Demand developmentally appropriate expectations
My biggest little boy transitioned from Kindergarten and into Primary School at the start of this year.
In the run up to his first day I deliberated at great lengths over his readiness. As a passionate pro-play Kindergarten Teacher, and as his Kindergarten Teacher, I felt great sadness over how he would have to farewell hours of play and creative expression as his first day of Primary School crept up on us. Will he make friends? Will he feel comfortable? Will he feel anxious? Will he manage the difference in learning style and expectations? Can we afford Home School?
I was never truly interested in Home School for our family. I think it is hugely admirable and aligns with many of my education core values however, our son definitely needed to learn how to learn from a wider range of people and to also learn within a system that in many ways socially reflects our society.
Since he began his Primary School adventure, I have learnt in depth to trust his capability as opposed to focussing on the short falls of our education system. I have learnt to allow him to share his day with me as he pleases. I don't bombard him with the questions of an eager or worried parent. Why should he learn to focus on or worry about what ever questions reflect my own priorities? He demonstrated such resilience on his first day and since then has taken every day in his capable stride.
At bed time he is most forth coming with reports of his day. Occasionally he reports that he misses us and misses Kindy. He loves getting to ride his bike too and from school and talks fondly about getting to play in the play ground. He talks about his body getting sick of sitting and how he feels confused sometimes. He often mentions the name of a particular child always going to time out. He loves getting time to touch the plastic animals but he doesn't get to every day and the blocks don't get played with like at Kindy. He is always mater of fact in his reports and is always eager to return to school in the morning.
He has just begun coming home and getting out his paper and pens to practice writing as well as drawing. This is something very current and driven by him within our home. What ever the motivation, he seems ready to engage with the written symbols in our world. I'm a big believer in expressed interest as a direct indication of readiness.
As Jarome transitioned into Primary School I made the decision to step away from my position as Kindergarten Teacher and stepped into the wonderful world of relief teaching as to be more available in our home and with our children.
Since watching my son commence Primary School and also heading back into the Primary sector myself, after four years working in the Early Childhood sector I look at the behavioural and learning expectations with different eyes. One stark contrast between the philosophies of the Early Childhood sector and the Primary sector is the shift away from the importance of manipulating materials through the play context and a shift towards a more academic focus supported predominantly by worksheets, explicit teaching and developmentally inappropriate expectations regarding engagement and movement. There is a huge power imbalance between child and educator and a belief that the teacher holds the knowledge in which the child must attain. There is an ignorance towards the understanding of play and instead of play being a vehicle for deepened understandings it is seen as a reward and/or a time waster. There also an ignorance towards the power in which a beautiful, homely and well planned learning environment can yield.
Where is the promotion of child autonomy and active learning as opposed to conformity? Where is the feeling of home? Why does there have to be so many bright and over stimulating colours all over the place? Why should little children complete worksheets when they are only doing so through confusion and guess work? Where is the value of compassion modelled through how we treat each other? Why isn't respect modelled by the way in which we set up and encourage child participation in the way we maintain our learning spaces? Why can't children have more opportunity to move and learn through play and child driven inquiry? Why can't role play within a Home Corner be accessible or construction materials openly available to children through out the day to support and supplement the content rich explicit teaching that also takes place?
The expectation for children to cope with sitting for extended periods of time while they complete tasks that focus predominantly on learning content with great disregard to authentic purpose or child relevance is grossly prevalent. As is the lack of understanding that play within itself when inspired by thoughtful resources and intentional provocations can extend and support learning far beyond any teacher set learning intentions or predetermined expectations.
The learning environment as a scaffold for learning is greatly undermined with little understanding of the power of a well planned and thought provoking learning space. When an educator can harness the power of the environment in order to support learning, play is possible, meaningful and can connect to the content that is pre-determined by the curriculum. Play and guided explorations of quality, consciously selected materials, and provocations and learning spaces to maximise opportunity of engagement and success isn't just for the Early Years setting.
