Flexible Structures for Responsiveness
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
— Henry David Thoreau
Reflective Practice
Children are naturally playful, and naturally curious. As educators, we want to nurture and encourage this capacity for playful inquiry, and even engage in playful inquiry ourselves. But just wanting to have a program rich in exploration and deep investigation doesn’t seem to do the trick…so how can we build structures that encourage a reflective attitude, and thereby support our intentions for Responsive Curriculum?
One of my inspirations for this topic is the work of my colleagues at Harvest Resources Associates, who are tremendous champions of reflective practice and responsive pedagogy. In their book Reflecting in Communities of Practice, Deb Curtis, Debbie Lebo, Wendy Cividanes and Margie Carter suggest that
“For reflective teachers, work is an ongoing process of closely observing and studying the significance of unfolding activities…to better understand and delight in what happens in the classroom. Reflection allows teachers to make effective, meaningful decisions about how to respond to and plan for children.”
They go on to say that reflective educators:
Look for details
Ask themselves questions
Consider children’s perspectives
Examine the environment
Are eager to gain more perspectives
Are fully engaged in their work
So what is it that actually helps educators be reflective in those ways? Are there structures that program leaders can put in place to support educators with these intentions, and empower us to work reflectively with children, families, and each other?
Responsive Planning
One approach to responsive curriculum planning is to view curriculum as everything that happens during our time together with the children. Regardless of what I have planned for morning meeting, if the children notice a bug crawling across the rug, and we end up studying and drawing the bug, then that was our curriculum for the day. When the curriculum is not set in advance, it can develop from the interests of the children in the class, through a responsive planning cycle that might include:
adding engaging invitations to the environment
observing and documenting children’s play
talking with co-educators and colleagues about possible next steps
exploring ways to engage families
The consistency and intentionality of educator reflection can be supported by having reliable structures in place, such as Team Teaching, Team Meetings, and Planning Time for educators:
Hiring and constructing teams of master educators to work collaboratively in classrooms can lead to deeper reflection than identifying “lead” and “assistant” teachers.
When classroom educators share responsibility for planning curriculum, communicating with families, and documenting learning, then they all have the opportunity to build relationships with children and families, and to participate in reflective, responsive planning.
These collaborative teams will necessarily need time to meet and think together, to examine and discuss “raw data” from the classroom, and make plans for the weeks to come. The use of reflective protocols, such as The Thinking Lens, help to structure and deepen these conversations.
Educators also need and deserve protected time outside the classroom, for planning activities, communicating, and documenting. They may use this time to send e-mails, gather materials, meet with families or each other, and complete written documentation.
In-Depth Investigations
Child-led investigations can last an hour, a day, a week, or may develop into an In-Depth Investigation that spans several months. When we engage in these longer-term in-depth investigations, we’re intending that:
participants act as researchers, working together to uncover shared understanding of the topic
topics evolve from children’s interests and questions, rather than from pre-packaged curricula
the study is collaborative, with children, educators and parents all helping to refine the research
children have a high investment in the study, though much of their time is still spent in other play
Now not to be snarky, but really just to help understand what we mean by an emergent investigation, let’s contrast that with the intentions and outcomes of more traditional theme-based studies, in which:
children receive information
topics are pre-determined by teachers, or by purchased curricula
the focus is on individual learning - what did each individual child learn?
the topics may or may not engage each child
The In-Depth Investigations that grow from a responsive curriculum can last several months, and might take different forms. Sometimes a whole classroom gets curious about the same topic and engages in a full-group study. Other times, it’s a small subset of the group, working closely together with one of the educators. The structure of In-Depth Investigations is intentionally flexible, in order to suit the topic and follow the evolution of children’s focus.
In comparison to the The Project Approach, as originally described by Lillian Katz and Sylvia Chard, In-Depth investigations tend to narrow in focus over time. Where project work might create a curriculum “web” and then follow as many threads as possible, in an In-Depth Investigation, the children’s focus tends to become more specific as the investigation unfolds. Responsive educators are eager to track those twists and turns, letting go of possible pathways that have become irrelevant, and digging deeper into the areas that children want to pursue.
Here are a few resources that offer supports and structures for responsive curriculum planning::
Creating a Culture of Reflective Practice by AnneMarie Coughlin and Lorrie Baird
Reflecting in Communities of Practice by Deb Curtis, Margie Carter, Debbie Lebo, and Wendy Cividanes
Engaging Children’s Minds: The Project Approach by Lilian Katz and Sylvia Chard
Learning Together with Young Children by Deb Curtis and Margie Carter
Sometimes it takes an organized, disciplined structure to create freedom for reflective practice, and playful inquiry. Even with supports and structures in place, facilitating a responsive curriculum is not easy work. It requires an ongoing curiosity for the children’s work and play, thoughtful collaboration with colleagues and families, and engagement in an evolving plan for the curriculum. Meanwhile, educators strive to make the experience feel seamless and effortless for the children and families… I think this quote from Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda sums it up well:
Teachers are like swans, seeming to glide effortlessly over the water,
while their legs paddle furiously underneath.
- Daisaku Ikeda