The People. The Message. The Magic.

 

    

I haven't written a real blog post in about seven years. This blog has just been sitting here.

  

But I just spent a week with a wonderful group of early years educators at 

INTERNATIONAL PLAY ICELAND. 

My mind and heart are bursting with love for all things early childhood!

So here I am feeling thankful and blessed to be so inspired by so many amazing conversations. 

I needed somewhere to put it. 

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good 
put together that overwhelm the world.” 
― Desmond Tutu

I first attended International Play Iceland in 2014. It was a huge step out of my comfort zone to travel alone to another country to spend a week with strangers. It was worth it. I made wonderful connections that I still maintain eight years later.

When I arrived this time, my good friend Tom Shea asked, "What made you come back?"

I wasn't even really sure how to answer. I just said, "It was time."

By the second day I remembered all the reasons that I came back. 

The People. The Message. The Magic. 

The People.

There were forty of us travelling from England, Australia, US, and more. We were there to spend the week together sharing, reflecting and learning from our visits to Icelandic playschools, but also about our own careers and settings back home. We walked away knowing not only about Icelandic culture, but the culture of the other members of the group and how those places value early childhood education and PLAY.

I remembered that when I left in 2014, I had a million pictures, but it was the conversations that I wanted to remember. It was the relationships that formed through the close experience of being together from sunrise to beyond sunset every day with these people. I took far less pictures and a lot more notes this time. 

We also had several different opportunities to share and reflect with the educators working in Iceland. We hosted a small event at the city hall, where children could bring their adults to play for a couple hours with activities we have provided throughout the room. 

And then we had the opportunity to gather for an evening with many Icelandic teachers and hear inspiring talks from a panel of play advocates. 

The amount of passion and compassion for defending play and childhood in this group brought more than one person to tears before the week was over. 

The Message.

The importance of children and the importance of play is combined with the relaxed and unhurried culture of the Icelandic people, which is apparent everywhere you go. The message comes from within the group and all the interactions throughout the week. 

Play is the message. The crucial need for time to allow uninterrupted play and the freedom to choose and explore.  

A few of us joined a group of five year olds, who spent a couple hours exploring off school property. We walked to a public playground where the children could wander and explore as they pleased. Eventually a few of them wandered closer and closer to the fjord and the black sand beach just beyond the playground. Here they once again were able to wander and explore, uninterrupted. They walked through the water. Broke chunks of ice out of the tidal pools. They explored the icy crust that had formed on the very top layer of the sand. The children are given time. 

I watched as another playschool teacher handed out lumps of playdough to a whole table full of three and four year olds. The children could squish the playdough,  but they also had paint, glue, macaroni, glitter and many other items to add to it. The teacher calmly chatted with them while they reached and worked and spilled and decorated. She was so calm and so were they. There was no agenda, just exploration and play. They could leave when they were done or stay and get a second lump if they wanted. The children are given choice. 

The next two pictures are facing opposite directions. One picture is from the playground balcony on the second story of a school for ages two to ten years old. The other photo is on a hill from the far side of the playground looking back at the school. This is only half of the playground. There are swings, hills, sand, trees, rocks, hiding places, digging places, climbing places. They children are given space. 

The Magic.

On our last day together we spent the day driving through the country on a tour bus. Seeing the beautiful sites that make Iceland so unique. Everything feels magical. Mossy rocks, volcanoes, steam coming out of the ground on mountainside, waterfalls. 

But the real magic comes from the togetherness that has been created all week. We are woven now. We are all in awe together. We are in awe of this beautiful part of our Earth. We are in awe of each other and ourselves. We are in awe of children. We are in awe of the opportunity to be in Iceland surrounded by people who are so passionate about children, play and the future! We are given hope. 

And that's what made me come back. 

Please check out more from International Play Iceland Here:

 

PLAYed Video

Joining Hands (and Hearts) as Professionals: Part 2

A couple months ago I posted Joining Hands as Professionals about a new adventure in my learning journey

On September 19th five amazing people, Kimberley, Jerome, Annette, Amy, and Sally adventured here as "Team Maine" from England and I got to watch months of planning become real. My experience at the Play Iceland 2014 conference played a huge role in how I chose to plan and organize this next step of the journey.  I knew the importance of visiting different settings, but also ensuring there was time to reflect and compare notes with others at the end of each day.

