I am stunned at the number of teachers with whom I talk, train, and communicate who are STILL insisting on using very inappropriate methods of working with young children.

SO, CUT IT OUT!

It is 2017. We know that children from birth to about 8 years of age learn best through the methods of MOVEMENT, SENSORY OPERATIONS, MANIPULATION OF OBJECTS, CONSTRUCTION (AND DESTRUCTION), ROLE PLAY, and EXPRESSION. They DO NOT learn best from sitting cross-cross applesauce for more than 15 minutes MAX listening to you talk about the calendar. They DO NOT learn best by sitting at a desk trying to make lines and circles with a pencil before they are through wiggling their fingers in pudding, sand, fingerpaint, and dirt. They DO NOT learn best from filling in worksheets by drawing lines from pictures of objects to the letters those objects start with. They never have.

When teachers say, “How do I TEACH math with Loose Parts?” “How do I TEACH the alphabet using Reggio?” “How do I GET THEM READY FOR KINDERGARTEN if all they do is play?” I sigh a big sigh, take a big sip of an adult beverage, gently shake my head and say:

The best learning – what we want for all of our children – happens when we:

• set the stage with safe objects in displays that look inviting TO THE CHILDREN – not to our lady friends on Pinterest
• place books and words in every center of learning – even outdoors & the potty
• find out what is interesting TO THE CHILDREN by observing THEM, asking THEM, and listening to THEM
• introduce a topic or unit by asking THEM what THEY know and what THEY want to know about it and write THEIR words and ideas on Word Walls to display in the classroom for reference and literacy until interest in the unit has waned
• use SARA – let them SELECT an area of work/play; give them time and space to take ACTION while we serve as safety monitors, observers and askers of open-ended questions, but do not change their plan of action; give them opportunities to REFLECT on their learning through conversation, song, music, dance, chant, art, role play, and rhyme; and then make sure they have time & opportunity to repeat repeat, repeat the learning and APPLY it in new and wonderful ways

Early Education is not the place to TEACH with a Capital T; not the place for professional suits and high heel shoes; not the place for 16 rules about how to behave and the 16 consequences of misbehavior; and not the place for strictly academic expectations and grading papers with big fat red markers.

Preschool is the place for knowledge of and belief in the Evidence on child development. It is the place of Expectations that match that evidence. It is the place where you create and maintain an Environment of safety and design active child-centered Experiences that are Executed with the human factor and DAP. It is the place where a child’s progress (NOT the worth of the child himself) is Evaluated by your observations and documentation of his/her learning using each child’s strengths to meet his/her needs.

You are the stage setter, the prop master, the cue card holder, and the person in the audience who claps the loudest – but Teachers, you are not the star of the show.

Getting back to the ‘series’ of What To Do If blogs. Let’s talk about dealing with the other adults in the early ed environment. This one is about the Boss.

What do I do if my Boss is Wrong? – This happens more than you would think, unfortunately, and it is ALWAYS uncomfortable.

Firstly – Remember that this person –  Lead Teacher, Education Director, Unit Supervisor, or Program Director – IS the boss and as such, deserves the respect the POSITION should be given. We need to presume that the person in the position of authority has earned that respect unless there is evidence that her words or actions prove her unworthy. As professionals, we need to respect her automatically as a fellow professional, and as a simple matter of her holding authority over our employment, we need to be careful in our words and actions toward her.

Secondly – Just as we do with child behaviors, prioritize or do a triage system that tells you if this is an action that is merely annoying, a personal variation on what is normally done, or truly harmful. If it’s annoying or ‘different’ from your way of doing things, ignore it. If it is harmful in any way, take action.

Thirdly – Try VERY hard NEVER to gossip about her actions, words, mistakes, ineptitude, lack of knowledge or professionalism with your coworkers unless there is reason to collaborate about a serious infraction that endangers the children in your care.

We use a system of assessing child progress we call OCDRP – Observe, Collaborate (in complete confidence and professionalism), Document, Refer, and Plan. OCDRP may work well with this issue too. If you observe the actions/words of your supervisor and find there is something that goes against what you know to be good, proper, appropriate, and ‘right’ for the children and parents in your program, and you honestly feel action needs to be taken, you might ask a coworker (collaborating in complete confidence) to observe and see if their feelings are similar to your own. If you see anything that causes harm to child, parent, or program, then document your observations.

Next – Be brave and take your concerns (including your observations and documentation and any brave collaborating coworkers) directly to the boss in a private closed-door conversation. Just as you would do in a parent-teacher conference, begin with the positive strengths you see in the way she manages the program. (‘I do so love working here. The parents and other teachers are wonderful’). Then be as honest as possible in telling her your concerns. (BUT, I have a real concern in the way you. . . and I need to talk to you about it).

