by Marla McLean | Nov 13, 2018 | 3 year old children, art, Atelier, Atelierista, Autumn, awe, beauty, bottle-caps, Citizens, climate change, community, Constructing, conversation, creativity, curiosity, early childhood, earth, explore, garden, global, Global Children, global competence, grow, Happiness, heart, imagination, Innovation, inspired, Joy, Kindergarten, leaves, Light, love, Maker Spaces, Marla McLean, materials, meaning, metaphor, moments, monarchs, NAREA, objects, observation, painting, PreK, preK children, process, project work, Rainbow, recycle, reflect, Reggio, Reggio Emilia, seasons, Sketching, social action, Studio, studio learning, Ubuntu, Uncategorized, vulnerable, winter, Wisdom, wonder
Here’s some links to explore connections:
To explore the concept of Ubuntu
Link to NAREA (North American Reggio Emilia Alliance)
Link to Global Children at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Project Zero
Link to Brenee Brown
Link to article on Curiosity
Much love! And feel free to respond below and start a conversation.
by Marla McLean | Jun 10, 2018 | activism, aesthetics, art, Atelier, Atelierista, awe, beauty, Burning Man, change, Citizens, community, Constructing, conversation, creativity, early childhood, earth, Educating for Creative Minds, Embodying, explore, global competence, grow, heart, humility, imagination, Innovation, inspired, love, Maker Spaces, Marla McLean, materials, meaning, metaphor, moments, Movement, project work, public school, recycle, Reggio Emilia, Uncategorized, vulnerable
Balance.
This year, in addition to the daily creating and expression and relationship building in the studio/atelier, I engaged and facilitated a Mardi Gras/Speak for Living Things Parade and an Earth Day Parade with my partner Atelierista, Erika Bowman
One weekend there was a community sign building for a national parade, this past week a pop up interactive art installation, then we made and completed and installed a kinetic sculpture attached on the side of the school “The Listening Sculpture”,
and there were three big field trips for students to encounter immersive, sensory, recycled, and out of the box art. (ArtTech House, The Glass Forest, and The Renwick)
And all of it connected to each other, overlapped, provoked, and embraced the idea of Global Environmental Stewardship (or as Amira, age 5, summed it up, “Dear Earth, Why are we here?)
…but no blog post. All my time and energy went into the hands on making and organizing.
Hence, the balance issue.
Yesterday, I represented DCPS by marching in the DC Capitol Pride Parade with my SWS sisters and brothers.
(YES, it’s been a year of PARADES!)
All to find myself home sick today, coughing, headache…seems like life gave me lemons, so here comes the lemonade!
Overwhelmed by the idea catching up from Earth Day, I am posting from the present- the most current happenings, (and will try and catch up the middle at a later date.)
I have no voice today, so I will stay with this as a metaphor and let the children/SWS speak through this vide0 I created, (since I was stuck at home in bed.) Enjoy the lemonade!
HERE’S THE LINK TO THE VIDEO (approx. 8 minutes):
I want to thank the Renwick, they opened up No Spectators- The Art of Burning Man exhibit an hour early, so that some of the youngest citizens in DC (ages 4-6) could experience the wonder and beauty of the exhibit (without competing with taller and larger bodies.)
We were welcomed by Geoff, and his invitation to touch and explore was lovely.
The children were moved and wowed. Many felt the weight, the lightness, the sacredness, and emotions of the Temple,
and all were mesmerized by the plethora of possibilities within the art and ideas of the playa.
The upper elementary aged children who visited the exhibit with Erika during the previous weeks were also astounded and inspired.
Upon returning to school, the upper elementary children began to build a collaborative Temple out of recycled cardboard.
The youngest children used tools and helped each other (just like the teams of artists who collaborated in the exhibit) to create a small Burning Man/Woman out of recycled materials with a wish, hope, or memory.
“I remember when I was a little baby , I felt happy with my family.” Brooke, age 4
“My memory is going inside the Renwick gallery. My favorite room was the one with the television in the sky.” Malda, age 6
The pop up museum opened Friday June 8th.
It will be gone by the end of the week.
But maybe gone only in the material state.
The gift of this type of work is the deep resonating memories and the thoughts by the children and community left in the SWS temple.
The gift of this work is children learning first hand, the power of creating a vision and dream into reality with friends.
The gift of this work is creating something in community with others, with both personal and global ideas (reflected in the cards left in the temple.)
The gift of this work is creating the space and the safety to be vulnerable in interactions, sharing wishes, hopes, and remembrances, and in the actual creating.
It was not easy. “If it’s easy, your brain isn’t growing”, a common refrain of mine. “It’s supposed to be a little bit hard.”
This is education:
Inclusive. Cultural. Personal. Community based. Global. Reflective. Expressive. Scientific. Inventive. Kind. Meaningful. Fun. Hard. Connected and inter-connected. Responsive. Oriented from thought to action (and sometimes the other way around,) Most importantly education is being a part of creating a better world.
(I know that you always are with me.)
It was not easy.
But it was soul filling.
It was hopeful, it was love,
and it will live on.
by Marla McLean | Sep 4, 2017 | 3 year old children, ACES, activism, aesthetics, art, Atelier, Atelierista, awe, beauty, Brain science, community, Constructing, creativity, early childhood, Embodying, explore, family, flight, grow, heart, imagination, Innovation, Joy, Kindergarten, Light, love, Maker Spaces, Marla McLean, materials, meaning, monarchs, observation, painting, pause, PreK, process, project work, Reggio Emilia, studio learning, Trauma Informed practice, Uncategorized, wonder
I was thinking about the complexities of “labor” today, on this Labor Day eve.
