Gloria Latham

Conversation around the art of asking and responding to the big questions

This conversation furthers and deepens our discussions about the roles of twenty-first-century teachers. It examines, in particular, teachers asking, eliciting and responding to ‘big questions’ and takes a close look at two ways big questions can be explored with literature that is complex and challenging and appropriate for younger and for older readers. It also explores how arts-based practices can enhance new understandings.

Conversation around selecting quality literature

This conversation focuses on the pleasures of reading and the need to select engaging, imaginative and challenging literature for the classroom in order to foster generative conversations. It explores some of the reasons why such selections are made and touches on the role children can play in making these choices. Some selection principles are offered as a starting point for parents and teachers to consider.

Conversation around some current tensions and debates in western education

This conversation examines the rapid pace of change in an increasingly complex world and identifies the skills and understandings required for teachers and children to better navigate these complexities. There is a discussion around some of the tensions teachers face within current educational debates and how, with courage and the collaboration of other like-minded people, teachers can overcome the regulatory and standardised nature of teaching and learning.

Conversation around the power of the imagination

This conversation celebrates the imagination and its vital importance in our lives and in our learning. It also celebrates children’s voices and the voices of adults and their expressions of imagination through their drawings and words and how these expressions informed and transformed our thinking.

Conversation around questioning and providing feedback

These next two conversations examine the teacher’s varied roles in generative classroom discussions around stories and storytelling and reading. What are the mindsets, knowledge and expertise required to foster and deepen classroom conversations? The conversations discuss ways to foster curiosity, play, surprise and wonder. In particular they attend to deep listening, risk-taking and the asking of exploratory questions and critical reflection.

Conversation around the re-imagined learning environment

These next two conversations centre on creating inclusive spaces with students to provide all members of the learning community agency and a sense of belonging. There are many factors involved in creating a classroom culture where all children feel free to express ideas, where ideas grow and develop in collaboration, where the imagination and all creative endeavours are fostered to deepen insights, where thoughts are challenged and deepened, where wonder and surprise, playfulness and informed risk-taking are all part of the fabric of the community, the school and the classroom. Leading theorists on creativity emphasise how the community in which a person operates affects creative and innovative outcomes.

Conversation around 21st century teachers’ mindsets and roles

These next two conversations around the re-imagined teacher examine the teacher’s varied roles in generative classroom discussions around stories, storytelling and reading. What are the mindsets, knowledge and expertise required to foster and deepen classroom conversations? The conversations discuss ways to foster curiosity, play, surprise and wonder. In particular they attend to deep listening, risk-taking, the asking of exploratory questions, feedback and critical reflection.

Conversation around building a place for belonging

These next two conversations around the re-imagined teacher centre on creating inclusive spaces with students to provide all members of the learning community agency and a sense of belonging. There are many factors involved in creating a classroom culture where all children feel free to express ideas; where ideas grow and develop in collaboration; where the imagination and all creative endeavours are fostered to deepen insights; where thoughts are challenged and deepened; and where wonder and surprise, playfulness and informed risk-taking are all part of the fabric of the community, the school and the classroom. Leading theorists on creativity emphasise how the community in which a person operates affects creative and innovative outcomes.

Conversation around dramatic play

The next two conversations and postscript focus on two art forms (drama and literature) and how, as important disciplines in their own right, they can also work together to foster rich language learning experiences for children. The first conversation introduces the role that educational or process drama has played in the authors’ lives and can play in all teachers’ and children’s lives deepening understanding about literature and life and so enhance literacy outcomes. The second conversation provides a specific example from a drama and literature programme undertaken in a suburban Sydney school. And this is followed by a postscript with some of the teachers’ and children’s responses to the drama.

Conversation around poetry

The conversation about poetry is enriched by a conversation that a Prep 2 teacher had with her Prep to Year 2 class just before Christmas at the end of 2016. In various ways we consider what poetry might be, its importance to us and why and how we can encourage teachers and children to enjoy it and share it more often in classrooms.