The Role of the Adult at The Wonder Studio: Week 2 Fall 2013

Loris Malaguzzi said, "Children are dangerously on the brink between presence that they want and repression that they don't want.  Thus, the ADULT should not intervene too much and yet does not want to let a valuable teaching moment go by."  

A very mixed message for us adults... And one of the most often questions I get at Wonder Studio... It's not usually said this teachery but you'll get the drift...
"What is my role at The Wonder Studio?"

This has not been an easy answer to provide.  I struggle with this question myself.
And, I think that asking ourselves that question over and over again is the beginning of  becoming a reflective teacher, a reflective parent, and a reflective person.

We've all heard dozens and dozens of times that children learn from both example and experience.

I think this information can help us to discover our role at The Wonder Studio...

What are the qualities your are trying to encourage in your child?  

Why are you bringing them to this studio environment?

Developing a positive attitude towards learning (in teacher talk, we call this learning dispositions) is something I always want to reinforce.

Independence, Creativity, Self-Motivated, Resilience...

An important adult role in the studio is to observe these positive dispositions and when appropriate say your observations to the children.

Independence:  "You washed your hands by yourself."  "I remember when I used to help you hold the worms, now you do it safely and carefully by yourself!"

Creativity (defined as a new idea constructed by the child): "Your dipping the oil pastel into the watercolor...I can't wait to see what will happen!"

Working together (socialization):  "You held out your hand for the hammer and Suzy gave it to you!"  

Being Friendly:  "What's your name?  This is Ava and my name is Shannon."

I love Harvard's Studio Habits of the Mind:  It's geared specifically towards the Arts but can easily be adjusted to fit all areas of learning...
Think of these habits and how you can support and encourage them in your child when visiting our Studio.

Develop Craft
Learning to use and care for tools (e.g., viewfinders, brushes), materials (e.g., charcoal, paint). Learning artistic conventions (e.g., perspective, color mixing).

Engage & Persist

Learning to embrace problems of relevance within the world and/or of personal importance, to develop focus and other mental states conducive to working and persevering at art tasks.

Express

Learning to create works that convey an idea, a feeling, or a personal meaning.

Observe

Learning to attend to visual contexts more closely than ordinary "looking" requires, and thereby to see things that otherwise might not be seen.**I just love this one!!**

Reflect

Question & Explain: Learning to think and talk with others about an aspect of one’s work or working process.

Evaluate: Learning to judge one’s own work and working process and the work of others in relation to standards of the: field.

Stretch & Explore

Learning to reach beyond one's capacities, to explore playfully without a preconceived plan, and to embrace the opportunity to learn from mistakes and accidents.**Wait...this one could be my favorite!!**

And most importantly:  JOY.

"Let there be nothing without Joy!"
-Loris Malaguzzi