As a parent and as an educator I have written this blog with two intentions. My initial intention was to stir some thought in any fellow Primary sector educators who may be reading this. Please consider the needs of your children. Consider your willingness to be flexible in the strategies you adopt in order for learning to be accessible to all children. Consider how your environment can support child development and learning needs of the children in your room. Can your children access and engage with all curriculum areas across the day regardless of the fact that "science" is only scheduled in to the time table for one block out of the entire week? Consider whether or not you believe that child autonomy can encompass more than just management of personal property and include choices about learning as well. Can your children demonstrate understanding in a range of different ways or are assessments of understanding fixed tasks with no differentiation? Do you value how much you can influence compassion, acceptance and respect simply through meaningful expectations and role modelling? How does your created learning space feel? What energy dynamic are you creating? Are you meeting the needs of your children or are you disregarding their needs in order to box tick?
I also wrote this for parents and carers with the intention of expressing the importance of play, its place in the Primary sector and also; developmentally appropriate learning and behaviour expectations. Parents are the 'clients' of schools. Parents can push for greater reflection upon what age appropriate explorations of the curriculum truly look like. If enough parents become passionate and informed, our schools may begin to also explore professional development in order to better reflect the developmental needs of our children, the importance of play and child driven inquiry, and authentic learning experiences that connect our children to the curriculum in a meaningful way.
Learn what is developmentally appropriate for our children, especially for those of whom are just transitioning into the Primary sector. Demand developmental appropriateness. Demand care and demand play. The kind of play that isn't "free choice" at the end of a day, but play that is respected and woven through the day to supplement the explicit teaching moments, connecting to all learning of a holistic child in order to encourage and harness the inner inquirer.
In the run up to his first day I deliberated at great lengths over his readiness. As a passionate pro-play Kindergarten Teacher, and as his Kindergarten Teacher, I felt great sadness over how he would have to farewell hours of play and creative expression as his first day of Primary School crept up on us. Will he make friends? Will he feel comfortable? Will he feel anxious? Will he manage the difference in learning style and expectations? Can we afford Home School?
I was never truly interested in Home School for our family. I think it is hugely admirable and aligns with many of my education core values however, our son definitely needed to learn how to learn from a wider range of people and to also learn within a system that in many ways socially reflects our society.
Since he began his Primary School adventure, I have learnt in depth to trust his capability as opposed to focussing on the short falls of our education system. I have learnt to allow him to share his day with me as he pleases. I don't bombard him with the questions of an eager or worried parent. Why should he learn to focus on or worry about what ever questions reflect my own priorities? He demonstrated such resilience on his first day and since then has taken every day in his capable stride.
At bed time he is most forth coming with reports of his day. Occasionally he reports that he misses us and misses Kindy. He loves getting to ride his bike too and from school and talks fondly about getting to play in the play ground. He talks about his body getting sick of sitting and how he feels confused sometimes. He often mentions the name of a particular child always going to time out. He loves getting time to touch the plastic animals but he doesn't get to every day and the blocks don't get played with like at Kindy. He is always mater of fact in his reports and is always eager to return to school in the morning.
He has just begun coming home and getting out his paper and pens to practice writing as well as drawing. This is something very current and driven by him within our home. What ever the motivation, he seems ready to engage with the written symbols in our world. I'm a big believer in expressed interest as a direct indication of readiness.
As Jarome transitioned into Primary School I made the decision to step away from my position as Kindergarten Teacher and stepped into the wonderful world of relief teaching as to be more available in our home and with our children.
Since watching my son commence Primary School and also heading back into the Primary sector myself, after four years working in the Early Childhood sector I look at the behavioural and learning expectations with different eyes. One stark contrast between the philosophies of the Early Childhood sector and the Primary sector is the shift away from the importance of manipulating materials through the play context and a shift towards a more academic focus supported predominantly by worksheets, explicit teaching and developmentally inappropriate expectations regarding engagement and movement. There is a huge power imbalance between child and educator and a belief that the teacher holds the knowledge in which the child must attain. There is an ignorance towards the understanding of play and instead of play being a vehicle for deepened understandings it is seen as a reward and/or a time waster. There also an ignorance towards the power in which a beautiful, homely and well planned learning environment can yield.
