One of the most wonderful things about being a teacher is the chance to start new every year. I welcome the opportunity to have that fresh start – that new beginning – every September. I think about it like an artist might, having a huge, blank canvas in front of me and deciding what to put on it. Unfortunately, in many schools, a lot is put on that canvas for us. Standardized tests. AYP. Crazy schedules. New curriculum. Stricter standards. And so on. And so on. Plus more “must-do’s” than are humanly possible. In doing some pre-school planning, I realized how easy it is to focus on all of these external things, rather than what really matters – the children who will be eagerly beginning first grade (for me), or any grade you may teach, for the first time.
So I decided to take a look at what I would like to put on my “canvas” and what really matters to me as a teacher. I truly think it’s time that we focus on the children. What kind of children will leave us and go out into the world? Thinkers? Problem solvers? Creators? Risk-takers? Leaders? Or test takers? As Ann Pelo writes in her powerful book, Rethinking Early Childhood Education, “Early childhood is a time in our lives when we develop our core dispositions – the habits of thinking that shape how we live; our work as early childhood educators is to nurture dispositions in young children towards empathy, ecological consciousness, engaged inquiry, and collaboration.”
These “habits of thinking” are critical, and we are so lucky to have a hand at helping children develop them. But what exactly are we helping them develop? Here are my thoughts for what’s going on my “canvas” this year, and what I hope that my new group of first graders will develop. I’m thinking of it as my set of standards:
*Children who are kind to themselves and each other, and who take care of each other in their community.
*Children who discover new things and wonder about everything, by being given time to play and learn what’s important to them - daily.
*Readers, writers, mathematicians, scientists and artists who realize how reading, writing, math, science and art is all a part of our world and has a purpose – they are not just things we do in school, but rather things we learn that make our life worthwhile and allow us to have a voice in the world. (and not for the sole purpose of meeting a benchmark or passing a test!)
*Questioners – kids who question everything. Including their teacher and “the way things have always been”.
*Compassionate children who realize their actions impact others, and that they can make a difference.
*Children who work and play together – solving problems through conversation, collaboration, failures and successes.
*Children who celebrate the planet we live on, and realize they have an important job in keeping it a beautiful place to live.
*Happy, healthy children who see school as a fabulous place to be.
What standards do you want to create for your canvas?
Enjoy!
