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Suzanne Axelsson

@interactionimagination

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#OriginalLearning
Interweaving play learning teaching + understanding.
Play activist. ActuallyAutistic. English/svenska
#playarista

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I have created a short podcast series of 16 episodes
Each episode is just 10 minutes.
DEAR Teacher
The hope is that everyone can practice the habit of noticing without it feeling overwhelming timewise.
Just 10 minutes.
This is the introduction that explains my intentions - with a 1 minute pause towards the end to get used to 1 minute noticing pauses that will occur in every episode.
Tomorrow I will release 4 more episodes -
The Loom
The Fabric
The Threads, and
The Warp
As the series is deeply connected to the Original Learning Approach - so it starts with thinking about the weaving - as this is how I have imagined Original Learning.
Next week 11 more episodes will be released - the 10 essential threads of wonder, curiosity, joy, knowledge, imagination, interaction, risk, time, reflection, and listening
The final episode is called The Pattern and encourages us to notice complexity by reflecting on all the episodes.

Even if all this offers is 10 minutes of calm in your busy teaching lives... then I am content.
But I truly hope it scaffolds the habit of noticing and unhurriedness.

https://suzanneaxelsson.substack.com/p/dear-teacher-1 taken in Stockholm, Sweden by @interactionimagination

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a day ago

This new post arises from a sense of despair and concern that so many Swedish educators seek to distance themselves from our care responsibilities and only see prestige in the teaching part.
This post looks briefly at the importance of care and an even briefer history of Swedish preschool.

If you want to find out more about care - check out @illuminatingcare
@drjoolspage has fabulous research on #professionallove
Also check out Alison Clark's work on unhurriedness

ALL play activists I think should also be activating for care - real genuine care. Play is an act of care too, because it's about wellbeing
- https://suzanneaxelsson.substack.com/p/since-when-did-care-become-the-opposite taken in Gamla Stan, Stockholms Län, Sweden by @interactionimagination

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3 days ago

I am preparing for a month long adventure
I have decided to call it an odyssey
Because an odyssey is an encounter with the unfamiliar, a willingness to be changed and an invitation to question the maps we have inherited.
This post shares my plan to notice every day through different lenses... 32 different prompts.
Maybe you would like to use some of these prompts yourself?
I will be sharing my reflections here, rather than substack... so I can't use the excuse of not wanting to open my computer... hopefully I capture some fabulous photos too...
And I am downloading the right areas on my Merlin app so that I can notice the birds in New Zealand and Australia too!!!
https://suzanneaxelsson.substack.com/p/an-odyssey-down-under taken in Stockholm, Sweden by @interactionimagination

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5 days ago

Three posts available over on Substack - each I feel leans into empathy, care and consent.

Consent as Something the Body Learns explores how play is an important space for children to fully understand consent. And what roles we play as adults.
https://suzanneaxelsson.substack.com/p/consent-as-something-the-body-learns

Observation as Presence reminds us that we are always affecting children's play and learning
https://suzanneaxelsson.substack.com/p/observation-is-presence

And Care or Control examines how control is being framed in pleasant tones and therefore not always being understood as control...
https://suzanneaxelsson.substack.com/p/care-or-control taken in Stockholm, Sweden by @interactionimagination

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13 days ago

New post available on Substack - exploring lining up and other rules and whether they are about control or care...
Why do we do what we do?
Are we even bothering to nourish the roots or are we always controlling them so the tree grows straight from the earth with zero reflection on what kind of earth they are in...
https://suzanneaxelsson.substack.com/p/care-or-control

Give it a read and let me know...
This post also shares an old post about Malaguzzi's three children - and how this implies there must ne three teachers - because I think we don't talk about the image of the teacher enough taken in Stockholm, Sweden by @interactionimagination

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20 days ago

Play-led pedagogy
Not playful teaching, but pedagogy that scaffolds children's capacity to experience collective autonomy and agency.
Play-led pedagogy requires the educator to notice deeply what the children are doing when they play.
Play-led pedagogy values play and learning flow and nurtures both.
Here I have attempted to create a cycle or rhythm of play-led pedagogy that would work both in preschool and school.
And for those that struggle with "play" why not start with autonomous inquiry as the description of what is happening in the explore part. by @interactionimagination

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24 days ago

Besearching
Here is a post suggesting the need for a new word.
A word the acknowledges the being of inquiry, the embodied learning through curiosity, and the lack of need for answers in being in the question.
Besearching describes a state that most children experience without adults ever knowing because adults have been taught to search for answers rather than enjoy the process of the question
Rather than research, besearch allows us to be in the be
Ceasing to BE, BEing, and BEcoming
Not with certainty or a specific outcome
But relishing uncertainty and inhabiting the possibilities.
Read my post
https://suzanneaxelsson.substack.com/p/besearch-a-word-worth-playing-with
And let me know what you think...
#besearch #besearcher #besearching taken in Stockholm, Sweden by @interactionimagination

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a month ago

Today is my birthday
And today I wrote a short post about when a child asked me what is the purpose of a snail - and I was rather surprised what a search reported...
And yesterday while chatting with Cathy @theintentionaleducator_yvr about play and felt that there was a connection between the way the system describes the purpose of a snail and the way the system sees the purpose of play.
https://suzanneaxelsson.substack.com/p/play-and-the-snail-a-philosophical tale taken in Stockholm, Sweden by @interactionimagination

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a month ago

My latest post is a reflection on where to begin with our planning - the curriculum, the child, play, care...
And I offer, in true Original Learning style, complexity as an answer - and why I think we need to think and rethink about the way we plan when it comes to play-led pedagogy and play-responsive teaching - so that play-led play thrives.
In Swedish and English
https://suzanneaxelsson.substack.com/p/rethinking-where-planning-begins by @interactionimagination

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a month ago

I am super excited to be traveling to New Zealand to present at the #IPA2026 world conference.

I will be presenting twice.
"The Original Learning Approach: Anti-colonial perspectives of playing, learning and teaching" on Monday 2nd November 11-12:20 (altho that's not all my time as we present in groups)
and
"The Grammar of Materials and Play" Tuesday 3rd 16:15-17:15.

I am super excited about both of these... my main anxiety is how to just talk for 20 minutes - like what to include and what to exclude - because my working documents for these presentations are just packed with stuff I want to share.

I will also be attending as the representative for the Sweden branch of IPA - of which I am currently chair.

Since I am traveling so far I have combined it with a trip to Australia where I will also hold some workshops and presentations - keep tuned for more info on that.
#playaotearoa #playnz @swedenipa by @interactionimagination

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a month ago

I continue to play with ideas. Expanding from my post on play-led play - I wondered about play-led pedagogy rather than child or adult led.... and how this would align with the Original Learning understanding of play-responsive teaching.

Play is the brain adapting to a complex world - it is a lifelong learning and adaptation system for embodied understanding rather than remaining cerebral.
We don't just know about it, we actually know it - or at least on our way to.
This post explains how I see play-led pedagogy
Is it in alignment with how you imagine it might be?

https://suzanneaxelsson.substack.com/p/play-led-pedagogy by @interactionimagination

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a month ago

Did you know you can easily access my substack in my highlights - where I share a link to each post... so why not flip through my substack highlight and see if there is something that demands to be read!!! taken in Stockholm, Sweden by @interactionimagination

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2 months ago