I know that one of my last posts was on revisiting, but I am revisiting revisitng until I get it straight in my head!!  I remember ages ago when I worked at the toy library, hearing a parent say to their child, “Don’t get that one you have had it before”. It made me think about my child’s choice of toys. I gave her free choice, even though some annoyed me – the little pieces.. There were some toys that just kept being on repeat. Some she would wait a while before getting it out again, some it was the very next time. The thing that often changed was what she did with them. A friend who now works at that toy library gifted Helena, one of the toys that she often repeated when it reached the end of it’s life and it still comes out on occasion.

So the other day,  H had a friend over for a play. At some point, they decided to “do” some science. H has just turned her Wendy house into a mad scientist’s lab. All our “science” equipment is out there and all the science books she found in her room. She has ideas of doing some of the activities in them.

It turned out the science they wanted to do was explosions of the baking powder and vinegar kind. I said I would find them white powders and some liquids… H wanted some red cabbage water. Now, as a small child, it was all throw, it all in at once and make the biggest mess possible. Together, we had done some follow instructions and get some interesting things, but Helena’s interest in the whole process of being systematic and recording the results was zero… She would under some duress or sometimes in play – clipboards are so amazing to get a kid into play adult mode! (Even this morning, she told me she doesn’t like writing). H expressed no interest in the why, possibly because I had told her, and she went into acceptance mode. I say no interest, but of course it turns out there was some listening to me adulting the activity.

Some revisiting has all the hallmarks of a schema. I do not know why we think schema as only something pertinant to early childhood education. H has an on-going interest in ‘filing’. Filing is what I am calling it – she calls it sorting. So she knows. She will invent ways to sort, then change the criteria and sort again. Everything is a character with characteristics that can be sorted. I have tried to get her to be interested in taxonomy, I mean who wouldn’t be, and finally she is and has noticed the connection to latin (a language she is persisting in learning) and as a way of understanding the world.

We talked about Jerome Brunner at teachers college – I liked that his theory (Is it mansplaining Maria Montessori?) was not age related, but now, with our knowledge of brain development  it could probably be adjusted. It is a theory I am revisiting by choice and thinking about how I can apply to teaching/ learning and perhaps life. I think it should be like all ideas, even as adults, we need to revisit. I am currently doing my Masters in Education (so much more thought provoking than that TER course), and I can feel myself re-meeting some ideas in equity in education. This is of course why I do more education – to be forced to think! I have long left the model practiced by most schools. I can not do the dogma of Montessori and Stiener, but some of the ideas resonate with me and are backed up by research. Some of the equipment used by both, I think, should be standard in all schools.

We are looking at providing equity for Maori students. Our history in NZ makes my insides crawl – the things my ansestors probably did and felt. Revisiting and learning the details of the damage that was done to the Maori population is heart-breaking. But this time thinking of education, equity and integrating te Ao Maori, I am trying to imagine how we can do this within our current model. I so totally agree with the principles of Te Hurihanganui, it’s great. I  just can’t see how with our single age band classes, two working parents, it could work…

How do we provide opportunities for children to be able to revisit? Will they provide them for themselves?