child Dr Sue Lyle Former Head of CPD Swansea Metropolitan University Director of Dialogue Exchange April 18 2016 Story When did you last tell a story What are we We are storytelling creatures ID: 527303
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Slide1
Narrative, Imagination, Philosophy and the young
child
Dr
Sue
Lyle
Former Head of CPD, Swansea Metropolitan University.
Director of:
Dialogue Exchange
April 18, 2016Slide2
StoryWhen did you last tell a story? Slide3
What are we?We are story-telling creaturesTo a far greater degree than we are consciously aware, we look at the world in terms of stories all the time. They are the most natural way in which we structure our descriptions of the world around us. We naturally see our own life as a story, as we do those of others... Through the media, we view the pageant of public life as a continuous kaleidoscope of story.
Booker, C. (2004;2)
The Seven Basic Plots: Why we tell stories.
New York:
ContinuumSlide4
Narrative UnderstandingNarrative Understanding is the primary meaning making tool Narrative Understanding rests on the assumption that human beings make sense of experience by imposing story structure on it Narrative is our way of experiencing, acting, living and dealing with timeSlide5
Implications The narrativity principle has important implications for how we plan learning and teachingThe curriculum should be conceived as a story to be told, a story to be heard, a story to be created – TEACHING AS STORYTELLINGSlide6
SUMMARY
We are story-telling animals
We have a basic need for story to organise our experience
Children and adults are no different – we all need
story
Key authors: Bettelheim 1976; Rosen, 1985; Bruner 1990;
Egan
1991; Paley, 1991; 2005; Lyle, 1998;
Murris
, 2016) Slide7
Key QuestionWhat is the most important resource in any classroom, and particularly one with young children?What word was most frequently used by respondents to the Cambridge Primary Review?Slide8
HOW DO WE CONNECT TO STORIES?Story depends on the imagination
Imagine a
Panda
Your bedroom
A dragon breathing
fire
Imagination
is central to all learning
Particularly powerful for the young when playing
WE HAVE TO FEED CHILDREN’S IMAGINATIONS THROUGH STORY AND PLAYSlide9
Stories and LearningStories = thinking.Promote wondering =
‘
I wonder’
STORIES SUPPORT CHILDREN’S:
Emotional engagement
language acquisition
articulation
emotional intelligence
exploration and understanding of concepts
knowledge and understanding that is meaningfulSlide10
Who is the child?Our work with children is the product of who we think the child is.Slide11
Myth busting: Kieran EganLearning goes from the concrete to the abstractWRONGIs Peter Rabbit concrete or abstract?
How about the small birds who begged Peter to assert himself and escape from the gooseberry net in
Mr
McGregor’s garden?
How about the anxiety felt by Hansel and Gretel?
How about children’s grasp of symbols by age 4?
Learning goes from the simple to the complex
WRONG
Children master the complex rules of language and social interaction and adults can’t work out how to operate simple machines.
Start with what they know and build on that
WRONG
Children’s
minds are
full
of monsters, talking middle-class rabbits and titanic
emotions.
Build on the distant and different, the fantasy and imagination. Slide12Slide13Slide14Slide15
Support from cognitive research: Alison GopnikTHEORY OF MIND (PSYCHOLOGICAL WORLD)
Between
15-18 months a child has developed a theory of
mind and demonstrates empathy.
PHYSICAL WORLD
Understands causality
COUNTER FACTUALS
Understands ‘what if?’Slide16
John WallEven the youngest child under the most difficult of circumstances interprets their own worlds and relations, however much they are also constructed by them… Each of us is and has been shaped by many layers of surrounding persons, communities and histories…. f
rom the moment of birth open to the world and active in creation of herself...
Wall, J. (2010)
Ethics in the light of childhood.Slide17
The cognitive & cultural tool of oracyLanguage shapes the pre-literate child’s learning and thinking through:Story
Pattern, rhyme, rhythm
Metaphor
Abstract binary opposites
Fantasy
Awe and wonder
Drama and role playSlide18
The story so farChildren and adults are active participants in constructing themselves and the world.Children's
development
is incoherent and discontinuous, rather than orderly and predictable.
The
child
develops like ginger – influenced by
intersectionality
:
gender,
class, ethnicity, age, (dis)ability and experience.
C
hildren
’
s
emotions and
imaginations are powerful.
The child accesses the abstract world through fantasy and metaphor.Slide19
BarriersInfluence of prevailing psychological and social perspectives both on child and on ways of knowing. H
egemonic
discourses about child and
childhood.
Government
dictats
about ‘good practice’Slide20
Multiple models of the child today:
The developing child – not-
yet-adult – needs time to unfold
The
innocent child – needs protection
Criminal/unruly
child
(evil) –
requires
control/
socialisation
Ignorant
child (blank slate)
– needs
to be developed
Excluded
child – needs protection
Disabled child –
victim
Economic child – preparation for the workforce
All deficit models of the child who is less than the adultSlide21
Philosophical roots:all presuppose the adult/child binaryRousseau – the child will unfold naturally (nativist)Locke – the child needs to be developed (empiricist)Kant – needs to be interacted with in order to become ‘fully human’ (
interactionist
)Slide22
ChildismSuch models of the child feed prejudice against the child and constructs discriminatory practices.
