Our Planet

Text : Aya Endo

It is said that it takes 3 whole years for rainwater, fallen on top of Mt. Fuji, to transform to spring water. Absorbed into deep ground of the mountain filtered through layers of stratum, the underground water then springs on the ground surface. This, I feel, can be the best- metaphor of our process of thinking; a fresh new idea I’ve just come up with is triggered from some particular points of my life, thoroughly filtered through layers of my words, my experiences and encounters from the past. If we think about it based on this theory, it may be that anything we all believe as “something new” can already be quite old-fashioned, depending on which point of view we choose to have.

 

When we work on establishing a brand new education for children and the world they live in few years ahead, I believe that we adults all need to start off with this recognition: from the future point of view, how we think is currently already too old-fashioned. It is impossible for us to get rid of the stereotypes we built up in the last many years and months, but I believe it is possible for us to try to think out of the box acknowledging the existing framework. At Yamanoko, the individual team member has always worked on this method, and I have been creating opportunities such as team camp (or gasshuku) to make this possible -to develop Yamanoko members who can rbuild new ways, new framework out of what currently exist.

 

Through this process, we realised that our “cutting edge” is always hidden in the questions sprung from our daily lives with children.    By continuously acknowledging what questions and ideas we have, and by talking about them, bearing in mind that there is no right answer, we experience the current thoughts and framework sway to gradually widen our views and meet the new world. Cherishing the daily questions and explorations, we shall respond to children and continue to reform educational environment -this is what I exactly mentioned as “exploration method” in my previous essay, Little Planet vol.10.

 

In November of 2018 we put “share your idea/exploration experiences” board on a display in both Yamanoko Childcare Center and Yamanoko Home. Moreover, we have also changed the format of our daily/monthly recording system. However, we were still far from reaching our aim of creating a cycle of exploration method being extensively used in the daily scenes of childcare and education.

 

Bearing this in mind, in the end of March this year at team camp, the whole team discussed on how the shift to exploration method can happen in the way we aspire. As a result we decided to alter not only daily/monthly recording system but also the format of monthly plan for each class into using “mind map (a note-taking method that highly stimulates brain function, devised by Tony Buzan)”. Also, we decided to have have all the class staff and the director to get together to lay out the monthly plan for each class.

 

Our new monthly plan in mind-map style will be shared on the wall of each class. We would love to have you take a look! By exploring our everyday ideas and questions deeply, we hope to shift the exterior environment of the classrooms as well as the inner environment of the people that surround the children.  This is our ongoing challenge for the future and the present.