinking and processing of information.  Children really internalize the things they see others do, but especially the things they see the teachers do.  A perfect example of this was when Brad bumped his chest with his thumb and it turned into the whole class acting like Tarzan! It’s important what we do, and it’s important how we teach the students in our classroom.  

For me and my classroom, the most important thing I think my students can feel is ownership.  Brad and Anne mention in their book that ownership is huge for young children.  Feeling like they have something, that is their own and that they were the ones to come up with them.  At the end of the day, I want my students to feel like their education and their choices are wholly theirs.  I know we have to model and support this  idea.  But the goal should never be to control their output and input of knowledge, but rather to see where they take it and encourage and scaffold as much as we can along the way.  

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