Children play. It’s the most natural, human way we learn, and after 26 years in early childhood classrooms I believe that more deeply than ever. What has grown alongside that belief is a clearer sense of my own role within it.

I teach from inside the play. I follow first, listen closely, and offer a question, a material or a bridge when it can take a child’s thinking somewhere new, and only when I’m invited in. Knowing my curriculum well is what gives me that freedom. I carry it with me as a map: the children, the PYP concepts, the learner profile and the units of inquiry, so I can respond to what’s actually happening in front of me rather than to a plan written the week before.

Lately I’ve been fascinated by big-picture thinking with very young children. “How do you know?” and “Why do you think that?” are some of my favourite questions in the classroom. I’m exploring how the questions behind Theory of Knowledge, about how we know what we know, can begin with three- and four-year-olds, through photographs, short films, picture books and their own play.

This blog is where I share what really happens in my classroom. Each post is a learning story: the children’s words, my own thinking in the moment, the connections to our units of inquiry, and how I documented it. Rereading my documentation is also how I keep learning myself, so you’ll see the moments I’d do differently too. To protect the children’s privacy, I never use their real names. Every child in these stories is called Ginger or Mac, after my two cats.

Documentation is also what led me to found Sorone, the camera app that files your photos as you take them. I built it so I could capture learning as it happens and keep my eyes on the children. Each learning story ends with “Gathering the Evidence,” showing how I captured that moment.

I hold a Bachelor of Education (Teaching) Early Childhood and have taught internationally across ten countries, including London, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Phnom Penh, Oman and DR Congo. I now teach three- and four-year-olds at an international school in Dhaka. I’ve contributed to IB Teacher Support Materials and written for ACER’s Teacher Magazine.

For my longer reflections on play and the role of the teacher, you’ll find me on Substack.