Journal: Cultivating Citizenship

Context

At Cow Hollow School, each child is recognized and valued as a citizen of our school community.  In order to impart this recognition and value, teachers use consistent strategies to resolve conflict, appreciate differences, encourage critical thought, and much more.  The following journal from our 2-3 year old class (Treehouse) exemplifies how these strategies are utilized at school.

March 25, 2014

What strategies do we use to cultivate citizenship in young children?

As most of you know, Melissa, Trevor, and myself (Blanche) will be presenting at the CAEYC Convention in Los Angeles the first week-end in April. This question might sound familiar to a lot of you, as you may have heard about our last presentation in February, where we addressed this question as a staff. Melissa, Trevor, and I have the opportunity to dig a little deeper into this question- what are the SPECIFIC strategies that we use everyday to guide children to become conscientious, responsive, empathetic, assertive, and active agents in a community?

Last year in the Big Bay, our class had inquired about this subject naturally out of the circumstances surrounding the time and space they were born into. The re-election of Obama led this particular class to become aware of and inquire about what it means to be a leader.  At our last presentation, we shared children’s competencies in creating a shared understanding around this question, as this is a question we wanted to model thinking about and revisiting. We believe children are competent and capable, and therefore in our last presentation children’s strategies were highlighted, for this next presentation, we decided to add teacher strategies. As a team, we came up with 3 specific “take home” strategies we use to guide children in thinking about this question.

There are a myriad of strategies we use and myriad of overlaps between all of them, however, for the purpose of this presentation, we decided to streamline to the most obvious and this journal is meant as a glimpse into one of our strategies- language.

“Language is the most important evolutionary invention of the last few million years. It was an adaptation that helped our species exchange information, make plans, express new ideas and totally change the appearance of our planet.” – Nowak (2000)

There are some very specific ways in which teachers use language to empower and equip children with the tools to be a generative part of this social experience.  We are very aware of the power of language and are mindful in the presence of children to use language to guide, to protect, to advocate, and to cultivate children’s growing understanding of their own efficacy in citizenship.

How do we use language to cultivate a sense of citizenship at Cow Hollow?

We purposefully and thoughtfully point out differences.

For example, when I was an intern in the Little Garden a few years ago with Bryn and Petra, I had a critical learning moment based on one experience.  Petra was in the Sun Room doing body traces on big pieces of paper with two of her students. They were standing in front of a big skeleton the class had called Harrison.

Petra: I notice that your arm is bent a little differently than the way that Harrison has his arm bent. The child took a look at his own arm and then took a look at Harrison’s. The child explained that he was doing a “really cool” move and that is why his arm looked the way it did.  I realized in this moment, that visibly pointing out differences in order to THINK about them is a crucial part of how we cultivate a sense of citizenship in children.  I thought about this again last week as I heard Rory ask me for a “beso” (a kiss in Spanish) for his hurt hand.

Rory: Beso!
Blanche: Oh, where are you hurt?
Alexander: What is that?
I gave Rory a moment to answer but he was upset about his hand being hurt. His answer would have been valued in this experience; however, I did chose to advocate for and capitalize on this opportunity to point out differences.
Blanche: Beso is kiss in Spanish.
Rory wants a kiss for his finger. That is what Rory’s family does to help him feel better.
Alexander: In my family, we give band-aids.
Deirdre: In my family, we give a kiss and we give band-aids.
Blanche: It sounds like you all do different things in your families to help each other feel better. I remember Josie sharing that she feels better when someone makes her laugh.
Deirdre: Yeah, she makes silly songs to help me feel better.
Blanche: How many different ways do we know that help people feel better?
We proceed to count the different ways in which we knew people help each other feel better.
Blanche: I wonder if there are more?  

Again, at the snack table, we asked other children to share other ways in which their families help them to feel better.  This was done intentionally to guide children in becoming aware of differences. However, pointing out differences is NOT ALWAYS COMFORTABLE.

We push children to think critically.

Building on the example above, it is important that the children you are working with understand that things are not always the same. As children become more and more aware of how to encounter differences, they will be better equipped to think critically about how to engage or solve the problems that differences pose.  For example, you will see typically see problems arise in our classroom over differences in perspective. We often have children who need the same tool at the same time and in the same color. You have all seen this, or similar situations.

Let’s think about the experience from a child’s perspective. They really do need that tool. They really do want to use it. That’s all they know and that is where our teachable moment begins.  Two children were trying to climb the tree over in the Side Yard using the same side. One child screams and grabs hold of another child’s leg. 

Blanche: Please move (or, if necessary, I’m going to move) your hand so Sylver’s body stays safe. I noticed Sylver looked scared. You look frustrated. What’s going on?
Rory: Up
Blanche: You want to climb up. I can see that. I notice there is not enough room for your body! Sylver, did you know Rory wanted to climb?
Sylver: I didn’t see him.
Blanche: Oh! She didn’t know you wanted to climb, Rory. I wonder what we could do?
Lucy: He can say excuse me.
Rory: Excuse me, Sylver.
Sylver makes some room for him by moving over to the other branch.

