Dr Sue Lyle Former Head of CPD Swansea Metropolitan University Director of Dialogue Exchange January 3 2017 COGNITIVE RESEARCH Each new generation of children grows up in the new environment its parents have created and each generation of brains becomes wired in a differe ID: 544789
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Slide1
Story, Play and Meaning-making
Dr Sue
Lyle
Former Head of CPD, Swansea Metropolitan University
Director of:
Dialogue
Exchange
January 3
, 2017Slide2
COGNITIVE RESEARCH“Each new generation of children grows up in the new environment its parents have created, and each generation of brains becomes wired in a different way. The human mind can change radically in just a few generations
.”
Alison Gopnik
WHAT WE DO IS IMPORTANT
THE PLASTICITY OF THE BRAIN
HOW WE SUPPORT CHILDREN’S IMAGINATION AND CREATIVITY WILL WIRE THEIR BRAINS DIFFERENTLYSlide3
We are story-telling animalsWe have a basic need for story to organise our experienceChildren and adults are no different – we all need story
Common Thread: StorySlide4
Practical wisdom “The glue that binds everything together is the children’s imaginative play; the best conversations arise out of the children’s own play and
storytelling.”
Vivian
G
ussin
PaleySlide5
Theory and practiceThe practical wisdom that comes from the concrete reality of working with classes of small children who must be productively occupied in a relatively small space for several house a day.Slide6
Science, Ethnography and observationThe nursery practitioner can combine science and observation to listen carefully to what the children are trying to mean. Slide7
Story = emotional engagementG
ood
stories are always emotionally engaging
As Paley (1981) says, ‘Fairy tales stimulate the child’s imagination in a way that enlarges the vocabulary, extends narrative skills, and encourages new ideas’.
‘… by the time children are four they can identify and debate many of the issues hidden in these age-old plots’ (Paley 1990).
Young children start the lifelong process of wondering what it means to be humanSlide8
Story-play-reflectChoose a story – Following Kieran Egan identify:
Pattern, rhyme, rhythm
Metaphor
Abstract binary opposites
Fantasy
Awe and wonder
Drama and role playSlide9
Three billy goats gruff: planningPractice telling the story
Plan the role-play
Decide on the binary opposites (abstract concepts) to explore
What problem/s can be solved arising from the story?Slide10
Watch the video of the initial storytelling with 2 year oldsWhat do you observe?Take into account Egan’s ideas:
Opportunities in the story for rhythm, pattern, rhyme and repetition
Metaphor
Binary Opposites
Language developmentSlide11
Flying start: 2 years oldSlide12
Re-tell the story everyday (1-2 weeks)Act out the story Create role-play area as a choice each dayWork with the identified binary opposites
Introduce problem to be solved Slide13
Act out the storySlide14
Observe children in the role-play areaSlide15
First role-play straight after the storySlide16
Problem-solvingA letter arrives: Dear childrenThe bridge over the river has collapsed. We want to go back over the bridge. Can you help us build a strong bridge?From the Billy Goats Gruff.
The children and teacher set about building a stronger bridge. Slide17
Role-play later in the weekSlide18
Binary opposites What binary opposites do you notice in the story?Take a moment to reflect After the children had played with the story we brought them onto the carpet and asked:
Who was stronger in the story?
The big Billy goat or the troll?
Children put their names either side of the ropeSlide19
Exploration of conceptsT: Why do you think the goat is stronger? C: Because he butted the troll into the air T: Why do
you
think the
Troll is stronger?
C: Because he’s bigger.
T: If you are bigger does this mean you are stronger? (Most children thought so).
T: (acting perplexed) But the Billy goat was smaller than the Troll and he butted him into the air. I wonder how someone smaller can be stronger? Slide20
Clever and strongT: Think back to the story. What happened with the smallest Billy goat Gruff?Child: He went over the bridgeChild: He got the lushest grass
T: How would you describe the smallest Billy goat?
Children are not sure.
T: Was he strong?
Children: No
T: He did trick the Troll didn’t he? Do you think he was clever?
Children: Yes.Slide21
What is the teacher doing here?T: Why would you rather be strong?Emily: I’m strong because I eat vegetables.T: You think you are strong because you eat vegetables – what can you do now you are strong?
Emily: I can pick lots of toys up.
T: You think you are strong because you can pick up lots of toys. Some of you would rather be clever – why would you rather be clever?
Millie: Because I can get dressed [by myself].
T: You think you are clever because you can get dressed by yourself. Slide22
Telling the storyDay 5how has it changed?Slide23
Shall we save the troll? Yes/noT: Do you think if we help him he’ll be kind?Lots of disagreement amongst the children
–
half want to save him and half don’t.
T: Why don’t you want to save him?
Child: He’s a horrible troll, not kind.
T: You don’t think he’ll be kind.
Child: No, because he’s not kind, he’s naughty.
T: Do you think he can change and be kind or will he always be naughty?
Children: Naughty.
T: What can we do to help him be kind?
C: Play with him
T:
What if
we play with
him- will that make him
kind?
Children: Yes
T: Does playing with people help them to be kind?
Children:
YesSlide24
Children philosophisingWork with small groups of children.
Start with a question:
Was
it fair that the fox ate the gingerbread man?
Is the fox a goodie or a baddie?
Can a fox and a gingerbread man be friends?
