Jan 3, 2018

Hello again....

I normally make it a policy not to apologize for long absences on a blog, but... this was a very long --unintentionally long -- absence and I'm at that point where I need to post SOMETHING or I'll never get past the mental block of "I will never catch up."

Readers, I will never be able to catch up enough to share all of the great things that happened in AnjiPlayDate programs last fall and I regret that.  But, like the photo above, I feel like I've been balancing a lot of things as I continue to refine my program structure and I need time to make sure I'm doing it carefully and doing it well.

I had the amazing opportunity to return to China for a second visit to the schools of Anji County last October.  I learned so much on this trip -- a deeper understanding of the role of Play Sharing time, more opportunities to witness video analysis (where teachers show videos of children playing and talk about what's going on in the videos), and so many other things -- from nitty gritty how-to details to bigger picture philosophy discussions. I can't believe that I've been neck-deep in this educational approach for almost two years now and still find myself feeling like an utter novice, learning the most basic things and getting surprised with huge a-ha moments all the time.

For today, let's do something easy to get me back into the swing of blogging.  How about some photos from my trip?






 One thing I tried to pay closer attention to on this trip was the way the teachers observed the kids.




  
And my librarian heart thrilled to see some of the incredible reading environments the schools have crafted for the students.





Deep breaths everyone.  It's time to leap into a new year!


Please note: "Anji Play,” refers to a specific philosophy and comprehensive approach to early education developed by Ms. Cheng Xueqin in Anji County, China. I use the term "Anji Play" to describe my programming and throughout this blog with the explicit permission of Ms. Cheng because our programming has been developed as part of a close collaborative relationship with her and her team of Anji Play educators. If you are interested in learning more about how you can bring Anji Play to your community, please visit www.anjiplay.com


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