ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

Nancy just defined that invisible gap between Early Learning and the K-12 Learning systems. It's become that "elephant-in-the-room." I know this because I've experienced being at the table between these two systems. I've also had the priviledge of meeting Nancy in 2009 at the California Association for the Education of Young Children State Conference themed "PLAY-The Optimal Way to Learn" which I was the conference chair. Nancy then gave vital understanding of children's learning just as she continues to voice. We as the professionals in this field working with or for our youngest to our oldest children MUST begin to "optimally" listen, reflect and practice this understanding.

I teach in a Voluntary PreKindergarten Program. They started in around 2004/2005 or so. (Been teaching for over 20 years) The standards here in FL have changed so drastically, it is not funny! They have piled their expectations so high that the average four year old can not keep up! The problem is the owners see this and NO ONE, I tell you NO ONE follows the unrealistic guidelines setup by the state! The children cannot miss more than 3 days out of the month. Right, they have their ways of getting around that one, trust me! The last few years has seen a decline in the way the parents treat this program. If the word (Voluntary) is removed from Prekindergarten the parents MAY take it seriously. My first three classes were great! Then the state started to get greedy. They wanted the programs to do more and more. More and more of my parents are NOT taking this seriously. About half of my class comes 3 or four days a week. That is way past missing 3 days a month. Parents of today do not realize that VPK is NOT playing anymore. What it has turned into is Kindergarten 1. Our students must be reading BEFORE the end of VPK! They have 3 months off and then start all over again! Their long term memories cannot hold everything in during a summer off. Whatever happened to reading in first grade? I DID NOT attend kindergarten and I am a wonderful. I learned to read in first grade. What has happened is we are frustrating today's youth. If parents are not our partners in education, this WILL NOT work. When parents take an active interest in their child's learning then and only then will we see a change. (I have proof of this in my classroom) When parents DO NOT have to work two jobs to exist then things will get much better. We are no longer in the 50's, Tallahasse! Wrap your head around that one. The system is broken. We need to educate the parents of these children and make sure they have the skills to help their children. Without the partnership of parents, this field will only get more frustrating. Stop shoving more learning into the prek child's brain. They can only retain so much before it leaks out as frustration in school. Be aware the state is now pretesting children as young as three years old. If this continues, play in our preschools will disappear forever! Put learning back into 1-12 and maybe just maybe the children will not get burnt out before third grade! Let Kindergarten children go back to learning the social skills they need in life and save learning for the grades 1-12. Education is a journey, NOT A RACE! Amen.

This past year I had the wonderful opporunity to "go back to school"...I am professor of Early Childhood Education and was a substitute teacher for my local school district. I subbed in three different elementary schools, K-5th grade...but my certifications are Early Childhood Infant-3rd grade. The Children would see me signing into the office, I would go to my classroom for the day, review the day's pland and walk down to "collect" the children to "WALK" to their classroom. They would say, "There's Dr. Bill" he's the teacher that makes you laugh! Are you going to be our teacher today?" Can we laugh and learn? Hmmmm!

Yes having kids learn through play is a fantastic idea but where does that leave teachers who have to make sure that their students meet certain benchmarks and standards?
Teachers that I've encountered in the public school system complain about the demands to teach to the test. Just take a look at the new Common Core Standards...kindergarten is no longer...well...fun. They are expected to grasp concepts that would be better suited for 2nd grade. We teach it because we don't want them to fall behind.
Perhaps this is the reason that so many parents pull their kids from public school and put them into private school. Children not only need to work on things are age-appropriate they need to work on things that are suited to their individual learning abilities.

Amen to that! Children learn more from each other than adults! Just because a teacher is teaching doesn't mean a child is learning. Children's play is their work. We must let them work together, and learn from each other, with adults by their side, assisting this vital process.And when the shared control is evident between child and adult, it's a joy to witness.