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The Dancing, Singing Easel
January 23, 2013
What I am looking for is not out there; it is in me.
-Helen Keller
-Helen Keller
"One weekend I came across a used art easel that I thought would be the perfect addition to our outdoor art space. I carried it from my car and simply set it in its place. What the children devised was brilliant, and demonstrates incredible social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development. Here was the game as it unfolded:
"One child stood at the easel with a piece of chalk, and drew — left to right, top to bottom, in ‘handwriting’ types of strokes — clear evidence of phonemic awareness. As she, and then other children drew, they sang. The strokes on the easel with the chalk were in tempo with whatever melody they were inventing; the songs were all off the tops of their heads. No familiar words were sung, though some familiar tunes popped up — and the color of the chalk indicated what song they were to sing. Friends came to select a color of chalk, thereby selecting the song. There was never any communication about a song title or theme, children just chose a color of chalk and handed it to the singer: “Which song do you want now? Green? Okay. Is everyone ready?” As the singer made music, the rest of the group danced on the imaginary stage behind the singer, outfitted with scarves. When the song ended, the singer erased the easel with a hand stroke, and the process began again.
"What a gift it was to observe this play unfolding. None of the children ever communicated explicitly about the rules around the chalk, the easel, or the dancing. As a new person entered the stage, that person was accommodated seamlessly into the play. What cognitive flexibility! And what caused me to stop and reflect was the reality that I could never have planned any of it."
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Comments (5)
Displaying All 5 CommentsUnited States
This story touched my heart and made me think of one of the preschool classes I taught - my visual as I read your story were of these children! They changed the baby song to a game where I was the mother and they were the sleeping babies - I just followed their lead and it remains one of my best teaching memories - if children know they have the forum to create, they will...
United States
What a wonderful hope-inspiring story for those of us concerned about a sustainable future of cooperative, creative people. Thank you!
Minot, North Dakota, United States
What comes to mind is - This is the best of family child care, multi-ages helping and cooperating, and learning together. I agree about the concept that we can't intentionally plan everything. This turned out so much better than anything that the provider could think of to "introduce the easel to the children." What happened is also a result of the modeling that was done for these children about how to help each other and that there is always a "place in the choir for everyone." They were operating at a very high level of functioning even before the activity began, and this is truly a quality learning environment. Also quite evident is the professional provider. She let this happen and did not try to transform it or stop it, she gave it time and space and let it happen. Kudos to her and she knew what was happening, and respected the children and their learning and knew she couldn't have "planned" anything better that what happened.
Minot, North Dakota, United States
I was struck by the beauty of the play, and when I formed an image of this play, it was that it could happen only in a family child care, or a very child-centered center where the older children play along-side the younger children and everyone has a "place in the choir" every minute of every day. It also illustrates that these children have been exposed to powerful models of positive interaction and consideration in their lives, invaluable and precious. Also, not necessarily tangible, but worth more than gold. This is my first comment because I was very impacted by this vignette. I agree that only using formal techniques and concepts have unintended consequences. Imagine if this provider had stopped the play because the "schedule" spoke louder than the rich opportunity that was right in front of her and she moved them all onto another part of the curriculum. This vignette is a testament to this professional and her rich experience and love of her work.
CSBC
Denver, United States
This is a wonderful example of why I am not a proponent of the popular notion of "intentional teaching" that has been foisted onto us. Beyond placing the easel on the playground, this entire activity was totally unintentional as to the teacher's role. Intentionally should be viewed from the point of view of the children, not the teacher.
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