Where is the promotion of child autonomy and active learning as opposed to conformity? Where is the feeling of home? Why does there have to be so many bright and over stimulating colours all over the place? Why should little children complete worksheets when they are only doing so through confusion and guess work? Where is the value of compassion modelled through how we treat each other? Why isn't respect modelled by the way in which we set up and encourage child participation in the way we maintain our learning spaces? Why can't children have more opportunity to move and learn through play and child driven inquiry? Why can't role play within a Home Corner be accessible or construction materials openly available to children through out the day to support and supplement the content rich explicit teaching that also takes place?
The expectation for children to cope with sitting for extended periods of time while they complete tasks that focus predominantly on learning content with great disregard to authentic purpose or child relevance is grossly prevalent. As is the lack of understanding that play within itself when inspired by thoughtful resources and intentional provocations can extend and support learning far beyond any teacher set learning intentions or predetermined expectations.
The learning environment as a scaffold for learning is greatly undermined with little understanding of the power of a well planned and thought provoking learning space. When an educator can harness the power of the environment in order to support learning, play is possible, meaningful and can connect to the content that is pre-determined by the curriculum. Play and guided explorations of quality, consciously selected materials, and provocations and learning spaces to maximise opportunity of engagement and success isn't just for the Early Years setting.
As a parent and as an educator I have written this blog with two intentions. My initial intention was to stir some thought in any fellow Primary sector educators who may be reading this. Please consider the needs of your children. Consider your willingness to be flexible in the strategies you adopt in order for learning to be accessible to all children. Consider how your environment can support child development and learning needs of the children in your room. Can your children access and engage with all curriculum areas across the day regardless of the fact that "science" is only scheduled in to the time table for one block out of the entire week? Consider whether or not you believe that child autonomy can encompass more than just management of personal property and include choices about learning as well. Can your children demonstrate understanding in a range of different ways or are assessments of understanding fixed tasks with no differentiation? Do you value how much you can influence compassion, acceptance and respect simply through meaningful expectations and role modelling? How does your created learning space feel? What energy dynamic are you creating? Are you meeting the needs of your children or are you disregarding their needs in order to box tick?
I also wrote this for parents and carers with the intention of expressing the importance of play, its place in the Primary sector and also; developmentally appropriate learning and behaviour expectations. Parents are the 'clients' of schools. Parents can push for greater reflection upon what age appropriate explorations of the curriculum truly look like. If enough parents become passionate and informed, our schools may begin to also explore professional development in order to better reflect the developmental needs of our children, the importance of play and child driven inquiry, and authentic learning experiences that connect our children to the curriculum in a meaningful way.
Learn what is developmentally appropriate for our children, especially for those of whom are just transitioning into the Primary sector. Demand developmental appropriateness. Demand care and demand play. The kind of play that isn't "free choice" at the end of a day, but play that is respected and woven through the day to supplement the explicit teaching moments, connecting to all learning of a holistic child in order to encourage and harness the inner inquirer.
This is Otis demanding a shift in pedagogy so that when he gets to Primary School he is met with a developmentally appropriate approach to learning and can engage with authentic, meaningful and inquiry-play driven learning.
This is Otis 'playing' at our desk at home, making the most of big brother being out and getting amongst the felt tips.
A range of simple collected materials to provoke observational drawing, as visual provocations for a writing response, opportunity for pattern making, measurement or fine motor development. Collected shells are a beautiful and versatile resource and as strange as it may sound, sitting quietly with the collected conifer leaves and tweezers, plucking out each little spikey bit is insanely satisfying as well as purposeful in its development of muscles for writing.
Be creative and purposeful in the opportunities provided for children. Provoke, intrigue and respect.
Jarome 'playing' in the evening exploring his focus words, beginning to make sense of the written symbols in his world. Intrinsically motivated, he demonstrates his readiness.
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