Entering the Shooting Star one day this week I was met with, what could be termed “chaos”. Most of the children were grouped in a corner of the room where they had balanced a large carpet tube onto the book shelf. Books inevitably were scattered on the floor. Children were clambering over the table to get to the higher end perched above their heads. At least 3 were balanced precariously together on a chair to reach it. At the other end of the tube lay a clutter of items: balls, pom poms, stones, cars, pegs, marbles to name just a few. What a mess!!!!! But what learning .
Learning needs mess. If it isn’t a new problem to be worked out then it’s no new learning and newness is not necessarily neat. For once, listening to discussions about further reforms to the EYFS by the author of the new ‘development matters’ document, commissioned by the Department of Education, Julian Grenier, lifted my spirits as he described the need and importance for ‘Powerful learners’. These animated (often noisy: let’s not be scared of noise) children above were powerfully learning. They were creating chaos by disrupting the order of the book shelves, of the art resources. They collected disparate items from across the room in order to satisfy their need for experimentation. They fed off the buzz of their peers as they worked out between them who were the leaders, who were the team players. At times they fought, someone slipped off the chair, but at all times they were taking control of their learning and living it.
It’s been a long time gone since children should be seen and not heard. Let’s not just hear them but listen to them. Read the situation sensitively: what appears like noise, chaos may be something far more challenging, interesting, important. Respect the children’s ideas, their choices, the manner in which they want and crave to learn: not through passivity by through action. Respond appropriately to what is actually happening rather than what we as adults who have slowed down, who think we know the answers by now, think we know. This is the gibberish of chaotic learning that brings life to children’s lives, brings a light in their eyes and ignites the fire to want to carry on living and learning. So let chaos reign!