I was thinking about the labor or role of the teacher. The possibilities and power of relationship and transformation that can happen in a learning environment is on my mind as this new school year has begun. For me this is in the Atelier or Art Studio at SWS.
It made me jump to the phrase “Labor of Love.”
Last Spring I became part of a year-long 12 person Art Educator DCPS Fellowship. ACES Art Fellowship. ACES stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences. The fellowship I am a part of aims to create a cadre of trauma –informed art teachers to develop strategies and practice within their art classes and then share and spread this work within their school communities and throughout DCPS.
What is ACEs science?
ACEs science refers to the research on the prevalence and consequences of adverse childhood experiences, and what to do to prevent them. It comprises:
- The CDC-Kaiser Permanente ACE Study and subsequent surveys that show that most people in the U.S. have at least one ACE, and that people with four ACEs— including living with an alcoholic parent, racism, bullying, witnessing violence outside the home, physical abuse, and losing a parent to divorce — have a huge risk of adult onset of chronic health problems such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, suicide, and alcoholism.
- Brain science (neurobiology of toxic stress) — how toxic stress caused by ACEs damages the function and structure of kids’ developing brains.
- Health consequences — how toxic stress caused by ACEs affects short- and long-term health, and can impact every part of the body, leading to autoimmune diseases, such as arthritis, as well as heart disease, breast cancer, lung cancer, etc.
- Historical and generational trauma (epigenetic consequences of toxic stress) — how toxic stress caused by ACEs can alter how our DNA functions, and how that can be passed on from generation to generation.
- Resilience research — how the brain is plastic and the body wants to heal. This research ranges from looking at how the brain of a teen with a high ACE score can be healed with cognitive behavior therapy, to how schools can integrate trauma-informed and resilience-building practices that result in an increase in students’ scores, test grades and graduation rates.
“ACEs are still experienced by more than one in three children under the age of six. Even in higher income families, more than one in four children have ACEs.”
Here is a wonderful link (where I copied the above info from)
https://acestoohigh.com/
So what does this mean for the my work?
It means a more intentional and informed practice of being the safety net for children within the context of the SWS Atelier/Art Studio.
A child does not need to have 1 or more ACES to benefit from me cultivating a compassionate and inclusive classroom based on ACES science. A child who does have one or more ACES has the added potential and benefit of altering their neurology, developing a sense of healthy connection, and developing necessary resiliency.
One of my favorite simple strategies within this work is to offer “unconditional regard.” It means taking a breath and offering love, even when a child presents in an unlovable behavior. It means routines, rituals, and language that lessens triggers. It means learning how to de-escalate children who are acting out with care and thought. It means thoughtful planning and facilitating of materials, environment, and lessons through this lens.
And let us not forget the power of the arts to heal. Materials or the 100 Language of children offer children (and adults!) opportunities to express, explore, experiment, and take risks. It allows one to reflect, make beauty, destroy, make mistakes, construct, and transform.
When opportunities to create art occurs within a safe inclusive space, with a teacher who verbally and non-verbally defines boundaries, offers freedoms, and unconditional regard, there is fertile ground for growth. And for joy.
SWS and DCPS are systemically committed to this work. It is an honor and privilege to meet consistently with the DCPS ACES Art Fellowship cadre under the facilitation of Lyndsey D. Vance, ATR-BC, LPC from ProjectCreate, DC in Anacostia.
This year, all the ongoing Reggio practice, Constructivist theory, Art Theory, Art Ed, Early Childhood pedagogy, DCPS Standards, Developmentally Appropriate planning, Project Approach, and Mindfulness practices that are embedded in my teaching at SWS, have a new connecting thread. Unconditional regard. Trauma informed practice. Love.
“Relationship is the evidence based practice.” Dr. Allison Jackson
Intuitively I have always known this. In my life, I have been both on the receiving and giving end. Now I have the science and fellowship to truly understand, share, and further develop my practice.
It seems most appropriate today to declare this work, this year, sincerely, as a Labor of Love.
Looking forward to connecting and reconnecting!
by Marla McLean | Mar 3, 2017 | 3 year old children, activism, art, Atelier, Atelierista, beauty, change, Citizens, community, Constructing, conversation, creativity, early childhood, earth, family, heart, Kindergarten, love, Maker Spaces, Marla McLean, materials, meaning, preK children, project work, Reggio Emilia, Studio, Uncategorized
More to come…
by Marla McLean | Nov 11, 2015 | 3 year old children, aesthetics, art, Atelier, Atelierista, Autumn, beauty, Brain science, change, community, Constructing, conversation, creativity, death, earth, Educating for Creative Minds, Embodying, explore, grow, Happiness, heart, imagination, Innovation, Joy, Kindergarten, leaves, Light, love, Maker Spaces, Marla McLean, materials, meaning, Medically Fragile, metaphor, moments, Movement, Non verbal children, observation, painting, pause, Perseverance, preK children, process, project work, reflect, Reggio, Reggio Emilia, seasons, Sketching, Studio, studio learning, Uncategorized, wire, Wisdom
by Marla McLean | Nov 16, 2014 | 3 year old children, aesthetics, art, Atelier, Atelierista, Citizens, community, Constructing, conversation, creativity, materials, meaning, metaphor, observation, Perseverance, Reggio Emilia, Uncategorized
The Prek 3 Classes have emabarked on a project. The children started talking about “statues” a few months ago when I had them working on a collaborative wire sculpture in the studio. Their excitement about seeing sculptures and statues in Washington, DC got the classroom teachers and I planning a trip to the National Sculpture Garden. They already “owned” the sculptures in their neighborhoods and parks, we were curious on how they would own sculptures in a formal DC space. This documentation sheds some light and reflection on the ongoing experiences.
