Thoughts on the infamous show and telling/sharing

Again, some provocations from the Reggio listserv. I found these to be quite thought provoking. Enjoy!


One of our teachers at our school does show and tell with her kids and wants the other teachers to do it as well. She said it's great for language development, taking turns, listening. I asked her how she conducted show and tell with her 8 students. She said she gets them together for circle time, each one goes and gets their toy or item before hand, and then starts off with the statement "Tell me about it." She then nudges the children with questions. What does it do? Where did you get it? Etc.
I've never tried show and tell with preschoolers. My gut instinct says it is not appropriate, however, some of you might have had success with such an activity. First, I'm concerned that some children will bring these expensive toys, while other kids might not have anything to bring but simple items, like rocks and trinkets made with Mom or Dad. Kids' talk is very spontaneous that explodes in a chain of associations. They see a picture, here a word, associated with what they already know and they can't stop talking. If you ask them to tell you about a specific object at hand, they have a harder time collecting their thoughts and memories. Some shut down. On that note, other children are of shy temperament. They want to talk when they're ready and willing, not when it is their turn. There are kids in my class with speech difficulties. If I ask them to tell me about their toy, they might be able to. Finally, among many other concerns, the play becomes all about the toy and its limited uses, not the imagination.

I learned a wonderful way to do sharing when I was at a co-op preschool several years ago. I still do it this way. We have a sharing box, bin, or basket. Sharing is one day a week. The children may bring something from home. It is not always a toy. They place their 'sharing' in the basket when they arrive. At some point during the day (it's pretty random, as they are pretty engaged and I have to find a good moment) I announce that it is sharing time. Usually it is only a fraction of the kids who have anything in the basket, so mostly only those children gather together. They take their items from the basket. I tell them to find a friend to share with. They break into groups of two or three and then share with one another. They are very happy to listen to each other, let their friends hold and play with their things, and there is lots of language happening. Sometimes children without an item to share join and a child with a toy might share with someone who didn't bring anything. It's all very casual and comfortable. I have played a 'game' of guessing if the group is small, so they don't have to wait long. I put the basket behind me and feel an object, describe what I'm feeling and they can guess what it is and identify their own toy. I have looked over the basket first so I can be very specific in my description (only describing what I could feel, not see). Sharing is fun for those who participate, not boring and uninteresting for those who don't care, and allows children to bring something from home. We love it.

Another idea I have seen, which I really liked, is a sharing shelf. Where you designate a special shelf in your classroom and if there is something a child really wants to show the class, they can put it there and talk with friends/teachers about it throughout the day. Naturally this becomes a great social as well as language interaction b/t students and teachers.

I want to start off with some questions that come to mind about show and tell as we try to see the merit of why use it. In my mind “show and tell” equates to “circle time” a ritual that has been passed down through time without thought as to why!
I begin with the following questions about S & T:
What is the why for its use? Think beyond merely relationships, knowing about each other, what is that deep why for having it?
How does this “ritual” move the children into thinking deeply?

