Professional Learning Sessions

“Schemas are a fancy word for the urges that children have to do things like climb, throw things and hide in small places... They are the building blocks for the brain, repeated behaviour that in turn forge connections in the brain, patterns of unfolding, learning and growth... By knowing about schemas, we can recognize and support their urges and development,” (Caro, 2012). During this 1.5 hour session, we’ll chat about 9 common schemas including Orientation, Positioning, Connection, Trajectory, Enclosure, Transporting, Enveloping, Rotation and Transformation, and consider ways that we can build upon 

what we are observing. 

*This PL Session can also be offered as an extended 2 Part Series

What are you looking for? What we look for is what we're going to see. If we believe children are competent, curious, creative and caring people, then we need to be intentional about looking for those things in our work with children. As we do, we come to see children for who they really are and begin to build deep and authentic relationships with them. In this 1.5 hour session, participants will build their observation and documentation skills so that they can create deeper relationships with the children in their programs.

Pedagogical documentation is a process that invites us into a great story; a place where we get the privilege of capturing, reflecting upon, sharing and celebrating the incredible brilliance of children. As we strive to be great storytellers, keen observers and thoughtful listeners, we are given the opportunity of exploring more of who we are as we notice more of who children really are. During this 1.5 hour session, we’ll explore the complex yet joyful and nourishing process of pedagogical documentation.

*This PL Session can also be offered as an extended 2 Part Series

Children are researchers; constantly observing, experimenting, and testing out theories. Educators are researchers also; listening to children's ideas and responding with various material and space arrangements and questions to provoke thinking. When educators build on this and create intentional research questions that can be studied over a long period of time, relationships deepen, children’s competencies are clearer, and environments become deeply purposeful and rich in meaning. During this 1.5hr session, discover more about what teacher research is, how you can form a question for study, and how you can document and share your findings with others.

Whether child or adult, engaging in the arts can provide positive mental health benefits, helping to reduce feelings of stress and anxiety and giving us an opportunity to be present, to be mindful and to engage in practices that are restorative and calming. During this 1.5hr session, participants will engage in discussion about the connection between the arts and mental health and be offered ideas for art experiences that children and educators can engage in as a way of supporting their mental health.

Bottle caps are buttons on a space shuttle, an empty wrapping paper tube is a telescope, leftover laminate is the windshield on a cardboard car. Recycled materials hold infinite possibilities. Children naturally see these possibilities and breathe new life into materials that we as adults might otherwise discard. In this 1.5 hour session, we’ll think together about the important role recycled materials hold in children's play and how we can nurture and deepen this natural relationship between children and recycled materials. We will also take some time ourselves to explore the possibilities of a few recycled materials. 

In Session 1, we’ll begin by thinking about the importance of the arts in children's lives and the possibilities that exist when we view the arts as languages for communication, thinking and expression. Together, we’ll also engage in an exploration of a visual art medium in conjunction with nature.

In Session 2, we’ll explore ideas for art materials, processes and provocations that invite children to connect with the natural world through the arts. We’ll also engage in some nature inspired art provocations during the session.

What is art? Why do we engage in artistic experiences with young children? What are children pursuing in their relationships with art materials? What values and beliefs do we hold about young children and the arts and do our practices align with these? What if there’s more to the arts with young children than process and product? Do common mantras like ‘process based art’ speak to the complexity that is inherent in children's pursuits with art materials? Together, in this 1.5 hour session, lets deconstruct ‘process’ and ‘product’ in children’s art experiences and consider what other possibilities might exist for children if we shifted some of our language, thinking and practices. 

In Session 1, we’ll explore what current literature has to say about the importance of the natural world and art in children's lives and what our role is in facilitating these relationships. Resources such as books and articles will be shared for further reading. 

In Session 2, we’ll hear and see examples from a visual artist who uses the natural world in her work as well as hear more about her relationships with nature and art. We’ll also try out some outdoor drawing exercises and reflect on how our relationship with an item from the natural world deepened as a result of the exercise.

In Session 3, we’ll consider the value of creating an outdoor studio. What could an outdoor studio look like? Feel like? Would it be a permanent or transient space? Or have elements of both permanency and fluidity? Would there be a difference in the materials that are offered outdoors vs indoors? What possibilities does an outdoor studio hold that an indoor studio doesn’t? How could space be used? What elements could tie the indoor and outdoor studios together?