When we work together, we can climb mountains.

The knowledge and experiences I gained from this would make a list far too long to share. I think overall the highlights of the experience were meeting, sharing, and collaborating with new early childhood practitioners from both near and far! I was able to reach out to and visit new settings and have visitors in my setting who had different perspectives. Forming a unique bond with a small group of individuals who can now extend the knowledge we gained back into other early years opportunities. I strongly believe we all grew as professionals and advocates for childhood, but also as individuals.

The group that was formed was an international one, but this type of professional development could be easily planned with a local group of providers.


My planning process and suggestions:

The Planning

I reached out to programs in a more populated area of my state. They were far enough away from my setting that there was not as much worry about being the competition. I think some of the appeal was having visitors from England visit their school, but there is no reason you can't form a small group of practitioners (or even just yourself) to visit other early childhood programs. It was easier for me to connect with these programs, because I was organizing for an outside group, but realized what a valuable experience this would be for anybody to do. These are beautiful programs right here at home, that I would never have experienced on my own and I had to ask myself "Why?"

I met several of the people in person ahead of time. It seems to be a growing trend that daycare providers and directors form small groups to meet with once a month to network and share ideas. I was able to sit in on one of these meetings in the area we would be visiting. I became familiar with many of the providers that we would be visiting.

I set up specific dates and times with the programs during a three day period. And made sure that I was clear what type of involvement they wanted us to have while we were visiting. Some of the programs allowed us to be involved with the children's activities, while others preferred we sit quietly and take notes. Some allowed photos with children and others asked us to take photos without. We visited in pairs, so that we wouldn't overwhelm the staff or children, but would still be able to reflect with somebody after the visit.

The Visits

The team made time at the end of each day to discuss how our visits went and what we were going to take back to our own classrooms. It was so helpful to have a the small group of people to reflect with about the visits. I am happy that we mostly visited settings in pairs, so that we came to the "table" with more than one perspective on each setting.

Reflection

One of the directors (The Children's Center) was so enthusiastic about our visits that she and I planned an evening mixer where we could meet with her staff and have a chance to talk. "Team Maine" shared a video presentation of their settings at Child First Day Nurseries. It was a magical evening filled with inspiration and like-minded individuals who all shared the same passion for working with children.

Hosting Visitors

Another important part of the experience was having visitors observe and spend time with me at my preschool. They were able to share ideas, suggestions and feedback on our philosophies and daily routines. The relationships that were formed during our week together made it so easy to have them come into my classroom. I was so worried about the way the children would respond to so many new adult faces. Everybody was so comfortable with being there together. The children still ask about them and we have a picture hanging in our classroom. The impact that they left on us teachers and the children will never be forgotten.

The Grand Finale: Joining Hands

At the end of the week, I hosted a free event at my preschool and invited about 15 other practitioners to attend. The attendees were Team Maine, teachers from the some of the settings we had spent time in and also colleagues of mine from another state who were able to share photos and information about their settings. 

 I had a tie-dyeing activity available in the middle of the day to give people a chance to be creative and to continue their discussions during a break. Everybody brought food to contribute for lunch.

We had three different speakers and time in between to talk and share. I asked that people bring any paperwork they were willing to share including: handbooks, assessments, planning sheets, etc. We had time scheduled in for small group discussions and brainstorming, but unfortunately ran out of time. I think in the future two speakers would be sufficient at this type of workshop.

There is just something about a room full of people talking about their love for children that will stick in your heart for a long time. Everybody just seemed so relaxed and happy to be there together sharing conversations about why we do what we do!

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Mead

A special THANK YOU! to all the people who were involved in this amazing experience, including Tom Shea, Team Maine, all the settings that welcomed visitors into your programs, our wonderful speakers, and all of the teachers and providers who joined us in the evening and on a Saturday to share your passion!




Stay tuned for more information on Play Iceland 2016 (now Play International)! Iceland, UK, Australia and USA.