Why come
This 2-day workshop shares principles, practices, and tools developed by the Pedagogy of Play project, a collaboration between the International School of Billund, the LEGO Foundation, and Project Zero (PZ) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Registration
Maximum number of participants: 75
Individuals:
Early Bird (register before September 29, 2017) – €300
Standard Rate (as of September 30) – €375
Group (minimum 3 registrations):
Group Rate – €325
Event details
Workshop goals
With Ben Mardell and Mara Kerechevsky
Play is a core resource for learning in early childhood through adulthood. The successful 21st century citizen will be able to collaborate, create, and imagine – skills and dispositions promoted by play.
This 2-day workshop shares principles, practices, and tools developed by the Pedagogy of Play project, a collaboration between the International School of Billund, the LEGO Foundation, and Project Zero (PZ) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Participants will discuss how a culture of playful learning can be established throughout a school, as well as issuesof particular interest to middle school, primary, and kindergarten teachers. The workshop will also explore the role of documentation, as developed in PZ’s Making Learning Visible project, in creating a culture of playful learning in and across classrooms, and connections between learning through play and the IB curricula.
Pedagogy of Play: Designing for playful learning in preschool through middle school
Understanding Goals / Throughlines
What is a Pedagogy of Play and why do we need one?
What does playful learning look like?
How can we support learning through play in classrooms and schools?
DAY 1
Why a Pedagogy of Play?
What does playful learning look like? Unpacking our assumptions, values, and beliefs
Examples of playful learning from the classroom and throughout the school
LUNCH
Learning to document; documenting to learn: The Airplane Activity
What does playful learning look like in kindergarten, primary and middle school?
How can the classroom environment support learning through play?
DAY 2
Reflections from Day 1
Principles of a Pedagogy of Play (PoP): From theory into practice
Panel Discussion: How do ISB (International School of Billund) teachers plan for
playful learning in their classrooms?
LUNCH
Exploring tools from the ISB “PoP Playbook”
Using PoP ideas in your own context
How do we create a school-wide culture of playful learning?
Conversations in grade-level interest groups
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Featured speakers
Ben Mardell
Project director of the Pedagogy of Play
Ben Mardell is the project director of the Pedagogy of Play, a collaboration with the LEGO Foundation and the International School of Billund, exploring how play can have a central part in children’s learning in school. Ben has been associated with Project Zero since 1999, initially as a researcher on the Making Learning Visible (MLV) project and helped co-author Making Learning Visible: Children as Individual and Group Learners and Making Teaching Visible: Documentation of Individual and Group Learning as Professional Development. After continuing his work as a preschool and kindergarten teacher, Ben returned as a researcher on MLV and co-authored Visible Learners: Promoting Reggio-Inspired Approaches in All Schools. Ben is also a professor at Lesley University’s Graduate School of Education and his publications include: From Basketball to the Beatles: In Search of Compelling Early Childhood Curriculum and Growing Up in Child Care: A Case For Quality Early Education. When not at PZ, Ben enjoys playing with his family and participating in triathlons.
Mara Krechevsky
Senior researcher at Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Mara Krechevsky is a senior researcher at Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Mara has been conducting educational research for 30 years, including directing Making Learning Visible (MLV), an investigation into documenting and assessing individual and group learning from preschool to high school. MLV is based on collaborative research with educators from Reggio Emilia. Mara has worked with hundreds of teachers and administrators in the U.S. and abroad on creating powerful learning environments for children and adults. She has authored or co-authored seven books and over 30 articles and book chapters. Her most recent book, co-authored with Ben Mardell, Melissa Rivard, and Daniel Wilson, is Visible Learners: Promoting Reggio-Inspired Approaches in all Schools.
Gabrieal Salas Davila
ESL Teacher
Gabrieal Salas Davila (Gaby) is a teacher from Mexico, with experience teaching ESL, Kindergarten and Primary. Besides her home country she has lived and worked in Sweden and Los Angeles before moving to Denmark with her family. She has worked at the International School of Billund since 2013.
Tue Rabenhøj
MYP Teacher
Tue Rabenhøj has taught middle school and upper secondary students for 20 years in Nepal, India, South Africa, Lesotho, Germany and now in his native Denmark. He has been involved with the IB MYP for the past 15 years as both a teacher and a middle school coordinator with a special interest in curriculum design and development. He came to the International School of Billund two years ago attracted by the schools mission of promoting learning through play.
For Tue, play is a strategy for leaning that provide opportunities to experiment, think and create and support the development of a school culture. Tue also believes that a Pedagogy of Play can help to promote internationally minded citizens who, in line with the IBO mission statement, ‘ aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect’.
Idah
PYP/Primary Coordinator
Idah is currently the PYP/Primary Coordinator for the International School of Billund, where she teaches and also coordinates professional development. She strives to approach her work with teachers and children with a playful mindset.
She has co-authored a Picture of Practice that tells the story of a play-based curriculum for her P2 students, in which she integrated role play and student-led learning into a unit on Money.
Idah has been a member and co-facilitator of several Project Zero teacher study groups focused on learning through play as part of the Pedagogy of Play project, and is currently beginning a new inquiry within her study group will focus on helping teachers see playful opportunities in academic content by encouraging a playful mindset in staff.
She has an Advanced Diploma in Montessori Education from Montessori Singapore and a Bachelor’s Degree, Bachelor of Early Childhood Studies (BESt) from Monash University, Australia. She is an IBEN member, PYP Consultant, PYP School Visiting Team Member, PYP Curriculum Connections Service Provider, PYP Curriculum Reviewer.