A Small Celebration

10/1/2010

Rather than sharing a “funny” this time around . . . I desperately want to share a moment of celebration (which I do hope Shannon will allow to suffice as my “moment of celebration” during staff meeting this coming Tuesday . . . *cheesy grins*).

THE BACKGROUND

Teaching very little people is a MUCH different ballgame than that of teaching children of any other age.  If a three-year-old doesn’t want to do/participate/learn something . . . than by damn . . . he just flat isn’t going to . . . end of story.  Rather than just mouthing off or sitting in “refusal mode”  when our kiddos don’t want to participate in any particular activity, they tend to run out of the classroom, throw objects, hide under tables, and throw some pretty entertaining tantrums.  As adults, we must “out-think,” and “out-wit” these little buggers , BEFORE such behaviors can manifest themselves.  

Preschool teachers (especially preschool teachers of special needs children) must also become MASTERS at prediction.  For every, single activity we plan, we must envision each and every child in our minds and predict how each one of them will respond  . . . AS WELL as what the individualized intention is for what each one of them will learn (as their individual knowledge and life experiences vary so greatly when young).  If the “envisioned” outcome to a planned activity weighs heavier on the “ugly outcome” side . . . the activity is bagged or completely reworked.  If the envisioned activity would seemingly have an ugly outcome for only one or two of our students (while still greatly benefiting others) . . . the activity is revamped to better suit those individual needs (i.e., a variance in teacher expectations or materials for those children).

The bottom line:  In order for teachers to encourage learning and active participation from our students, the children must view each and every activity as “fun” and as “play.”  If a three-year-old views an activity as too difficult or too boring . . . then teachers are likely to see unwanted behaviors manifest themselves.  Think about it . . . even as adults, we are unwilling to complete any task that we deem as “boring,” “stupid,” or just “too difficult,” . . . UNLESS . . . we know that the positive reinforcement (the eventual outcome) outweighs the distasteful completion of the required task at hand OR if non-completion might mean a punishment we are unwilling to accept (i.e., getting a great paycheck for working a job you hate [reinforcement] . . . or the reverse . . . getting fired from a needed job for refusing to complete a distasteful responsibility [punishment]).   

While we as adults are able to foresee a positive outcome based on our investment . . . very small children are unable to do so; they must feel interested and engaged if they are to learn.  While “prediction” and foreseeing “possible outcomes” are most definitely skills we work on in school . . . we must still plan our teaching around children’s interests and incorporate as much teaching as we can through a variety of “fun” delivery means.

NOW THE FUN STUFF

 . . . and thus . . . this leads me to the glorious little “side-step” that was taken in the yellow room today.  As a general rule, our preschool sessions are very routine and planned out.  Today, we took the kiddos outside to go on a “scavenger hunt” walk to encourage them to collect items from the great outdoors in their small paper-bags.  The items are then brought back inside for the kids to glue at will onto pieces of foam.  This “nature” learning activity has always been one of my most FAVORITE activities we do during the year.  There is just so much to see, learn and talk about.

Aside from promoting the acquisition of life and social skills, we three-year-old preschool teachers invest the greatest amount of our time in teaching the vitally important and necessary communication/language skills that children must obtain in order to find success in EVERY other subject they will ever be educated in.  The great majority of our students who qualify for Special Education services, do so based on their lack of those vital language and/or communication skills. 

While on our walk this morning, the kids discovered that today’s cycle of irrigation water was running down our side of the street.  Of course, they were beside themselves with excitement and it was all they could do just to self-regulate enough to not dive in head first.  We have a little girl in this class who we have been working with for nearly a year now.  Up to this point, she has seemed somewhat shut-down, withdrawn, prompt dependent, and almost fearful of the world around her.  She never made requests for anything on her own behalf or for help of any kind and did little to try to communicate in any fashion.  However, over the past week, she almost seems to have “woken up” and is finally making attempts at communicating with us and the other children.

So, when this little girl slapped my leg to gain my attention, looked down at her feet, pointed at her shoes and loudly requested “shoes off” . . . there WASN’T A CHANCE ON THIS PLANET that I wasn’t going to FULLY reinforce her by granting her request.  

Although one of my all-time favorite, language-promoting small group activities had been spontaneously cast aside due to the fact that EVERY child was then removing their shoes to play in the water (so sorry Misti & Rayma---I’m so very glad that you two are SO laid back and accepting of my nutty little whims), not to mention all of the resulting work that was created by having to replace socks and shoes, and fully change out several sets of soaking wet clothes for dry ones . . . I do believe that taking full advantage of those random, occasional, teaching opportunities is worth their weight in gold.  Not only was there an explosion of language from the children as they played in the water (as well as socializing with one another) . . . but I can guarantee that they verbally related their experiences to their caregivers as they arrived home as well (as I’m sure there were questions about the wet clothes and changes in attire). 

Days like today are the reason why I, why ALL of us, are so completely in love with our profession.