There are a few things that can happen with this conversation. The boss may agree that she is in error, apologize and make changes; she may suggest a compromise in her actions that will satisfy both of you; (here you make a plan for improvement) or she may say you are wrong and since she is the boss, things will be done her way. If you are not happy with this last option, you refer to the boss’s boss for assistance.

– If the boss or ANYONE in your center is doing something that harms children, you must immediately speak up to your supervisor and if action is not taken, you must go to the proper authorities according to you licensing procedures.

Some examples I’ve encountered: Director passing by litter on the grounds saying, “Not my job to pick up trash”; Lead Teacher taking coffee breaks while Assistant Teacher handles all children alone on playground; Head Master remaining in office all day leaving Office Assistant to handle all parent concerns; Program Director ignoring ‘favorite’ teacher’s inappropriate methods of handling discipline; and Education Coordinator refusing to train or reprimand teacher for not understanding the need for/not using DAP.

 

 

I’d like to talk a bit about the positive and negative nature of some of the philosophies and practices I’m reading about these days in ECE blogs and articles.

Many years ago, I met Fred Rogers – the real, in-the-flesh Mr. Rogers – and asked him if we early educators needed to upgrade our methods or systems because of the great changes in our world since the 1940’s, when most babies and toddlers stayed home and ‘school’ started at kindergarten for 5 year olds.

Mr. Rogers said, “NO!”

He said that although technology, social issues, communication, and knowledge about the brain and learning may have changed, child development has not and will not change in our lifetimes and beyond. Human beings still grow the same way and small children (birth to 8) still learn by ACTIVE EXPERIENCES with nature, manmade objects, and ‘friends’, both adult and young. We may use different words to describe what we do to assist that development and make sure it is healthy, but the bottom line is that we teachers must accept the truth – the evidence – of child development and never waver from the fact that children must be active to learn.

Saying that, I also must say that in ECE, there is really nothing “new” in philosophy, but there are there are some terms that are treated as if they are new, like “Play”, “Loose Parts”, “Reggio-Inspired”, and “Inquiry-Based”.

Play – There is an outstanding push recently (a push back, actually – against the loss of recess in public schools and the very damaging use of standardized tests to determine a child’s worth as a learner) for play-based curricula. Play is not new. Good ECE teachers have ALWAYS used play as the basis of learning. This is what DAP is all about.

Play consists of Movement, Sensory Operations, Manipulation, Construction (and Destruction), Role Play, and Expression (every kind of expression). Play is most purposeful if it is child-chosen and child-directed but the learning gained through play is of the highest quality when there is a human adult available to keep the play safe and to ‘nudge’ it with the right kinds of questions WITHOUT CHANGING THE CHILD’S PLAN FOR PLAY. So – Play? YES! Play without safe nudging? Not always.

Loose Parts – Come on, Teachers. We’ve been collecting what other people call ‘junk’ for 50 years. Learning can happen when your children play with potty paper tubes, masking tape, twigs, leaves, rocks, pots and pans from the kitchen, or any safe, raw, open-ended objects. You do not need to buy cute pre-made gee-gaws from the craft store. So – Loose Parts? Yes! Cutie Pie wooden cutouts expressly made and advertised to be ‘Loose Parts’? No. Legos, Lincoln Logs, Duplo Blocks, Manipulative Math builders and counters are all loose parts.

Reggio-Inspired – The Reggio Emilia Curriculum is one of the most wonderful and developmentally appropriate systems of early learning ever created and I would urge all ECE teachers to study it and use as much of it as is relatable to their learning communities as possible. The idea of the ‘100 Languages of Children’ and the use of the environment  as a teacher in the process are the essence of excellent early learning. Creating Provocations (displays that inspire, invite, and interest the children to participate) is a lovely idea, but many American teachers do not grasp the idea that the provocation must appeal to the CHILDREN and not to the teacher and the followers of Pinterest. So – Reggio? YES! Pinterest-beautiful with fairy lights and lace? – Not unless all your students are 35-year-old ladies.

Inquiry-Based – This is a great way to teach (designing experiences based on the children’s interests and questions). It gives the children ownership of the learning process by assuring that you are offering experiences that are relevant to them. The only difficult part of this system is that some teachers are reluctant to let go of that ownership and some have difficulty seeing the value of the learning gained from it. So – Inquiry-Based? Yes! and Yes! Just look at your program’s educational objectives (I call them Strengths) and see where they match up with the wonderful things your kids are learning from working on projects and solving problems that intrigue THEM!

Just sayin’.