See where they go with
it
Scribe
it and report to class what they
say
Friendship and fairnessSlide25
What happens in play?“Group or individual conversations that referred to events, pretend characters, story lines, and social issues encountered during play merged into lively considerations of such urgent matters as friendship, fairness, and fear, in which every child voiced an opinion and
expressed
deeply felt emotion
.” Slide26
WHAT STORIES?From age 2-7 focus on
fairy
tales, myths, fables, traditional
stories:
Told
orally as often as possible with as much animation as possible.
Picture
books
Children’s own stories.
Through stories the
children
experience in
an embodied way concepts that are recognized as philosophical problems
. Slide27
Recommended StoriesPlot 4 Voyage and ReturnGoldilocks
Jack and the Beanstalk
Plot 5 The Quest
Sleeping
Beauty
The Elves and the Shoemaker
Plot 6: Tragedy
The Gingerbread
Man
The Pied Piper
Plot 7: Comedy
The Emperor’s new clothes
The Enormous Turnip
Plot 1: Overcoming the monster
Little Red Riding
Hood
Three Billy Goats
Gruff
Three Little
Pigs
Plot
2:
Rags to
Riches
The Magic porridge pot
The Ugly Duckling
Elves and the
shoemaker
Plot 3: Rebirth
Sleeping Beauty
The
Princess and the Golden Ball Slide28
Medium term planning: What traditional stories will you use?
Criteria:
Have rhythm, pattern, rhyme, repetition
Have physical and psychological binary opposites
Provoke an imaginative response
Contain abstract concepts
Invite making choices, giving reasons
Support ‘What if’ questionsSlide29
Fairy tales embody abstract concepts through binary opposites
f
riends
/ enemies
right / wrong
fair
/
unfair
powerful /
weak
friend / foe
b
eautiful
/
ugly
naughty / well
behaved
truth / lies
anger / forgiveness
brave / afraidSlide30
Stories express emotions, e.g.fearangerlove
loneliness
courage
shame
determination
persistence
triumph Slide31
Drama and
Role play
Stage 1:
children
become characters in the
story
Stage 2:
children are
encouraged and supported to contribute to or retell the story using their own words, gestures, and
actions
Stage 3: make up their own stories and dramasSlide32
Narrative devicesTeachers use and make available:PuppetsRole-play area with variety of props
Small world play
Children work together to create stories Slide33
Encourage use of metaphora door-shape piece of cardboard nailed to the classroom skirting board becomes a ‘fairy door’,
a piece of blue cloth laid on the floor becomes a river
a
net covered in cut out paper leaves becomes a forest
a ‘magic’ cloak turns its wearer into a superhero
a pencil a magic wand
a piece of cloth a device for making you invisible
a table with a cloth over
becomes a
cave or a
castleSlide34
Problems to be solvedLetters from charactersGoldilocks wants to take the bears some porridge – can you help her make it?
Large key appears – whose is it
? (Jack and the Beanstalk)
Sort out the shoes for the elves into pairs and order of size
A safe path through the woods for Red Riding Hood
A new spell to start and stop the magic porridge potSlide35
Children’s authored storiesThe Foundation Phase teacher is a ‘story spy’ and listens out for the children’s stories during playThe children are invited to tell their stories to an adult who records them or writes them down
The teacher shares the children’s stories with the class
The children act out each other’s storiesSlide36
Marion the Princess and the DragonOnce upon a time there was a beautiful princess. She lived in a castle and there was a prince and a witch. She came up and hurt the princess. The dragon was friendly the dragon killed the witch. The dragon rescued the princess. The princess went outside and went to the park then back to the castle again. She took her coat and shoes off and put on her PJs and she danced with the prince.
The day the dragon came
Once, there was a little girl called Ellie and her mother was very nasty. Her dad was called
Miskin
and her mum was called Donna. They also had a dog that was really smelly and their dog was called Ben.
Just then the almighty wind flew about the ground and a dragon came. The dragon was red and had blue spots all over his body. His eyes were glowing and his nose purple. His horns were gigantic and peach and his claws were brown. The little girl screamed but then Becky came to help, she was the little girl’s grandma. Becky jumped up onto the dragon’s face and took the little girl out of his mouth. The dragon said, “
aaaaahh
!
’
and cried.
He was only in disguise, he was actually a kind elf who was making a joke and he didn't mean to scare anyone. Becky felt sorry for the dragon and said to him, ‘please don’t cry’. They all became friends and they all lived happily ever after as they
walked
off to the park. Slide37
Implications for literacyWe learn how to tell and create stories by listening to them
We can’t write stories unless we have been immersed in them
We learn to read by reading the stories we have written
The curriculum should be regarded as a story to be told and a story to be heard: fairy tales, picture books, children’s authored
stories, animations, film, cartoons.Slide38
Imagination and knowledge“Scientists and philosophers tend to treat knowledge, imagination and love as if they were all very separate parts of human nature. But when it comes to children, all three are deeply entwined. Children learn the truth by imagining all the ways the world could be, and testing those possibilities
.”
Alison GopnikSlide39
We need teachers who can:Tell StoriesCultivate imagination
Observe
Facilitate thinking
Promote enquiry
Help the children make meaning
Keep a healthy distrust of short-term observations, coding schemes, and tick boxes.
Forget the
idealised
,
generalised
child
–
the children will teach us who they are by the fantasies they explore.Slide40
What do you prefer?CARROTS OR GINGER?
ARE YOU A CARPENTER OR A GARDNER?