Now and Then

At a recent Reflective Practice Group meeting, we brainstormed about what teaching young children has looked like for the past 50 years, and how it is changing now based on current research:

Then

·         Lots of planning themes

·         Lots of teacher directed activities

·         Group art projects where they all look much the same

·         Group story times

·         “Teaching” children information

 

 

Now

·         Planning is individualized to each child

·         Following children’s lead

·         Individualized art – open art center for creativity

·         Stories more often with 1 child or small groups

·         Asking questions to get children to think for themselves

 

I wonder if we need a new term to represent the new approaches we see  in early learning.  The term “Teacher” still represents the “Then” approaches to many.  It signifies “instructions” rather than helping children learn to think for themselves.

What could that new term be?

Thinking and language facilitator? 
Reasoning coach?
Free play mentor?
Critical thinking specialist?

What do you think might represent the early learning “teacher” now?

ERS Labels

In conjunction with the ERS Mixology, consider using labels to make it VERY EASY for the UW to find the materials they are looking for when they do your assessment.

 

ERS Mixology

At a recent Reflective Practice Group, we discussed the importance of having the right "cocktail" of materials for the Environment Rating System (ERS). 

Top Ten List - How To Make Free Play Effective

 

At our Reflective Practice Group we discussed that Early Achievers uses a free play model and how to make that free play time most effective.  Here are a couple of “Top Ten” lists that came out of that discussion:

 

Top Ten suggestions to play effectively with children

1.        Talk WITH the children

2.       Be on the children’s eye level

3.       Smile, be happy, loving and excited

4.       Ask the children about what they are doing

5.       PLAY with the children – follow their lead

6.       Remind the children about all the play  options in the room

7.       Position yourself so you can see all the children

8.       Try to get around to play with each of the children

9.       Recognized each child’s individuality and learn about them

10.   Verbalize what the children are doing with extended language

 

Top Ten suggestions to play effectively with children

1.       Have conversations with the children

2.       Be at the children’s eye level

3.       Ask open ended questions

4.       Have child self-directed play

5.       Powerful interactions

6.       Plentiful materials

7.       Inviting toys

8.       Easily accessible materials

9.       Do singing, reading and play music instruments

10.   Have age appropriate materials

Getting Kids To Think

 

One of the keys to the CLASS assessment is getting kids to think.  We know one of the best ways to do that is to ask open ended questions.

Here is a brainstorm for you…

How many open ended questions can you think of that contain the word “think”?

 

I’ll get you started –

What do you think might happen next?

Why do you think that happened?

How did you think of that?

 

How many others can you think of for this list??

These are great back pocket questions for you to have to get kids to think, analyze, predict, etc.

 

Early Achievers Superheroes

At our recent Reflective Practice group, the child care providers created their own Early Achievers Superheroes.

 

Meet the Open Ended Optimist

Her trademark/logo is a smile.

Her super tool is an open ended question tool belt.

The origin/backstory for the Open Ended Optimist is that she grew up in a closed ended small town.  She moved to the big city full of optimism and used open ended questions to make it to the top. Now she is determined to expand the mind of young thinkers.

The Open Ended Optimist has a sidekick, the ? Boy

Her weakness is no caffine.

She has an alter ego as a librarian.

 

Meet Dr. Cerebellum

Dr. Cerebellum’s trademark/logo is a ?

The super powers are:  Asks appropriate open ended questions

Dr. Cerebellum’s origin/backstory is that she was a Google addict from an early age.  Absorbed in the Cloud in a frenzied download session during a rare Seattle lightning storm, she developed her super powers.  She is unflappable in drawing out reluctant children. 

Her weakness is the “Why?” kid. 

 

Meet Melody

Melody’s trademark/logo is  the treble clef sign and music notes.

Her super tool is a guitar that plays magical musical notes.

Her origin/back story is that she was lost in the woods as a child.  Birds sang to her to lead her home.

Melody has a sidekick, Harmony.  Together they use their super power/tools of music to bring joy and peace to children.

Melody’s weakness is thunderstorms and lightening.

Melody has an alter ego as a preschool teacher.

  

Meet Positive Petunia

Her logo/trademark is a capital P.

Positive Petunia’s super power is touching a child’s shoulder, which results in a cloud above them with their positive attributes.  She has a rainbow wand that puts a rainbow over children who are having a bad day.

The origin/backstory for Positive Petunia is that she was originally from Planet Negative until she started working with children.  In the classroom, she is able to transform to Positive Petunia through he smiles of the children.   100 years ago she was Negative Nancy until a rainbow hit her and transformed all of her thoughts into positivity. 

Her weakness – short nappers remove a bar of color from her rainbow.

Positive Petunia has a sidekick, Assistant Aster, who is always there to offer kind words and positive reinforcements.

 

Back Pocket

We know that we want to get kids to talk and to think for the CLASS assessment in Early Achievers.  A best practice for this is to ask open ended questions and have conversations.  Sometimes, though, in the heat of the moment, we draw a blank and can’t think of a good open ended question.

For those times, it’s great to have a few easy starters in your “back pocket”.  At a recent reflective practice group we brainstormed some of these, such as:

“What’s up over here?”

“Teel me about this”

“What are you thinking about?”

“Wow, I want to know about this!”

These are all generic enough to be use at any time, for any activity, and can be in your “back pocket” when you need them.

 

What other back pocket starters can you think of??