Becoming one

Environment to me speaks volumes and who we are in our learning spaces does tell our learners so much about us. Over the last year as a group of 4 KG teachers in two classes we have taken the time to be more and more collaborative. Our documents have been merged, Seesaw will become one, daily planning is done collaboratively and the learners move around the spaces in a natural flow.

As we move towards the end of the year we have started to discuss the where to from here? and the so what of what we have been doing. On Tuesday we spent the time sorting our resources out so that next year we become more of a collaborative learning space with curriculum areas not being scattered across both rooms but organised into one. Every decision we made as a team involved sharing our thinking, unpicking our values and ensuring that what we were creating was going to be the best possible learning environment for everyone. Did it mean we all got our way? Of course not! When you learn in a collaborative way you have to understand that it is not just about you anymore. It is about us and sometimes that us means you have to really listen to others and learn to compromise. Does it make it harder? I guess that depends on how you perceive things. For me and my team it has meant we have learnt more than we could actually truly share. So often we make decisions without really digging deeper with our understanding or reasoning. By being collaborative you have to challenge yourself and your thinking. The great thing is it always comes back to the same central point. What is best for our learners and why.

So looking at our KG learning space that now has a loose parts in one room and an art area in another it makes me smile.Our environment is now starting to show our learners how we work and learn together.

What will be change next? That I don't know because it is not until we continue to listen and watch our learners that we get a sense of where to next. All I do know is it is going to be an exciting road ahead!