Ideas for Teachers - books for inspiration and learning

Today while driving I was thinking about my favorite books as a teacher/educator: books that support my development and inspire me to stay open and try new things.   And then I had a little fantasy what if I could decide recommended reading for teachers/educators.

 In my perfect world, when teachers graduate from their programs, doesn’t matter the level of program, but before they set foot in a classroom, they should be handed these books as a set.

These are my choices:

Painting and Children by Cathy Topal

Beautiful stuff by Cathy Topal

The Hundred Languages by Reggio

Clay and Children by Cathy Topal

Parenting from the Inside out by Dan Siegal and Mary Hartzell

Why? Why would I choose these books?

Let’s face it , in a classroom, a teacher must have knowledge to plan experiences and curriculum for children.  Children learn best by doing, exploring, being curious, touching. It’s helpful to have some knowledge of materials, like clay, paint, glue and more materials. 

I think these books support beginnings and intermediate learning processes for teachers with materials.  Cathy Topal’s books give me confidence to try creative expressions with children and not be afraid.

The Hundred Languages reminds me of the process of education, the respect for children, parents and teachers.  It reminds me to think about what I am doing: to ask myself questions about the choices I make.

It reminds me to have a strong image of children as co-creators and co constructors of knowledge.  It reminds me to be curious and to wonder with children.  It reminds me to listen.  For a new teacher or even a teacher that has been in the classroom for many years the Hundred Languages is a work that can be read over and over again.  One can find new inspiration.

The parenting book is an excellent resource for being mindful and aware of oneself in the continuum of life as a human being.  When we reflect on our self and how we were raised, it helps understand the choices we make as an adult in relationship with others.   And this is a book that works personally and professionally: the more aware one is, the more one is able to be in deeper relationship with those our life intersects with.  It talks about attunement,  Important in relationship particularly with young children.  Plus it has brain development information thrown in.

When I see articles in newspapers, magazines and online about education and all it’s inherent problems, I think about these books and that they could be a beginning.  There are more books that could be added, but then I would have to write more….. another entry.  Life long learning, being a teacher, a human being, a parent, a child, a friend,  living life: it is all a journey.

Happy reading!!

Inspired thought

Rainbow Lotus - Om
watercolor on watercolor paper
12/2011

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,

there is a field.  I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,

the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase each other

doesn’t make any sense.

                    - from Open Secret: Versions of Rumi

Merry Merry - Love to All

Rainbow Angel
watercolor on watercolor paper
12/2011

Clay – getting complex

I have written about clay and children in a previous blog entry.  I realize it is time to write more.

The great thing about using clay for representational work with children is its malleability.  If a part isn’t working then a child can smooth it and start over until it is the way he or she wants it. 

 Another of my favorite experiences with children 4 and a half and up is making what I call vessels.

I call them “vessels” from my time in art school in the clay studio where ceramicists were building these vases and huge cylinder shapes.

This basic technique teaches coil making and ball making, which are fine motor skills.

Clay also supports fine motor development through the processes required to make self portraits with Clay. Making a portrait in clay requires using the

scoring tool kind of like a pencil or pen. The child draws on the clay similar to ones on a piece of paper, making eyes, nose, mouth and being able to smooth the lines with a finger if not to the child's liking. Using clay to work in a relief style (clay as a piece of paper) helps the drawing development. 

Another component of complexity with clay can be to have the child draw what it is they are going to build.  For example here is a butterfly a child drew and then broke down the shapes of the butterfly before connecting them. Working like this provides children with a slowed down process where they can take the time to do the steps to go from a one dimensional media (drawing) to a three dimensional media (clay).

Clay is a media that works for all ages and stages.  It is a favorite of mine.  I learn as I manipulate it.

I hope this gives you some ideas.

The Giveaway

I have carried this piece of paper around for a very long time. Now I pass it on to you.

Gratitude

A big word. G- R- A –T- I- T- U- D- E.

grat·i·tude  (grt-td, -tyd)

n.

The state of being grateful; thankfulness.

[Middle English, from Old French, probably from Late Latin grtitd, from Latin grtus, pleasing; see g^wer-² in Indo-European roots.]

Thankfulness.  Another word, like gratitude.

Everyday I try to practice gratitude for everything I have in my life.  People, things, experiences that help me grow. Comments like: you did a great job, that’s nice…. 

I strive everyday to let the people in my life know I appreciate them without any expectation. 

It is a strange thing.  We all have a certain amount of “wanting it to be about me” in us.  I want this, I want someone to say I am so great or did something great. 

Many of us didn’t receive enough accolades as youngsters to feel filled up.

How can you give something you didn’t receive?

I for one have discovered that if I just think outside myself, think from another person’s perspective, “how would I like to be treated” and act accordingly things are better.

Back to gratitude. At a certain stage in life I think in order to move forward with self development some thankfulness is in order.  We have roof’s over our heads, food in our mouths, clothes we like wearing, a measure of comfort. This alone is worth being thankful for.  And then there are our families, whether they are the ones we are born into or the ones we create. 

We are all here to have a human experience. 

And we get to make a choice. We always get to make a choice: to be kind, thankful and grateful or to be snarly, mean and ungrateful.

It’s that time of year. Fall. The holiday season where we gather with our families and friends. The weather is cold, the trees change the color of their leaves, the earth signals change to us. I am thankful for the seasons. I love fall. The colors of the leaves falling on the trees are exquisite and breathtakingly beautiful to me.

I am thankful.  I am grateful. When I feel fussy about things that aren’t happening how I would like, I try to focus on something I am grateful for and that’s how I flow through my hard times. And all times.

I try to think of as many things to be thankful for as I can. It calms me. Can you think of five things you are grateful for?

Sixty Posts

Artwork for Education
J, age 10 School in California

Wow! It is hard for me to believe I have posted sixty entries.  Actually sixty one.

This month marks a year of me staying in this process of writing.  I know some months have not had so many entries, but I kept going.

Sometimes I was not sure what I wanted to say.  Sometimes I knew what I wanted to say and it was either too personal or I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go on record that I said that.

Either way, I am happy with my progress.  I am happy that I stuck it out.  This blog is one of the joys in my life. I love writing. I love thinking about writing and I love that I have a record of the whole year of my life.

I have found that if I just say what I feel, can relate to and have passion about, it comes through in the words.

I have discovered from seeing what I have written what is important to me.

Women’s rights, children’s rights, fashion, being present in one’s life, art , parenting and love.

Now that I have a year of writing under my belt will I continue the same way?

Do I want to try something new? Was the style I wrote in challenging enough for me?

Well, now I can think about those things.

For now I am going to dwell in the joy and happiness of having stuck with this project for a whole year.  Has it changed anything about me? I think so. It has helped me be clear about how I feel about many situations in my life: How I process change, Learn about my idiosyncrasies.

I think getting to tell some of my stories helps me heal, and hopefully gives my readers something to ponder. We learn from each other.

Ideas going forward: photos, words, thoughts. I don’t know.

I  like the open-endedness I have, it gives me creative freedom: I like that the best. I love thinking about the image and the quote that best support what the blog entry is about.  I love it. It works for me.

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

George Orwell (1903 - 1950), "Politics and the English Language", 1946