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As I welcomed my new families into my kinder classroom this year, I felt somewhat apprehensive that my class room walls were not decorated and that everything was looking very bland. I instantly found a beautiful mural that the children did last year and pinned it on the wall as well as any other bits and pieces I could find.
Yes, I wanted my room to look colourful and nice but I also started asking myself thought provoking questions of why, who is this for and is it real and authentic?
Of course the answer was, it was for myself and for the parents.
But what we may consider as beauty can be very different to that of a child.
The beauty they may see may come from a lamp in a corner with a bowl of coloured stones underneath it, a projector transporting a shape onto the wall, a beautiful plant, rug and cushions where they can sit and read their favourite story and all this time we thought it was all about hanging every piece of art work up in alphabetical order.
It is about thought and consideration going into the detail of all areas within your room, not just the walls.
Providing an environment, which is a reflection of your centre is what creates the soul of your setting. Some of the questions to ponder or consider when deciding what is incorporated into the design of your room, foyers and culture include whether your centre is based in a rural city area, the culture and backgrounds of families, the history of the centre and the township. Your values and beliefs as a teacher is what creates a culture for children and families that is theirs, yours and ours.
“Not just for the sake of it” asks us to also consider the learning, which has occurred within the classroom and how you decide to document it to make it visual and available for others to view and understand. The documentation can influence thinking and show the process of a project. It could be the documentation of questions posed to children. The question may be the starting point of a project to evaluate what it is the children already know. This is then saved for the starting point of your documentation.
We are forever learning and working out what works best for us as educators. It is always important to remember to ask yourself the questions, why, who and how?
Documentation is about getting real and honest with the children’s learning.
Save beautiful pieces of conversations you have had with the children, save photos, save a drawing, save things which have relevance and meaning to their learning and document it all in a way that others can visually see the journey of a project or inquiry.
It is important to document our learning, which is occurring outside as well. Outside is an extension of the inside classroom after all.
So as your walls start to fill up this year, don’t be quick to change things over because it has been up for a month already. When projects are full of learning and life, you feel proud of the work that has occurred and the way it has been documented so it is important to keep it up to show the learning throughout the year.
Concentrate on the finer details and make all aspects of the room beautiful and a reflection of whom you all are.
Written by Kirsti, Kindergarten Teacher, Melbourne.