What's the rush for children to know everything before kindergarten?

As a preschool teacher in a school district, I often feel pressured to "get children ready for kindergarten."  While I want the children I teach to succeed in school, my job as an early childhood educator should continue to provide a high quality developmental early childhood environment that meets the needs of all learners in all aspects of their development.  Unfortunately, it is not just preschool teachers feeling the pressure as they are being required to not only use the Brigance screening tool but now the IGDI language and literacy assessment along with Creative Curriculum and Gold Assessment.  Kindergarten teachers are also feeling the pressure to prepare children for the next grade and may not be arranging their classroom and activities to best suit the needs of their kindergarteners due to pressures from the state and federal governments' expectations (NAEYC, 2015). 

I recently read over the Position Statements from NAEYC (2015), especially the position statement concerning unacceptable practices in kindergarten classrooms (NAEYC, 2015).  I found myself saying "Aha!" quite a few times for two reasons: 1.  I am aware of school districts participating in practices that are not acceptable such as retention of young children and misuse of screening tools, and 2.  I have been expressing my dislike for both of these practices in my 18 years of teaching and now have a document to refer to besides my own professional experiences and development (NAEYC, 2015).

It is unfortunate that policy makers are the ones making the decisions about the education processes of our young children when we have a strong field of early childhood educators who know firsthand the best practices for young children to learn and thrive.  I also empathize with my elementary school colleagues as they also feel pressured to deviate from best practice for fear of losing their jobs based on the progress and success of their students.  All teachers should be ready for all of their students and needs.

I encourage you to check out the NAEYC website if you have not already done so but especially the NAEYC position statements because they are well researched and written by strong early childhood professionals who believe in the best practices and learning environments for our young minds.  On March 8-10, 2015, I will have an amazing opportunity to travel with the Iowa AEYC team to Washington, D.C. for the Public Policy Forum to learn more about policy decisions and speak to state and federal legislators about the future of early childhood and trending issues. 

References

NAEYC. (2015).  Position Statements: Kindergarten- Unacceptable Trends.  Retrieved from

    http://www.naeyc.org/positionstatements

The Inspired Child. (n.d.). What's the rush?  Retrieved from http://www.theinspiredchild.org/

A Little More About Me and Culture

 

This is one of my favorite pictures of me from my childhood.  When I was about 2 years old, my mom took me to Greece with her while pregnant with my sister.  Both sets of my grandparents hailed from Greece; my mom and dad were first generation American born from their families.  Although I was young and do not remember the trip very much, I always have this picture to remind me of a time when I traveled to my homeland to be with relatives from my culture.

 

For me, culture started at a young age and continued throughout my childhood into adulthood.  It was very important for both of my parents to help me understand where my family came from and how that culture was part of my identity.  I believe that every child should know their culture, whatever that may be, in order to connect with family and create his/her identity.

 

"Culture makes people understand each other better.  And if they understand each other better in their soul, it is easier to overcome the economic and political barriers.  But first they have to understand that their neighbor is, in the end, just like them, with the same problems, the same questions" (Coehlo, n.d.).

 

So I pose the following questions to you:

 

Is there something from your childhood that assists you in recalling a positive memory?  If so, why is the memory so precious to you?

 

How can we, as educators, provide positive memories for the children we teach?

 

 

References

 

BrainyQuote. (2015).  Culture quotes: Paul Coehlo.  Retrieved from

 

    http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/culture.html

 





It's time to include everyone!

Welcome to my blog!

I am excited to continue my journey into establishing more culturally sensitive educational environments in educational settings.  I am looking forward to learning more about what bilingual/multilingual children and their families might need in order to ensure their inclusion and success in our schools.

I hope you will visit my blog often and I look forward to your comments:)!

Nicolette