Getting back into the swing of things

In the middle of my film-making efforts, my computer started playing up. I think it was finding the whole process as stressful as I was. I even encountered the dreaded Blue Screen of Death for the first time, followed later by a message I had not seen before: "Windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown." Having been through a rather rocky patch over the last month or so, with high levels of stress and anxiety and occasional moments when I was ready to pack it all in and come home, I think I can now say that I have recovered from my unexpected shutdown. My computer also seems to be back to normal!

Having left the teachers in peace during the month of May so that they could settle the new children in, we resumed our normal rounds of visits in June. At some centres we were encouraged to see that they were continuing to apply some of the ideas that we had shared, even after the school break in April. At others, progress seemed to have slipped back, and we felt as if we were starting again.

On Saturday we held our third workshop for all the teachers. This one focused on curriculum planning, physical development and creative activities. As usual, it was all very hands on, and teachers found themselves hopping around like frogs and being creative with potato printing, in between planning practical activities for curriculum delivery.

The creative activities session was designed to encourage teachers to see the value in allowing children to experiment with materials and be genuinely creative, rather than controlling the activity to such an extent that all children produce an identical piece of work, which tends to be the usual approach:

A fine example of what we are trying to encourage them NOT to do!

We discussed the importance of helping children to grow up to be independent thinkers and problem-solvers, and the role of creative activities in developing these skills and attitudes, before letting the teachers loose on a whole variety of materials with no specific instructions other than to be creative. I was quite impressed, given their usual tendency to be very formulaic in their approach to any creative challenge. They seemed to be taking the message on board. We'll see what happens in the classroom...

 

The workshop all went very well and according to plan, but I was glad to see it over as I was rather under the weather with some sort of stomach upset. I got through the day courtesy of Paracetamol and Loperamide, and collapsed gratefully into bed for the rest of the evening once I got home.