Being Water, Being Stone

“Some of the worst groups that I’ve ever run with kids is when I have this vivid expectation about what things should look like, and then, all of a sudden, kids are ‘misbehaving’ and they’re ruining my expectation of what the game was supposed to look like," says Steve Gross in the Turn-Key video Intentional Teaching, "So, I’m invested in it one way; kids’ behavior is bringing it another way, and now I have a choice: Do I oppress and guide so that everything goes exactly the way I wanted it to go or do I also find a balance to know when do I give up some of that control? What issues do I really have to address and what stuff can I take a deep breath and go with the flow? When do I need to be water and when do I need to be stone?”

Founder and Chief Playmaker at the Playmaker Project, Gross is, perhaps, striving for the kind of balance Ann Epstein describes in her book, The Intentional Teacher:

"An effective early childhood program combines both child-guided and adult-guided educational experiences. These terms do not refer to extremes—that is, child-guided experiences are not highly child controlled, nor are adult-guided experiences highly adult controlled. Rather, adults play intentional roles in child-guided experiences, and children have significant, active roles in adult-guided experiences. Each type of experience takes advantage of planned as well as spontaneous, unexpected learning opportunities."

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.

© 2005 Child Care Information Exchange - All Rights Reserved | Contact Us | Return to Site