Let’s do a lot of details.

Yeah.

Students: Welcome to the little [inaudible].

Woman: Because we do provocations, children get to express who they are as learners. They have an opportunity to be autonomous in their learning, and it changes their self-image. They see themselves as capable, they see themselves as responsible, they see themselves as successful.

Students: Yes.

Lizzie: So provocations really fit into the whole mission of the school because it’s about giving kids choice, and it’s about empowering them to decide what they want to learn.

Sapna: A provocation is a concept that comes from the philosophy of Reggio Emilia. It provokes thinking and ignites curiosity in children.

Woman: So in each space, there’s the provocation, which has certain learning
tasks, and also, all of the materials kids will need to engage in that task. Setting up this space beautifully invites kids to want to engage with the provocation. We do provocations one session a day. We have the big board, and it has all of the different spaces on there. And they choose a space that they’re interested in.

Evona: You choose a space and then, you read the provocation for that space.

Evona: So I feel it makes the yoga poses that make us feel safe.

Teacher: So have a look here. There’s some poses here that I’ve set out for you.

Moksh: A provocation is not just about fun, and it’s actually to make people’s mind get bigger.
Woman: Construction space is a really exciting one. The provocation in there is asking them to create a building or a structure that makes their city more child-friendly. First, they have to plan. And then, once they’ve thought about it, then they start to build it.

Moksh: This is like a play center for kids to play and do their dreams.There’s a jumping castle. There’s three slides.

Lizzie: But like any teacher would plan a class, we plan the provocations. We begin by saying to the kids,well, what are you interested in? And then, we take that and we look at it in our planning and we say, okay, well, the kids are really interested in this. How can we link it in with core skills? What are they doing in this space that is supporting their literacy and numeracy, and is it practicing those skills that we need them to be practicing?

Woman: We’ve got this provocation in our dramatic play space, which is this ice cream shop and that came from our workshop to do with money, and what we use it for in our everyday lives.

Student: What would you like?

Student: I want twoscoops of strawberry.

Woman: As an extension of that, we wanted the kids to work as a team. So they had to collaborate.

Bailey: They have the customer, they have the scooper, and they have the cashier. They have ice creams, but not real ice creams because then,
people just eat them and because the calculator doesn’t work, you have to learn pluses and stuff.

Student: $118.

Sapna: When children go and work on those provocations, we have an expectation that they document their learning. It makes it meaningful for them.

Bailey: We get this book. It’s called our learning journeyand we add more writing each time.

Teacher: So children might sharehow they felt about an experience,and that can include what they liked about the provocation,what they found challenging. Do they need to go back and continue to work?

Teacher: That’s a really good reflection, well done.

Lizzie: So every provocation, they’ll finish the activity, finish the reflection, and then, they conference with the teacher and they get signed off that space.

Sapna: Can you explain your toothpaste to me? How– where would the paste come out?

Sapna: The teacher will say, okay, how did you go with this? How were you being creative? Were you collaborating with someone?

Sapna: Okay. You look like you’re ready to move on. You’ve done the best that you can in that space and then, they’re ready for something different.

Teacher: Where did you get stuck?

Student There, because I can’t touch that label.

Teacher: How are you going to get around it?

Teacher: The benefit for me as a teacher is that I get to see the whole child
and the true child. It’s almost like I’m the fly on the wall. I get to see how they choose to express themselves and how they cope in challenging situations. I get to see the joy that they get from learning.

Student: We went in the yoga space. We made our own yoga poses together.

Teacher: Well done. Beautiful. [Applause] Can I ask you a question? What were you exploring?

Schools That Work

Wooranna Park Primary School