Identity and control

I enjoyed watching the program about LEAP on 27 August but really could not understand why a girl with pink hair was targeted when others had dyed hair and a teacher had many tattoos. it wasn't a huge issue but is one I feel strongly about and feel that is very important with children in difficult circumstances in particular. When I queried it in Twitter this was the response:

I have to agree every school needs rules and boundaries to protect children but do feel this rule is pointless. Rules that don't create a positive outcome can be dropped, its not hard to do that; you just stop having the rule. Given some schools do let teachers have tattoos they must feel there is no detrimental effect so why can't all? If some children can dye their hair black or blonde or burgundy why is there a problem with pink or green or red or a rainbow?  I can't see any harm in that.  I taught and marked a module last year where 1st year undergraduate students had to build a Google web site as part of their study. One was very pink because "...it projects who I am". Some girls clearly love being in pink, feel more comfortable, more themselves and with the imposition of uniform (another aspect I disagree with) all they have left is fingernails and hair to colour. What purpose is achieved; what disasters avoided; what gain for children and staff by limiting hair colour? I hated being in uniform as it made me look like someone who I was not and that was confusing and distracting. I struggle to map and recall faces so it was hard for me to know who was who. The rules should be designed to inspire children, to help them enjoy their time in school and provoke them to want to attend school. Denying the ability to be an individual, to project who they feel they are seems pointless. 

During my PGCE study I started to plait, then dreadlock, my already long hair, by the time I was working as a teacher I had multi-coloured dreadlocks with several wraps and more than a few seashells tied into it. They were tiny ones miniature scallops and cowries gathered from Gwenver my favourite surfing beach. I was not aware of anyone disproving, I felt it actually helped develop good relations with children as they found that interesting and so were interested in me. At that time it was popular for boys to have a long thin plait at the back of otherwise short hair, I don't recall any of the schools I worked in having a problem with that either. 

Why did I want to look like that? I didn't really think about it, it was just what I needed to be at the time. I was exploring being an artist at the time and maybe I was making myself into some sort of Art. The sea shells kept me in touch with the sea, I was surfing a lot back then often 7 days a week and 4-10 hours in the water was helping me cope with life, I felt awkward and clumsy out of the water, graceful and filled with power when in it. This photo of myself my daughter and my first son is the only one I have on my hard drive from then and was taken just before I dyed it. Unfortunately caught during a blink. 

My first marriage had turned into a nightmare, I was just about managing to stay alive, was largely reclusive as far as friends goes and perhaps hiding behind my hair helped me go out in public and have the confidence to be in a school. I know I felt very exposed having short hair a few years earlier, my long hair felt like protection. Whatever was going on in my mind the key was that I could function and even walk tall and proud at times. I was also under-eating to an extent that became dangerous although that was more to do with not realising how many calories I was burning in the sea and blaming hunger pains on gut infection picked up from the sea..or so I thought at the time. Given the mess some children's lives are in I have every sympathy with them wanting to project personality, when life is out of control your body is one thing you can control and that can lead to being able to survive tough times and even to have some self-confidence.

Thinking back to my own school days in the 60s/70s I had friends with large multi-coloured mohicans, shaved heads, Dr Martin boots, fluorescent socks, girls and boys with multi-coloured nails and eye make up that projected their affinity with Alice Cooper or Marc Bolan etc. I remember one boy coming in with an Aladdin Sane face make up on the last days of school. Why in the world do these things need to be restricted? Let children celebrate and project who they are, let them be the person they feel confident being and they might well respect your respect for their individuality. Out of mutual  respect comes many good things; strong relationships, children who feel good about them selves and will listen and behave well. 

A few honest words to that girl such as: "Wow! look at you that's so cool, good colour choice it really suites you." could well have filled her with positive emotions and that is worth way more than rejecting who she wants to be and risking loss of respect and resentment that can often be projected through disruptive behaviour as they know that arguing their case verbally and gently will just bring out the old "Rules is rules" line that really just says we have no idea why this rule is in place and I am not going to even think about whether its a sensible one or not because we need to control you and you need to accept that regardless of whether it makes sense. 

 Looking pretty in pink hair is way better than using an eating disorder or being disruptive to exert control. 

EdD

Having recommended to students that they consider using a public blog as a learning journal for undergraduate and post-graduate study its time to start doing the same myself as I embark on a journey through the EdD course lead by Gerry Davis at Anglia Ruskin University. I am very much looking forward to working with Gerry, Prof. Tim Waller and the rest of the team on this journey. 

