A conference.

In a conference we invited Callen to reflect on his work. In this way, we invite him to think about his own process, his own thinking and what he learned during a past experience. Through conferences, children make sense of various concepts embedded within one meaningful experience. We teachers challenge and extend their learning through statements and questions:

“Engineers, authors, and artists often reflect on their work to understand better what they have created and what they have learned.”

“If we take photos to put in your sketchbook so that others can learn about your work, how should we take the photographs?”

“Do you remember your process?  What steps did you take?”

“How could you describe this part so the reader can better understand?”

“You are seeing so many shapes and their parts.”

“What happened next?  What were you thinking?”  

“How did you measure this?”

“Why did you take that step?”

“You are now wondering how long it is because you forgot.  How could you find out?

CALLEN:

The first step I made this.  This front part goes into the wall and finds gold.  Then the next step was over here, the sides, the long skinny rectangles help it turn.  They help it go into the wall the other way.  The hand comes out of the bottom part of the triangle and grabs the gold.  The gold comes out of the circle and it turns into diamonds.  It’s a machine.  I attached with tape.  The last step was putting the bottom square on.  I painted it.  I played with it and measured how long it was.  It was eighteen inches long.

How does this experience support a child’s learning?  How do we see Callen developing understanding of and practicing…

relationships with others and materials

literacy

self-regulation

problem-solving

mathematics

?