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Make that difference! Write learning Stories that go straight to the essence of what it means to be a curious, wondrous learner.

Amelie, curious, adventurous, imaginative explorer.
~Ephemeral art installation in a stream~

It has always been my hope that I write with a 'whole heartedness' and with a 'relational connection' so that what I write makes a difference in children's learning lives and contributes to their identities as life long learners.  I want the legacy I leave behind to be one that reflects my practice, as year after year, day after day, moment after moment, I have intentionally nurtured the children in our setting to build the brain they will have for a life time. I want to understand this impact and I want to work in a setting where these ideas are a commonly shared value. That's not to say that we all write or act the same. Far from it. Anyone who lives and works in an environment that expects 'sameness', or strict adherence to rules set down by a person 'in charge' is one where curiosity, innovation, and courage are in jeopardy. I want to live and learn in a space where curiosity, innovation and courage to advocate for children are a breathing expression of responsiveness to children's deep seated energies and passions. This is the inquiry spark that keeps us alive to possibility and energised to make vibrant learning opportunities happen. Complacency, ordinariness and lack of imagination have no place here. What does live in this space is trust, vulnerability, courage to push yourself to the edge and step beyond and an empathy for others that translates into a community who cares about each other.  
Dame Tilly Reedy one of the original writers of Te Whāriki (1996) has this to say about understanding who we are as teachers.


Dame Tilly Reedy, in her key note address, Te Whāriki: A Tapestry For Life, at an OECD meeting in Wellington in 2013, made this statement:

“Te Whāriki promises, strong and durable foundations on which to weave a tapestry for life. The key word is ‘foundations’. Oku tūrangawaewae, my foundations. That is what Te Whāriki seeks from us…we really have to know who we are, what we are, why we are the way we are, before we can be any good to ourselves, let alone the children who have been entrusted to our  care”.


I love the way Dame Tilly says 'the children entrusted to our care'. A perspective like this again lifts us towards that lofty mountain whakatauki and takes us way beyond setting a goal to grow our professional practice into a committed life long journey; a blue skies, inspirational, aspirational commitment to make a difference in children's lives and indeed in our own:

Whāia te iti kahurangi 
ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei

Seek the treasure you value most dearly: 
if you bow your head, let it  be to a lofty mountain


The Learning Story below is one I wrote for Amelie, the ephemeral artist in the photo above. One Learning Story only contributes to children's learning identities, and while this story will offer a glimpse, it is the combination of the many Learning Story, narrative assessments, written by a teaching team with the synergy of ideas, understood as their 'Local Curriculum' (Te Whāriki, (2017), that contribute to an image of children that makes the real difference. This is why sharing your stories together is so important. 




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