I started my little ECE business almost 10 years ago (YAY!). I chose my business name because it holds such important meaning for me. It is even more true today than when I started my business that we need to transform early childhood education.
For YEARS we’ve put up with the constant push-down of academics from elementary schools. We are constantly told that we are not enough while the work of caregiving is minimized and labeled babysitting. We’ve developed some strange hierarchy where pre-K teachers are the gold standard, and anything less than that is, well, frankly, less than.
We are told to make everything we do with the children instantly visible to families so they trust us and see the work we do. At the same time, we are told to avoid using technology with the children, as we are on our devices taking photos and tracking milestones. We are told to somehow be experts at social-emotional learning while being given no support for our lack of ability to apply those skills to ourselves. We are told to stay on schedule but also have a flexible flow that meets the needs of the children. We are told that we are trusted but also that we aren’t capable of planning for the children in the moment and instead are told to turn in lesson plans weeks prior to the plan taking effect.
During a workshop with a lovely small group of educators last week in South Royalton Vermont, one of the teachers asked what “suggestions” they should follow because everything they’ve learned over the past two years seems to contradict something they just learned. I could feel how authentically the teacher wanted to do what’s right for the children in her care but just couldn’t figure out which pieces are the right pieces.
It really hit home to me that what I discuss with educators contradicts what other organizations teach. I don’t believe that we should have every tool from an SEL curriculum posted on our walls. I know for a fact that the more things you have on your walls, the less you pay attention to them. I also know that in the heat of an interaction, I am not going to point at a poster across the room and ask the child how they are feeling. I do believe these tools are valuable and necessary, but too much is frankly just too much. We should choose three tools that work for our SEL needs. When we talk the talk, we should walk the walk. If I can use a tool when I am feeling overwhelmed, then I truly understand how to support the children in my care using that tool.
I believe that a lesson plan is just a piece of paper. I don’t think writing a “great” lesson plan means I am a “good” teacher. It just means I can write a plan. Writing and implementing are two totally different things. To implement a plan, I need to first observe the children in my care to ensure I know where they are so I can honor that place and develop opportunities to extend their interests and grow their skills. Writing out a plan a month prior to putting it in place means that I am not able to consider the individual needs of the children. Instead I am focused on a set curriculum while forgetting that the child is the curriculum and everything else is a tool to help me understand and support the child.
Every state has its own set of early childhood standards. They are all pretty similar but formatted differently. It doesn’t matter the state or format; the standards are a tool and not a curriculum. We shouldn’t plan for the standard. We should plan for the child. When we plan for the child and observe them, we can take our observations back to the standards to assess where the child is and what the next step is in the growth process. All the while, we have to remember that learning is not a linear path but instead a tangle of spaghetti (one of my favorite ways to think, inspired by Loris Malaguzzi).
My message has always been that while I can’t change the system, I can change the way I work within the system to best meet the needs of the children in my care. I also apply this same message in working with educators. I can’t change the mixed messages that the system puts out, but I can ensure that my message is clear: the child is the curriculum, I trust teachers, and when we are invested in children, we are also invested in their families. These are my guiding principles. As defeating and exhausting as this work is at times, you can trust that I will never give up. I’ve fought the good fight for years, and I am not backing down now.
