Some More Writing / Još malo pisanja

This spring, while preparing to plant some vegetable seeds in our garden in the countryside, V made these garden labels, with just a pinch of my help. We used 'the method' described here to write the vegetable names - with some permanent markers on large popsicle sticks. V was so so excited about planting the garden and all the preparations around it, that he was more than motivated to write and draw the labels. And, of course, he was so happy that he could do it (almost) himself!


Proletos, dok smo se pripremali da zasadimo baštu na vikendici, V je napravio ove oznake za baštu sa samo malo moje pomoći. Koristili smo 'metodu' opisanu ovde da bi V napisao nazive povrća - permanentnim flomasterima na drvenim štapićima (koje, inače, lekari koriste pri pregledanju grla, a mogu se naći vrlo povoljno u apotekama). V je bio toliko uzbuđen zbog sađenja bašte i svih priprema, da je bio više nego motivisan da iscrta i ispiše sve oznake. I naravno, bio je presrećan što je to mogao da uradi - (skoro) sasvim sam! 

Writing Beginnings/ Pisanje, počeci

I strongly believe in following the child's lead, without imposing what or how to do without imposing on a child what to do or how to do things, and also love the philosophy of John Holt in regards to learning. One of the main things that he claimed (point he makes) was that children have a naturaI need to learn and to understand (make sense of) the world around them, but they have to do this in their own way and in their own time. Uninvited teaching does not make learning, and more often it prevents learning. Children learn best without being taught - if we let their inner interests flourish. Every child learns in his own way, and if allowed, builds his own system of constructing knowledge. Holt thought that adults could help young learners best not by deciding what they are to learn but by encouraging and helping them to learn what they are already busy learning.

Čvrsto verujem u praćenje detetovih ličnih interesovanja, bez nametanja onoga što bi trebalo da uči/radi ili kako. Takođe volim filozofiju Džona Holta koja se odnosi na način kako deca uče. On je smatrao da deca imaju prirodnu potrebu da uče i da razumeju svet koji ih okružuje, ali da to moraju da rade na svoj sopstveni način i svojim sopstvenim tempom. Nametnuto podučavanje od strane odraslih ne proizvodi učenje niti stvaranje smisla i vrlo često onemogućava pravo učenje. Deca najbolje uče onda kada nisu podučavana - kada dozvolimo da slede sopstvena interesovanja. Svako dete uči na sebi svojstven način i ako mu dozvolimo - stvoriće sopstveni sistem konstruisanja znanja. Džon Holt je smatrao da odrasli mogu pomoći deci, ne tako što će određivati šta će učiti, već tako što će ih ohrabrivati i pomagati im u učenju onoga što su deca već sama odabrala da uče, kao i načina na koji su odabrala da to rade.

V was about four years old when he started showing interest in writing. This intense enthusiasm (curiosity) lasted for a while, and then it disappeared for almost a year, to appear again some time ago. In the beginning V asked us to write down some words for him so he could copy them. And then some more, and more, and more.  He would ask “How do you write a 'lion'?" I would write it down and he would copy the word. And so on. 

This initiative and approach of his own was very exciting for me, and I was thinking of ways to follow his lead and support it discretely without pushing too much in my own direction. 

Since he loved drawing so much I suggested we make some writing cards together: he would say the word, I would write it down, and he would draw it, so he would know what it meant. 

V je imao četiri godine kada je počeo da se interesuje za pisanje. Ovo interesovanje je kratko trajalo, a onda ga skoro godinu dana pisanje uopšte nije zanimalo, do pre izvesnog vremena. U početku bi V tražio da napišemo neke reči kako bi mogao da ih prepiše. A onda još i još i još. Pitao bi: ,,Kako se piše 'lav'?" Ja bih napisala, a on bi prepisao reč. 

Ova njegova inicijativa i njegov sopstveni pristup u savladavanju slova i pisanja su za mene bili vrlo uzbudljivi i razmišljala sam o načinima da ih ispratim i podržim - diskretno bez previše nametanja u pravcu koji bi više bio moj nego njegov. Pošto V obožava da crta predložila sam mu da zajedno napravimo kartice za pisanje: on bi predložio reč, ja bih je zapisala na kartončiću, a on bi je, potom, nacrtao kako bi znao šta na kartici piše.

Instead of asking us to write the words all the time for him to copy, he could now do this activity on his own, as well: he would take a card with his drawing of a lion, for example, and he would know that 'lion' is what is written according to his drawing. He would then copy the word on a blank piece of paper, with no help.
Umesto da stalno traži da zapisujemo za njega reči koje bi kopirao, sada je mogao ovu aktivnost da sprovodi i sam: uzeo bi karticu sa crtežom, npr. lava koji je sam nacrtao, znao bi po crtežu da tu piše 'lav' a onda bi reč 'lav' prepisao na parče belog papira, bez ičije pomoći.

Maybe this approach was completely wrong from the methodical point of view, but it totally made sense for V and he embraced it with so much enthusiasm, that I think it couldn't have been harmful. And this is what I want for him: to try to save this passion and enthusiasm for learning and discovering new things! If passion exists in things we do - then I strongly believe - it can't be a wrong way! 

Možda je ovaj pristup učenju slova i pisanja potpuno pogrešan sa metodičkog aspekta, ali je za V-a očigledno imao velikog smisla čim ga je prihvatio sa toliko entuzijazma, tako da verujem da nije mogao biti štetan. I to je upravo ono što želim za njega: da pokušam da sačuvam ovu strast i entuzijazam za učenje i otkrivanje novih stvari. Ako strast postoji u stvarima koje radimo - onda čvrsto verujem - da to ne može biti pogrešan način!