Let’s break this example down.  The adult in this situation is narrating the experience. The adult addresses the safety of the other child first with out judgment. She very a matter-of-fact states that the situation is not safe and labels the children’s emotions. Children must become able to read and decode other children’s emotional language in order to become effective communicators- that includes being able to read other children’s faces. Rory must become aware of Sylver’s emotions and Sylver must become aware of Rory’s emotions. They must also become aware of each other’s intentions. Rory does not want to hurt anyone. He just wants to get up and Sylver is in the way. Sylver is unaware because she is concentrating so hard just to be up there!

We narrate all forms of communication.

Lynn Finton, in Cultural and Language Diversity and the Deaf Experience (1998) talks about how she identified herself as bilingual- we as people who are in the presence of children must do so also. We need to be multilingual! We need to know that it is not just the words that are important, but the faces, the sounds, the movements, and the pitch- that they are all components of communication that we can not ignore because they too convey messages. Finton talks about how her husband had a hard time communicating with his hearing peers.

One of my favorite learning moments one year as an intern, was when Sky, Adele, and Charlotte were all playing together, building a castle out of magnet-tile blocks. One little boy from the Garden Room, Peter was curious about a picture he saw of the log and some children. He asked Miss Shawna about it, and Miss Shawna redirected the conversation to the direct source. Peter asked Sky. Sky responded, “We lifted it. We all lifted it. And we were strong enough to lift it!” He said this with both his arms in the air in an effort to convey his strength. Sky displayed such pride as an individual and as community member. The teacher pointed this out. She said, “You look very proud of what your class did. I can tell by the way you said that and the way you moved your body.”

An experience in the side yard from my intern days exemplifies how adults can use language to enhance a child’s social experience using all three.

There are three tricycles riding around on the blacktop in different directions. One child is clearly upset that the bikes are not going in the direction he wants them to go. The teacher comes over and points this out to the other child riding the bike.

Teacher: I see that Sean is upset. I can tell because his face is red, his tone of voice is loud, and his eyes are squinted like this.
Both children are looking at each other.
Teacher: Sean, which way do you want to go? It looks like you want to go this way. You both want to go different ways. How can we solve this problem?
Alfie does not say anything.
Teacher: Do you want to show him? You can use your body.
Alfie demonstrated a route they could take.

The teacher then asked how other children would know which way to go, she states that on the way to school there are symbols on the ground that tell her which side of the road to stay on.  The children said they could draw symbols with chalk! Then they began to draw arrows and stop signs, all while working together. The teacher facilitated that experience. She pointed out the child’s non-verbal communication. She helped the children read each other.

It is our job as adults to help children become aware of the unheard components of language. Chen and Shire (2011) state that, “effective communication is essential for young children’s academic and social competence. Research shows that communicating effectively is a significant social skill that contributes to young children’s school readiness, social adjustment, and academic success.” It is necessary for children to acquire the skills to communicate effectively and learn to respond appropriately to others in order to socially competent individuals.” 

In this last example, the children had conveyed their messages clearly and therefore were better equipped and informed to have a more positive and generative experience. They were able to use what they know about THEMSELVES, EACH OTHER, and how to represent their thoughts to create a system together- collaboratively. Just as adults in the world use their knowledge to communicate and work together. We must be able to reflect and articulate our own experience in order to effectively be able to convey that message to others and work with them. It is important to start with what children know, as in the example above when Rory and Sylver were only aware of themselves. When children are empowered to advocate for themselves, they can fully engage in working together with another person and feel good about their efficacy in the situation.

We invite dialogue, we do not offer solutions.

This is why you will often hear us say things such as, “Oh, you have a different idea. Tell us.” Then we engage in actively listening to children’s differences in perspective, narrating, and questioning, with out offering solutions to their problems. However, offering them the empowerment and freedom to share their perspective, the guidance of narrating and modeling what they have not noticed, and the trust that they will think about it and solve the problem, or apply what they have learned for the next time they encounter a difference in perspective.

What we must do as adults in the presence of children is to learn to decode and code the myriad of ways children communicate their beliefs, ideas, and their values. This is how we can effectively use language to guide. In the book, Bringing Reggio Emelia Home (1997), Cadwell states that when teachers intently listen to the way children perceive and understand the world and respond with both appreciation and expertise, they can more effectively help them build upon what they already know and expand on what they already understand. We as educators want children to be competent members of society. If we provide children with the tools to communicate effectively for themselves and others, they will better equipped to enter into dialogue with other people for the purpose of collaborating and being an active and effective agent in their communities.