Tomorrow I will be sharing my class experiences with how we
handle "clean up" in class. As part of ongoing training, the staff are asked to undertake research. THe task? A "no
compulsory gathering time", week organised by leadership in our school. Prior to the commencement, my
partner and I reflected on "clean up" a lot. Clean up was closely tied
to gathering times, as we found that without our usual transition gathering
(children came together to sit on the mat prior to outdoor play time, lunch and
home time), the class was not getting tidied up in time for the transition to
the new space.
A certain reading from “Play is the Thing” about
figure/ground relationships got me thinking. We decided to approach tidying from an entirely new angle. Comparisons in the table below.
Interestingly, the week prior to the discussion we had
written in our planning and class goals that we wanted to “implement” some kind
of roster for clean up. So clean up was on our list of things to work on.
Everything happened in a very serendipitous, and timely manner.
Old Way
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New Way
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Play time was often very ‘messy’ and chaotic.
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Play time is
quieter and children seem more engaged. I believe this is due to the fact
that the teachers are creatively providing provocations and invitations, not
just at the start, and tidying is making the figure/ground relationships
clear.
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Teacher supervised clean up. Doled out praise or negative reinforcement (being honest here) to those
supposedly doing or not doing the right thing. This is against both mine and
Ivy’s belief in how we speak to children.
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Teacher models not only
clean up at the end, but models keeping materials tidy during play. Some materials
are tidied without mentioning anything to children, others we ask if anyone
would like to help.
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An example of the less respectful language of the past,
spoken loudly above a chaotic whole class cleaning up time:
“Who was playing with the
circus toy? T , I think I remember you playing with it. It is your job to
clean it up.”
T hides in the reading area
as soon as I turn my back to supervise another mess and child.
“T, I am not happy about
this, it’s your job blah blah blah!”
T heads to the bathroom to
escape. Clearly he was overwhelmed and
was not given enough support to face the tidy of the toys.
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An example of
the more respectful language emerging now, spoken gently during play:
Teacher: “Hey T,
do you think you are done playing with the circus toys?”
T : “Yes”
Teacher: “Would you like to tidy that up on your own or
would you like some help from me?”
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Approach to tidying: child is
responsible for own mess, while we were supervisors of the classroom.
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Approach to tidying: child is
viewed as fully capable of learning to manage and be responsible, yet, we are respecting their role as the player,
and remembering our role as supporter of the play. Being busily immersed in
play means they may not have time to think about tidying up! There will be a
time and a place to help teach them about tidying, but not EVERY TIME.
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A huge mess was left at the end of the session taking 20
minutes or more to tidy.
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The class is “played in” yet tidy at the transition times,
taking a few minutes to pack away a few things.
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Teachers and children would find themselves becoming
frustrated and resentful of the children who, during clean up time, wouldn’t clean
up.
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We understand how overwhelming a huge mess can be to anyone! We avoid the
old scenario entirely.
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By the end of the tidy up, we were all exhausted cranky.
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Now we are NOT.
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A gathering time was the only way to avoid chaos. Children who were overwhelmed and uninterested in the clean up began
unpacking the materials and playthings we had just packed away. Gathering
time brought children away from the classroom. It was crowd control.
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No need to gather. Now our
transitions are very smooth, we gently remind children that it is almost
lunch time, they even can get involved in preparing tables wiping tables setting
bowls and spoons, etc.
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Everyone had to finish everything they were doing.
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Some children
are busy on projects. If they wish
they can continue working on things well into lunch time. Usually they
are too hungry and when they see peers going to sit down to eat, will put
their work away anyway.
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Transition was very unnatural. Food was introduced, in an unnatural way on the mat with the whole
class there.
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Movement to lunch is now very
organic as children just observe Class helper preparing buffet so they
begin to wash hands automatically. It is much more like at home. They talk
about what food they can see/smell. We talk about the food in a more natural
conversational way.
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