Ditching the timetable - take two

I have posted about this previously, but because this is an issue many are thinking of at this time of the year I thought I would expand on it a little.  Have a read because there are probably things in here I won't mention again.

http://numberagents.blogspot.com/2018/09/ditching-traditional-timetable-backward.html


To me the word timetable and the word play don't go together, they are contradictory terms.  After all, what is a timetable for, well for the large part a timetable is to make sure we get through all the learning in the day.  All those things we must do.  But the mere fact we are doing this, does not set us up for truly independent play.  A timetable is probably also useful for management teams if they like to micromanage.

This definition of play, presented by Marc Armitage at a recent play-based conference is the best I have seen yet. 

"Play is what children and young people do when they follow their own ideas and interests, in their own way and for their own reasons." Playwork principles 2002

So if children are to play following their own interests, what benefit is a timetable to them or us?

Marc also raised this point, that we should be looking for children to start play independently, continue it independently and end it independently.  Again done best in an environment not constrained by time slots.

So when I say ditch the timetable, what do I actually mean.  What it doesn't mean is that I don't plan...in fact I do this a lot, but most of it is on the spot and reflective.  It guides my 'teaching' far better than any timetable I have every written a week before has.  I also don't sit down and write long-term or short term plans.  Once again the idea of planning this far out is contradictory to the word play and to the very individual needs of our children.  Planning for the 'mass' allows us to miss the needs of the individual.

So what is it that I do?

Well to start with I think about the components of my programme, what is important to me, understanding what I do and how I want to get it done.

I then think of the term, of the things I want for the children, these are dispositional not academic.  I also set this out in mind map form.

These help to set my priorities.

Each week, I use this to guide what I would like to pop into our reflective/discussion moments during the week - aka mat time.  There are areas of 'academic' based learning in there, it is just that this is governed largely by individual readiness and fits where it is appropriate.

Children begin the day with play and I then scribble what actually happened during the day as we go.  Obviously we have a swimming slot and we put Number Agents in there as well....but other than that our day is fluid.  We have rituals, like singing our songs from waiako, a lovely start to the morning, sharing a chapter book after lunch, browsing at books of interest for ten or so minutes some time in the day, sharing the play we are seeing and provoking a little more through discussion etc.  This scribble is usually done in the form of a mind map....featured below rather than being linear.  It works for me.

The gift I ultimately want to give to our children is large chunks of play that are not interrupted by an adult.

We do all we can to bring visibility to learning throughout the day, either through video, sharing on seesaw, recording in our shared class scrapbook etc, so the planning is done, it is just done after the fact.

This year I want to try mind mapping about individual children, this will be a challenge, but I think it could be really valuable.

Ultimately it comes down to trust, trusting the children, trusting that learning will fall endlessly out of play and trusting ourselves to make best use of this wonderful approach.