Positions
the child as citizen-to-be not as citizen.
Prevents
critique of
developmental psychology
and socialisation theories that inform current practice in settings and on training courses. Slide23
Epistemic injustice – Mirander FrickerChildism is a socially structured prejudice that all children are subject to.
It renders children susceptible to identity prejudice.
It corrupts hearers'
judgements
of speaker credibility.
Credibility deficit leads to lack of respect for the child speaker.
The child is wronged specifically in their capacity as a knower – a distinctive epistemic injustice.
To be wronged in
one’s
capacity as a knower is to be wronged in a capacity essential to human value.Slide24
The Posthuman child: Murris, 2016Education should not start from ideas about what a child should become (according to adults) but by articulating an interest in the child who is coming into the world.
A
subject’s
coming into the world
is always shaped by the actions of others. The space that is created by the adult for the child must allow freedom to appear
T
o
give the chance for the child’s own, unique voice to bring something new into the world. Slide25
Children are peopleI attribute to the child the same needs I find in myself: for autonomous action, for personal choice, for privacy, for respect from others, for personal exploration, for moments or periods of psychological regression, for nurturance, for meaningful work, for a reasonable level of power…, for leisure, for equal treatment in situations of
dispute.
Kennedy, 2006,
The Well of BeingSlide26
Bringing it togetherWhat happens when children are immersed in stories – where their imaginations drive the curriculum they create for
themselves?
What
happens when we support children’s play and meaning-making with philosophy?
Philosophy
by
children
with
adults where the context of the play, the connections with other human beings and non-human objects endlessly constructs and reconstructs ‘child-story-artefact-movement-talk’
Stanley & Lyle, (2016) (in printSlide27
Story-Play-PhilosophiseLet the children decide where to take the story – their role playing,
philosophising
and storytelling.
Create storytelling spaces
Construction areas
Pop-up role-play – small world and dressing up
Creative areas – art, craft,
Themed around the
story
Through play
children
experience
in an embodied way concepts that are recognized as philosophical problems.
As children
give shape to their selves in the aesthetic space of play
where they can explore their
moral
selvesSlide28
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. Slide29
Planning a Storytelling Philosophical curriculum 3-7 years
Use Story to work with children’s:
Imagination
Emotional engagement
Fantasy play
Drama
and role play
Metaphor
Rhythm, rhyme and patternSlide30
Stories express emotionsstruggle loneliness deprivationcouragedetermination
persistence
triumph
f
ear
anger
love
friendship
jealousy
kindness
cruelty Slide31
Fairy tales embody abstract concepts through binary opposites
f
riends
/ enemies
right / wrong
powerful / weak
fair / unfair
friend / foe
b
eautiful
/
ugly
naughty / well
behaved
truth / lies
anger / forgiveness
brave / afraidSlide32
Create opportunities for philosophical play and story tellingChildren’s play is like “a
traveling troupe of medieval players who arrive, set up their theatre, and then begin performing. It is a world that is run more like a theatre is run than like an everyday world”. Sutton-Smith,
1997
:
159.
Stories
stimulate philosophical
play
Create spaces
where the children play within a story setting they have co-created.
Seek to
make meaning from the children’s conversations and play
.
Look for the philosophical potentials.Slide33
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
lked
off to the park. Slide34
Preschool children use abstract concepts naturally It’s my turn (fairness)
You’re not my friend any more
(friendship)
Not now
(time)
No that toy is mine
(ownership)
You’re the baddy and I’ll be the goodie
(good/bad)
You’re not sharing
(sharing)
Don’t scream at me. That’s not what friends do
(friendship)
The fairy is here but she’s invisible
(proof)
That’s going to be impossible
(possibilities)
The dragon is going to get you back
(revenge)
Only girls can play this game
(gender) Slide35
Explore concepts & emotions: developing thinking skillsPhilosophical play creates a multiplicity of possibilities for children’s thinking Q
: Can you be friends with a monster?
Q
: What if the monster had no friends? Would you change your mind
?
What if it was so small it could fit in your pocket?
Q: I wonder what would happen if a monster came to our classroom?Slide36Slide37
Build on fantasy Would you rather…Have a magic wandOr,
A magic carpet?Slide38
Reception
If I had a magic carpet you could fly all over and it would save Mummy using her car
You’d have to be careful if you had a magic wand because you might lose control with it.Slide39
Listening to childrenBe attentive to the children, their stories and their needs
F
ind
diverse ways to let the children's stories
be created and told
Respect
the stories that children
create, build on them, develop them
Think and talk about stories to explore abstract concepts.
Their stories and our response to them is an important part of safeguarding
the rights of
children.
Slide40
Implications for ITEStudents need to examine their beliefs about childExamine key concepts and the emotions associated with
adults/children,
eg
freedom, control,
power,
social status,
Ask: who is worth listening to from an epistemic perspective
?
Philosophical play
needs
an experienced listening ear from adults that can connect with the imagination.
Slide41
ConclusionIf the teacher has an equity-focus and seeks children's questions, their conjectures and beliefs and can help the children clarify their thinking, exchange ideas and subject them to enquiry, then the child has the opportunity to become who they are. Slide42