How will the ritual connect with the work in the classroom?
How will it extend into the "what next”?
With those questions in mind, I’d like to share a newly evolving ritual that we are using, that has many implications tied to a Reggio mindset (or I think it does). I want to share how it came to be, how I’m using it for professional development for my new teaching team (and for me) and how it is moving our group of learners in such a wonderful and astounding way. After I shared this with the families it created a bridge between home and school as families are now also using this simple question to push their child’s thinking. In this small gesture it is allowing the child to feel the connection between home and school, for now there is a common language or question being used.
BACKGROUND: Over the summer I taught a Kindergarten program with a group of children who never had any experience with a Reggio program. They were from numerous traditional schools. (Yes I am still planning to send my thoughts tied to K and RE work to the list).
During that time I framed "project meetings" that had a protocol to it that allowed the children to take ownership of the project and meetings. The children were running their own meetings I became the mere documenter and on occasion stepping in to facilitate. Observing how this particular group of children grew tremendously using this “project/ inquiry meeting process" I pondered how could I bring this idea to my 4/5’s this year and how might I frame its beginnings.
The door of how to begin opened at the start of the school year at our first PS-5th grade assembly. During the assembly our principal challenged the whole elementary school to explore two keywords this year- wonder and curiosity.
PONDERING: I began to ponder upon these words. I had already long ago embraced wonder as a key principle to my working with children as I often used: “I wonder……” in my dialogue with children. My wondering connected to their wonder. This small phrase often added fuel to the fire and the dialogue between the child and I often takes off with its use.
When a teacher wonders with the child it signals to the child that I am a learner, a co-constructor, and a willing partner of learning and thinking beside them. I’m no longer “teacher” all knowing but rather I’m in the journey with them.
With those thoughts in mind I decided to have “I wonder” questions that would be tossed at our group meeting. HOWEVER these weren’t just arbitrary wonder questions. I would observe the work of the children, their interests and use that as a basis for my wonder question.
Again we are only a few weeks into school so I have been pulling the I wonder questions from by observations of their work on the playground- living in Hawaii it allows us to each morning to begin our day on the playground. This is where parents drop off their child, it often allows the families to meander, socialize together in the morning times. Its nothing for one to look around the playground and see 10 – 15 parents either talking to each other or playing with the children (not their own children!) All of this is priceless.
While on the playground I begin observing for moments of wonder that is pouring from the children’s play and work there. I observe and listen to the dialogues noting any that may be formed into a "I wonder" question.
Once something captures my attention I form a burning question stemming from their work and interest (yes it is open ended, but I tend to ask questions that touch on the side of fantasy thus it opens up the world to possibilities not based on facts).
Once we come in from the playground via the bathroom we go straight to meeting. I share with the children briefly what I observed to help trigger their thoughts and to let them know I “seen” what they were doing. I then share that I have a wonder question for them! They are all ears.
After I toss the question I record each child’s idea. When the child gives a reply I will say to them that is a great idea or that is great thinking, or I like your idea this is reinforcing thinking not answers! (FYI the children are using these phrases to each other and us) During this time I slow the pace down as I record their words into notebook. The children observe this note taking process that I am doing and this simple gesture is spawning new “ideas” of how the printed word is used.
Once everyone who wants to share has had a opportunity (which after several days into this everyone is excited to add to the I wonder question with their ideas) I will read back all ideas to the community. I want to make sure I have every child’s idea just as they shared it and also to allow for a revision of an idea if they would iike. I end by asking if they have any I wonder questions that we could add for another time. There are!
When finished we continue with our meeting and day. (this takes 10 mins tops, for now, but it is a rich 10 mins!)
The value or the why for the I wonder question seems to be two fold~ it is seeding learning for the child and learning for the adults as well.

For the children through the use of this process I am saying to them that I am interested and closely observing their work. They are being seen and valued! Second because the wonder question is coming from something they are doing or because the question originates from their interests they now have a deeper investment in the question. The question isn’t random, it is coming from their work.
HOW I AM USING THIS FOR GROWING A TEAM: At some point during the morning I will type up the dialogue-and print it out for use later with the team.
My team has made the ultimate choice of taking their breaks in the room in order for us to have a nice 45 meeting around the work that happened during the day. Thus during nap after all the children are settled or asleep, as a team we will snack on something while unpacking observations of the morning. During this time I bring to the table the “I wonder” ideas as part of their (teachers) growing process. We begin to unpack the children’s thinking.
I have the team look at each child’s idea and find which ones hold a theory, it is these that hold rich deep ideas worthy of continuing. I have them looking at what might the child’s theories be, we talk about the children’s thinking. We then look at the children’s dialogue to see what new I wonder question we could toss back to the children stemming from the discussion. I have them think about the what next, tomorrow and into the future.
As a team we discuss if there is a next morning I wonder question- one we want to toss back to them that came out of the dialogue from the morning work or do we look for another I wonder question or both.
We also wonder what if this question explodes, where might we go with it? Is it project worthy?
What is this seeding in the children:

On the first day I tried this I had observed the children catching bugs, and millipedes from around our playground. In my observations I wondered why, what caused children of all ages to hunt bugs, was it the hunt and joy of finding? Was it the collecting of things? What was the interest? Slowly I formed a question.
At the meeting I shared with them that I had been observing them catching the bugs and millipedes and had a question about this. I wondered why all the bugs were under the grass and not out?
The children began with their theories as to why…I recorded their ideas. Later in the morning one of the boys came to me and said, “Ms. Leslie write this down: "I wonder why bugs come in the classroom and in the house? Why do ants bump their heads together and then go different ways?” Write it down Ms. Leslie this is important!"
By day two I heard the children asking each other I wonder why? And I heard theories being shared. I heard them saying what is your idea? I like that thinking? Now a thinking community was truly being born!

I just remembered a part of the sharing process that I did like. In an effort to make it more meaningful, one year we had the children draw pictures of their "share item". I remember the children spending a lot of time on this picture and enjoying the process, we also wrote down what they said about their sharing item, adding a photograph would also be a good idea. Anyway, we put them all together in a book and I remember the children going back over and over again to look at this particular book. It was also neat b/c when the "sharing" child was drawing their item, often other students would come by and offer advice or also want to draw the item.