“The magic is… change the world.”

by Marla McLean | Jan 1, 2019 | 3 year old children, aesthetics, art, Atelier, Atelierista, awe, beauty, creativity, curiosity, darkness, earth, Embodying, explore, family, grow, imagination, inspired, intent, Kindergarten, love, Marla McLean, materials, meaning, Medically Fragile, metaphor, PreK, project work, Reggio Emilia, solstice, Uncategorized

It is January first.

A new year.

And despite being on this planet for quite a while, and teaching in public school for 20 years, there is still a newness, a joy, a surprise, great gratitude, and hope that comes with each day.

This Solstice, (a very special SWS yearly tradition), we wanted to go deeper. We wanted to immerse the children and ourselves into the exploration of darkness as beauty.

We intentionally sought to change the paradigm. The season of the darkest days as delight. A time of coziness, discovery, joy, and reflection as opposed to complaining that it is cold, wet, and dark .

And so I share with you the transdisciplinary, polysensorial, and magical moments of these darkest days. May you find this documentation of children and the darkness symbolic and relevant.

Simultaneously, while exploring the dark, children were creating lanterns. This year, they made Fairy Lanterns.

The lanterns were not a one time make it take it. We read stories of how Fairies are caretakers of the earth. We learned that fairies are part of one of the 4 elements: air, water, fire, or earth. We learned that fairies live all around us, yet, in a magical world that is separated from us by an invisible door.

Using painter tape, allowed children to make the “invisible door”, which they removed to reveal their lantern’s fairy and light.

The multi-step artistic thinking, paired with exploring the dark in the studio and classroom, books of solstice history, fairy tales, and fiction with characters who encounter the dark, led to children developing their own relationships with darkness.

Popular culture inundates children with images, movies, books, advertising, and shows that exalt light as good and beautiful, and dark as evil and unattractive. How do these small daily doses of messaging affect one’s perspective over a lifetime? How does it affect a community and society over time?

“Inside everyone is a great shout of joy waiting to be born” (Quote from The Winter of Listening by David Whyte)

The Winter of Listening
by David Whyte

No one but me by the fire,
my hands burning
red in the palms while
the night wind carries
everything away outside.

All this petty worry
while the great cloak
of the sky grows dark
and intense
round every living thing.

What is precious
inside us does not
care to be known
by the mind
in ways that diminish
its presence.

What we strive for
in perfection
is not what turns us
into the lit angel
we desire,

what disturbs
and then nourishes
has everything
we need.

What we hate
in ourselves
is what we cannot know
in ourselves but
what is true to the pattern
does not need
to be explained.

Inside everyone
is a great shout of joy
waiting to be born.

Even with the summer
so far off
I feel it grown in me
now and ready
to arrive in the world.

All those years
listening to those
who had
nothing to say.

All those years
forgetting
how everything
has its own voice
to make
itself heard.

All those years
forgetting
how easily
you can belong
to everything
simply by listening.

And the slow
difficulty
of remembering
how everything
is born from
an opposite
and miraculous
otherness.

Silence and winter
has led me to that
otherness.

So let this winter
of listening
be enough
for the new life
I must call my own.

We must take the time to linger in the beauty of darkness.

Through conceptual constructs such as darkness, children are given space to create culture as a community.

We are intentional in developing a culture that nurtures, questions, morphs, interconnects, and gives value to curiosity, inclusion, and expression.

Exploring meaning in life, searching for beauty, experiencing wonder, developing perspective, practicing kindness, expressing through 100 languages, and slowing down and listening are all tenets of our rigorous curriculum.

Nothing without joy.

Everything with gratitude.

As we enter into 2019 with our beloved community, we are reminded that no matter the difficulties in life, we are planting seeds in dark fertile ground together

And as Aviv says:

Happy New Year. It is a joy and privilege to share the journey with all of you.

A careful considerate gaze or I am because you are

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.

And so, How Are You Different Than Nature?

by Marla McLean | Jun 14, 2018 | activism, art, Atelier, Atelierista, change, climate change, community, conversation, creativity, early childhood, earth, earth day, environmental stewardship, global, global competence, heart, imagination, inspired, intent, Kindergarten, love, Maker Spaces, materials, meaning, metaphor, mother earth, observation, parade arts, PreK, recycle, reflect, Reggio Emilia, school, social action, upcycle, values, Wisdom, wonder

It is the night before the very last day of the 2017-2018 school year. I just couldn’t let the year end without giving you this small gift.

I have here the link to the 12 minute video I made documenting our all-school Earth Day parade. (12 minutes)

The SWS Love Mother Earth Children’s Parade Video

I must thank all the folks who sent photographs and videos, both Erika and I had our hands full and were unable to do it ourselves. Thank you thank you thank you!

Thank you to Lynette Craig who did all the paperwork and phone calls to convince our city to shut down the streets for this parade (park service and the police!). She left to me- only to meet with the officers/officials and sign my name. You have powers!

Thank you to Erika Bowman, my sista Atelierista and dream-it-into-reality-parade- partner. I will miss you. But I get to keep the memories (and friendship!), lucky me.

After the video link is documentation of some of the early childhood experiences that inform the parade video.

As a team (Prek3, PreK, Kgn) we focused on a year long exploration of Global Environmental Citizenship. Here’s how it emerged in the studio context:

Have a beautiful summer.

Labor of Love

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!

Marla Mclean

atelierista

“The magic is… change the world.”

Labor of Love