My interview was planned to be done via via Skype but despite having a connection at home that has reached 30Mbps on occasion over the last few days it was only limping along when most needed so we switched to telephone and I posted the info below to help answer some of the questions I was asked. 

There is a growing body of research in relation to the benefits of increasing children's exposure to being outdoors in natural environments. Approaches such as that promoted by the Forest School Association are often founded on developing a natural relationship with the natural environment. Use of technologies is largely limited to non digital tools. In contrast other outdoor learning approaches may embrace the use of portable digital technologies to some degree even to the extent where the technology is the reason for going outside. There is a need for schools to understand the benefits of each in supporting curriculum related activities and consider how to achieve a good balance between these approaches. When a school invests in creating or enhancing a natural environment area for Forest School activities I can see validity in arguments in favour of keeping it as a special place for natural learning with minimal technology use but I also agree there can be a lot of benefit for using the same place as a context for exploring what can be done with digital technologies outdoors. Having discussed attitudes towards technologies with a fair few Forest School practitioners one of the key reservations seems to be the intrusion factor and whether bringing portable technologies into play disrupts the immersion in the natural experience.

The number 1. use of portable technologies would currently appear to be capturing photographs of outdoor experiences, finds and made artifacts. That children are keen on this kind of record keeping is clear; memories are good but a photo is more easily shared and proves the memory.

Citizen science is starting to expand and there are now many initiatives such as iRecord Ladybird and the big butterfly count, most have Apps which enable anyone, who has a smart phone or tablet, to identify an insect, plant or larger wildlife by photographing it and rapidly comparing it with a database. They can learn about it from the stored information and then upload a photo of the sighting or tag it via a counter that automatically has location data attached to it. Somewhere in the depths of a university a new dot appears on a map and the scientific data has expanded.

There are many similar initiatives including http://www.ispotnature.org We have moved a long way from scribbling on soggy or muddy notepads. The potential to use portable technologies to contribute to real world research in the field may offer benefits in terms of increasing motivation to learn, developing ICT skills, developing curriculum knowledge and learning how to capture and present information.

Making woodland creatures is a common Forest School activity and one that is also often done back at the classroom where found materials are used to create art; the artifacts are often record by photographs.

The opportunity to go one step further and digitally bring critters to life does not seem to be a common approach although I hope to find more data about this as I progress. Below is a first attempt stop motion video made by a dyslexic 10 year old who finds conveying stories via text frustrating yet had the patience to take 124 still images and process them for a few seconds of story - a task that took almost 3 hours using a Nikon P600 with very little adult input. 

There are many flaws but there was also a lot of learning; the tangible evidence in the video enabled errors to be identified and new plans for a second shoot to be formed. 

Improvements identified by the child:

Turn the date / time stamp off on the camera.

Need a larger more stable tripod. This was done using a mini tripod that was not really up to supporting a bridge camera. 

Camera and tripod slowly moved during shooting - Use the inbuilt wi-fi to link to a smart phone for taking the pics without having to touch the camera. 

More frames per second needed / smaller movements between shots.

Storyboard needed.

Can I do this by just using my iPod? 

A barrage of ideas for future projects followed, ambition ignores practicalities - the key ambition is a full length rendering of Les Miserables using made critters and scenes. The project is unlikely to be fulfilled in the short term but has stimulated deep thinking about solving technical and artistic problems as well as a sense of self worth and pride in achievement, the latter is potentially the most important gain although not one easily recorded by current metrics.

There is growing concern that there are many benefits gained by children which are not easy to measure or which do not feature in government targets or assessment methods. As a result of the above video there are ICT and Art skills that could be ticked off but the mechanism to record the more difficult to quantify deeper learning that forms characters and inspires children to aspire to bright futures is largely lacking. This is an area that outdoor learning practitioners and researchers at the Plymouth University 2014 Walk the Talk conference identified as a pressing need that should be addressed. It is also implicit in the wording of the leaving letter sent to Barrowford school pupils that went viral and gained positive TV coverage:

An exploration of the use of portable digital technologies in outdoor learning. 

Who? Children and teaching staff.

What? Portable technologies and outdoors. 

Where? School grounds and wider natural environment.

When? During and outside of school.

How? The research will identify a limited set of approaches feasible to use with children and explore the impact of these through practical application in schools.

Why? The research will be designed to uncover barriers and benefits associated with the practical approaches that are explored and to develop a system for articulating these.

At this point I am just scoping the potential focus for my project, a lot of reading and talking will happen  over the coming year to develop a more cohesive proposal.